Feeling bad defeats the point of being a psychopath!

by Mary Anne Butler, Reporter

Where does one start when talking about the literary and cinematic giant that is Dr. Hannibal Lecter? A warning first…

This post will most likely include spoilers if you haven’t:

a) read ALL the books by Thomas Harris

b) seen ALL the Hannibal related films

c) watched the first episode of NBC’s Hannibal. 

I read The Silence of the Lambs when I was about 13, before I ever saw the film.  I was so incredibly intrigued with this gentleman serial killer, who for all the horrendous and disgusting things he did/does, is really a Renaissance man.  The way in which Harris writes him you have to make a choice; you either accept him or don’t as an amazing villain or a skewed hero or both, and he only does what he does to those he feels who deserve it, with few exceptions (namely police or other similar authority figures).   There is also a tragic romance about him. He is mentioned several times as never being without lovely female attention and company when not incarcerated.

My first film experience with the character came shortly after I finished the book with Manhunter, who many seem to forget is the first movie appearance of the doctor.  It is chilling, the way Brian Cox plays him, no frills, no unblinking gaze.  But, much to my dismay, they left out a very important feature not added in any film/tv version of the character:  Lecter has a 6th finger on his left hand.  And don’t even get me started on Anthony Hopkins, he is one of my top five favorite actors of all time if not my number one.  There’s a reason he was awarded an Oscar for his portrayal in Silence of the Lambs.

This new show, comes at a time where it shares the airwaves with another enigmatic killer, James Purefoy’s Joe Caroll on Fox’s The Following, which I have to say I enjoy thoroughly  and completely whetted  my appetite for seeing the genre serialed out each week.  I find the casting done in the past for the various players in the saga have been dove very well, each bringing out another side to their characters.  Denis Farina, Scott Glen, Harvey Keitel, and Laurence Fishburne have all played FBI Special Agent Jack Crawford.  William Peterson, Edward Norton, and now Hugh Dancy as Special Agent Will Graham the psychological profiler. Stephen Lang, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Jean Chorostecki have appeared as the reporter for the tabloid magazine (now website in the updated show) The Tattler.  And now we can add Mads Mikkelsen into that list as well, with his highly German accented Dr. Lecter.

This first episode gives us brief moments that make someone who’s read the source material incredibly happy (the use of The Goldberg Variations ect). It gives me faith this will become a show I end up really enjoying.  It starts, of course, with a murder.  And Graham must of course try to get into the mind of the killer and catch him before he strikes again.  The direction of the ‘within the killer’ thoughtful moments is smartly done, and I feel Hugh brings everything to the role we’d want to see.  The conversations between he and Lecter (who is brought in to help profile the killer) start off terse, but you see by the end of the episode an understanding and mutual respect already starting to blossom.

I have to say the teaser for the upcoming episodes at the end had me SO FRAKKING EXCITED, because it appears Gillian Anderson will be joining the cast.  This is awesome because her role of Special Agent Dana Scully on The Xfiles was modeled after Jodie Foster’s portrayal of Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, and Anderson was the first choice to play the role of Starling in the film Hannibal, which ultimately went to Julianne Moore.  But it appears she’s found a way into the series at last and my little circle of nerdy joy is complete with my favorite film-book series picking up my favorite TV show’s leading lady.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Hannibal S01E01 “Apéritif“ 4 1/2 out of 5 disemboweled bodies.

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