MisterGlass

I love the expression Bouquet of Revenge. We need bouquets of revenge to go with the flower crowns.

Regarding the media, it is worth noting that we see the world the characters see. Many of them are not interested in media coverage of these events because they lived them. Hannibal enjoys reading about his own exploits, but after he left for Europe he maintained a low profile until Dimmond. And he was on site to see Will, who interested him more than the press. The media firestorm may have gone on outside this calm center, but it is eight months since the "red dinner" or "last act of Hamlet," and attention spans are short. He is the gravity well they orbit. This reminds me of dear old Franklin from the first season. He was drawn to unique people, and would have given anything to be in Hannibal's circle, but Hannibal did not choose him.

Oh I agree, Chilton wants power over the monster, and to fill his life with dozens of little vengeances, like processed food, orange jumpsuits, and questions about his mother. As I see it, Will wasn't the only one who made a friend in Hannibal. Jack felt very close to him in their dinners together and when they shared brandy afterward. Hannibal took pains to get to know Jack and Bella. And then he used their closeness to prod Jack with Bella, Miriam, and Beverly. Like Will, I think Jack has trouble reconciling his experience with Hannibal because there were moments of connection and understanding. For that matter, I think Hannibal was genuinely sorry for Bella's death. He said without irony that he thought the world was a more interesting place with her in it. I think a private hospital, since it seems to be where Margot was sent last year.

The episode 4 blog entry. Some nice comments about Fannibals and their efforts to keep the show afloat up to this point.

I thought this episode oriented the season. We've been getting flashes of where Will and Hannibal are emotionally, and this filled in the gaps for the characters that are or will be essential to the next stage of the journey. It's helpful for me to think of these early episodes as completely reestablishing characters for whom we had two seasons of backstory, but who have been transformed into something different by the end of the last season. They tell us where the characters are mentally and emotionally. With Will in particular, that's a really complex picture. Will is grieving. He feels guilty about wanting to leave with Hannibal, and the consequences that warning Hannibal brought to him and those near him. He's so wracked that he doesn't know how to relate to the people that he betrayed, or his place in his own life. Jack is his opposite. He gained focus and chose to dedicate himself to someone who mattered personally. Bella's passing gives him an opportunity to focus on someone else, and Will is that someone. Will is running toward Hannibal in a search for himself and Jack is running after him to help him find himself independent of Hannibal. Alana's cold, vengeful stance is a good counterpoint to Chilton's search for both empathy and professional capital. Alana's made a choice to be complicit with Mason just as Bedelia made a choice to be complicit with Hannibal. Both seem to have psychology as one of their motives. Mason remains a loathsome human being, and Margot remains fascinating. Chilton isn't prepared to take such a direct action like Alana, but he still wants to profit professionally from Hannibal or from Will as compensation. He has some sincere feelings, but no one can be blamed for doubting the sincerity of someone who copyrights the expression "Hannibal the Cannibal." This episode was entirely set in the past, in Will's mind, or in an alternate timeline where Will followed through on the plan to kill Jack. I think it would have been helpful to position this one before Secondo, after we knew about Abigail's death, and before Will's quest started in earnest. The non-chronological storytelling is a challenging watch. I've enjoyed it, but not everything is best when played out "Rashomon" style. I've realized watching this season how helpful it was to have characters like Price, Zeller, Beverly, and Freddie in the mix. People who were invested, but not tormented, and could show some gallows humor. I thought Laurence Fishburne and Gina Torres played this very well. There were lots of feels. Edited for clarity.

While I hope Bryan Fuller isn't throwing in the towel for his work on American Gods (two shows with limited episode seasons could work), his reaction to this was classy, and it's true we were lucky to get three seasons on broadcast. I'm still excited Fringe got five. I've watched so many shows I cared for fold after one that this feels like a victory. Whoever is willing to pick it up, I'll buy a subscription for it. The cast alone should be tempting, even before you get to the fans packaging protest offal in jars labeled with ornate handwriting.

I think Jack's house already burned down.

Bedelia isn't in any of the books I've read; I believe she is an invention for this show. Her decision in going with Hannibal seems to be in place of I like this better.

Stay clear of that place! Move out of Lithuania as soon as possible!Whatever Lithuanian is for NOPE NOPE NOPE I'm picturing a moat dug around the Lector manor by the people on the outside, trying to keep what's inside in.

That's fascinating, though per her advice I did not google it. I wonder if Janice gets a screen credit for being a hand stand-in. The rice dough oysters are impressive. Because I was curious, here's an article on punch romaine and the Titanic.

I thought he looked like a carnival barker at the world's scariest sideshow, which...kinda fits. Because one gaudy set of stripes isn't enough, we need them in three colors. The bow tie made it even worse. This thing made the turquoise suit and the plaid suit look soooo much better. Bedelia looked nice, of course. Chiyo's clothes kind of reminded me of Will's more outdoorsy wardrobe. Will is back to wearing his old shirts, but he still has that post-mental hospital trenchcoat.

I also thought of the death's head moth, redfish. It is still ambiguous, but I think he is at minimum complicit in her death, and I think he probably orchestrated it. The following are from different points in the episode: Bedelia: Would you like to talk about your first spring lamb? Hannibal: Would you? Bedelia: Why can’t you go home Hannibal? What happened to you there? Hannibal: Nothing happened to me. I happened. (pause) Bedelia: How did you sister taste? Will: (to Chiyo) Did you know? On some level, you knew. He created a story…out of events that only he experienced. All sorrows can be born if you put them in a story. Hannibal: Mischa didn't betray me. She influenced me to betray myself, but I forgave her that influence. Bedelia: If past behavior is an indicator of future behavior, there is only one way you will forgive Will Graham. Hannibal: I have to eat him. The red flags to me are 'spring lamb' and Will's suspicions. To me it reads as though Mischa was an innocent person, that Hannibal loved her, and that she could have swayed him to do something he didn't want to do. That may have been to give himself up, or give up his pursuits and be ordinary. The man in the cage may have been involved, or he may have been a witness. Well, we did see Zachary Quinto lying on Bedelia's therapy room floor, and dear Eddie Izzard keeps haunting the proceedings. It wouldn't be too far out there for more about the man in the cage and Mischa to be revealed. Edited for format.

Apparently the twitter hashtag for this episode was #snailedit. Have to go with "I happened."

So apparently there is a prop auction going on. Lot 30 is the plastic murder suit. There are also other costumes, assorted weapons, and china.

I presume Chiyo is Hannibal's cousin. Digging into Hannibal’s backstory is kind of a dicey proposition, and I wasn’t sure how depicting more of the story would strike me. Up to this point I’ve liked the hints, like Hannibal cooking a meal that he once cooked for his Aunt Murasaki. I thought the subtle nods worked well. The twist, that Hannibal killed Misha, and only blamed another, I did not anticipate. I’m mulling it over. It consolidates things, and makes his progression more linear. In this he wasn’t transformed, he was as he is, just less ornate. Bedelia recovered a lot of her poise once she faced her collusion. She stepped further back into her own clinical person suit. Still eating oysters, though, even if she finished off the professor. I’m glad Jack lives, that he met Pazzi, and that Will is his mission. Will desperately needs someone to show him a way. I must assume the candle was for Bella.

Oh Will, you are more damaged than I realized.

I agree that 'fascination' was part of why she went along. And Gillian is doing a lot with every look and inflection. The previews certainly played up the idea of a romance, but this feels more like their previous psychological gambits brought out into the open, while still maintaining the outward veneer of a couple. I agree jeansheridan that it is interesting to have an opportunity of exploring the ending of the book Hannibal without sacrificing a character like Clarice. In some ways Belinda is better equipped to handle Hannibal's manipulations, if she can get ahead of him. I don't think she's managed to adapt to the way Hannibal behaves now.

I didn't realize the Monster of Florence was a real criminal either. I thought it was invented for Pazzi's backstory in the novel, to explain who he is and how he behaves. This adaptation makes sense if the figure were fictitious, but it is odd to retain the appellation of a real murderer, even if the crimes are quite different. Will is drifting right now. He knows he has a future, and that it is related to Hannibal, but he's been so gaslighted and agrieved that he can't see the next step the way he used to. This is going to require Will to figure out who he is now, since he isn't the person he was. He has chosen to come back from the mind river, and he would probably have preferred to stay there.

Unable to watch yesterday, but so happy it was online. I do miss the excitement of chatting with all of you immediately afterwards, but of course there is your wonderful commentary to read today. This is very much the counterpoint to last episode – that set up Hannibal, and this set up Will’s state of mind. Will seems to be our Dante, having gone astray in the woods. It was again more style than substance, but since even Will isn’t sure how he’ll react to what comes next, I think it was worth the detour. I knew Abigail was one of his ghosts, but it still hurt. It occurred to me at one point after the season finale that Will might be the only survivor, and having him be this unreliable a narrator I’m not sure when I’ll be able to sort the living from the dead. I have to say, it’s a nifty little twist on the book “Hannibal” Harris is a good pulp thriller writer, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Hannibal.” I knew our showrunner had a knack for teasing options out of the source material, but so far I couldn’t be happier with the tweaks. Brilliant symbolism aside, I would like the original direravenstag back with a head next time, please. One unfolding corpse is enough and is already giving me bad flashbacks to the Pale Man. Will forgiving Hannibal means letting go of his victimization too. It empowers him.

My one complaint about Major's reproaches against Liv was the sneering way he commented on her taking brains from the morgue. That's a heck of step up from what the rest of the zombies have been doing. Major may well end up indicted for these killings. His prints are probably on the guns, and he would have powder residue on his hands. Even though Suzuki blew the place up, some of Major's blood is there too. Blaine is a good storyteller, has disposable income, and as he said, he has connections. Having his name written on a wall in blood could be spun as the act of a madman convinced that everyone involved in the shop was, gasp, a zombie! Unfortunately this has the same problem as if Blaine had tried to eat Major's brain to find the astronaut brains. The visions are not a guarantee, just a disjointed series of hints. I think Blaine delivered the boxes of brains immediately after he left the hand off, and that's why he wasn't there when Major initially started his rampage.

I'm glad Ravi survived the season finale. I imagine Major will have questions for him now.

I agree she was really in hiding. She warned Jack at the time that if he thought he was closing in on Hannibal, he was in trouble. I think she was sincere in her conversation, and afterward she was allowed to leave. She should have left at once when she realized he was at the house.

They definitely left plot lines open for next season. Blaine may still have come out the winner here, since he gets to be alive and a blackmailer, if he's still willing to kill people now that he doesn't personally need to. Assuming of course no side effects from the cure... Liv bothered me by forgetting rule number one of hostage exchange, for letting Blaine get away, and forgetting the cure bigger picture. Major won points for his escape, but gets docked one for gloating after the grenade went off. Liv had reason to believe Ravi had a cure that could be expanded to all the infected, so turning Major wasn't selfless but it wasn't necessarily the worst idea. However, they definitely need Blaine for more contaminated utopium if they are going to try working on a cure again. I thought Suzuki wrote a couple of lines, and also thought it was more than Blaine's name. Is Suzuki really most sincerely dead? It looked that way. I don't think her Dad has come up. I'm glad she didn't agree to donate, given what just happened with Major. Her blood type is unusual, but they aren't in that small of a town. If they put out an alert I imagine they could have donors within the time required.

Funnily enough it was easier for me to watch this time slot live on Fridays.

If the time comes, we can send Netflix recipe cards.