I watched it, and am not planning on watching the next season.
1- Every character on the show is a sociopath/psychopath (they even come out and say it at one point). Even Will, in his own way. I can't empathize with anyone and dislike them all, except maybe Abby.
2- The show is populated by brilliant people who excel at their jobs... until they enter the same room as Hannibal, when they all inexplicably become idiots. I won't go into it here, because spoilers. :P
3- The show strikes me as not quite as clever as it thinks it is. Or else maybe it's just that it keeps telling the viewers how clever it is, which has the same effect on me. :P
4- I will say that it is visually stunning. The cinematography is brilliant, no question.
So, yeah. It's solid television, but the subject matter and the elements I cited above are the reasons I won't be watching more.
I totally get it hun! (and no it doesn't come across as judging at all. hee..and even if it did it would be ok..;D)
It's certainly not for everyone (as seen my a few comments here). I'm not sure why it doesn't bother me so much - possibly because I studied the horror genre and particularly slasher type horror at uni and that may have desensitised me a bit. There's still a lot I can't watch - particularly torture for torture sake, or sexual crimes. In the show we mostly get the result of the crime and don't see the actual act. Though the images make it pretty clear what happened.
I haven't seen the other Hannibal movies (and that scene you describe does sound particularly gruesome). I might check them out though...;)
You know, the scene I describe wasn't really "gruesome" in the sense of blood and gore or violence. I think perhaps if it had been, I may have been able to shake it off. lol. But it was done with quiet confidence and ... omigosh I can't even think of the words to describe how quietly EVIL Hannibal was during the scene. Anthony Hopkins was very wonderful in that role. Hannibal was confident, highly intelligent, egotistical, extremely sure that he could get away with anything. It was just ... *shudders*
So yeah, if it had been "traditionally" violent, I could have perhaps dealt. But it was so confidently evil, I just can't even.
I just glanced at a comment slightly above and yeah, one of the words I was looking for was sociopath. I think (although I've never really thought much on it) sociopaths must really squick me. Evil intelligence with no conscience. Like most people, they do fascinate me (because there is weirdly something mesmerizing about them), but they get under my skin in a way I just cannot deal with.
I have to agree with you about the macabre and stunning visuals but it's not enough to get me past my dislike of all the characters - oh, except for the dogs, I lost interest around episode 5 and never bothered with it again.
I do love dark and disturbing but this one didn't grab me at all, I don't know why, I'm rather miffed really as I was looking forward to it.
The characters grew on me I have to say. I stopped watching for a bit because I found it a bit too heavy and yeah, the characters were hard to take. But I went back a few weeks ago and I was hooked. I connected with the characters a lot more and i was intrigued to see where it was going.
It's a great show, really something different. Hannibal showing so much 'care and concern' for Will and in some ways really seems to want to be his friend (was it not for his inate inability to be a friend, being a psychopath and all). I think he truely belives himself to be a friend, and 'handwaves' the manipulation and (temporay) inconvinience and discomfort he is inflicting on Will, because he is so sure of his own omnipotence and ability to ultimately make it all 'work out okay', even if it involves depriving Will of some medical treatment and getting him committed to an asylum for the criminally insane.
I am so fascinated by the nature of Hannibal's character. When he started talking about Will as a "friend" I wondered how much of that was real or how much it's the way he perceives friendship. I had thought he was beginning to care about Will but when he lied about the brain scan and the clock drawing I could see it was more about seeing him as some sort of experiment. I loved the way Mads goes from seeming genuine tears to a turn of his head and glance of his eyes to change that to pure intellectual thought - no emotion whatsoever.
I remember reading somewhere that Mads said his character reminds him of Lucifer - seeing humans as beneath him. I think that certainly comes across in his performance.
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1- Every character on the show is a sociopath/psychopath (they even come out and say it at one point). Even Will, in his own way. I can't empathize with anyone and dislike them all, except maybe Abby.
2- The show is populated by brilliant people who excel at their jobs... until they enter the same room as Hannibal, when they all inexplicably become idiots. I won't go into it here, because spoilers. :P
3- The show strikes me as not quite as clever as it thinks it is. Or else maybe it's just that it keeps telling the viewers how clever it is, which has the same effect on me. :P
4- I will say that it is visually stunning. The cinematography is brilliant, no question.
So, yeah. It's solid television, but the subject matter and the elements I cited above are the reasons I won't be watching more.
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It's certainly not for everyone (as seen my a few comments here). I'm not sure why it doesn't bother me so much - possibly because I studied the horror genre and particularly slasher type horror at uni and that may have desensitised me a bit. There's still a lot I can't watch - particularly torture for torture sake, or sexual crimes. In the show we mostly get the result of the crime and don't see the actual act. Though the images make it pretty clear what happened.
I haven't seen the other Hannibal movies (and that scene you describe does sound particularly gruesome). I might check them out though...;)
xox
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So yeah, if it had been "traditionally" violent, I could have perhaps dealt. But it was so confidently evil, I just can't even.
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I do love dark and disturbing but this one didn't grab me at all, I don't know why, I'm rather miffed really as I was looking forward to it.
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I'm keen now to see what they do next.
xox
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I remember reading somewhere that Mads said his character reminds him of Lucifer - seeing humans as beneath him. I think that certainly comes across in his performance.
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