Hannibal

2014 has been yet another fantastic year for television, one that continued the nichification of the medium, with highly specific and underrepresented voices breaking through in every genre. There was a comedy explosion, particularly on cable, with dozens of new series presenting confident first seasons and several returning shows reaching new heights. The dramas didn’t disappoint either, with visionary creators bringing new life to familiar settings and taking greater risks with their returning series, deepening their worlds. Throughout the year, directors and cinematographers brought lush visuals, composers pushed the auditory envelope, and an astonishing number of actors gave fantastic, memorable performances. More than a few shows delivered spectacle on a weekly basis, while others went small, deriving incredible power out of stillness and self-reflection. Some series swept the audience up, week in and week out, and others built subtly, only showing their hand in their season’s final episodes. There truly was too much great television this year for any one person to see it all (95 separate series were nominated by our contributors!), so limiting the discussion to 10 or even 20 series would be ridiculous. Instead, here is Sound on Sight’s list of the 30 best series of what has been another wonderful year for television.

2014 has been yet another fantastic year for television, one that continued the nichification of the medium, with highly specific and underrepresented voices breaking through in every genre. There was a comedy explosion, particularly on cable, with dozens of new series presenting confident first seasons and several returning shows reaching new heights. The dramas didn’t …

When Hannibal first premiered in 2013, no one really expected much. How could a show about one of film’s greatest villains survive on TV, let alone network TV? And from Bryan Fuller, the man who created the delightful Pushing Daisies? But somehow, against all odds, Hannibal has become a visually stunning show that’s among the best …

The sixth episode of Lost was the first Sun episode. “House of the Rising Sun”, which originally aired on October 27, 2004, is one of the best episodes of the show’s first season, and it has stuck with me as the moment when Sun became a fully-formed and truly fascinating character, which she would remain until the end of the series.

If you haven’t watch the best show on network television, NBC’s Hannibal, you should stop reading.  Also, what the hell is wrong with you? On Wednesday, creator Bryan Fuller revealed some shocking news on how the third season will unfold during a Comic Con panel.  Where last we left the serial killer genre’s most notorious …

Part 3 of our listing of the best television episodes of the year to date looks at shows such as Louie and Game of Thrones, along with the individual picks of the contributors.

I would imagine that if “Mizumono” screened in front of a live audience, it would get a ten minute standing ovation. Let’s just get this out of the way real quick: “Mizumono” will go down in the books as one of the greatest season finales of all time. There is a seriousness and an intensity here that is unlike anything on the small screen; everything that sets Hannibal apart from every other television show is contained in this season’s riveting last installment. This is a truly inspiring example of classy storytelling and unforgettable characterization, and the collaborative effort of Bryan Fuller, Steve Lightfoot, and David Slade has resulted in something very special for fans of the show.

You can always count on Hannibal for a grim spectacle, and last night’s ‘Tome-wan’ was no exception. What began as a pretty standard episode, if a little more revelatory than the last few, worked its way to some of the show’s biggest moments yet (but more on that later).

Let’s start from the top, shall we? The episode opens with some typical Will/Hannibal banter as their therapy sessions continue. The conversation makes it clear that each is weary of the other but neither is willing to show their hand completely, and both maintain their poker faces, even as they hurl half-hearted truths, ill-meaning metaphors, and thinly veiled threats at one another between their more standard philosophizing on the human condition.

The episode opens with yet another misleading sequence, although exactly how misleading the gorgeously shot Will-digo transformation/birth scene really is remains to be seen–after all, we still don’t know with any certainty who arranged the Randall exhibit, or whose body was sent flaming down the parkade runway in glorious tribute to Red Dragon’s exemplary Tooth Fairy kill. In fact, I would hasten that there is still a lot that we don’t know about this secret plan which has occupied much of the narrative lo’ these last few episodes. But more on that later.

As a fervent fan of both the films based on the character Hannibal Lecter and the source material written by Thomas Harris, I found myself very excited at the prospect of a television series based on the relationship between the titular cannibalistic sadist and the man who would eventually catch him hiding in plain sight, the highly intuitive Will Graham. When I heard that actors like Mads Mikkelsen, Laurence Fishburne, and Gillian Anderson had signed up to be a part of it, my anticipation became palpable, tempered only by the fear that this would be a short-lived cash-in on a mostly dead franchise. In that regard, I was happy to be mostly wrong.

Hannibal will have a lot to answer for in the upcoming three episodes of season two. Right now, there is so much that just doesn’t feel right, but I’m willing to give Bryan Fuller and his team the benefit of the doubt, and assume they know what they are doing. That said, it doesn’t change the fact that, after 22 episodes, Hannibal delivers a misfire.

NBC’s Hannibal returns with its latest entry “Shiizakana,” an episode that explores the strange and complicated relationship Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter share. Shiizakana’ begins with a clear-cut dream sequence in which Will has Hannibal tied to a tree with the end of each rope cinched around the legs of a black stag. Will exerts control over the animal by signalling the stag by whistling. With each whistle, the stag steps a bit further away tightening the cordage around Lecter’s neck. Will tells Hannibal he is waiting for an admission, but Lecter isn’t interested in a confession, and so as the stag is commanded to fully engage the rope and pulley system forward, our favourite psychopath is beheaded with a geyser of blood splashing across the screen. Will’s command of the both the stag and Hannibal speak volumes about his current state of mind. The opening scene reiterates Will’s capability, and perhaps desire, to do whatever it takes to beat Hannibal at his own game. The two have had their differences, but now their relationship has advanced to a new level. Will is more than willing to unleash the monster inside him, and in order to defeat Hannibal, he must become like Hannibal.

Hannibal’s “Su-zakana” is pretty much a palate cleanser; an episode representing a new start in the relationship between Dr. Lecter and Will Graham. Now halfway through season two, the series seems to be entering a new phase in which Will slowly lures Hannibal by using himself as live bait. Hannibal has never been subtle, and if you didn’t already guess based on the episode’s title alone (which refers to a palate-cleansing-Japanese-dish), this week is all about the concept of rebirth.

We knew it wouldn’t be long before Frederick Chilton was a goner for several reasons, but one can’t help but think it came a little too soon. Not only has Raúl Esparza provided the series with some much needed dark humour and a superb performance, but his character has a prominent and important role in both Thomas Harris’s novels and in their cinematic adaptations. That said, this is an adaption and a very different medium, and so Fuller is wise in deviating away from the original source material. Nobody needs a page by page, word by word, reenactment of the books; so while Fuller is using Harris’s novels as inspiration, this is his baby, and based on the week to week quality of the show, we shouldn’t complain. It’s unsurprising that the many literature-based TV series currently on the air have approached their source material with varying degrees of success

“Futamono” marks the halfway point in season two of Bryan Fuller’s small screen masterpiece Hannibal. The plot burns forward, setting up the romance between Hannibal and Alana, and placing enough proof of Lecter’s crimes directly in front of Jack and Chilton. There are lots of clever nods to Silence of the Lambs, from Will’s talk with Jack mirroring Hannibal’s conversation with Clarice about Buffalo Bill’s motives, to the discovery of Miriam Lass, trapped in a cellar. “Futamono” inches forward at such a speedy rate that it won’t come as a big surprise if the events in the season’s cold open take place before the finale. “Futamono” isn’t the most exciting instalment of the series, but there are a number of interesting twists, and an ending that could make most gore hounds gag.

After her encounter with Hannibal in last weeks cliffhanger, the chances of Beverly coming out alive were extremely slim. But while her death doesn’t come with much of a surprise, the reveal of her fate is shocking, to say the least. Kudos to showrunner Bryan Fuller and Battlestar Galactica’s Michael Rymer, who directed “Mukozuke,” an episode crammed with stunning and unsettling images, and a tour-de-force performance from Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne.

Hannibal Season 2, Episode 4 “Takiawase” Directed by David Semel Written by Scott Nimerfro & Bryan Fuller Airs Thursdays at 10pm ET on NBC Hannibal continues to prove why it is one of the very best TV shows on the air and yet, the most criminally underrated series on television. “Takiawase,” is another standout episode …

Legendary filmmaker Peter Medak (The Changeling, Romeo Is Bleeding) directs his second episode of Hannibal; unfortunately “Hassun” is the weakest episode of the series so far. This week, Will Graham goes to court, and despite knowing his innocence, he has no choice but to play victim to mental illness in an attempt to avoid the electric chair. Amid the courtroom circus, Graham’s trial becomes complicated when Will’s lawyer opens a letter containing a severed ear. As it turns out, the ear belongs to a bailiff who is found mounted on a stag’s head in his home, just moments after it is rigged to explode. The newfound murder sheds doubts on Will’s guilt, as the bailiff was killed in the exact same way Will supposedly killed his victims. Or so it seems. The killer has perfectly replicated the presentation, only reversing the mutilation process, and making use of a firearm. We learn this when Hannibal visits Will in prison and asks him what he sees. Hannibal and Will return to their role of last season, only this time, with prison bars standing between them.

Hannibal Season 2, Episode 2 “Sakizuki” Directed by Tim Hunter Written by Bryan Fuller Airs Thursdays at 10pm ET on NBC Hannibal season 2 serves a second course with “Sakizuke,” the grandest guignol Bryan Fuller and director Tim Hunter have produced yet. Will Graham assists the FBI in tracing down a serial killer from within …

The end of the first season of Hannibal left Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) locked up in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Season 2 serves a promising start as Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) and Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) wine and dine on the episode title’s eponymous kaiseki, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. Following his arrest for the murders that took place in season one, Will finds himself in a tricky situation where he has to try and prove his innocence while trapped in a cell and while suffering from temporary memory loss. Hannibal Lecter steps into Will Graham’s shoes as the new FBI criminal profiler, and Will struggles to remember how it is Hannibal framed him for the crimes Hannibal clearly committed.

5. Orange is the New Black (Netflix) After the much-hyped release House of Cards and return of Arrested Development, Netflix released Orange is the New Black with little fanfare, seemingly unaware of just how great a series they had on their hands. Based on the true story of a white, privileged thirty-something who is sentenced …

The beginning of the year had a wealth of TV riches, a trend that continued through the spring. Here’s part two of Kate Kulzick, Simon Howell, Ricky D, and Randy Dankievitch’s list of 2013’s best TV episodes.

One of the surprises of the 2012-2013 television season has been the NBC show Hannibal. Initially decried by many as another serial killer show in the television season, the show nonetheless had some intrigued by the selection of Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller as its showrunner, and the casting of acclaimed actor …