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Friday, June 21st, 2013 12:15 am
Well, that was all sorts of horrible, wasn't it?
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Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:25 am (UTC)
( Do you mean horrible as in Objectively Horrible or horrible as in "oh my god that ripped my heart out and stomped on it"? )

Just...Will. This whole episode. Will. Fucking. Graham.

Image

Also, I think I started shipping Alana/Will hardcore halfway through that.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:33 am (UTC)
Combination of "oh my god that ripped my heart out and stomped on it" and narrative choices that I could have really fucking done without.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:39 am (UTC)
Which narrative choices bugged you and which ones ripped your heart out?

I think the thing that has me most wigged out from the episode is anything mentioning Abigail at the end, and the awful creepy veal metaphor.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:44 am (UTC)
I hated what they did with Abigial's arc, and even if she's alive, I'm still not okay with it. I feel like they were building her arc to a place where she either becomes Hannibal's willing apprentice or she breaks with him, and I'm pissed that that didn't happen.

Again, I get so damn frustrated with Hannibal winning everything ever.

I felt like the show was hinting at Hannibal's therapist being aware of Hannibal as a cannibal and a killer, and I wished that had been explicit.

What ripped my heart out was every scene with Alana and Will ending up in prison.

Your thoughts?
Friday, June 21st, 2013 08:01 am (UTC)
Agreed about Abigail.

I will say, in this ep, I feel like Hannibal's victory needed to happen. I feel like we needed to see Will absolutely crushed and ripped of his life and his sanity and everything that makes him him so he could have that moment of pure, perfect clarity and resolve. Plus, I was so satisfied with that symbolism at the end of Will in prison and Hannibal visiting him. It was so "protagonist in the Underworld" and I loved it in a really masochistic way.

Overall, I was really enamored with Will's descent, and how even after everything he's struggling so hard to hold on to who he is.

Everything with Alana was the most perfect thing ever and it made me feel terrible.
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 01:33 am (UTC)
I think most of my problems with Hannibal is how much they’re telling stories that don’t viscerally work for me – like, protagonist in the underworld? As a trope, that does nothing for me and I haven’t watched Silence of the Lambs recently enough to be like, ‘OMG, PARALLELL!’

Everything with Alana was the most perfect thing ever and it made me feel terrible.

Pretty much.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 08:50 am (UTC)
Yeah it did seem like Fuller liked Abigail too much, you know, to end it on that, but. I am still kind of shocked, so I don't really know how I feel except bad lol.

Hannibal will win until he loses.

I think Will will (gah how that sounds) rise up and take him down, and he will be so active in his story now. I hope. I think that will happen now that he is brought so low.

Alana Bloom in this show. GAH. ALANA. <3

The emotions were just so there.

Agreed on Abigail, I just still am a little numb.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 01:54 pm (UTC)
Hannibal will win until he loses.

My problem is that I don't know that I can watch him win about seventy-two times in a row before he loses ONCE.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 03:50 pm (UTC)
*nods* I get that, entirely. He is a smug bastard :/

but his lose is pretty much---unable to go back into society and be imprisoned for a good portion of his life. Granted, that may be a 'win' for him with his obsession with reputation but yeah. The once is.....a lot in this game. :/ I basically feel season 2 will be the process of his massive losing to the big one. Or so I hope.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 12:08 pm (UTC)
And by horrible you mean amaaaaazing, right?
Friday, June 21st, 2013 01:25 pm (UTC)
Only about 40% amazing.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 02:40 pm (UTC)
Props to like EVERYONE in production on that episode, because jesus the directing and the photography and just, wow.

My feelings, more narratively speaking, are ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE. Like, I want to know at least a little more what's going on in Hannibal's head; is all his displayed emotion fake? Are there any emotions I'm supposed to believe? Are there any HE believes? I think that having a bit more insight into that could have been interesting, because it keeps the viewer from following him very much if there's complete distrust of him. But like, I feel like Hannibal believes he can be a friend to and have a friend in Will. But what that means to him is fucked up beyond measure. But you know, I can't even remotely tell for sure if that's the case.

ABIGAIL. I wrote that fic last week about her (http://archiveofourown.org/works/844004), hoping it would be the case, but I guess she is dead. I'm... not happy about that. I really liked her a lot, I liked how she fit into the show, and I wanted her to go on. But between the ear and the comments about the veal being slaughtered young and tender, it seems pretty clear there's no further story with her.

Alana is totally my hero because she is. And she thought of the dogs, thank fuck.

Still wondering how in shit's name Hannibal managed to plant evidence, aka MAKE WILL EAT A HUMAN EAR, without him noticing that. Or noticing the blood being put under his fingernails. The fishing lures, okay, that's somewhat feasible.

My heart just basically has bootprints all over it.

However, that last scene, holy shit. Hannibal walks into the hospital ward just like Clarice Starling, looks at Will in the cell, and "Hello, Dr. Lecter." Just that whole reflection of Silence of the Lambs with Hannibal being on the wrong side of the bars was awesome, to me. No matter how much it breaks my heart the things that happened to get the show to end on that shot, I am 100% happy that that was chosen as the place to end this season, in that hospital, in that cell. Ugh the parallels are going to be so beautiful.
Edited 2013-06-21 03:37 pm (UTC)
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 01:13 am (UTC)
Oh, yeah the production quality is just top-notch. It visually looks like a cable show in the best way.

ike, I want to know at least a little more what's going on in Hannibal's head; is all his displayed emotion fake? Are there any emotions I'm supposed to believe? Are there any HE believes?

It’s not like I was pro-Hannibal before, but the sheer PREMEDITION involved in the fly lures makes it pretty impossible for me to see Hannibal as having any actual caring for Will. And if we’re going on the assumption that he killed Abigial (which, I missed the veal comment, but sweet fuck, you’re right), Hannibal has just murdered one and then destroyed the life and sanity of the other because….? Frankly, Hannibal reads like a straight up sociopath with no real feelings at this point, at least to me.

Alana remembering the dogs was a magical, magical moment. Damn, she broke my heart this episode. And now I’m really, really curious to see how their relationship develops once Will is out of the asylum. (Which you know has to happen sooner rather than later.)

However, that last scene, holy shit. Hannibal walks into the hospital ward just like Clarice Starling, looks at Will in the cell, and "Hello, Dr. Lecter." Just that whole reflection of Silence of the Lambs with Hannibal being on the wrong side of the bars was awesome, to me.


I’m actually going to need to rewatch Silence of the Lambs, I think, because I could tell there was a reference going on, but I’m unaware of most of the parallels and predictions other people are making.
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 03:53 am (UTC)
Even if a sociopath has no feelings he still has to have interests or wants, I think, and besides framing someone for his murders (which Hannibal could frame anyone for, really), I'm having trouble seeing his motivation, I suppose? I don't even know if motivation is the right word.

There were SO many thematic parallels with Silence of the Lambs; the one scene was just spot-on, but also I found that in the movie, a huge amount of the background tension was stripping away the misogyny of the world Clarice lives in. Hannibal asks repeatedly about if she is receiving favors for sex from Jack Crawford, if she was molested by a relative, what the sexual and gender issues are surrounding the abductions she's trying to investigate. In the Hannibal finale, Alana is the only one who sees what is going on and points out encephalitis, confronts Hannibal and Jack about their manipulation, and investigates Will on the basis of knowing who he is, rather than the circumstantial evidence. But Jack makes her question herself, Hannibal undermines her, and so she's not able to help Will. Abigail dies and Alana loses her confidence and Hannibal is off scot-free. Both the movie and the finale episode take place in a world where male entitlement, if resulting in tearing down women, means that Hannibal escapes.

(Or something. I need to watch Silence of the Lambs again, because I went "...huh. There are things happening here and it's more than just the obvious."
Friday, June 21st, 2013 02:45 pm (UTC)
It was everything I was afraid it would be. Awesome and absolutely terrible. Poor Will!
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 01:10 am (UTC)
ah crap, I haven't seen this yet but was wondering how they'd manage to resolve things in a way that still allowed for a second season. Welp, time to write AU fic where Will takes Abigail fishing and Hannibal teaches her to cook properly and they're a twisted little family.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 01:39 am (UTC)
People more familiar with than me with Silence of the Lambs kind of called where it's likely to do next season; needless to say, it's not a direction I'm thrilled about.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 02:06 am (UTC)
Been a while since I read the books, so I know how the last episode is going to go. But that allowed for Abigail to quietly slip under the radar, unless I missed something.