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TV Review: Hannibal 3.2 “Primavera”
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Hannibal
Season 3 Episode 2 “Primavera”
Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Written by Bryan Fuller & Jeff Vlaming
Starring Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas, Gillian Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Fortunato Cerlino, Kacey Rohl
NBC
Air date: Thursday, June 11th, 2015, 10pm

“You’re already dead, aren’t you?” – Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi

Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is dead. Long live Will Graham.

After diving into the whys and wherefores of Hannibal’s (Mads Mikkelsen) European departure, Hannibal 3.2 “Primavera” focuses on some of the ones left behind the wake of his brutality. The show spends a time recapping the surgical provisional in which Will and Abigail were dispatched in the Season 2 finale – a sequence that was already particularly nasty – and then throws Carrie-levels of blood at it. Never has the term blood bath been more applicable than it is here. Memory plays a key role in “Primavera,” as it’s presence lingers over this episode like the high ceilings of the Florentine chapel where Hannibal places his ‘heart.’

The other thing trapped in those high ceilings is Will Graham himself. The way that director Vincenzo Natali directs the framing of many shots in this episode extenuates a feeling of being buried. Will is seen in interiors throughout the episode, before descending into an actual tomb. Will Graham might be alive, but he’s very much a specter of his former self. Also a specter of her former self is Kacey Rohl’s Abigail Hobbs, who (in a nice twice-pulled bait & switch by writers Bryan Fuller & Jeff Vlaming) is alive, but not alive – rather she’s a figment of Will Graham’s imagination: the part of him that’s still drawn and connected to Hannibal Lecter. The rad bromance between our two protagonists continues.

Memory also haunts Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi (Fortunato Cerlino), a man only second to Will Graham his obsession over Hannibal Lecter. Pazzi knows Hannibal from a time earlier – a place where Hannibal’s aesthetics began to truly define the man he is, as he stages a killing after the episode’s namesake. Sandro Botticelli’s painting is rife with themes of renewal (both sexual and earthly) and is a fitting early work from a young Doctor Lecter as he began to hone and practice his craft. The artistry is very apparent – a worthy successor to Botticelli’s work. As “Primavera” details the allegory of spring, Will’s hunt for Hannibal has begun anew as well – as fresh as the flowers woven within the painting.

Early in this 3rd season, it’s clear that Hannibal is fine with taking its time to reveal who truly made it out of the bloodbath alive – which is fine for now, but could grow thin if that’s stretched out much longer. However, with Will in Florence, having forgiven Hannibal, there’s certainly a Sherlockian game afoot, as a dead man hunts the death that placed him there.

Quick Thoughts:

– Lots of strong visuals again this week – my favorite had to be the teacup coming together to form Will’s face.

– Fortunato Cerlino makes a very strong impression here and I hope he’ll stick around for a while, even with a haunting threat from Will.

– Bringing back Abigail as a part of Will’s mind is a great way for the show to have its cake and eat it too. Kacey Rohl is such a great actress and I’m glad we’ll still have her involved in the show, especially if she gets more supernatural and strange material to work with.

– This week in “Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream”: The horrifying reappearance of Will’s Stag – which would have been a lot more impactful if I hadn’t already seen gifs of it all over Twitter. The downfalls of not watching live. But still, pretty horrific.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Sound off in our comments below!

Video

Hannibal 3×02 Promo “Primavera” (HD)


Hannibal 3×02 “Primavera” – With his wounds now healed, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) heads to Europe eight months after the horrific event that almost took his life, in search of closure with Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). Following a hunch, Will arrives in Palermo, Italy to find a disturbing gift. Will’s arrival draws suspicion from Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi (guest star Fortunato Cerlino), who twenty years earlier pursued a Florentine killer known as ‘Il Mostro’ and, after reading Will’s file, believes that Hannibal Lecter and ‘Il Mostro’ are one and the same. Pazzi tries to enlist Will’s help in catching Hannibal, but Will warns that he is unsure of where his own allegiance lies.

2 Comments »

  1. Excellent points raised in this article. Film and storyline remain masterful though one cannot help but consider the line where film art crosses into excess and self-parody. That’s where this show needs to be very careful. Beautiful work, nearly unparalleled television. But when Will steps backwards into the darkness of the catacombs with “Buona notte Commendatore”, it crossed the line into camp for me and this show has often come very close to camp, in my useless opinion. This show knows its demographic but if it turns into American Horror Story, I will stop being a fan. Still, it’s a hell of a ride.

    Comment by noodleneck — June 14, 2015 @ 7:09 pm

  2. Although I agreed with many parts of the article, I am still greatly enjoying the show and look forward to seeing what happens next. I don’t think I realized that Abigail was dead and a figment if Will’s imagination. This is why I watch each previous week’s episode to see what I missed or may have interpreted incorrectly.

    Hannibal is so incredibly intelligent and sophisticated, that I am sometimes feeling drawn like a moth to light in the evening and he seems so sexy. The following scene draws me to look at the devastation, gore, bloodletting savagery and makes me want to remove my brain and wash away the horror. Yet even through death, Hannibal displays his victims as either pieces of art or food for a party, artfully presented to people who had no idea they were eating pieces of human beings, such as in the previous season. I don’t think that the writers and producers of the show are going to let us down as much as the rather gloomy projection of the writer in the article is predicting or possibly expecting. I love the show and have faith in the upcoming episodes being gruesome but interestingly done.

    Comment by female avatar would fit — June 15, 2015 @ 3:33 am

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