SummaryFBI head of Behavioral Sciences Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) brings together FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to help solve cases.
SummaryFBI head of Behavioral Sciences Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) brings together FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to help solve cases.
Its intensity, intelligence and dark power are the equal of anything on cable, with riveting performances led by Mikkelsen as the dapper, sinister fiend-in-plain-sight and Hugh Dancy as his tormented patsy, FBI profiler Will Graham.
Superior to the first season, more ambitious and dark. It travels paths full of pain despair and its season finale was epic and spectacular. What a great tv series
Wow. Talk about raising the drama, the stakes...heck, raising the bar in general. Hannibal season 2 is an intellectual feast (pun intended) that I intend on seeing through the end.
Mads Mikkelsen steals the show again, which is really saying something when you consider the gothic gravity that Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne bring to the table. The acting is top notch, the writing superb, the art direction has elevated to new heights, and the tension raised to goosebump-inducing levels.
The creators described last season's relationship between Will and Hannibal as "Cat and Mouse," claiming season two would be more "Cat and Cat." And man were they spot on. Hannibal has been "discovered" by Will Graham, only nobody believes him and he hasn't a shred of evidence to convict him on. Not only that, but he's been framed for Hannibal's crimes. Now Will needs to find his way out, which forces him to sink to Hannibal's ethical level while similarly raising himself to Hannibal's intellectual level. It is a fantastic study on becoming that which you seek, moral confusion, psychological inversion and friendship in the face of loathing. I feel bad for future television programs I grade, because this is the new benchmark for a perfect score.
Hannibal is thematically brilliant and dense in ways that most network television is not, but it wouldn't remotely work without its committed, incredibly talented cast. Dancy and Mikkelson continue to redefine these characters to the point that they're making them their own while Fishburne, Caroline Dhavernas, and another great guest turn by Gillian Anderson elevate the overall ensemble.
The last thing television needs is more serial killer dramas. But when they're this well made, this smart and creative and unexpectedly funny? Then, yes, more Hannibal, please.
The psychological cat-and-mouse games the characters play are more interesting and a welcome respite from the intense, horrifying serial killer stories.
Hannibal was lauded last season for its stylized look, which is on display here. Fishburne, as usual, is solid, and I like Dancy’s interpretation of Graham (just the right amount of despair without descending into self-pity).
After Pushing Daisies, another brilliant series from Bryan Fuller. Along with Penny Dreadful, this is the most entertaining horror series on American television. The acting is absolutely amazing, as is every other aspect of the show.
This is not as good as the first season. The first half of the second season is slow, even boring. The second half somewhat saved it, it brings more creepiness than ever. Yet the finale feels like they just wanted to squeeze everything into a single BIG episode. So in short, the pace of this season is not the best. It's quite stretched out until one big hit.
The second season gets more absurd purely from a crime drama perspective. To be fair, it doesn't even try to be good - there's practically zero criminal investigation or even amateur-level detective work. So, you must suspend disbelief on that and not think of this as a crime drama. Just focus only on the production values, the gore, at art, CGI, the recipes, the acting, the screenplay, the mind-games - you'll be able to enjoy it. I mean it - if they had bothered to put in some B-rated crime show level basic of FBI/detective work to show how at least some of the crimes were committed without ever getting caught, and not show every person other than Hannibal as criminally-negligent or insanely-inept, I would have rated this show close to 9 or 10.
As it stands, I'm being generous with a 5/10 for a season 2. The last 3 episodes take down the score from 9 to 5 for me - 1 point for episodes 11 and 12, and 2 points for the season finale, which is so far beyond absurd that it's almost a spoof of Hannibal; the last action scene looks like a "scary movie" or SNL skit.
I was really enjoying this show and its suspense, but lately it has just gotten absurd where each episode tries to out due the previous episode in either grossness or shock value. Without saying what has been happening, I am finding it hard to believe that even an insane, evil genius such as Hannibal would use the tactics he has been employing.
Wow, I have watched every episode and I think the show is getting worse not better. While I like most of the actors, I am getting bored with this ongoing Will Graham psychologically conflicted saga. I mean we have a serial killer who is an interesting character, Will Graham is getting really boring in whatever his confused role is. Let's move in a new direction please.