I’m excited to be reviewing the last three episodes of Hannibal. My fingers – and everything else – are still crossed that the show will find a way to continue either with more seasons or at least a television movie/event, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy the ride to the end. Fuller, of course, is going to have his hands full for the foreseeable future with American Gods anyway. Hannibal, “…And the Beast From the Sea,” was written by the team of Steve Lightfoot and Bryan Fuller and was directed by Michael Rymer.
The show has been doing a terrific job of adapting the novel. While remaining essentially faithful, it has reworked the novel enough to keep us guessing. I’ll admit right up front that I prefer the more straightforward storytelling over those episodes that become too concerned with trying to find interesting ways to portray the inner psyche. This particular episode really made use of tried but true horror tropes to keep me on the edge of my seat – or pushed as far back into the couch as possible, depending on the moment.
I’m speaking of Dolarhyde’s (Richard Armitage) assault on Will’s (Hugh Dancy) family and home, of course. We know as audience members what’s coming from the moment Dolarhyde’s “homework” turns out to be footage of Molly (Nina Arianda) and Wally (Gabriel Browning Rodriguez). Dolarhyde with Reba (Rutina Wesley) innocently sipping a martini while lounging in his lap is stalking his prey. She innocently asks if the footage is of his ‘nocturnal animals’ and she wonders if they know they are being filmed.
When Will’s precious dogs are poisoned, I really hoped that would sound the alarm, but of course, Molly isn’t going to tell him that she shirked on her care of them by feeding them canned dog food. Every little moment builds the tension. I loved the shot of the FBI warning as Molly and Wally leave the vet’s office. Of course, the warning itself is only to report mutilated animals and the vet suspects the canned food that Molly fed to the dogs anyway.
It’s everyone’s worst nightmare: you wake up and someone is in your house. Molly keeps a calm head – it’s clear why Will married her. She wakes Wally and gets him to safety first. Then we have to suffer through her going back through the dark hallways in which we know Dolarhyde is lurking. I loved the beautiful shot that pans from Dolarhyde on the porch down to Molly standing directly under him. She pulls a sleight of hand and gets Wally out from under his nose and then there’s the beautiful shot of them running down the long black driveway flanked by mounds of snow. We get the moment in which we think she is going to be struck by a car – or he won’t stop – and then the driver gets out only to be shot by Dolarhyde. We finally think they are safe – for a heartbeat! – and then there is the spay of blood on the dash as Molly is hit – and we fade to black without knowing if they make it or not.
As the episode begins, we see Will, Jack (Laurence Fishburne) and Alana (Caroline Dhavernas) working together to try to stop Dolarhyde. It feels very much like we are back where we started. Will has been manipulated right back into the thick of things and he’s once again got the most to lose. Jack is fine with simply manipulating Dolarhyde into committing suicide, but Will has him figure out well enough to know that Dolarhyde won’t try because Dolarhyde can’t be sure of killing the thing within himself. Little does Will realize at this point that Dolarhyde plans to get rid of the dragon by foisting it off on Will.
The three are once again being manipulated by Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) – though to what extent, they don’t yet know. They surmise that Hannibal knows the Tooth Fairy because he treated him in the past – not realizing that Hannibal is, in fact, treating him right now. I loved the way they manipulated us as well by using Hannibal’s old office to make it seem like their consultation was taking place in the past – until the conversation was clearly from the present. However, not only is Hannibal having the conversation in his office in his mind palace, Dolarhyde is physically making his calls from Hannibal’s old office.
There are two terrific scenes between Dancy and Mikkelsen. In the first, Will confronts Hannibal about deliberately setting up Will to run into Dolarhyde at the museum. We know how Hannibal and Dolarhyde were communicating – via phone – but Hannibal taunts will with other possibilities – was it personal ads? Toilet paper? In fact, those were the methods used in the novel and the previous movies. Hannibal does give Will a chance – he warns him by asking Will if he sees his own family as the victims when he closes his eyes. Hannibal knows that Will soon will. I also thought that Hannibal’s musing that Dolarhyde chooses his victims via social media was frightening and more realistic than choosing them through home movies as is the case in previous incarnations.
In the final scene, Will confronts Hannibal about the attack. Hannibal tells him the truth. It’s clear that Hannibal is jealous of Will’s new family and that Hannibal is as fascinated as always by making other “become” something else. Clearly, this desire in Dolarhyde was ultimately seductive for Hannibal. But Hannibal sees – and has always seen – this latent violence in Will as well. Hannibal asks Will, “Don’t you crave change?”
Dancy is excellent in this episode as we see Will struggling against so many emotions. He also has to confront what his walking back into the dark side has done to his new family. Molly tells him she knew he would come back changed, but didn’t realize that she would also be changed by it. Wally wants to know if Will has killed before. Like Jack, Wally sees killing Dolarhyde as the most viable option – and wants Will to do it. Will is angry with Jack and confronts him about having to justify himself to an eleven year old. Wally has learned about Will’s stay in a mental institution for murder from a Freddy Loundes’ article. He’s not too happy with her either – all of which sets up using Loundes’ as bait for the Tooth Fairy. If you’ve seen the movie, you should have a good inkling of what we might expect to come.
Alana also confront Hannibal in this episode. Of the three working to catch Dolarhyde, she is perhaps the most outwardly changed by her time with Hannibal. Her look this season is completely different. She now wears very tailored suits and her makeup is much harder and more pronounced. More than anything, her look, especially her hair, reminds me of the 1940s – when women in the war stepped up to fill more male-centered roles- something that also fits with her new personal relationship as well.
Alana appears to have gotten the upper hand with Hannibal. He doesn’t appear particularly perturbed by her discovery of his fake lawyer calls. She believes that all he wants is to be relevant – but it’s not to her or Jack that he wants to be relevant – it’s to Will. He agrees to call Dolarhyde and seems to be cooperating until he tells Dolarhyde that they’re listening. This leads to the iconic shot of Hannibal in the mask on the trolly. Alana takes great delight in stripping Hannibal’s room of all it’s comforts, including his toilet, in hopes of also stripping him of his dignity. Mikkelsen is simply a joy to watch as Hannibal maintains his composure and dead-shark-like eyes throughout.
Richard Armitage has delivered a brilliant performance as Dolarhyde. I have to admit that him beating himself did look just a little silly, however. Regardless, he is wonderful in the scene in which he breaks it off with Reba. Wesley is also terrific in this scene. She believes he’s breaking it off because he sees her as a burden. Dolarhyde’s inner turmoil, his desire to keep her and his desire to make sure she’s safe from the dragon, is almost physically painful. He tells her he is afraid that he will hurt her – and she is insulted, thinking he means emotionally when he really means he’s afraid that he will kill her.
Dolarhyde is clearly unstable – even more now that he has lost the one piece of normalcy that had him resisting the Dragon. I wonder if Hannibal will remain at all relevant. For our sakes as viewers, I hope so! Is there any hope that Will can return home when this is all over? I’m definitely looking forward to how the rest of the season plays out! What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
