Hannibal Review: “Secondo” (3×03)

The secondo is the heaviest course of the Italian meal; it may include different sorts of meats or fish. Here's the most interesting part: according to Wikipedia (I do a lot of hardcore research for these reviews, you know…) either the primo or the secondo may be considered more important, depending on the locality and the situation. Depending, in other words, on the context. “Secondo” is all about exploring that context. The question of which is more important in a continuing succession of pairs—cause and effect, Will and Hannibal, eater or eaten—is left to the viewer.

Exploring the context of Hannibal Lecter means that we delve into Hannibal Rising, source material with which I am only glancingly familiar, by which I mean I am familiar with the fact that the source material blows and have therefore avoided it. Will visits the Lecter estate in Lithuania, which is a literal Dracula's castle. The gothic nature of the setting is a perfect match for the visual aesthetic that Fuller has cultivated. Roughly the first half of Will's time in Lithuania is extremely light on plot but heavy on creepy images and atmosphere, as he stalks Chiyoh, a mysterious woman hanging about the Lecter grounds who is keeping a prisoner.

Meanwhile Hannibal and Bedelia continue their increasingly perverse game of house. They have Professor Sogliato over for dinner, and Hannibal casually murders him at the dinner table. Then he and Bedelia casually observe, trading barbs, as the man dies in a most darkly comic fashion, until Bedelia pulls the knife from his brain and spares him. . “That may have been impulsive” and “technically, you killed him” are both surprising laugh lines. In fact, throughout the episode, these two bicker with an unexpected humor.

But the context is key. Bedelia is horrified by Hannibal's actions, but only for a moment, until her horror is replaced by her fascination. “You are going to be caught,” she warns him. Later: “You're drawing them to you, aren't you?” She's thoroughly chilling, and, moreover, she's much more interested in understanding Hannibal than she should be—she's fascinated by him. Consider context: what's more important? Understanding the reason for Hannibal? Or understanding what he is and getting the hell out of dodge as quickly as your feet will carry you?

The trap of understanding, of needing to find meaning, is one that Jack and Will and company have fallen into, and one into which Bedelia has more or less dived head first. In a way, Chiyoh is trapped, as well, though her trap is one of her own making. All roads, as always, lead to Hannibal, and soon the episode's central question—the context it provides, the dichotomy it presents—is between Will and Hannibal. How alike are they? Who is crazy and who is sane? How should we even define the two extremes?

It's only fitting, then, that the writing and editing as the episode continues begins to interweave Hannibal and Will's stories, showing us Will's discovery of Hannibal's past, as Hannibal shares a version of the same with Bedelia. The big reveal of the episode, insofar as Hannibal trades in big reveals, is that of Mischa, Hannibal's young sister. But as Will says, “Mischa doesn't explain Hannibal.” There is no easy explanation, no dot to connect. One or the other thing might be important; maybe cause, maybe effect. Maybe it doesn't matter at all. “All sorrow can be borne, if you put them in a story.” Maybe the whole thing is trying to foist meaning onto a horror that has none; a man who kills and eats for the power it gives him over his victims. After all, we have Hannibal's version of the same story: “Nothing happened to me. I happened.” Chiyoh's version of the story is that her prisoner ate Mischa, which set Hannibal on his path. Bedelia catches on more quickly, as she asks Hannibal bluntly how Mischa tasted.

It's no accident that Bedelia sinks into that murky bath once again this week. This time as Hannibal shampoos her hair for her—he might as well be drowning her himself. But has Hannibal happened to Bedelia after all? Hasn't she made, willingly, every decision that led her to this point? Is she not a participant after all?

It seems that Will is. He frees Chiyoh's prisoner, who summarily attempts to kill Chiyoh, forcing her to kill him instead. Chiyoh, at least, is sorry for what she has to do. Will isn't. Hannibal was once curious whether Chiyoh would kill. Is Will equally curious? He strings up Chiyoh's victim in a pose that would make Hannibal proud.

I've filled this review with questions because the whole of “Secondo” is questions at its core. Even Jack gets in on the game, talking with the inspector about the nature of faith, understanding, and imagination. And yet Jack still has faith—still imagines—that Will understands Hannibal. That there is something there to be understood. That it isn't all entropy, sliding slowly into pure chaos.

“Secondo” is by far the best of this opening set of episodes. Visually, it is a fabulously murky episode. Everything in Lithuania is in dark blacks and blues. The very setting threatening to swallow Will and Chiyoh whole. Even the scenes in Hannibal's stolen apartment are burnt orange, with none of the warmth that implies. The edits between scenes are slow dissolves, cross cuts, and fades in and out. Everything is of a piece; everything is of a design. Even if that design is a broken tea cup or a shattered bottle of wine. Narratively, the episode is the same; a fractured set of fairy tales and ponderings about the stories we tell ourselves and each other in order to bear the horrors we must live. It's been a slow, purposeful start, but with the closing scenes of “Secondo,” the stage is set—sooner rather than later—for reckoning.

Stray Observations:

One of the episode's neatest visual flourishes is the recurring, luxurious shots of snails. As Abel Gideon said so succinctly, “The snail doesn't know it's being eaten.” Hannibal sees everyone around him as snails, anyway, and maybe they are, for as susceptible to his machinations as they tend to be. Or maybe it's that the knowledge of it doesn't change their behavior.

As an experiment, I am going to watch Hannibal Rising and see how it compares. (I expect the answer will be “not favorably,” but my expectations are nil anyway.)

I try not to put too much weight on the previews, as the marketing monkeys responsible at NBC know how to twist and contort any episode beyond recognition. (RIP Parenthood.) But YO NEXT WEEK LOOKS SO GREAT.

Well, as you all have learned by now, NBC has not renewed Hannibal for a fourth season. I'm not going to eulogize the show just yet because I'm pretty confident that some online streaming service or another will resurrect it for at least one more go. It remains to be seen whether that would even be worth it, given the difficulty with getting the rights for Silence of the Lambs and considering that the end of Red Dragon is a fine stopping point for the characters we've come to know. As much as I'll miss Hannibal should this be the last season, you can't really blame NBC for this one. They've given the show more than a chance against pretty much all reason.