Hannibal - Season 2 Review

Copyright: NBC

I usually write about movies, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t watch TV shows. Currently, there are several that I enjoy and follow regularly, and one of them is Hannibal.

NBC TV show Hannibal had a giant task. It was supposed to bring the character of Hannibal Lector to the small screens and a regular TV show format, which seemed almost impossible. Sir Antony Hopkins, who is most famous for playing Lector, a brilliant psychiatrist and a serial killer, made the role iconic. But, Bryan Fuller and other people from NBC decided to give it a try. 

The resulting TV show is a stunning masterpiece of television drama. Now the series is in its second season. The storyline follows a Special Agent Will Graham, an FBI crime scene specialist, who has a very complex and troubling relationship with Hannibal Lector, in that time a free man and an FBI consultant.

  

Lector, who is brilliantly played by Mads Mikkelsen, is presented as a dangerous predator, but also an elusive target for the law enforcement. Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Izzard and Gillian Anderson are just some of the other fantastic actors present in the show. In the beginning I wasn’t very impressed with how Hugh Dancy presented Graham, but now he completely immersed himself into the role, and especially his character’s transformation.

During the second season, Graham becomes certain that Lector is in fact the Chesapeake Ripper, the main serial killer wanted by the FBI. I was worried that the plot will begin to fall apart offer the end of the first season, but it actually got much better and didn’t lose any suspense. Apart from a great script, the show includes a very refreshing focus on the visual aspect and presents a quality worthy of feature-length films. In many scenes, colors and unusual forms are joined to present the different emotional states and are a strong inducer of the eerie atmosphere found throughout the show. There isn't any beauty in real life violence, but in Hannibal, gruesome acts are often presented as pieces of twisted art.

With its peculiar storytelling and a terrific cast, Hannibal Season 2 should be watched by anyone who likes procedural police dramas, but also loves great cinema.