Wednesday, July 29, 2015

079: Hannibal 3x08 "The Great Red Dragon" - ...And the Egregious Censorship of Buttcracks



SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x08, MANHUNTER, and RED DRAGON

In this episode:
  • After a 3 year time jump we catch up with all our old friends and learn just what they've been up to since the "capture" of Hannibal the Cannibal.
    • It's kind of like catching up with your friends after you come back to school from the summer but with more violent family annihilation and better food.
  • Alana is ruling the roost at the psychiatric ward and we're all kinds of psyched for that
  • Why is Hannibal afforded so many special privileges? We know he's not the type to be a super good boy.
    • Also, we're 90% sure he can escape whenever he damn well pleases and is only staying in one place so that Will knows where to find him.
  • Speaking of Will, we're happy to see him happy and Molly's actually nice so there's no chance this isn't going to be wall-to-wall awful as his entire nice life falls apart.
    • Hopefully we'll get to see some interactions that flesh out his relationship with his step-son before the dookie hits the fan, though
  • We're still curious as to what happened with Margot and Alana, as that might be a bright spot in what's sure to be a very freaking dark half a season.
  • Big picture questions about Will as the prototype for the disturbed genius profiler cliche and how that might play into the rest of his story this season.
  • Will hasn't been to see Hannibal in any of the 3 years of his captivity, dude can't be happy about that. At all.
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
Music:
http://archive.org/download/AMOT079/AMOT079.mp3

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

078: Hannibal 3x07 "Digestivo" - Giggling at the Name of Hannibal Lecter


SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x07

In this episode:
  • Back to our regular schedule! ...BUT AT WHAT COST? (None, really.)
  • Discussion of Hannibal 3x07 "Digestivo," including Margot's upsetting discovery and satisfying revenge, Alana's development as a character, Mason's awfulness, and of course, Will and Hannibal's relationship.
  • A brief discussion about the way Hannibal season finales tend to give shape and structure to the rest of the season retroactively
    • If this is what the MID-season finale was like, what the hell is the season finale going to be like?
  • The lighting in Hannibal deserves its own whole discussion
  • Killing Mason was a team effort. Hannibal, Alana, Margot, Will, and Chiyo are the Hannibal universe’s version of the Avengers
  • We all feel really weird that something good happened.
  • We award Hannibal a few points for facilitating the death of Mason, but he’ll probably lose them mad quick.
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • Fio's Internet dropped him from the Skype conversation a few times, so while we were able to edit out continuity issues, there may be some weird syncing errors. 
  • Apparently, the term is esotericism.
  • I just realized, if we ever had Tao Okamoto on, as well as Cleolinda, we would have a podcast consisting of Chiyo, Cleo and Fio. ...I'll let myself out.
  • Notes from Fio: 
    • I spend a while ranting about Hannibal’s color design and getting nowhere. I think what I meant to say was just “It’s impressive that, even though I look back and see that the color design is pretty outrageous, watching it in the moment it never strikes me as something unnatural or emanating from some source that feels inorganic for the scene”
    • Chiyo’s story is done because Chiyo’s story is just beginning. She’s going to move away and settle down in a small fishing village in the company of a blind old cat named Archibald Friskers AND NOTHING BAD WILL EVER HAPPEN TO CHIYO EVER AGAIN SO FUCKING HELP ME GODS, BRYAN FULLER
    • That bit with Cordell’s face definitely reminded me of the way that security guard’s face slides off of Hopkins’ face in Silence
Music:
http://archive.org/download/AMOT078/AMOT078.mp3

Friday, July 17, 2015

077: Hannibal 3x06 "Dolce" - ...And the Bees Are On Fire

Hannibal (2013) Screencap
Just a lighthearted get together between old friends.


SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x06, as well as spoilers for the Hannibal novel and movie.

In this episode:
  • Ian was kind enough to join us again at the last minute due to some complications with our guest host having a family emergency to tend to.
  • Everything is Hannibal and everything hurts.
  • There's a lot of movement going on in this episode which is a contrast to the more reserved, philosophical tone of the previous seasons.
  • Bedelia's a canny lady and Gillian Anderson deserves all of the Emmys. All of 'em.
  • Chiyo's motivations are still shrouded in fog, why does she does the things she does?
  • Ian mentions that he was finally getting what the Hannigram shippers see every day. Right before Hannibal ruined it
    • That's what Hannibal does. Freaking ruin things.
  • "Just make it weird." - Bryan Fuller's advice to Vincenzo Natali about how to direct a Hannibal sex scene, probably.
    • Seriously, though, that scene was freaking bonkers.
  • The interesting way the show chose to remix the final dinner scene from the Hannibal book/movie.
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • Apologies again for the lateness of this episode going up. This week has been an utter mess for both of us, though we do hope your week is going better.
  • Here's a link to the Nerdist article that Ian mentioned.
  • In the future we'll still be following our previous schedule and publishing episodes on Wednesday/Thursday so our Canadian listeners have a chance to hear the episode before the new Hannibal episode airs that week.
Music:
http://archive.org/download/AMOT077/AMOT077.mp3

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

076: Hannibal 3x05 "Contorno" - Even the Snails



SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x05, as well as spoilers for the Hannibal novel and movie.

In this episode:
  • Alina of the Anglo-Filles podcast joins us once again!
  • Discussion of Hannibal 3x05 "Contorno," including JACK CRAWFORD SMACKDOWN FTW.
  • Seriously, the Hannibal vs Jack fight was satisfying on a frightening level.
  • The Amazon/Netflix rivalry may have killed Hannibal and we are very extremely not happy aboot it.
    • Could we maybe just borrow the leftover blood from the Rihanna set for Hannibal S4, would that defer the cost at all?
  • Lots and lots of stuff from the Hannibal movie going on over here, including the interesting choice to evoke the Ridley Scott version of Pazzi’s death scene
  • Alina’s take on the Verger recasting and possible explanations for the change in Verger’s personality
  • Alina sheds light on the connections between this season of Hannibal and the Lewis Carroll classics Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
  • Canonically Alina would be correct about the snails being the only beings in the season taking part in coitus if it wasn’t revealed later in the podcast that Hannibal and Bedelia are throwing down.
  • There may be other forms of influence than violence, but so few people on this show choose to use them. At all.
  • We go on a Neil Gaiman roll for a while, including some discussion about Fuller's upcoming TV series adaptation of American Gods
  • The interpretation of Jack’s character in the wake of Bella’s death (How’s that for an inappropriate pun?)
  • In the show we don’t get to see Hannibal play with his food as much as we do in the movies
  • We have a huge Supernatural tangent here
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • One thing we DIDN'T comment on: the return of the image of the dragonfly tableau. 
  • Highlights from Fio's notes:
    • Your freak out about the train reminded me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the riverboat scene, which is also tangentially related to the subgenre we slot Alice in Wonderland into later kinda
    • “Yeah, I think Will… er…” my brain just filled that in as “Yeah, I think Wilford” and it was immediately like “Brimley. Why is Ian talking about Wilford Brimley?”
    • I totally don’t get that Dire Ravenstag / LotR reference at all, by the way, hahaha. Ian from the future: In The Two Towers, there's that scene where Aragorn falls off the cliff and a horse comes and wakes him up.
    • Ian, listening to you being completely oblivious to who Dolce & Gabbana are is one of my favoritest things we’ve ever captured on tape.
Music:
http://archive.org/download/AMOT076/AMOT076.mp3

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

075: Hannibal 3x04 "Aperitivo" - Why Not Chilton?



SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x04

In this episode:
  • Fio's triumphant return! W00T!
  • Discussion of Hannibal 3x04 "Aperitivo," including Alana's new direction, Chilton trying and failing to get in on the game, Will's creepiness, the new Mason, and Jack and Bella.
  • Iiiiiii'm snailiiiiiiiiiiing awaaaaaaaaaaaay....
  • The complicated rights inherent in the Hannibal cancellation debacle
  • Bryan Fuller thinks he can tighten the show up even further as the rest of us balk
  • The anthology style of this episode
  • The death in the S2 Finale resulting in the rebirth of S3, and the Wolf Man/Dracula/Frankenstein structure of these 3 seasons
  • Our conflicting opinions on the new Verger portrayal
  • You really can’t give Raul Esparza enough credit for his portrayal of Chilton
  • All of the batshit cinematorgraphy in S3
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • Highlights from Fio's notes:
    • Chris Columbus actually directed the first two Home Alone movies which were decent
    • Why did I not bring up Jodie Foster to Julianne Moore as the actor change reference? You’d think that would have been the first one that popped into mind, given what we’re discussing.
Music:
http://archive.org/download/AMOT075/AMOT075.mp3