Hannibal 1x01: "Apéritif"

[cleolinda]

Oh, why not.

So I've come out of recapper retirement for this because Silence of the Lambs is my favorite movie. Yeah, I used to not admit that because, obviously, people give you the side-eye. (My mother still squawks about "THAT MOVIE?! BUT THE PART WHERE SHE GOES INTO THE BASEMENT!!" every time it comes up, like I should have put the DVD in the

Comments

[cleolinda]

No, for real, I thought Will was imagining Elise in the bed at first too. I even thought he wanted the father to get out because he needed alone time to empath, until they held the shot long enough that I realized it was supposed to be real. I tend to think it's intentional, the ambiguity as to whether something's real or a dream/vision, based on what the people making the show have said about it. Kind of a Twin Peaks thing

[amanuensis1]

THANK. YOU. I am still bug-eyed over how the hell Hobbs got the girl back into the "we've been in and out of this room all day" bed, but you spelled out a few logical leaps for me in very plain language and I am SO GRATEFUL.

(Damn, I keep misspelling "Lecter." Keep seeing that "h" in there.)

I thought perhaps Lecter called Hobbs to make him do something obvious that would give himself away! Your explanation makes more sense, though, I think.

[cleolinda]

Honestly, that makes sense too. I didn't even think of the "if we catch him it's not fun anymore" idea until after I'd posted the recap.

Seriously, though, I legitimately cannot explain the bed thing. I don't think the show could if it wanted to. This is where the "dream logic ethos" comes in, I guess.

[magicalmartha]

I sort of wonder if the "police have been in and out all day" line was a lie, and the parents knew she was there? The way the mother delivered it seemed hesitant to me, like maybe they weren't ready to give their daughter's body up yet, and wanted to keep Will out of the room (which is also why the dad was following so close when Will opens the door and tries to keep him out - the dad wants to keep Will out for a little bit longer).

That's making a pretty huge leap in logic, I know...but does it make MORE or LESS sense than Hobbs spider-monkeying back into the bedroom with a body that's been surgically operated on? THAT'S the question.

I had to wonder about how chilly Mikklesen is playing Lecter, especially in the therapy scene - like, it works for me, because it's so creepy but compelling, but then I think about how Lecter was supposed to be so incredibly charming and persuasive as a therapist that he could talk someone into doing literally anything, and I didn't see that here. Maybe it'll develop as the series goes on.

[meleth]

Maybe chilly is just one of his personae, and he adopts different ones with different patients, depending on what that person needs in order to do what Lecter wants.

[pospreterito]

the parents pretty definitely know she's dead, so probably that the body is there--the father talks about her in the past tense for the whole beginning of their conversation, then catches himself and switches to present, which is exactly the opposite of what we've been trained to expect (present, present, oh no shes dead, past) from people who are actually grieving. plus she's only been missing a couple days, as far as i can figure out--isn't she the one who was reported as missing right when crawford was recruiting will?--which is not long enough for the parents to have resigned themselves yet. conclusion: them knowing about the body isn't that huge a leap.

(also i noticed that lecter's patient stopped crying? without any apparent threat/negative stimulus. which indicated that even though he was being cold as hell, for this guy that works.)