# Hannibal
#tv #horror #watched-2026

## I hope this doesn't suck ass
For years, I had no interest in this series, owing to my familiarity with _Silence of the Lambs_, the most overrated film of all time. _Lambs_ is blatantly transphobic; worse, it's *boring*. It takes itself extremely seriously, especially considering the goofy paramedic sequence toward the end (which is at least fun, and indeed the most interesting it ever gets).

The novel it's based on is, if possible, even more boring than the film. It also makes it abundantly clear that it's a work of anti-trans propaganda, lingering at length on its disgust at Gumb's body, voice, hygiene, mannerisms, and identity as a transsexual. Anyone who disputes the transphobia of the film would do well to waste an afternoon on the book. (Then you can email me and tell me all about how I'm overthinking it, and anyway Johns Hopkins is *obviously* the final authority on trans people, *duh*.)

This series has been suggested to me for years, with assurances that it lacks the transphobia of _Lambs_. I've taken this with a grain of salt, given how many otherwise intelligent people maintain that the film is not transphobic. But moreso than avoidance of transmisogyny, it's the plodding storyline and self-serious attitude of the film and book that I sought to avoid. I can put up with bigotry, but why would I when there's nothing on offer in exchange?

Well, I've decided it's time to give it a shot. I'm in the mood to sink many hours into a horror series and there just aren't very many of them worth a damn. I hope to be as pleasantly surprised by _Hannibal_ as I was by _American Horror Story_, a series that I quietly poo-pooed for years before finally digging in and binge-watching and discovering what I'd been missing.[^ahs]

[^ahs]: _AHS_ about perfected the TV horror formula: it doesn't take itself too seriously but is willing to get a little too dark and gory for mainstream audiences sometimes (not to mention horny); it has the variety of an anthology but the continuity of a linear narrative; it exults in familiar tropes and often gets campy, but doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater by going full "satire". It's neither subtle nor original, but it is eminently *enjoyable*, and its predilection for throwing everything at the wall renders it much less predictable than one would expect.


!! Spoilers.


## Season 1

### Episode 01
We are not off to a great start. This episode is as ponderous as _Lambs_. Not a great sign when I find myself checking the runtime and hoping it will end soon.

The FBI detective is a man; somehow they managed to *regress* from the '80s. I am at least optimistic that we might get some Gay Shit™ out of the deal between Lecter and whats-his-face. He's one of those genius detectives who we're supposed to be enthralled by. I can go either way on this. Doyle's Holmes is good fun, but _Sherlock_'s is stupid and irritating to a degree I didn't know was possible.

So far, _Hannibal_'s lead is more _Sherlock_ than Holmes. We are informed right away that he's autistic, or at least more autist than sociopath — two categories I was never actually in danger of conflating — and his magical detective powers are said to stem from an excess of empathy (so at least *that* anti-autistic trope is avoided).

His wild leaps in reasoning arise more from dreams than evidence. The first episode opens on one of those tiresome backwards sequences that were inexplicably popular at the time. It's so long and so trite and so fucking boring.

Lecter's diet doesn't especially alarm me in itself. Meat is meat. I'm curious whether _Hannibal_ will come across as vegetarian propaganda like the wonderful _Texas Chain Saw Massacre_ or linger in the cul-de-sac of human supremacy.

### Episode 02
Apparently we'll be treated to a backwards sequence every episode, as it's the form his detective powers take when he visits this crime scene too. Joy. This one was shorter, at least.

On the bright side, this killer is much more interesting than the first. He turned people into living mushroom farms and we get some delightfully gross images. There were some cool sped-up fungus scenes too.

Everyone is obsessed with the hero's inner life: his boss, some random shrink who's always around for reasons I missed, Lecter, an unethical ambulance-chasing reporter, the killer... I'm not, though. Yawn.

It's strange that nobody seems to be creeped out by Lecter. Maybe it's the suit.

The hero whose name I still haven't picked up is getting too close to his work and sleeping in the hospital room of a survivor. Kind of reminds me of that _X-Files_ episode where Mulder sleeps at the crime scene and keeps having bad dreams.

### Episode 03
Okay, now this is heating up. Instead of a monster-of-the-week, it advanced the main storyline started in the first episode. Hannibal is getting interesting. He just fucks with everyone for fun like a creepy trickster god. And one of the survivors joined the little pantheon of killers.

It's starting to remind me of Dexter a little, but darker. And also of that show where Gillian Anderson is hunting the psychopath, but lighter. It feels hackneyed to have a serial killer who hangs out with the cops who are investigating him for fun, makes friends with other serial killers, and so forth. But then again, [[it's not as though the cops are lacking for serial killers|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Serial_killers_who_worked_in_law_enforcement]]. [[Birds of a feather|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Serial_killer_duos]] and all. Hannibal is said to have written academic papers about subcultures and social stigma, and I mean, yeah, I guess being a murderer is a sort of subculture?

Also Laurence Fishburne is in it (has been in it) and he's great, he's all no-bullshit and I love his horrible soul patch (redundant). He's the only one I recognize besides Mads Mikkelsen.

I think this one hooked me more because it wasn't as focused on the detective guy? He is still boring.

Oh and we got some strong vegetarian shit this episode, hell yeah. And no backward scene.

One very stupid thing is that Hannibal's call was "blocked" and so can't be "traced". Like... he dialed star-6-7 first? *That's* an obstacle to the FBI? Or do they know where it came from but not who placed it, and haven't thought to interrogate the guy who was there at that exact time?

### Episode 04
Hannibal gave the new girl mushrooms lol.

Another backwards scene...

Chosen family: murder edition

Meh.

### Episode 05
Religion and cancer and marriage. Boring.

### Episode 08
Things have been chugging right along; I'm invested, if not enthralled. This episode marked a turning point: Hannibal is officially developing big gay feelings for whats-his-face. :3 And we saw him off-kilter for the first time after an encounter with another serial killer.

### Episode 09
I can see Hannibal and Will are supposed to form a dyadic pair, one with too much empathy and one with too little. But does Hannibal really have *zero* empathy? It seems like he perhaps *does* care about Abigail and Will in some way? I wasn't sure what to think when she killed that boy. Was he exaggerating how the death would look, trying to manipulate her into a compromising position, or genuinely looking out for her? And to what end — his own amusement? He's now expressed some concern for Will and encouraged him to leave his job, which I agree would be for the best, but then he obviously benefits from taking a weapon out of the hands of the police. Will's dissociative episodes make me wonder if Hannibal is drugging him. Verrrrrry interesting.

### Episode 10
So now Hannibal and his evil doctor friend are covering up organic illness to gaslight Will. I guess that answers some questions.

It's endemic to the genre, but the villainization of madness is getting a little out of hand. As far as I know, Cotard's is not associated with violent behavior.

### Episode 13
Seems Hannibal's deal was simple sadism after all. More's the pity.

### Verdict
Not terrible, but a bit slow. While it dallied with depth, it ultimately felt shallow, more of a pretense of complexity — which I suppose also describes the titular character. The unremitting dreariness made it more of a slog than it really needed to be — I'd like more thrills and chills, to feel on the edge of my seat, in order to enjoy such a stone-faced show. So, unfortunately, in the final analysis it inherited the flaws of _Lambs_. But I'm a season deep, I didn't hate it, and it had its moments, so I'll give it more time to grow on me.


## Season 2

### Episode 01
Wasn't sure whether we were gonna get a victim-of-the-year or not, but in fact we are continuing the Will Graham story. Eh.

### Episode 02
This season is off to a pretty strong start with a new killer making fucked up art. And some role reversal!

### Episode 03
Hannibal is apparently flirting with Will by killing people to help his case. Very cute. And fucked up. I winced pretty hard at that mutilation scene.

### Episode 09
This season has been quite enjoyable! Was too invested to stop and take notes.

This episode just dropped a stinkbomb: "species dysphoria". Oh boy. Wouldn't be Hannibal Lecter without some dumbfuck transphobia.

### Finale & Verdict
I knew Abigail would be back since we didn't see her die, which was confirmed when his first victim re-emerged. But it's pretty funny they held off until the last episode and then immediately killed her back off.

*Much* more engaging than the first season. The subtle dialogue between characters we aren't sure who's side they're on was fun. It's sort of hard to get too invested in Hannibal though, since for all his weirdness he is just a horror monster at the end of the day. Unfortunately Hannibal continues to be the most interesting character by a long shot.

This show has really great fight choreography. And the extreme close-ups are getting a little overdone, but they're cool too.

Onward.


## Season 3

### Episode 01
We learned some more of Hannibal's philosophy: he doesn't consider what he does cannibalism because his victims aren't his equals. That tracks. Aside from the eating people, he's just another fascist in a fancy suit.

There's a bit where they discuss Hannibal as having no ethical concerns (he has been overtly a nihilist since season 1) but instead having aesthetic concerns. This reminded me of Oscar Wilde, who espoused (or had characters espouse) an aesthetics-based morality in... _Dorian Gray_, was it? and perhaps something else. (Did William Blake say something along these lines too? I don't care enough to look it up.) I have a hard time taking that school of thought seriously, and here comes Hannibal with the reductio.

There was a bunch of unsubtitled foreign language in this. Irritating. Maybe not so bad for European viewers, but in the US you should definitely sub everything besides English and Spanish. There was a Dante quote, some food orders, nothing important. But still.

### Episode 02
Hannibal sent Will a horrible valentine. Aw.

### Episode 03
This season is so abstract and boring. Kind of a shame since they're also making the Hannibal/Will doomed romance angle so explicit. Speaking of, I love a toxic queer romance as much as the next homo but moving past the murder of your daughter seems like a tall order.

The Lecter estate bit was so stupid. This show is stupid. It's fine for horror to be stupid but it needs to also make me laugh, scare me, and/or gross me out, and none of those are happening.

I hope the rest of this season isn't such a slog. I had to resist the urge to pause the show and look at my phone several times during this tedious episode.

### Episode 04
Just when I thought I was out...

Some big wince moments here.

I love the horrible misogynist southern millionaire guy.

### Episode 07
How can a show be this goofy and this boring at the same time? This episode gave us a human-pig pregnancy and a face transplant, among other things.

Yawn.

I think part of the problem is nobody's motivations make any sense. Will dumped Hannibal this episode — why now? Maybe because he tried to saw his head open an episode or two ago? Was that worse than the stuff he did before? It seems like he broke up with him immediately after Hannibal did something nice for him by helping him escape. Maybe he only likes him when he abuses him.

Hannibal surrendered to police — why? Some manipulative mastermind plot? Some kind of desperate attempt to keep Will in his life?

The shrink is working for the millionaire guy, then changes her mind and helps Hannibal — why? Because Will got caught up in it? Also, she's fucking the millionaire's sister, which is cool and all but it's kind of weird that it didn't come up before. She just seems like a completely different person.

The random Japanese assassin — what is her deal? She tortured a guy for years because she thought he killed her friend, but then she realizes Hannibal probably did it, hunts him down, then... kills everyone who threatens him and leaves. OK?

Is this supposed to be some kind of big-brain twisted psychology or something? It feels like there's zero attempt to be coherent, just do whatever seems spoopy and dramatic and hope for the best. The whole show has had issues with pretentious manufactured dramatic moments — characters talk in proverbs, take long pauses staring at each other blankly, etc. — but this season takes it to an extreme and has no substance to hang the story on. It's basically unwatchable. It's taking me *fucking forever* to finish.

*(I never finished it.)*