The first episode of NBC's Hannibal got off to a bloody good start (see what I did there?), and it wasn't even until about 30 minutes into the episode that we got to see the namesake of the show. And when we finally did, he was drinking some nice chianti with some liver and fava beans (I mean, I'm just assuming). As it should be.
The show opens with a series of murders of young girls, all matching the same physical profile. Lawrence Fishbourne plays the lead investigator on the case, Agent Jack Crawford, who brings in our protagonist, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) to help with the profile of the killer. It is quickly revealed to the audience that Graham has a personality disorder closely related to autism or asbergers. This disorder, however, makes him able to brilliantly enter the minds of the killers and find evidence and motives. In fact, he can empathize with almost any human being. And it is precisely this genius that allows him to make the connection that the killer eats his victims. Enter Dr. Hannibal Lector.
Dr. Lector (Mads Mikkelsen) is referred by a fellow psychiatrist to work on his very own case. With Graham's special observation skills, you may imagine that the two men do not get along so well, which allows the world to experience this bit of genius dialogue from Dancy: "Don't psychoanalyze me. You wont like me when I'm psychoanalyzed."
The show brings what you might expect from a history of Hannibal Lector: gore, violence, intrigue, and of course lots of nice footage of him cooking body parts. What you may not expect are the brilliant performances from the two leads. Dancy is able to play a slightly unstable man with a personality disorder with such ease and grace somehow and Mikkelsen brings in the creep factor without going over the top.
Bottom line: Watch this brilliant show. Seriously. If you need great television in your life, you have to watch this show.
Grade: A
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