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I caught the Trump reference in the Henley song too, and then I paid extra-close attention to the lyrics. Well done indeed, Mr. Henley. True confessions: I know (and like) Colbert mostly from his Fresh Air interviews with Terry Gross (and other assorted appearances and profiles here and there) so I'm not coming at this with much TCR background other than a handful of random episodes. But this moment -- especially the way it was framed (be polite, he's my guest) -- was remarkable. Put this together with Colbert's LS interview with Joe Biden, and I'm seeing a distinctly respectful, intelligent perspective I never expected in late-night network TV. I find Cruz very dangerous because he speaks in a way that sounds very intelligent -- so even when he is wrong (which is most of the time), people who don't know any better will accept what he says at face value, because he sounds like he knows what he's talking about and his manner is calm and reasonable. The fact that he's also hanging around The Donald now, hoping to pick up his voters when he leaves the race, is also disturbing. He may be smarmy and slick (and as a Houstonian, I hate that he is one of my senators) but the way he presents himself can be insidiously persuasive to a certain segment of the population. I avoid Cruz whenever possible but I wanted to see what Colbert would do with him, and I look forward to The Donald's turn in the Late Show guest chair.

I really wanted to like this. The previews looked like it would be something really distinctive and different, and the cast, oh the cast! Colin Hanks! Betsy Brandt! Thomas Sadoski! and the others are no slouches either. But I didn't laugh, chuckle, or even smile once. I'll probably give it another chance (if I remember) but unless it significantly improves, I have plenty of other things I can be doing with half an hour.

What further worries me about Frances's supplementary art projects is that the judges seem to love them. I'm kind of over them myself. The floating islands thing was weird. It seemed like it would be overpoweringly sweet (and I have a major sweet tooth, so that's saying a lot). Also agree about the presentation being a bit bland/monochromatic. I was squeeing at whoever made the Millionaire's Shortbread (with apricot jam) for one of the petit-fours. I fell in love with Millionaire's Shortbread when I went to Scotland a few years ago and now regularly make it at home. (It's actually really easy.) It was also interesting to me that a petit-four could have a cookie (sorry, biscuit) base. I only knew about the cake-based kind.

"Gratified" is not that far off. Farmers will paint a certain color on their rams' chests, then when the rams mount the ewes, the color is transferred to the ewe's back and when the lambs are born they know who the baby daddy is.

Not technically about Hannibal, but NPR's pop culture blogger, Linda Holmes (known as and loved by many of us here as Miss Alli in the good ol' TwoP days) wrote an interesting piece on the future of television, in questions. The last question she addressed was "What is success?" Though she does not mention our show, I was thinking of it while reading her thoughts.

Great comments. Shows how the show has picked up in quality from S1. I could not bear the soap opera "drama" between General Toby and his SO. The actors have zero chemistry, and if the actress was on 24, as someone noted, I probably hated her character on that too. The actor who plays Toby, though, has a voice that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me, especially when he raises his voice. I think he's also got the male equivalent of vocal fry. That makes it hard for me to engage with the character, unfortunately. That last scene was set up so oddly, with Molly randomly walking down the street, then barely before I have time to frame the thought "Why is she walking down the street?" her latest hook-up shows up and alien hijinks ensue, then Richter is randomly there! What the what? Agree that the actor who plays Ethan is doing a great job, especially compared to other child actors this summer. (I'm looking at you, The Whispers. Also The Strain.) (And why can’t Ethan have two mommies? It is 2146 or whenever, after all, lol.) Love casting Hilarie Burton as a baddie. Some of us White Collar fans are predisposed to hate her on sight, so well done, show.

gpgurl50: One of the things I think this show has really demonstrated (unlike other similar shows) is that when you are using young men like Martin and Alex, there's going to be a lot of impulsive thinking and behavior that might not be in the best interest of your cause ;-)

I'm surprised to see so few posts for this series -- it's one I would have binge-watched if I could, it's practically all I can think about between Sundays! I agree about longing for subtitles of naturally-spoken Spanish; hell, Deutschland 83 was subtitles all the way down. We can handle it! Love me some Bruce so I'm not going to complain about the soundtrack. He is reliably a songwriter for the lower- and middle-class, so it feels right for this series. Now I think I get what all the fuss was about over Inside Llewyn Davis, if Oscar Isaac was half as good in that. (He is also made to look uncannily like the IRL mayor.) It's fascinating that a story that is so predictable, in a way, can be so compelling. And so timely and of-the-moment at the same time. Those crowds would be right at home at any given rally for the Donald these days. Kudos to the costume people -- reminds me of something I read somewhere that "real" people are usually not wearing fashion of the exact moment, but might be a year or two behind "trend," so the costumes sometimes seeming dated actually makes them more authentic, if that makes sense. (Also re: the boxiness of the cars; most folks didn't have a current-year model.)

Keegan-Michael Key was on Seth Meyers' show last night and told a story about meeting Mads. Seems he was at a business meeting and noticed MM in a conference room and asked to meet him. He shook MM's hand and apparently started gushing about how much he and his wife loved him in Hannibal (all the while still holding on to MM's hand...too long) and then he said he just went over the top and said "Merci" (like every European knows French, he said). MM said "you're welcome" back, in French. It was a pretty funny story. He's as much a fan of MM as some of us here. Video at http://sharetv.com/watch/968814

I'm catching up On Demand so am a little late to the discussion but I was wondering too whether I missed what the connection was between Martin's mother and Thomas. Loving this show. Besides Hannibal and Mr. Robot, it's the only summer show that's keeping me intellectually engaged and has an interesting sense of style to boot. If Sundance keeps this up (The Honorable Woman last year), they're going to start having a reputation for go-to quality television during the summer.

Such a wonderful series, and I so enjoyed coming here to read everyone's thoughts each week. I thought the story really picked up with the last two episodes -- they just flew by and took my breath away at moments with some of the imagery -- and the finale was very satisfying. I'm reading the (e)book now (a chapter before bed is just right) and it helps to have pictures of the characters in my head. I agree, it is very funny in spots, and I am enjoying reliving the story. I just wasn't ready to let go of these characters when the show ended!

I thought from the first episode that this show could be viewed as a case study in Shitty Parenting These Days and nothing I've seen since has changed my mind. At this point I'm watching just 'cause I'm kind of a completionist. I don't think I even like any of the characters anymore -- I was willing to cut the show a lot of slack because of all the goodwill I'd built up for Lily Rabe over the course of American Horror Story but I don't even like her character any more, and every episode rises (sinks?) to a new level of preposterous. Anyway, I'll hang in until the bitter end. It'll be interesting to see how this all gets wrapped up (or not).

Yeah, also on opposite Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I was enjoying watching live. I am not necessarily happy with this <insert my screenname> on Thursday nights, NBC!

Wasn't something said in the initial call between Pazzi and Mason about some sum of money with the proof (the fingerprint)? The money looked like bundles of US hundred-dollar bills to me, which would make sense -- US money, so it would be of some use to Mason. Though the "spitters-quitters" remark cracked me up and astonished me at the same time (S&P? would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that negotiation), I loved Alana's reaction (or lack of one). She just calmly took a beat and went on with her explanation as though nothing had been said. This version of Alana is definitely more interesting. Which reminds me, thanks, Sars, for noting her silver metallic suit being in counterpoint to the gold circles on the plates and glassware. This show owns its visuals like no other. Thanks, too, DeadlyEuphoric, for the gif of Hannibal tumbling out the window. I wonder if that was actually Mads -- it could have been a stunt double but he was a gymnast and that's a pretty basic backflip to start. I don't think he and LF used doubles in this fight scene any more than they did in the S2 scene(s).

I will miss Visnjic. He's been one of my faves since ER. Swore I was not going to waste another however-many-hours of my life on S2 of this show, but it's getting good buzz. (Entertainment Weekly gave the S2 premiere ep a B+, for example.) Still, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

It occurred to me that every viewer the show might have gained last week with that beautiful (but relatively bloodless) ep, it lost this week in revisiting the bloodbath of last season’s finale. Oh well, I suppose the show needs to let its (new) audience “see” it too. I certainly tell everyone I recommend it to, “It’s not for everyone.” mrsdalgliesh (and others) Not only was I getting that, I was also getting ads for my late local news (sometimes in two parts). I watched On Demand last week but DVRd this week so I could zoom around more easily to parts I especially wanted to rewatch, but this just makes it painful and is so insulting to what Fuller and his creative team are trying to do. Though I love everyone's thoughts here about what Will's "I forgive you" meant, I took it more as a means of drawing Hannibal out so their little game could resume. More of a "bring it on, I'm back" kind of "I forgive you."

Valny asked: Adam Bernstein directed the pilot/"The Crocodile's Dilemma" and Colin Bucksey directed the episode with the shootout in the blizzard ("Buridan's Ass). Bucksey won the Emmy.

Some of my faves/memories over the years: • As previously noted, “the Foo Fighters, fighting foo.” I can never hear the name of the band without adding “fighting foo.” • He hasn’t done it in years that I can remember, but in introducing somebody plugging a movie, “…opening in selected theaters – and I hope to God your theater has been selected.” • The way during the monologue he would button just the inside button of his suit jacket – when I do that, I call it “the David Letterman close.” • The “Is This Anything?” bit Last night’s show: • Harry seemed more excited about the shout-out to his friend than anything else, heh • Seeing Gilda Radner in the final montage – I had forgotten about her appearances. (She died in 1989, that’s how long I’ve been watching.) • I remember the Farrah moment, I was in a hotel in Chicago visiting a friend who was there on business. Thanks, Dave, for everything. You are sui generis.

Thought it was a nice touch that Bradley made her bed etc. at the motel before going to rob/trash her mother’s house – just in case Norma looked in on that room for whatever reason. As for the robbing/trashing, I thought the latter was a bit over the top. It would have been much more subtle/disturbing for them to find that all their valuables – kept places only another family member would know about – were gone, rather than the extra added destruction. Maybe that’s just the way of the teenage mind, to go over the top! I think Bradley might be seen as “annoying” not so much as a default position but more because of how her character was initially portrayed. She was kind of a mean girl who slept with Norman only for her own selfish reasons, not realizing how sensitive he is (putting the best possible face on that!). She certainly wasn’t drawn to be as sympathetic a character as Emma. This was a real turning point, the first time we saw Norman kill in the “real time” of the show. Killing his father was in flashback IIRC, and we were never shown that he killed Miss Watson. (He saw Mother and he blacked out, but that is all the viewers saw, notwithstanding Mother’s timely intervention in the lie detector.) I have to disagree that Norman is “responsible” in any “traditional” way for his behavior, though. He is clearly mentally ill, and only kills at Mother’s provocation. It remains to be seen how much memory of Bradley’s killing he will retain. All during the DylEmma scene, I kept imagining that he was thinking, “Do you know what I went through to get the money to bump you up on the transplant list?!” but of course he is a better person than I am, so he was thinking different thoughts, heh. I do believe Norman is “caught” at the end of Psycho. Isn’t the last scene him sitting in an interrogation room speaking as Mother? I would guess he would’ve been committed sooner rather than later after that. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the showrunners said that we would see Norman’s evolution ramp up significantly this season, that there would be no doubt of where the show was going. Done and done. Finally, do real-life female DEA agents show that much cleavage, or just TV ones? I find that annoying. How hard is to put the woman in a traditional (conservative/government agency-appropriate) business suit?

I’m putting a lot of the weight of how I’m reading this on (1) Peter Gould writing and directing the epi – Saul is his character, and (2) I don’t believe Vince Gilligan does anything by accident – so I feel like there’s something especially important in what the season left us with in the last scene. Specifically to the latter, I feel like Jimmy felt, after his week with Marco and how it all ended, that any money you “legitimately” earned by using your skills and abilities and talents, was rightfully yours, whether it was 80 bucks for a Kennedy half-dollar or half of the Kettlemans’ 1.6mil. (Or his cut of Walter White’s ill-gotten gains.) Whereas we see that for Mike (and true to his character, I think) it’s all (just) about the job. The idea of Jimmy going with the Santa Fe firm was intriguing – though at first I was confused, as it would take the show’s setting out of ABQ, then I thought, well, why not? We don’t know what happened to Jimmy before he became Saul – that’s the whole point of the show, after all. But I got the feeling, as Jimmy was rehearsing his greeting the Santa Fe lawyers, that he realized he wasn’t meant to be in that kind of environment. I don’t think any of this precludes his continuing to help his elder law clients. Hoping we get to see more of Kim next season; there is clearly a backstory between her and Jimmy and I want to know more about it. I came to be very fond of their relationship. The montage for me was an old-timey movie device. Not my favorite artsy shot in the VG oeuvre but it made its point.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'd watch Jason Isaacs read the phone book. Or just stand there. Preferably with his shirt off. Aaanyway, I thought this did a good job setting up the storylines. And it seems to have all the religion stuff right, with the Christian branch that wants to bring about Jesus' return by way of the red heifer in Jerusalem (referenced in the opening title). Also great to see David Costabile and Lauren Ambrose back on my TV screen. Hee, I thought of that too, with all the red here. I think one of the creators (Timothy Kring?) was associated with Awake; I forgot he also did Touch. I guess he and JI like to work together.

Oh man, I loved this. I barely knew it was on until a couple of days before, and even reading a review or two, I was afraid it was going to be more like Something I Should Watch rather than something I'd enjoy. But all day Monday I couldn't get the characters out of my head and I just wanted to get back to them and their stories. (And now I want to read the book!) The cast was stellar all 'round, and of course McDormand was extra special amazing. But I was kinda most impressed that for all the screentime Jesse Plemons got as neo-Nazi Todd in Breaking Bad, it was his character here (Jerry) that I really truly hated with the fire of a thousand nuns. Kudos to all.

TeresaDee: That kind of made me swoon and then catch myself and go...ew?...simultaneously. It is one of my absolute favorite hymn tunes, most commonly associated with "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," the first verse of which is: Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly minded, for with blessing in his hand Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. It's usually sung in Advent, but it's an ancient (4th century) Christian hymn, set to the French melody Picardy, so read into that what you will in terms of this show! I think TPTB might have chosen it because it's kind of a haunting melody and the lyrics are also rather evocative. At first I thought whatever was in the cage was more "creaturely" than human, since it looked like it was a claw that was extended rather than a finger, and also, an acorn? But now I think that could have been some sort of bloody mutant finger and maybe it's a damaged human(oid). I have no idea.

I wish they had hit the point at the end a bit harder. It was obvious to me all the way thru that they were going for a comparison to modern-day science around climate change, but given that they are aiming this at a general audience, I'm not sure that point could be inferred and be as devastating as it should be. Even An Inconvenient Truth includes the Upton Sinclair quote that "It's difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends upon his not understanding it."