Criminal profiler Will Graham approaches the body of a young woman who has been impaled on a deer’s antlers. “Our cannibal loves women,” Graham said, describing why this crime was created by a copycat. “He doesn’t want to destroy them; he wants to consume them.”
That scene from the pilot of NBC’s new show “Hannibal,” interspersed with shots of Hannibal Lecter preparing what looks like human lungs, is what makes the show so intriguing.
Hugh Dancy plays Graham, the main character, and is brilliant in the role. He instills an empathy in the audience for a character whose “horse is hitched to a post that is closer to Asperger’s and autistics than narcissists, serial killers and psychopaths.” His body language and demeanor convey how his character’s ability to “empathize with anybody” because of a strong imagination causes him to suffer. It’s this aspect of Graham that drew me to the show and sets “Hannibal” apart from the existing array of television crime dramas, such as “Criminal Minds.”
Helping solve cases causes problems for Graham as he puts himself in the mind of the killer, which is why when agent Jack Crawford, played by Laurence Fishburne, asks him to help with the case of a cannibalistic killer of young women, he is reluctant and needs to be provided with a psychiatrist (Hannibal Lecter) to help him cope mentally.
Visually, the show is solid. The slow motion and unique angles of scenes depicting murders distinguish the show from other crime dramas. The colors and darker look work well and are similar to shows that creator Bryan Fuller has worked on, especially “Pushing Daisies,” and “Heroes.” Though not as quirky as “Pushing Daisies” and “Dead Like Me,” which Fuller also created, the appearance and character development that made those popular exists in “Hannibal.”
Where the show goes wrong is with Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Mads Mikkelsen was the wrong choice to play a character who is simultaneously sophisticated, witty, creepy and fascinating. He has the creepy down, but I enjoy watching him as much as I enjoy waking up for my 9 a.m. class. Lecter is stiff, expressionless and lacks the charisma that made the character popular in “Silence of the Lambs,” and it’s a critical issue for the show.
Hannibal is supposed to make this show worth watching, but he is dragging the it down. Because the show is a prequel, I’m holding out hope that as the season progresses, Lecter will evolve into the deranged man he is in the movies. Currently, the writing toys with revealing how far into cannibalism Lecter is, leaving viewers to rely on knowledge of the story and movies to find hints.
Pilots are rarely ever a complete indication of how good a show will be, especially when establishing the show’s premise is necessary but harmful to the episode’s flow. Nevertheless, “Hannibal” is intriguing and well-acted enough to deserve further viewing.
