...Is THAT how you dance the Frolarhyde?
SPOILERS UP TO (and including) HANNIBAL 3x09. Also MAJOR SPOILERS FOR RED DRAGON, the movie and novel.
In this episode:
- Reidan of the Anglo-Filles podcast joins us!
- Discussion of Hannibal 3x09 "...And the Woman Clothed with the Sun," including Hannibal and Will's new relationship, the reinterpretations of classic scenes, the introduction of Reba, and our concerns about Alana and Margot.
- Let's have another horrible revelation about Abigail, shall we?
- Alana is the only one standing between Hannibal and the outside world, which doesn’t seem like a great idea. There’s a reason the president and vp always fly on different planes, Alana.
- The scene with Dolarhyde’s grandma is weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird
- Reidan brings up the term “scaroused” in reference to Armitage’s Dolarhyde
- The difference in approach between the re-interpretations of Dolarhyde and Hannibal
- Why is Reba’s creep radar not going off for Dolarhyde like at all?
- MAJOR SPOILERS BEGIN. We discuss whether we think Freddie will have the same outcome as the book. Ditto for Will and the end of the Red Dragon storyline.
- For those interested, here are our previous podcast episodes discussing the movie adaptations of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon. Spoilers abound, obviously.
- 010: Manhunter (1986) - Dolarhyde's Chairs
- 013: Red Dragon (2002) - RIDE With Me! (feat. Cleolinda Jones)
- The Psycho post I mentioned.
- Highlights from Fio's notes:
- I want to start using “Oh, go name the spiders” as a really really mild “fuck off” now
- Didn’t Mads used to be a dancer as well? Ian from the future: Indeed.
- "This is My Design" - Ian Doherty | SoundCloud | Bandcamp |
Will realized that Hannibal had fostered paternal feelings in him only to take away their target before he even knew Abigail was still alive. But it was fun to hear people realize Hannibal was an even bigger dick than they thought.
ReplyDeleteArmitage is better at his silent scenes, like the previous episode. His verbal performance is too creepy for Reba's reaction to seem plausible.
It's hard to say that his Dolarhyde moves like a dragon, because nobody knows what a dragon moves like. Or at least few are familiar enough with lizard movement to detect similarities.
Tom Noonan is still my favorite dialogue. He doesn't have a lot of exposition explaining what his deal is (just as Hannibal didn't in the earlier installments), so he has to rely on his performance to convey what's going on with him. He's very creepy (in part just due to the innate creepiness of Noonan), but much of that is in his physical performance rather than dialogue, so we can understand how Reba wouldn't immediately run in fear.
Rutina Wesley is doing great work. To the extent their shared scenes work, it's due to her.
Janet Leigh's character in Psycho is named Marion Crane. Norman Bates remarks on how her surname is a bird, the sort of animal he stuffs.
The "trust me, I'm smiling" scene in Manhunter takes place at work rather than home. He delivers the line in a somewhat chilly, but not particularly creepy manner (ignoring the hard expression on his face). She's a bit offput about possibly overstepping, but was aware her directness made that possibility.
Alan Bloom was originally the one who first guessed the Tooth Fairy was disfigured or believed himself to be. I'm disappointed they didn't give that insight to Alana.
The scene of Will desperately trying to hasten his exit from Lecter's cell is a great Manhunter moment. It emphasizes how internally uneasy he is in a way Edward Norton never did.
Freddie coming up with that phrase is more plausible in-universe than Chilton's "four quadrant killer". However, her line about "running off to Europe together" is simply false. If you want to analogize it to a romantic relationship, Will is the jilted ex who has taken up stalking rather than someone who actually eloped with Hannibal.
I'm much less keen on the show winking at the audience. It's a good enough show it can take itself seriously. It's not a comedy, and the tone has strayed too far from horror recently. Some of the earlier humor of the show could work without undercutting that. Hannibal dismissing one of Will's seizures as "mild" in front of Gideon straddles the line perfectly.
The show did try to fit Abigail's scenes into the episode/arc's theme of family, but it still felt disconnected. Presumably Hannibal not having enough "screentime" in the novel led to inventing new scenes for him (as in the Brett Ratner film). They also like Kacey Rohl enough not to let death prevent her from showing up.
I don't think the show has taken place over that many years in-universe. The premiere of the second season indicated it was 12 weeks until Mizumono, and there wasn't anything indicating that large of a time jump between season 1 & 2.
After giving that much blood, Abigail should have been even more affected/woozy. They're faking her death, not non-fatal wound. I did suspect that she was on mushrooms/hypnosis in the therapy scene, but I guess on this show it's not too farfetched for Hannibal to have snatched the Shrike's preserved body.
I had also thought Will's "I already did" line set Hannibal to killing Abigail, but Hannibal's statement in this flashback that he wants Abigail & Will to be together suggests he already planned out & intended that outcome.
The wrath of the lamb is not a Blake painting, but a reference to the Book of Revelation. Blake's paintings were also named in reference to that.