Hannibal Season 1, Episode 10 ‘Buffet Froid’
Directed by John Dahl
Written by Andy Black & Chris Brancato and Bryan Fuller
Airs Thursdays at 10pm ET on NBC
(Randy is filling in for Ricky this week – you can read Randy’s reviews for other Hannibal episodes at Processed Media.)
Underneath the dense psychology of ‘Buffet Froid’ is a pretty fantastic little ghost story, albeit one told in Hannibal fashion, where the mind of the ghost proves to be more interesting than her gory actions. Maybe I’m just reeling from the great news that NBC renewed Hannibal for a second season (seriously: good fucking job, NBC), but ‘Buffet Froid’ was a beautiful little hour of drama, a bit hard to follow at times, but ultimately a satisfying – and oddly, emotionally touching – episode.
Our crime of the week material comes in the form of a girl named Georgia – a decrepit girl who possibly is a leper – who suffers from Cotard’s Syndrome, a mental illness that causes one to question whether they are alive or not (a common nickname for it is “Walking Corpse Syndrome”). As Georgia wonders whether she is alive or dead (almost entirely offscreen, to further the illusion of her being a ghostly presence), Will wonders whether he is sane or insane. Like Georgia, Will can’t get an honest diagnosis from anyone around him (Georgia’s doctors always attached a disease to symptoms they didn’t recognize; Will can’t get a straight answer from anyone on his state of mind) and is starting to lose himself, showing signs of spacial neglect (the clocks he draws while with Hannibal resemble gibberish) and blackouts that accompany hallucinations (he wakes up in the middle of a crime scene, thinking that he killed the disfigured woman while blacked out).
There’s lots of talk about Georgia and her odd conditions (the weird scene of skin coming off her skin, the disfigured eyes) the focus of ‘Buffet Froid’ remains exactly where it should: centered on the brain of Will Graham, whose mental state is coming more and more cloudy as the season continues. Of course, said instability isn’t being helped by his ‘friend’ Hannibal, who hides Will’s medical condition from him in order to study his mind a bit more, and the things he is seeing and thinking. As Hannibal’s neurologist friend mentions in conversation with Will and Hannibal, Hannibal is more interested in the projected images rather than the projector; that is, his morbid curiosity as to what is happening in Will’s head is more interesting to him than his actual well being (when Hannibal points out later that he can “pull him back in” when the time is needed, the cavalier attitude he delivers it with suggests otherwise), which puts Hannibal right on the same playing field as Will’s boss Jack, who is only now starting to realize that Will might be chasing around all of his lost marbles.
As always, ‘Buffet Froid’ is visually lavish- though the colors are a bit more muted this week, as the show puts us into Will’s shoes, seeing the world from an inconsistent (there are numerous jump cuts of Will moving from one situation to another, as in previous weeks) and frequently muddled point of view. The few moments he has clarity – reliving murder scenes, talking to Hannibal – are the most visually distinct, an ingenious visual companion to complement the surreal atmosphere Fuller and company have built over the first 10 episodes.
There are a few moments where the episode rides on great convenience (Georgia walking in on Hannibal murdering the neurologist, who knew information about Will only Hannibal could know), but this isn’t something new to Hannibal – a show that puts realism lower on the (non-flesh) totem pole, in order to enhance the characters, themes, and world of the show. It can be a bit of a stretch at times (like how the hell did that girl follow him from Delaware to Virginia when she was already near death, suffering from unknown, horrible diseases), but with the consistently terrific material around it (not to mention the numerous homages to horror films in the episode) keeps ‘Buffet Froid’ from falling into the ridiculous.
Aren’t you pumped that we’ll get at least another 13 episodes of this show?
Other thoughts/observations:
– no Dr. Bloom this week; maybe it’s for the good while Will wakes up covered in blood at a murder scene, or thinks about
– Will: “I feel like I’m fading.”
– Jack Crawford is “officially concerned”: did anyone feel like his slight change of heart toward his treatment of Will feel a bit inconsistent from previous episodes? I’m not fully buying that Jack is overly concerned with turning Will into Miriam 2.0 – especially the part where Will gets killed by Hannibal.
– Will says Hannibal can’t publish anything about him, at least until “whoever dies first.”
– Georgia’s mother says that mental illness is not about finding a solution, but managing expectations; it both makes Will desperate to figure out what’s going on inside his head (for fear of really losing it), and raises one of his eyebrows in a suspicious manner. Is he wondering why Dr. Lecter is pulling so hard for the “mental illness” angle?
– the ending scenes were both fantastic: Will talking Georgia out from under his bed was an unexpectedly powerful moment, shining light on the parallels between them through the episode.
— Randy
