Hannibal : Savoureux

Episode 13

The finale is finally upon us (sad times) and by the end of the episode will it be Will that is believed to have killed people or will someone finally catch Hannibal spinning his webs?

This series has been a total and utter mind blowingly amazing series, a gem of a show that doesn't get the love it deserves because its too this or too that. Personally I have found it so interesting and emotional waiting a week to watch episodes have felt like a stab of cold to the heart at times.

So for the last time until sometime next year.... Hannibal!

***SPOILERS***

We start with Will dreaming that he is hunting this stag, he better bloody kill it because if he shows up again in series two I might have to do something drastic. Like moan about him STILL dreaming about stags! I don't really mind the dream sequences or anything like that and I know they are a way to let us into (a rather sweaty) Will's mind but personally sometimes it just feels like the same thing every episode and it takes up so much space. Never mind! I'm sure he'll be all better by next series.

When he wakes up he goes for a drink of water and finds a ear in his sink, the first person he calls by the look of it is Hannibal. I guess this is the time we are all meant to feel "you bastard" when we see Hannibal, Will thinks he must of hurt someone possibly Abigail and we all know that Hannibal killed her and that the only thing wrong with Will is that Hannibal is experimenting on him. Personally I don't feel like that, I do feel for Will but I lay the blame solely at Jack's door and as I write this Hannibal is telling Will that they have to call Jack. What a surprise!

This whole thing kind of reminds me of Sherlock (the BBC series) where everyone basically will believe the worst in Sherlock because they don't understand him. In Sherlock it is Moriarty that sets up Sherlock, in this it isn't even just Hannibal setting up Will its Hannibal setting up Will to experiment on him. That might be one of the reasons I really enjoy the series is that it is in a way very similar but at the same time very different.

Back to the show and Jack is telling Alana the evidence they've found, Alana like me blames Jack who uses the "he's saving lives" line on her. Alana is certain there is something that is wrong with Will and reminds Jack that Abigail's blood is on all of them not just Will. She has been the singular strongest character in this series and I really feel more sorry for her then anyone. She was the voice protecting, or at least trying to protect, Will the whole time. Whilst she sits talking to Will you can see the pain of the character written all over her face, the only person this year that has been anywhere close to her performance is Olivia Coleman in Broadchurch. Will tells Alana that Hannibal makes him draw a clock so Alana tells him to draw one for her and see's the result for herself.

Hannibal is visiting his own psychiatrist, and amazingly Hannibal is looking quite emotional. He tells her about how he'd never thought about children until he met Abigail and about how he'd never thought about anything past his lifetime other then his reputation. She points out that he's lost both Abigail and Will and she tries to tell him he shouldn't be apart of Will's rehabilitation.

Back in the lab and the team have taken Will's lures apart and found DNA samples from victims of the copycat crimes... Are they the girls from the copycat crimes? I think they were, after all it isn't like they are now in two minds about Garret Jacob Hobbs.

Will is still very confused when Jack goes to tell him about the lures, and yes they are all the copycat crimes. Will has kind of worked out that it is someone setting him up, obviously Jack thinks this is just an excuse (he's pretty much said that he thinks that Will is some sort of psychopath) but Will carries on. And finally Will is arrested for murder. Still I don't feel all that sorry for him to be honest, I find it interesting and a little sad but I have no real sympathy for him.

And whilst they are trying to transport Will he uses Dr Gideon's technique of breaking his fingers/wrist to escape. Around a table and Alana, Jack and Hannibal are talking about Will. Hannibal is lying through his teeth but so well I believe him! He shows a complete clock face saying Will drew it two weeks ago, he also makes out that it was Will that phoned Garret Jacob Hobbs and not him. The next second and we are with Hannibal in his office and Will is sitting on the second floor confused.

Whilst talking to Hannibal Will is having strange visions. Will is still certain that he couldn't have killed the original victims but the more Hannibal talks the more he can see that he might have done it, after Hannibal stops talking Will asks to be taken to Minnesota.

Alana and Jack go to see Dr Du Maurier when they realize that Hannibal is missing and she tells them that he has missed an appointment and that if there was anyone that could have helped Will it would have been Hannibal and that he might still be trying.

Back at Abigail's house and Will is piecing it together and figuring out that Hannibal was the one that phoned the house. Will points a gun at Hannibal and Hannibal at least manages a shocked look at the situation, in fact Mikkelsen has been totally brilliant this episode putting some really good emotion into Hannibal even though we all know it is some kind of person suit (I love that phrase) and we don't actually really know what is going on inside Hannibals head. Whilst Will is talking it all through and pointing his gun right at Hannibal Jack is just about to walk in on them. When it looks like Will is going to shoot Hannibal Jack gets there first and shoots Will through the shoulder.

So Will has worked things out and finally Will is being treated for his illness. Thing is Will already tried to blame people whilst admitting he was confused earlier to Jack so I doubt that Jack will believe Will too much if he wakes up and tells him it was all Hannibal. Hannibal then goes to see Du Maurier with a meal for some strange reason. Hannibal tells Du Maurier that he is going to say goodbye to Will Graham the next day and whilst he is talking about dinner Du Maurier tells him that she knows more about him then he seems to think.

In Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane Hannibal goes to visit Will.

And we get the news that Hannibal will return next year. YAY!

So the finale?

It was pretty much perfect, it tied up all the loose ends and it started on the trip to Hannibal being discovered. It also had such a wonderful image, for all Hannibal fans we get to see Hannibal visiting Will instead of Will visiting Hannibal.

The episode worked because you did care about these characters and even though I didn't give a toss about Abigail and always thought she was dodgier then we were lead to believe you could believe how much of an impact her death at the hands of Will really was.

The acting was top notch, well apart from Hugh Dancy who plays Will. I have nothing bad to say about him I just felt like even when Will wasn't certain what was happening and if he'd killed people he played it too detached. Up until this episode you believed the emotion, the hurt that all this was doing to Will, this episode it was like they told him not to go over the top emotional wreck but instead we got what really did look like a guilty man.

Mikkelsen and Caroline Dhavernas (Alana) were the best of the bunch once more. The turmoil she's felt all season long has been heartbreaking and of all the characters she is the one you really got behind. Her loyalty and belief is always played out perfectly by Dhavernas and her relationship with Will and Hannibal has been so engrossing. Of all the people I hope 100% come back next season Dr Alana Bloom probably comes before Will and Hannibal... Yeah she's that good!

The show finished on a high this season and it is brilliant news we get a season two!

So where do they go now?

Well Will is criminally insane apparently, and the whole "it could even be you" set up speech to Jack isn't going to make his word believable anytime soon. That is even if Will really remembers or believes himself. Having a whole series about Will's rehabilitation would be boring as hell, not anything to do with Dancy who is a brilliant Will Graham, but really? So what are we getting more Hannibal? Delving deeper into Hannibal's psyche? Is it going to be Will and Jack trying to solve the Chesapeake Ripper case whilst Will is behind bars?

It is interesting to think what could happen. I mean right now we can't have Hannibal and Will together because Will knows what Hannibal has done, and even if he doubts himself I doubt he'll doubt himself enough to doubt that. OK that made no sense I admit it. What I mean is even if Will doubts deep down that he knows 100% what happened I don't think he'd let on, he'd cling to it because the other choice is to believe he could have been behind it.

Now of course we need everyone to at some point figure out that it was Hannibal so next season probably will gear up to him being caught, possibly half a season on Hannibal on the run? I mean did he go on the run? From watching Red Dragon didn't Will just catch him off guard? Then again Will was never imprisoned for killing people so we can't really look at the source material for help.

This will probably keep us thinking until next year and to be honest I can't wait for the next season to come out. I probably will want to hunt down Bryan Fuller way before then and demand he tells me what happens. To be honest I haven't got the patience to wait for things so I will probably have about 20 posts between now and season two explaining what I want to happen.

And the season on the whole?

I think it has been a breath of fresh air! It hasn't hidden away from the gruesome details like CSI and all that does, it had plenty emotional drama, a brilliant cast, near perfect characters and a very involved and mysterious plot.

Every story was individual but always mounted up the tension and drama between characters. There were some real sweet and tense moments, moments where Hannibal could have been caught out, moments where you really started to bond with Will who was an impossible character to really bond with because he has such a special gift that made him so different to what we've ever seen before.

And some of the guest stars... I mean I'll never forgive them for making me fall even more madly in love with Eddie Izzard who is by far one of the most underrated actors/comedians in the world. One of the saddest moments is Will killing Gideon therefore no more brilliant Gideon scenes in the future. If they keep it up for season two they will hit even higher... heights.

The big thing that people have been going on about is the gore. Is it too gruesome for its own good?

I don't think so. Thing is we see all these crime programmes all the time and they don't have much blood and gore. I watched nearly every series of CSI and enjoy watching things like Cold Case and Bones. The thing that you never really see is any imaginative deaths. You get a couple I'll give you that but you never see how the bodies where left or anything like that, it is all about the investigation and the people in the story. This goes deeper. Look at some of the really gruesome murders, Will had to get inside the heads of people that made angels out of their victims or else grew mushrooms out of their stomachs. Yeah hearing these things happened might have been enough for some people but actually SEEING what Will had to see, what Will had to see himself doing really helped make it believable that he'd go crazy getting into these people's heads.

It is easy to say if you don't like it don't watch it but what I'd say is don't stop watching!

If you turn off because of the gorey deaths you just won't imagine the kind of drama that you are missing out on. The show was much more then the gruesome deaths, it was about people being driven to the edge of their sanity, people coming to terms with their own actions and a very clever and very subtle man spinning a delicate web of deceit around honest and innocent people.

Every episode you are left wondering how no one can see past the walls that Hannibal has built around him and every episode you see a little more of Will Graham fade away.

The deaths are just a starting point to a story, a one off story that runs alongside such an amazing one. Trust me it is worth being grossed out for a few moments to see the brilliant acting, amazing story and twisted world that is Hannibal.

When this comes out on DVD I will be there buying it within the first moments of stores opening.

The series has been a treasure.