Let's Talk "Hannibal"

*This post contains spoilers!

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 I'm not usually the type of person to get into horror/thriller genre of television (this is coming from a person who had to turn off "Vampires Suck" because she got too scared) but over the past few weeks "Hannibal" has become one of my favorite shows. Before I go into everything that makes this modern day recreation of the famous cannibal perfect, I think it's necessary to describe the plot. "Hannibal" follows teacher, Will Graham, as he is recruited into the FBI as a profiler by chief Jack Crawford due to the combination of mental disorders he has that enables him to see through the perspective of an unsub. Though in the beginning Will seems to be emotionally stable, he is haunted by hallucinations and nightmares from the crimes he has worked on and also because of his empathy disorder so Jack enlists the help of psychiatrist, Hannibal Lector, to support Will. As the show progresses, not only does Will change drastically, so does the relationship between the two leading characters.

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   To start off, the show is beautifully put together and all the sets have the same continuous feel and creepy/dark vibe. Everything put into this NBC program is gorgeous in it's own way, including the crime scenes. Unlike a lot of other crime shows dealing with the BAU, (for example: "Criminal Minds") this one has the same set up of one repetitive killer (The Chesapeake Ripper aka Hannibal Lector-though no one knows) and Hannibal is always creative and artful within his murders making messages out of his victims including my favorites such as the angels (above) and the human tree (below).

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   Talking about the people in the show,Will is easily my favorite character and no it isn't because Hugh Dancy is one of the most adorable people to exist but for the reason that he is actually an extraordinarily well written character. There is so much to this man's personality from his love for dogs to the way he can walk into a crime scene and immediately tell you exactly how someone was murdered that makes him interesting. You can easily see that Will is pretty on edge with his job in the first season since he tends to not trust himself since he has a past of breaking down and not being able to handle such heavy and graphic images inside his mind. I also appreciate NBC loads for not making Will Graham out to be sexy or the hot one of the show and instead focus on the actual traits and personality of this man.

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   Oh and don't get me started on Hannibal Lector. For starters, Mads Mikkelson couldn't be better at providing the creepy aura the Chesapeake Ripper has. The way Hannibal talks and and interacts with others is A+ and I can almost feel how uncomfortable most characters are around him. The character is also extremely well thought out and I would like to give a big thumbs up to the writers of "Hannibal" for not making the ripper too overdone and typical horror movie villain. Doctor Lector seems like the kind of guy who could very easily kill someone (and consume them) yet you would never guess it was him.

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   Moving onto talking about season two (the most recent one), I don't think I could ever describe how fantastic an actor Hugh Dancy is. For those of you who haven't seen the show, Will is convicted of murdering multiple women and sent to a hospital for the criminally insane. During his stay, he is visited by psychiatrist Alana Bloom and former coworker, Beverly Katz, as he tries to prove that he is in fact, innocent. There is obviously quite a lot of pressure put on him which leads Will to go insane having extensive hallucinations as he recovers memories of Hannibal encouraging seizures on him. To be honest, I don't think I have ever seen someone capture insanity that well. From the way Will's body movement changes to his tone of voice, Dancy captures everything to create a large turning point in Will Graham's life. Not once was it overdone or cheesy and I can't appreciate that enough. 

   For anyone unsure about watching "Hannibal", let me tell you it is not nearly as disturbing as NBC makes it out to be and most of the horror is psychological (which I love). I will have to warn you they're are many bloody and gory scenes, but it is all made up of people who are already dead and when Will goes through a walk through of the crime, nothing is extremely violent. I am mainly afraid of anything with supernatural beings in it (which is weird since "Supernatural" is my favorite show) which "Hannibal" has none if you don't count a really non scary stag man that follows Will around in his head. I'm also going to remind everyone that I can be terrified from things such as previews for Lifetime movies so trust me when I tell you something really isn't that scary!