Hannibal Review: “Aperitivo” (3×04)

It’s a little odd yet fitting that “Aperitivo” is the fourth episode of the season. It’s odd because, in Italian dining, the aperitivo is the drink that precedes the meal; it’s meant to whet the appetite and to break the ice in social situations. It’s a precursor to not just to the main course, but the meal itself.

Despite the fact that “Aperitivo” arrives three hours in to the meal that is Hannibal season three, it performs many of these functions. It (finally) connects the dots between the ending of season two and the events of the previous three episodes, and then it spends much of its time setting the table for the middle act of this season, which will bring us, one presumes, to the status quo of Red Dragon. With some minor deviations, of course.

But for all of the (some might say overdue) explanations and resolutions “Aperitivo” offers, there’s no skating around the fact that it halts the momentum that Hannibal has so far achieved precisely by skipping past all that exposition. This episode is tracing its own steps for much of its running time, and, frankly, after three episodes, I’m more invested in what’s going on across the Atlantic.

Fortunately for us at home, even a somewhat disappointing episode of Hannibal is still better than most anything else on television, and “Aperitivo” is full of the little delights that we have come to expect. The opening scene between Chilton (who has cheated death again!) and Mason Verger is a master class in grotesquery, as they strip off their masks to reform the deformities with which Hannibal Lecter has left them. It’s one of the weirder scenes the show has done—which is saying something—that are full of weird sexual overtones that never quite resolve themselves.

Weird sexual overtones persist into yet another reflection back on that night at Hannibal’s, though now we visit it in another new context, after Bedelia’s bombshell that, maybe, Hannibal is literally in love with Will. The constant flashing back may eventually become tiresome—maybe it already has—but I love that the show affords this sequence its proper weight. For all of these characters, this is the most fucked up night of their lives, bar none, and that impact is fully felt each time we revisit the scene from another perspective.

It’s after these opening scenes that the episode begins to flag, if only a little. We see Will meet with Jack, prior to taking off to Europe to chase after Hannibal. He admits to Jack that he wanted Hannibal to run, and that he, in fact, wanted to go with him—so basically he almost found himself in exactly the same position in which Bedelia now finds herself. “Friendship with Hannibal is blackmail elevated to the level of love,” after all.

We also catch up with Alana, who had her own flirtation with Hannibal in the previous season. Now, with a fancy new cane and an apparently murderous new attitude, she’s providing therapy to Mason Verger and also maybe convincing him to form a supervillain team with Chilton in order to get revenge on Hannibal. I don’t yet know what to make of this development in Alana’s character—she is so changed from the source material, where Alan Bloom is a minor character, and yet her development in the series so far has been so contingent on her relationship to the other characters that it’s hard to gauge how far she’s snapped, or if it’s even believable that she would. The jury is out here.

Finally, we spend some actual quality time with Jack, as he finally decides to give Bella the peaceful death she desires. How much is his reasoning for this linked to his experience at Hannibal’s? It’s purposely vague. But Jack’s decision here is firmly entrenched in the context of the previous episodes this season. In the matter of Bella’s final days, is he observing or participating? (Hannibal sends him condolences because he is a giant prick.)

The episode is slower than I’d like. It spends a lot of time connecting dots that the audience has already done intuitively, but it’s still necessary plot work. It’s understandable why Fuller and company waited until now to do it, too. If “Secondo” was a reflection on cause and effect, on the context for horror, then this hour is a reflection on grief, death, and on the aftermath of said horror. We see how Jack, Alana, and Will dealt with that immediate aftermath, and how they arrive at the point where Will is going at it alone in Lithuania. In the grand scheme of things, this episode is shoe leather, connective tissue between the ultra-arty thematic work that came before and the falling dominoes that are about to come. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but I’m glad to be past it nonetheless.

Stray Observations

• Outside of flashbacks and the note that Hannibal sends Jack, this is a Hannibal-free episode. This may or may not contribute to the perceived lack of momentum.
• Also, how demented is that gorgeous dream sequence in which Will and Hannibal murder Jack at dinner? There is so much to unpack in that image, and I really hope that we revisit it as the season wears on.
• Chilton copyrighted “Hannibal the Cannibal” because of course he did.
• Hannibal may be taking over from Mad Men as the stealth funniest show on television. Lots of black humor in this episode.
• “If my brother offers you chocolate? Politely refuse.”
• “I’ve always enjoyed the word defenestration, and now I get to use it in casual conversation.”
• Hannibal Revival Rumor Watch: Rumors all over the place this week. Hulu maybe wants the show but can’t have it because of Amazon’s contract, which Amazon may or may not make good on? And it might not matter at all because the show’s international backers might demand network involvement? Also, maybe A&E is interested? Look, if there’s more Hannibal to be had, I will watch it literally anywhere Bryan Fuller asks me to.