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S03.E03: Secondo


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Laurence Fishburne is great here but I have to admit him being on Black-ish at the same time did have me say "Pops!" once or twice. 

 

I'm mostly here for the back and forth between Hannibal and Bedelia and Mads' attire.  An elegant psychopath sure love his plaid and striped blazers.

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It's a fairytale, after all.

 

I needed that reminder.  The show I am devoted to is the one that -- improbably -- has brilliant criminologists hunting psychos with art skills, especially in the area of "still life."  In my show, Will is a weirdo and was drugged/manipulated by Hannibal, but he's still highly intuitive, smart, and compassionate.  But I can wait for more of that if I remember that an episode like last night's is meant to be dreamlike.

 

His previously unrealized graduation project from the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane :)

 

:::falls over:::  Oh my, did I need that laugh this week. (due to RL, not the show).  Bravo!

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I don't know if Hannibal's slipping; first he puts a kitchen utensil through someone's head at dinner, which is quite rude, especially if there are other people at the table, and then he wore that nasty yellow striped suit that looked like it belonged to the lead singer of that group who sang "Zoot Suit Riot."  (yes, I do know the gruop's name was "Cherry Poppin' Daddies.")

 

I don't fault him for the suit, he's worn goofy things before.  But the icepick thing at dinner?  Yeah, he's slipping.  Hannibal, NEVER at the table.  Let the poor man finish that fabulous drink and his own meal before you make a meal of him.  He also bled into a large plate of olives. For a culinarian who would "never do that to food," to let that man's raw blood ruin the flavor and presentation of a dish is a big no-no. Sloppy.

 

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The last lines of the episode made me think Hannibal killed and ate his sister because she had done something to him (at least in his mind). Also the "What happened?" "Nothing happened. I happened". Besides, I just can't believe he would let the cannibal murderer of his sister alive and whole in that cellar, just a pawn to use in his game with Chiyo. Wouldn't be that hypothetical murderer way more important than that to him? Wouldn't be someone whose death Hannibal would want to watch?

 

Killing that guy was not the thing to do if you really want to keep your freedom. Anyway, it's starting to be a bit ridiculous. Hannibal is a wanted criminal and they know he's in Italy. Even if you want to leave the Internet out of it, his face should be in every newspaper. I know Hannibal isn't the most realistic story ever, but this makes zero sense. 

 

Also, I think this obsession with snails is hilarious. It's like the writers are trying to make them look exotic and creepy, but to me they're just dull and common and a bit endearing.

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(edited)

GreyBunny and Helena Dax make such good points. Are there new writers this season? Hannibal has gone from he of the sophisticated palate, impeccable manners and love for the arts to a caricature of Jeffrey Daumer. Very disappointing.

Edited by saber5055
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Wow, this show is slowly morphing into a live action version of CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon. Is Will doing a long con to make people think he's crazier and more broken than he already is? When he strung the dead prisoner up like that it reminded me of the death head  moth from Silence of the Lambs. Maybe part of him does feel the connection to Hannibal but I hope there's still the part of him that believes in bringing Hannibal to justice.

 

And I think Will's not the only one whose spiraling. Even Bedelia noted the frequency of the murders and he's becoming more careless and less in control of his impulses. The fact he's rationalizing eating Will shows he is definitely insane and will become probably easier to catch.

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My favorite episode of the season. I haven't found the episodes slow at all, in fact, time absolutely flew, and the only annoying thing was the commercials.

I also love punny and impulsive Hannibal. After all, it's going to be his "whimsy" and "exquisite cunning" that get him caught! Every scene with Bedelia is gold.

And I love Dark-ish Will.

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(edited)

I also thought of the death's head moth, redfish.

 

 

I thought things went down like Chiyo said, that her prisoner killed and ate Micha, and she was left in a similar situation to Margot: given power over someone's life, but using that power means giving in to Hannibal's design.

 

The last lines of the episode made me think Hannibal killed and ate his sister because she had done something to him (at least in his mind).

 

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.

 

 

bummer Julian Richings only had a one shot ep

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.

Edited by MisterGlass
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Right it was intentionally ambiguous, I definitely still read it as Hannibal ate his sister along WITH Bucky Haight (bummer Julian Richings only had a one shot ep), 

 

Woah!  I had no idea.  Did not recognize him at all.  He really went downhill after Dean killed him.  (Sorry, bad Supernatural joke.)

 

Back to lurking.  :-)

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(edited)

I think Hannibal's getting more out there (yes, crazy) if that's possible. There's no way he doesn't know that his time's running out and it would be ridiculous if the police don't catch him by the end of this season. I think he maybe wants to be caught or he's so crazy he has convinced himself that Will really has forgiven him. Bedelia's just playing along with his madness. I'm guessing Bedelia's up to something. I think she's working to get Hannibal captured but how other than working with Will I don't know. Why put herself in that position anyway?

 

Are there new writers this season?

No, but there was no way the format of the show wasn't going to change after the season two slaughter but where else could they've gone if they didn't have him go out of the country? I agree that they could've given him a lower profile but how uninteresting would that've been...Hannibal the country psychiatrist? I can't see it! Anyway, the season two finale would've been a great series finale. I'm glad it wasn't though!

 

I wonder what local legend has to say about that castle.

Stay clear of that place! Move out of Lithuania as soon as possible!

 

Is Will doing a long con to make people think he's crazier and more broken than he already is?

He's baiting Hannibal. I don't think he's broken or crazy.

Edited by kmm49
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I wonder what local legend has to say about that castle.

 

Stay clear of that place! Move out of Lithuania as soon as possible!

 

 

Whatever Lithuanian is for NOPE NOPE NOPE.

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Like others, I think Chiyo looks too young to have known the Lector kids back in the day. I'm glad Jack is back too although I don't see how he could have survived the wound he had. Will continues to bore me to tears.

I didn't see the preview -- is Raul Esparza's Chilton really going to be back?

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I wonder what local legend has to say about that castle.

    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.

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It's interesting to me  how aggravated people are by the OTT arty pretentiousness of this season, when I feel like that has always been a significant aspect of the show (that aggravated me), but it aggravated me precisely because it wanted to ALSO pretend it was your typical straight forward procedural cop show. So I'm actually far more tolerant of it's stylistic excesses when that straigt laced forward aspect is being backgrounded, and the entire setting even acknowledged as some kind of gothic fantastical dream world they all exist in rather than any real world where these tableaus of both Hannibal and others are things meant to be taken as actually having happened in a real world way. Cause naw, bitch.

 

The music is annoying though regardless, take down a fucking notch or ten.

 

I have always felt (to some degree) that I was failing an art class while watching this show, but this season seems to be ramped up to eleven. I am enjoying it as entertainment but I admit to completely missing elements of the show because I'm just here for the pretty.

 

 

 

Right it was intentionally ambiguous, I definitely still read it as Hannibal ate his sister along WITH Bucky Haight (bummer Julian Richings only had a one shot ep), not that he did the murder and the eating and manufactured the part about crazy bearded dude doing it at all.

 

This made me so excited because HARD CORE LOGO!!!

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Castle Dracula, I mean the Lecter ancestral; home. looked damn creepy--no wonder Hannibal turned out the way he did.

 

I kind of love the idea of Mischa being a Will-like in that Hannibal saw that they were good people and worked hard at getting them to break, but they turned the tables on him. 

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(edited)

I am just happy we get Sarah as a reviewer! Brings me back to the 1990s. The reviewer on AV Club is good too. She sees things I would never notice. And that's why I love this show. It deserves multiple viewings.

I think Chiyo looks about Will' s age, maybe a few years older. And who says she needed know Misha? Or perhaps she knew Misha as a baby? In the books she is around 3 or 4 when she dies.

I like the idea of Hannibal also spiraling out of control in his Hannibal kind of way. He does seem like he is trying to impress or engage Bedelia in this episode. He is much more attentive to her.

I hope Gillian Anderson likes oysters. How many of them has she eaten! ?

Edited by jeansheridan
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(edited)

I hope Gillian Anderson likes oysters. How many of them has she eaten! ?

According to Janice Poon (the food stylist for Hannibal) from an interview a few weeks back, she ate 3 dozens of them in a day.

 

 

“Gillian loves to eat. She’s so lovely and tiny I’m always wondering how she can be eating like that. It’s like, ‘Stop, you’re making us all fat!’” she laughs. “ She must have gone through three dozen oysters in one day.”

 

Edited by Cubbiegirl
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I thought the bathtub scene was sexy as hell!  Some of the scenes in this could truly be Art with a capital A.   The ice-pick was a surprise, I just had to giggle, but like someone upthread said, the ice-picked guy's line "I can't see" took my breath away.

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I didn't think that Hannibal was spiraling out of control. I thought he was screwing with Bedelia. She wouldn't want to see the man suffer, and she inadvertently kills him. It was still the kinder move, even though he didn't survive.

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I didn't think that Hannibal was spiraling out of control. I thought he was screwing with Bedelia. She wouldn't want to see the man suffer, and she inadvertently kills him. It was still the kinder move, even though he didn't survive.

Both could be true. I think both are.

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I enjoyed this episode more than the last too. I like cheeky Hannibal. This is the level of artsy pretentiousness I can live with.

 

Way to be eco-conscious Will, and not let that dead person go to waste! Poor Julian Richlings, network television really seems to want him dead this year.

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There's a part of me that wonders if Bedelia does not have a part of herself hoping she ends up as the others - No one in their right mind would be doing what she is doing and her motivations are not yet clear so there could be something in her wanting such an end for herself.  

 

I haven't read the books - don't know if she is a character in them or if she is, what her motivations are revealed to be but she's pretty screwed up and pushing herself to withstand more of more of his psychotic behavior, now being a willing (though not one who planned to be) participant; how cooly she did what she did - her threshold seems to be higher for witnessing ghastly horrors and now playing a part in them.

 

That said - this season, for me, their scenes together are the best thing.  

 

I'm over all the cinematography; like a lot of things for me, too much of a good thing, it starts to become ordinary and not special anymore and that's where I am with that stuff.

 

Their scripts must be some of the shortest in the business given how little dialogue there is overall - 

 

And, once again: Someone, PLEASE, turn the lights up!!!  Please!  Hello?  

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Just watched this episode.

There is no show currently on television that I am aware of that can match the aesthetic and cerebral beauty and intensity of Hannibal. Every episode is truly a work of art and an intellectual triumph.

Thrilled to see Jack back. I love LF in this role.

More thoughts when I fully process.

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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

the end of the book Hannibal, when Clarice ended up going with him, which was very divisive among fans.

  I like this better.

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I didn't think that Hannibal was spiraling out of control. I thought he was screwing with Bedelia. She wouldn't want to see the man suffer, and she inadvertently kills him. It was still the kinder move, even though he didn't survive.

 

 

After the back-and-forth about observation and participation in the first episode, he's forcing her to participate more directly.

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Oh, yes! Yes! This is the episode I've been waiting for! Finally, the structure of the season is taking shape! Last week, we saw Will tracking down Hannibal, but with no real context as to why he's there or what's happening back at the FBI or any of the real-world considerations that the show must eventually tackle. When Will said he forgave Hannibal, was he just trying to re-establish their connection, to be the "lure" again and keep Hannibal interested in him? Or was there something else going on? NOW it makes sense! He's in Europe, I'm guessing WITHOUT the blessing of the FBI, because he's unable to let go of Hannibal and the connection they have. But at the same time, as Jack said, Will's imagination was "broken," and he's still struggling to put it (and himself) back together, and it seems like a bit too much of Hannibal has seeped into the cracks! So far the Ravenstag, Will's spirit guide, has been hinted at, but absent. It's appeared twisted and deformed by Hannibal's creations, and this week we saw Will seemingly searching for its antlers in the growth of branches, but he hasn't yet been able to find it. This tells me that Will may very well be trying to trick Hannibal in the same way as before, but he certainly lost himself in a significant way last season, and is still trying to find himself, and return to his moorings, but he's coming up all Hannibal. The damage is real, but is he using it to his advantage to pursue Hannibal and bring him to justice? Or is Hannibal just the only source of stability he can find, and he's clutching at it on instinct and against all good sense? But Jack is there to help him too, bless him! 

 

And Hannibal, of course, is also losing his bearings, his control... he can't let go of Will either. Only this season, instead of molding Will into a companion, he may end up hunting him for real to extend some "forgiveness" of his own.

 

I'll admit I wasn't as happy as I'd hoped to be with the first two episodes, but now that the characters and their situations are becoming more defined and a trajectory/arc is getting established, I think it's only going up from here. This season could very well be a doozy!

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After the back-and-forth about observation and participation in the first episode, he's forcing her to participate more directly.

That's what I thought. She also showed more confidence again, at the beginning of this episode, I thought. I'll have to watch again. 

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(edited)

All righty then.  I watched the episode yesterday and took the evening/night to collect my thoughts.

 

Overall, I am disappointed.  Mainly by the storyline entirely and also by its pacing, the egotistical masturbation of Film School Bullshit that is just un-fucking-relenting, and the total lack of explanation/motivation for the main characters.  Hannibal doesn't require motivation.  He is entirely self-motivated so he escapes my disappointment.  He is what he is.  What WTF was Whiny-Boy (my name for Graham) doing in the bracken in the cold, wet, dark out from God knows where building a campfire that wouldn't warm a snail's butt.  Cooking grouse?  Hanging out in a fen while there is a crazy completely out of place Asian woman with a double-fucking-barrel shotgun who's willing to use it roaming around randomly? 

 

Okay, and what about her.  Just what the fuck about her?  What are her motivations?  What the fuck did she do in that mouldy old mansion daily?  She sure as shit didn't watch Netflix on her HD flatscreen.  She, what, wandered around contemplating how shitty the weather is, how nice it would be to have indoor plumbing, and an electric light or two?  Those were a fuck lot of candles for her to be lighting every night.

 

What, now.  I'm supposed to understand or even be interested in an elegant Asian woman who shoots her own fowl for food, butchers it, and keeps a hermit in a cell?  And she does this why?  Day in, day out?  She doesn't say "fuck it" and take off for Tahiti -- the weather is great there and there's lots of sunshine.  I don't care WHY she's guarding the Smelly Italian Hermit because it's never clearly explained to me.  No, I don't just take a leap of faith for that sort of deviance.  It's too large a leap.  

 

No.  Just no.

 

Next, I'm sick to death of Bedelia being part of the baroque furniture -- please, for the love of God, Hair & Makeup and Wardrobe, stop with the 40s hairstyles and the outfits -- no one dresses like that unless they have an army of people to dress them every day.  Go read your fucking Jane Austen or any period drama.  They look like a pain in the ass to do everyday so she can sit around and spout short sentences of psychobabble while she's nothing more than a part of the scenery.  (Please, reference that felt green monstrosity she was wearing in a previous episode, complete with hat.  She looked like Kermit the Frog.  Stop it.)

 

There are two things I liked about this episode, specifically, I liked LF and his conversations with the local gendarme.  I really, really liked that Will has taken action and left that calling card for Hannibal.  It's like waiting for Hamlet to finally take action, and once he does, cheering for him.  I hope it turns out better for Will.

 

So, unless some more significant plot advancement takes place sooner rather than later, (and in lieu of bloated arthouse crap) the show has just about lost me.

Edited by Captanne
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I haven't read the books - don't know if she is a character in them or if she is

 

I think she's their workaround for Clarice who they don't have rights to, but I kind of like her better so whatever.

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They ending would've been better if Hannibal said nothing or just smirked. The eat him line blew it for me.

 

I found that one weird at first, too. But that wasn't a reveal for the audience as much as it was a reveal for himself, Bedelia had been pushing him towards that point. In that way, it made perfect sense that he said it out loud.

 

Loved the episode and it didn't feel slow at all. Sure, it was artsy as hell, but if it's done so extremely well, I have zero objections to that. I guess it was also one of the last chances to take a breather and do an episode like that, before the plot has to take over again and who knows if we'll be getting a season four.

 

My favorite moment of the season was definitely how Bedelia dropped the mic/sunk into the bathtub after asking Hannibal how his sister tasted. I really dig their interactions this season.

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So Hannibal killed and ate Mischa because she somehow transgressed against/betrayed him? Is that where we're going?

 

I guess he spins it that way in his own perverse logic. "She betrayed me by looking so delicious, I just had to eat her so I could forgive her for that." At least that's the vibe I got from it. Or maybe he asked her to eat someone together and she declined, probably not in a very polite and accepting way, which could count as betrayal and/or rude behavior in his mind. Or she wanted to tell the police, you know, like a normal person should. Either way, I'm sure the show won't give him a justifiable reason for killing (and eating) her to make us sympathize with him. It's "Hannibal" we're talking about, not fucking Dexter.

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I find it interesting that Jack's phrasing when he says he's not in Italy to find Hannibal is 'not my house, not my fire.' Firstly because fire seems to be the element most commonly associated with Hannibal already, and secondly... Jack, you do realize what happens next when the house next to yours catches fire, right? The writing on this show being what it is, I can't imagine that this won't come back to bite him later.

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I wondered about the significance of the fireflies.  If the recapper is right and Bryan Fuller referenced Grave of the Fireflies, that's effing brilliant.  If you haven't seen that film, do.  If you aren't a blubbering ball of tears by the end you're just not human.

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(edited)

The shampoo scene didn't do anything for me because of the way he was smearing her hair around her scalp. No. No! Use the tips of your fingers and languorously massage the scalp! If you smear the hair around you're just going to tangle it!  

 

Also, I always wonder how people manage to slide down into the tub like that without getting water up their noses. Whenever I've done it, I damned near drowned myself.

Edited by Tippi Blevins
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(edited)

Regarding the hair scene, I was distracted because there are several shots (on the side, specifically) where her hair looks dry and then, from overhead, it's wet and sudsy.  The whole scene looked scrape-y and tangle-y to me.  "Sexy" never occurred to me.  (All deference to the recapper who got pregnant that way.)  

 

ETA:  Well, and the other problem is my first response was, "Bedelia contemplative and simulated-drowning in the tub -- AGAIN?"  I mean, didn't we just see that one episode ago?

 

EETA:  There is a busy discussion of the cancellation in the media thread.  http://www.tv.com/shows/hannibal-2012/community/post/hannibal-canceled-nbc-143500663619/

Edited by Captanne
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Sexy 101 is a man or woman washing their partner's hair. I am surprised more shows don't do it. It is intimate and feels good. I didn't study Mads technique but I did notice his wedding band. Fake Dr Fell wears a band. Found that interesting.

 

Also, I always wonder how people manage to slide down into the tub like that without getting water up their noses. Whenever I've done it, I damned near drowned myself.

Snort. You are too practical. I bet she blew out.

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So Hannibal killed and ate Mischa because she somehow transgressed against/betrayed him? Is that where we're going?

 

I think that may be what they're trying to make us think at this point.

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(edited)

So Hannibal killed and ate Mischa because she somehow transgressed against/betrayed him? Is that where we're going?

 

That is not the impression I was left with. I think what Hannibal has been saying is that it is not that he became a monster because of the trauma of what happened to Mischa when she was killed ("nothing happened to me"), it is just that with Mischa gone he was unleashed, the monster within that was being supressed was out ("I happened"). That is also what the betrayal is about. "Mischa didn't betray me. She influenced me to betray myself, but I forgave her that influence." What to me that means is Mischa, the good influence she had on him, the love he felt for her,  was making him act/be more "human"/normal than he really is, preventing him from meeting his true potential for evil, kind of stopping him from acting according to his true nature, as he does now... I do believe the "I forgave her" part suggests he willingly ate her after she has been killed, though...

 

I actually like that while Chiyo and Bedelia may try to explain away why Hannibal is who he is and does the things he does through what happened to Mischa, both Hannibal and Will go "nope, Mischa doesn't explain or excuse anything".. To me it is a further indication of how Will just knows and understands Hannibal at a level none other can...

 

I didn't find the hair scene sexy either as I kept wondering if he was going to snap Bedelia's neck or drown her or not. Seriously, if I was Bedelia, I would not want Hannibal's hands anywhere near my neck or head. But then I also wouldn't ask him how his sister tasted.

 

The episode left me with the feeling Bedelia has been trying to influence Hannibal to kill Will, which I found interesting. Was it just her doing her part as his psychiatrist, trying to get him to "open up", or was it her thinking she has gotten too deep into all this and would rather not have Will & Jack catch Hannibal, as it would also lead to her capture? Maybe a bit of both?

 

When she claimed she knew exactly how to navigate herself out of the situation she got herself into, I read Hannibal's silence and expressions as something of a "Ok, Bedelia, you believe whatever you need to believe". Hannibal's focus may appear to be all on Will, and he may come off as a bit more impulsive and out of control than usual, but this is Hannibal after all, and of course he is in total control and plan mode - plans which include her. It is kind of like how the oyster situation is between them, she was thinking she was in control of what she eats and not giving into Hannibal by refusing to eat meat he serves, while as far as Hannibal is concerned he is feeding her oysters which will inevitably make her taste all that much better when he finally kills and eats her. Her finding out about that was one of the best moments in the first episode, in my opinion,and of course she continues to eat oysters because what else can she do - it is too late to claim she turned vegetarian... Either way, Hannibal wins and gets what he wants...

Edited by DeadlyEuphoric
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(edited)

I also get the feeling that Bedelia thinks she's being Hannibal's intellectual equal by flying too close to the flame (gives her that "rush of danger") and dribbling psychobabble at him.

 

To me, she just comes across as emotionally crippled and very, very stupid.

 

ETA:  See Crossbow below:  It's the spouting psychobabble that makes me think she is impressed with herself.  As his therapist she was in a socially accepted position of authority over him.  She may now realize she's not his intellectual equal but you can't take that superiority away from her.  And she gives me the impression she's desperately* clinging to it -- all while getting off on flying too close to his flame.  (Moth pun completely intended.)

 

*You see understated desperation in Anderson's performance all the time in this show.  I think, perhaps, it's to her own sanity and her sense of importance (self-preservation) in Hannibal's orbit.

Edited by Captanne
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