Hannibal hits the gory spot

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This article was published 02/06/2015 (3790 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Murder has never been more tasteful. And, if you look at it from the title character’s perspective, tasty.

When NBC’s Hannibal returns for its third season (Thursday at 9 p.m. on NBC and Citytv), the series that has already upped the ante for broadcast-network dramas in terms of its gruesome and garish violence, conflicted morality and labyrinthian interpersonal relationships, takes its drama to yet another level.

Hannibal — both the series and the character, as portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen — is evolving, and it’s a horrible, beautiful thing to watch. There isn’t another drama on the major U.S. networks that looks and feels as much like a cable show as this one.

Since its debut, this prequel to the well-known Hannibal Lecter-driven movies, based on the literature of Thomas Harris, has dared its audience to consider the most reprehensible of characters — a cannibalistic serial killer who delights in eviscerating his victims first psychologically and emotionally, and then in the literal, physical sense — worthy of an emotional investment as the “hero” of the story.

The first season played out mostly as a case-of-the-week crime drama set against the cat-and-mouse game involving Hannibal and FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy); Season 2 became more of an ongoing mind game as the lines between good and evil were blurred and the depths of Dr. Lecter’s evil manipulations became more apparent.

As Hannibal’s third campaign opens, in the aftermath of last season’s bloody and shocking finale, Lecter is on the lam in Europe — though it can’t be said that he’s acting much like a man on the run from anything, or in any kind of hurry.

With former therapist Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) at his side playing the part of his wife, Hannibal has assumed a new identity and is living the life of an academic and lecturer among the high-toned, museum-going set.

He’s also a bit restless, and perhaps a bit more reckless than in the past, as he continues to indulge his ever-increasing bloodlust. The season première focuses on his fragile new existence as curator of the Palazzo Capponi museum in Florence, Italy — an existence in which Will Graham is nowhere to be seen.

The episode is beautifully crafted, employing a number of different visual styles and unfolding at a pace that is excruciatingly suspenseful and breath-stealingly intense.

The second episode is even better, catching viewers up on what has happened to Will and moving the narrative toward the inevitable and necessary reunion of Hannibal’s two central characters.

One of the interesting developments that will certainly become a major element in Season 3 is the revelation that Hannibal — or, at least, some earlier version of him — already seems to have a reputation in Europe. During the investigation of a bloody crime with all the Lecterian hallmarks, Italian police detective Rinaldo Pazzi (guest star Fortunato Cerlino) mentions the similarity between this case and those from 20 years earlier involving a Florentine serial killer nicknamed “Il Mostro.”

By the time Will re-enters the picture, Pazzi is already fully aware of his stateside reputation and is insistent that he assist in the hunt for the murderer. But as faithful viewers of Hannibal already know, Will’s allegiances and morality have fallen into an area that could only be described as the darkest shade of grey.

This new season of Hannibal shows early signs of being the show’s best yet — and that’s a pretty big accomplishment for a series that has already done more than its part in elevating broadcast-network drama to a level at which it can compete favourably with some of cable’s edgiest dramas.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @BradOswald