I hope NBC doesn’t rob me of my will to live by cancelling the show. My husband could sue.

If they replace it with The Blacklist I may have to sue. Did you see the clips they put up as an example of how great this show would be? I love James Spader, but damn, what happened? And then the first clip, Assume the Position, is like a drawn out boring version of Se7en’s John Doe turning himself in which, in context probably is pretty interesting but as a clip for a show was a huge yawn.

And then the second clip, A Very Special Profiler, made me think of Craig Ferguson’s “awkward pause” schtick. Like, it’s a show meant to be similar to Silence of the Lambs, but it’s all NBCized, meaning that in spite of all that could be good, it’s devoid of all that makes Hannibal dark and interesting. Look at all of the trouble Hannibal went to for the dark, gothic look, the careful attention to detail. Then look at the set from The Blacklist that appears to have been set up with all the loving care of the DMV. Anyway. It’s targeted for Monday nights which would’ve been a smarter night for Hannibal all along, but whatever. No one’s accused NBC of being good at TV lately. And hell, doofy The Following got picked up, so who knows.

Anyway, where does that leave us? Oh right, with a show I enjoy. Did everyone #EatTheRude?

I did my part with the tweeting and it seems that there was a Trending Topic victory. Hooray. I don’t know if that does anything but I felt good about myself and pried the “I voted” sticker off of the fridge to wear around the house like it was election day.

So. Fromage.

Will has started hearing doggies in distress in his brain. Hallucinations rarely portend good things to come, but it’s worse when it’s a suffering doggy because what if you ignore it and a dog is in pain? So Will has to check the situation out, even if he kind of suspects the call is coming from inside the house, so to speak. And since Alana Bloom doesn’t hear it, it probably is.

We learn that Tobias is a master craftsman and that THOSE AREN’T CATGUTS which is sort of a relief because I like cats. People, not as much. We don’t really get to know what Tobias’s standards are for who would make good strings or not. I dunno if it’s #BowTheRude but Hannibal does imply that he understands the choice because someone fit would make for having better source guts.

The show isn’t called Tobias, so I tried not to get too invested.

Franklin. Oh Franklin. “Psychopaths aren’t crazy, they are fully aware of what they do and the consequences of those actions.” Okay, so I read The Psychopath Test which makes me kind of an expert on the topic and apparently they kind of aren’t really aware of the consequences. Like, per Robert Hare (inventor of the psychopath checklist) they can know a shock is coming and not have a bodily reaction to it, which is sort of the point. But whatever. Hannibal’s got more hands on experience.

So Franklin does this total passive aggressive thing that made me want to snap his neck right that minute. Hannibal, to his credit, waits for later. But Franklin invites conversation to talk about Tobias rather than himself and Hannibal says, “Yeah, okay, it’s your dime.”

Franklin, “Are you bored with me?”

I do not want to even count how many times I’ve fallen into that conversational trap. It’s less of a trap if you say, “Yeah, kinda.” Because then the person gets upset and leaves. But sometimes that person is your mom and after they realize that the silent treatment isn’t actually a punishment, they come back like nothing happened. Hannibal turns it back around in a way I’m going to use for later. “I will analyze your perception of him.” Smooth.

Tobias is apparently saying things like, “I’d love to shove a cello neck down someone’s throat and play their vocal chords like strings. J/K LOL.” And then it happened.

Will goes to check this thing out and Jack points out that Will isn’t having a hard time looking. Well of course he’s not. It’s fucking fascinating. Gross, yeah, but when you realize that the cello was catguts to start with you have to accept that the cello was a pretty morbid instrument anyway. And you all just totally did a ticky box on me in the psychopath checklist, didn’t you? Whatever.

Anyway. Will says it’s an intellectual exercise, then downs some pills. It’s how I deal with work, too, honey. I’m with you.

Will enters the mind of the killer enough to grok that he wanted to play the vocal chords for real and apparently gets the melody stuck in his head. So he’s got another serial killer’s song in his heart. Hobbs shows up in the audience again, a reminder that probably getting into psycho heads isn’t very good for him.

Hannibal needs help dealing with Franklin, so he talks to his psychiatrist. We learn that she had been attacked by an obsessive patient and that attacker wound up dead. And that Hannibal feels protective of her. There is more to this story. I’m sure we’ll hear it. She suggests Hannibal find Franklin a new home.

Hannibal gets to hear about Tobias again, this time through Will who explains the whole vocal chord cello thing. Hannibal gives a history lesson about flutes being made from human bone, which seems kind of creepy, especially when he knew there was olive oil used in the cello. Hannibal seems somewhat offended or aroused that Will is feeling other psychos behind his eyes. Also, Hannibal gets the insight from Will that this murder is a “serenade.” And Franklin fills in who the serenade was for.

This leads Hannibal to Tobias’s string shop. They bond over how much they both enjoy gut. And music. They’re feeling each other out and it seems to be going pretty well. They trade barbs about the dead trombonist and Hannibal invites him over to repair his harpsichord. If you know what I mean.

There are birds or something in Will’s chimney and then Alana Bloom shows up. Weird, huh? She shows up to check up on him and they wind up kissing. She says she’s confused. I am, too. She’s apparently been kind of dodging being alone with him, presumably because of an attraction but now she shows up out of nowhere. He takes it as a sign and she says, “Oh no, I can’t.” And then she goes.

A couple of things. Apparently next ep is about Will totally losing it and blaming someone. Others have noted the connection of Hannibal and the stag and it’s true, there’s a stag in Hannibal’s office. But I’ve noticed the stag coming before Alana’s appearances. Like in the hospital where she shows up to read to Abigail Hobbs. Maybe she’s making the crazy? But, I’m also rereading Red Dragon where I notice that Dr. Bloom is still happening. Just interesting to consider.

Hannibal has Tobias for dinner in the figurative sense. He asks directly about the trombonist and they discuss what Tobias’s rather reckless plans are for killing Franklin and making a mad dash into the future. Hannibal seems pretty amused with the whole thing until Tobias confesses to following Hannibal and seeing him in action. It’s one thing to have a sort of shitty plan to escape law enforcement. It’s another when you have leverage. Tobias wants a friend but again Hannibal isn’t interested in friendship with anyone who wants to be friends with him. Other than Will. He confesses that he invited Tobias over to kill him but didn’t poison dinner. “I wouldn’t do that to the food.”

Artist at work!

At that point, the conversation goes a little cold but they are saved by the bell when Will arrives to say, “I kissed Alana Bloom.”

Okay, so, Will hallucinates things outside, things in his chimney, kisses Alana Bloom and then rushes over to tell Hannibal about it. To which Hannibal says, “Well, come in,” to Will’s back as he’s already through the door and into the dining room. Interesting because I didn’t see Hannibal open the door. What is going on? Does Will have a key or was that just a cut?

It doesn’t even really slow Will down that he walked in on what was obviously a dinner for two. “You have a guest?” sounded more like an accusation than a question. Hannibal offers that dinner was with a colleague and that he had to run off unexpectedly. Apparently from the balcony which was open. In the snow. Without dessert. But whatever, Will hears struggling animals and is being stalked by a phantom stag. I guess vanishing guests is beyond his keen powers of perception.

Hannibal seems a little cold about the situation, but he’s got a lot on his mind. First, he’s got to have massive blue balls about not getting to kill Tobias right then AND he has to now worry that the dude’s gonna narc. He seems secretly pleased that Will came right over after a big event like kissing Dr. Bloom but last week he was teasing about hitting that, so maybe that’s concerning. But it does seem like he’s toying with the idea of being Will’s friend and wrestling with what having a friend might mean when your friend is working toward arresting you but just doesn’t know it yet. So yeah, a lot on his mind.

So then this happens. “You waited a long time to kiss her. Why now?”

“I heard an animal in my chimney.”

Hannibal waits. Because, you know, to some that may be a good reason to kiss someone, but even the psychopaths are kinda, “Gonna need a little more on that.”

Then I fixated on dessert some. The food porn on this show, OMG.

So then will acknowledges that his animals are in his head and that he’s unstable. Hannibal suggests that perhaps Will didn’t kiss Alana because of animals in his chimney but perhaps in the hopes of gaining some balance. That makes more sense which is why he’s paid the big bucks. Of course, that SHE knew he was hearing imaginary suffering animals and kissed him is kind of a big question. But it does explain why she doesn’t so much want to date him.

Hannibal changes the subject to the new killer and tattles on Tobias. Two birds, one stone.

Will goes to Tobias’s shop. After a question, Tobias gives himself away pretty quick. Subtlety isn’t his strong suit. When Will’s on, he’s on. But then he hears a mystery dog being hit by a mystery car. Then non mysteriously almost gets himself run over. This turns out to be good fortune on his part, but bad luck for the officers who had accompanied him to the store. His weird behavior gave Tobias enough time to kill both officers and then hide out in his Jame Gumb like basement. There Will sees that the strings, it’s people!

Tobias tries to kill Will with the strings but Will has already drawn his gun. The ensuing struggle results in Will shooting Tobias in the ear. Tobias manages to flee to Hannibal’s office where Hannibal is letting Franklin down easy. Time for a new doctor, buddy!

Franklin worries it’s because he didn’t turn Tobias in, which Hannibal says isn’t the point, but I assume is why when Tobias shows up bloodied from battle Franklin tries to get control of the situation. He pleads with Tobias to give himself up and that he’ll be there for him. Yay.

Hannibal, knowing that Tobias wants Franklin dead, tells him to leave. But this is Franklin and his self-preservation skills are like zero. So he continues on which just makes Tobias want to kill him more and he’s so totally about to until Hannibal cockblocks by breaking Franklin’s neck.

Okay you can tell Tobias you don’t want to be his friend. You can send police over. But you kill HIS victim? That’s it. Psycho on psycho violence and it is glorious! That beautiful office gets jacked up. There’s bow whipping, there’s ladders used to break arms and in the end, Hannibal’s big stag statue is employed to put an end to Tobias. I haz a sad. But really, this show had only one spot for a refined serial killer in a natty vest and his name is on the show.

I think I found the source of your stag fantasies….

On the bright side, the harpsichord is apparently well tuned. Hannibal plays a song for the dead.

Will looks chastened at how Hannibal got battered and Hannibal looks truly relieved that Will survived Tobias. This looks like a real bonding moment between them, even if it’s based on a lie.

The episode ends with Hannibal talking to his psychiatrist. He is returning to psychiatry. She seems amused that he is returning after only a few days. This kinda confirms her personsuit diagnosis but she’s used to that. They talk about her attack and it is heavily implied that perhaps he killed the person who attacked her. Hopefully there will be more on this later and not only because that means more Gillian Anderson, but also because we can see more of the softer side of the psychopath. There is humanity in there, peeking out. Maybe.

Next week, Trou Normand, which apparently involves Will Graham totally flipping out and a people totem pole.

This is the episode I’ve been waiting for all season. Finally we get to see more of Hannibal in his natural state. Most of what we’ve seen on him has been in the context of others. We’ve gotten some glimpses of Hannibal’s personal life, we’ve seen the patient that we met in the first episode. You know, the larger one with the used tissue you thought wasn’t going to make it out of the office? Yeah, he’s back and is at the opera apparently kind of stalking Hannibal.

Not in an overly aggressive way, but his patient obviously wants to be friends. Good friends. They have the opera in common. And cheese. And apparently stalking. Hannibal gently reminds him that it would be an unbalanced friendship since he’s his therapist and Franklin is far too fucking needy, like omg. Not that Hannibal would say that, but you could see it in his eyes.

So, on this subject, I couldn’t help but notice Franklin’s super hot friend. Granted, part of that was because it was two guys together at the opera, one of whom was eyefucking Hannibal and the other part because I write gay romance and I was thinking, “Wow, that dude is way too hot for Franklin.”

Now, let me first say that in real life, I may subjectively think one partner is more attractive than the other but I don’t make any assumptions. When it’s TV…well there’s usually a reason for casting. I’m just saying this so you don’t cotton on too quickly what a shallow bitch I am. Or at least realize that I would NOT say that out loud in public. ‘Cause I’ve heard, “Wow, your boyfriend is really, really hot. I mean. Wow. I didn’t expect you to have such a hot boyfriend.” “Fuck you too, bitch. Learn to give a good blowie and maybe you could eat a fucking Twinkie once in a while.” Not that I’m bitter.

Anyway.

Preview for “Fromage” appeared to have Franklin’s BFF Tobias trying to strangle Will. And something, maybe a recognition….appeared to pass between Hannibal and Tobias, though… Tobias seemed to be clocking Hannibal really hard. Later Franklin talks about how he’s Tobias’s best friend but Tobias doesn’t return the feeling. Hmm….

So anyway, socialite lady bugs Hannibal to have her for dinner. He throws the best dinner parties. I’m going to be suspicious from now on of anyone who’s that into organ meat. Sorry ‘bout it.

Jack is still haunted by Miriam’s severed arm and what happened to her. He worries about the same thing happening to Will. That doesn’t stop him, but it’s in his dreams anyway.

There is a new murderer in town! Someone is harvesting organs but Will is very certain that it is definitely not the Ripper. He makes the point that the killer of the man in the bathtub tried to rescue the dead man. Also, the killer wasn’t trying to humiliate the victim. The humiliation of the Ripper’s victim is very important to Will but he doesn’t seem to realize that the “pig” reference he made to the random copycat of the Shrike is the same he’s making now. Different context and Will is coming apart at the seams anyway. He’ll look back on that oversight and laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

The conclusion Will comes to about the new killer was that he was harvesting organs, which, harvesting for food or reuse is, admittedly, a subtle difference. Hannibal capitalizes on this to divert attention from his own signature by muddying the waters for Will. And since Will is spacing out for hours to have elaborate fantasies about elks and Abigail Hobbs, it’s not too difficult to convince him that he could potentially be confused.

There was an interesting theme of companionship going on in this episode. Franklin wants to be friends with Hannibal. Hannibal goes to his therapist (Gillian Anderson!) who is retired but still sees him. She calls him out for being in a person suit (which is sort of funny given Jame Gumm later but…) and mentions that he must be lonely. Hannibal claims to have friends, says that he is friendly with her. Maybe this is him trying to warm up, or maybe because he’s known her so long and she obviously understands that he is not what he presents, or maybe he wants to know how and where to draw the line on therapist/patient friendships. She doesn’t judge him for his person suit, but she does not consider them friends. After the session ends, she offers wine, he asks for pink.

And it’s pink wine he is drinking in his office when Will comes. He pours Will a glass and they discuss the Ripper. Now, we know that Hannibal wants to have his work distinguished from other serial killers and he knows that Will knows the difference. But, as Hannibal is planning for his dinner party, it doesn’t hurt to have the FBI chasing their tails a little.

The interspersal of Rolodex of businesscards of nasty people and the recipe box made me giggle. Though I did wonder what the IT Consultant said. No. I don’t. IT people aren’t the most socially adept. BUT DON’T EAT OUR BRAINZ, OKAY?

Now, these crime scenes are with Will is talking about. He leaves an insurance guy sitting across from himself in a bus. The other investigators chase their tails on how the Ripper is shipping and selling body parts while Hannibal prepares dinner. And shows Alana Bloom the beer he brewed for her in a wine barrel. Now, she apparently has a really good palette and she’s helping him to prepare dinner. Would she know that’s not rabbit?

They seem to have a somewhat quiet non fight about Will. She wants everyone to back off and leave Will alone. He wonders why she kept him so secret. There is a hint about an earlier affair between Hannibal and…someone. Or something. It reminds me of the previous episode where Freddy Lounds points out that they are all in occupations that attract psychopaths.

Hannibal’s murder spree leaves them all confused. You can’t transplant intestines! And I count at least 4 bodies which is at least one more (I’m no math major) than the Ripper’s usual. So 3 for Hannibal, 2 for the new guy. Will is very clear it’s two killers.

Franklin returns to talk about cheese and lament that Tobias isn’t as good a friend as he could be because he doesn’t eat cheese. So, I had to nip off and find out if Franklin was a canon character in the books because he seems familiar. This is by design:

“So what we did in the arc that we had for Benjamin Raspail and Jame Gumb in the first season, we did a different story about a patient of Hannibal Lecter’s who had ties to a serial killer in a unique way. Instead of Benjamin Raspail, we did Franklin Froideveaux — Benjamin Franklin and then Froideveaux is a street that runs parallel to Raspail in Paris. So we were acknowledging in some way that’s the role that we were filling in this season, with those characters and that story you’re going to see.” – Bryan Fuller.

They get in touch with the dull ache of loneliness and then Will stands Hannibal up for his appointment. It’s probably unprofessional to go running after Will, but he’s motherfucking Hannibal Lecter. Now, it could be that Will has figured Hannibal out and is mounting an approach to arrest him. Or Will is just sitting around in his classroom fantasizing about being Abigail Hobbs’s daddy. Hannibal has a look at the crime scene photos. he seems pleased that Will understands the public shaming aspect of his work. Will seems a little surprised that Hannibal gets the difference and backs away a little. Hannibal gets confirmation that his arm-poke at Jack with Miram’s appendage is tingling because it’s working.

In the meantime Beverly Katz has been detectiving and has found us our EMT professional who is selling organs, using an ambulance to perform the surgeries in. Since Lecter is with them, he is able to patch up the poor donor dude who was being butchered. Will realizes there’s things about his friend he doesn’t know. Like that he can put kidneys back in.

Before Hannibal’s big dinner party, Will brings him a bottle of wine but declines to attend. He claims to have a date with the Ripper but obvs not. Hannibal admits to being an ER surgeon (another psychopath job!) and that he quit because he killed someone. Or at least one too many people. Will can relate to this. The matter appears settled.

And with much applause, dinner is served.

Next up, Fromage.

So I’ve had a couple of days to digest what I thought was the expected result of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I was #teamalaska since the first episode when she answered the question about how she’d dealt with Sharon Needles winning the crown that she had so longed for.

Well, in fairness, I think Alaska’s aim was only ever to be on the show. Winning the crown probably seemed like a distant reality. But whatever. I’d had a taste of her in season 4 and thought she was probably a nutjob. Jesus God was I right about that. All the best drag queens are.

Actually, back it up. I truly felt for her when she couldn’t sink. After years of trying to be on the show, it seemed tragic that she couldn’t complete the first mini challenge and I fretted that after all of that pining, she’d be out in the first without ever getting to shed the shadow of Sharon Needles.

Pretty compelling and dramatic stuff.

As the weeks went on, I fell more and more deeply in love. Not just with her spirit, but this sincerely punk rock vibe she brought and her genius writing and character ability. Rolaskatox was formed early and my expected favorite, Detox, was part of that. Yet, it was always Alaska’s performances that caught my attention and always Alaska whom I chewed my nails to the nub over.

Because, let’s face it. Those first weeks were seriously rough. She wasn’t in the bottom two but she was definitely in the bottom three. It seemed like just a matter of time before something went wrong for her and it all blew up in her face.

Except, it didn’t.

She ditched Rolaskatox, which I’d suspected that instead of being a meangirl clique, was mostly using Alaska’s originality and writing to see them through. Not that Detox should’ve needed the support but she did seem decidedly distracted through the second half of the season. Maybe it was exhaustion. She mentioned her father being sick and I do think that Ru’s triggering really did throw a lot of queens off. Except for Alaska. Needle’s appearance seemed to focus her.

Anyway.

Along the way, Jinkx also caught my eye. Not just for her performances and her improved fashion, but because Coco seemed to target her. Earlier in the season Coco tried the same sort of shit with Alaska. Lineysha Sparks called Alaska a disaster. But she did not fold, she did not cry. She deflected and called them rude. It was no fun to pick on Alaska Thunderfuck, who may not have been that self-assured, but she wasn’t letting those bitches see her sweat.

Jinkx was a little more vocal in her complaints. It was clear that when Coco came for her that it bothered her. It didn’t thow off her performances, but she was visibly upset. I believe that this is where Jinkx gained the upper hand. Queens that were mean to her represented every bully we’ve ever had and we all wanted to be Jinkx for standing up to them.

Roxxy called it Jinkx playing the victim, but that took two to tango. Jinkx let them see her sweat and the thing is, she did it in front of them and when the rabbit yelped, the foxes didn’t show up to help. I don’t personally believe that Jinkx was “playing” anything. She was genuinely hurt. And while I’m sure that people on the internet rising to her defense was flattering, if she’s half the person I believe her to be, her schadenfreude probably lasted right up until someone said that Roxxy’s mother was right to leave her at the bus stop.

And at a certain point, protecting Jinkx probably feels offensive. She’s a grown ass man. She stood up for herself. She didn’t let anyone put Baby in the corner. That’s why she’s worthy of the crown.

I just happen to feel that there was someone else worthier. Alaska stood up for herself. She accepted her partner’s success and rose above it to make her own. She came out in boy drag. She was hilarious in challenges and in the workrooms. She cried when it was appropriate, but never when it felt manipulative. She was, in general, a warm, awesome human being as well as crazy talented.

And, for me, Alaska is what I want from drag. Sass. Political incorrectness. Wild. Punk rock. Dirty subversive tempered with determination and a singular force of personality. I could argue that much of this is true to Jinkx, but reading other posts from people, I didn’t get the feeling that those are the reasons they voted for her.

The Cult of Nice is probably going to have a lot of the same problems with Jinkx as they do with Sharon Needles. Drag is, by nature, subversive. Edgy. It’s not JUST a guy in a dress but it is, more or less, a guy in a dress. By their very nature, they’re performing a revolutionary act in our culture to even go there in a dress. They’re meant to be provocative. They’re wired for it. If you’re not questioning your preconceived notions, they really are just a dude in a dress.

Speaking of… Roxxy. What the fuck. Not only, in the end, did she miss the point of drag, but her real tragedy wasn’t getting on the wrong side of Jinkx fans. It was not embracing the fact that she can be FUCKING FUNNY. As hilarious as Alaska and Jinkx, no. But Tossya Salad? That was awesome! As Taymar Braxton? Holy crap. Work it girl.

It’s not RuPaul’s Comedy Skit race. Roxxy didn’t have to be the funniest. She just needed to be funny enough. Instead she got all twisted and it affected her ability to be funny. She could be so much more than she is, she doesn’t even begin to comprehend her power. I hope this show taught her a lesson because with her polish and humor, she could rule it.

But, as it is, it’s Monsoon Season. I hope it’s a year that treats her with all of the love and kindness she deserves. And I hope that I get to meet Alaska Thunderfuck for reals at Woodlawn in October. I have a little something for her. I couldn’t afford her a crown but I have something that I think she’ll like better.

Gideon fakes an injury and has taken up deep breathing techniques that I guess Hannibal uses later in order to seem like his pulse is low. Seems pretty legit out of it, so they chain him to the bed and leave him with the nurse. Since Gideon was just faking, he snaps out of it, uses a piece of metal he’d snuck in using his body as a pocket and is free to walk about the cabin.

We know it can’t be good because we go to commercial. Once we’re back, we see Will Graham and Jack Crawford. Poor nurse.

And poor Will Graham. The actor portraying Chilton is doing an awesome job of both being a smarmy above-it-all guy who knows fuck all and a great imitation of one of my coworkers. This makes me happy because the actor is doing a great job and it spawns in me the hope that someday someone may eat my coworker.

Anyway. Chilton seems pretty happy that maybe he’s got the Chesapeake Ripper and feels like he’s somehow busted this guy himself, though Gideon has pretty much been just chilling in the institution for two years getting interviewed by Chilton. Will and Alana Bloom both interview Gideon and don’t seem convinced, though there is the implication that maybe Chilton, through his interviews, gave some heavy hints to Gideon what it would take to be The Ripper and maybe this acting out is for attention.

To get a real feel for the action, Will goes into meditation and we see him attack the nurse in one of the more viscerally disturbing bits of action I’ve seen on network television. And I watch American Horror Story. It was some real Game of Thrones shit. But it wasn’t as sexy as that stabby “Criminal Minds” scene. You know what I’m talking about.

The nurse, in the end, had the distinctive organ “trophies” removed and was stabbed in an imitation of Wound Man which is an illustration for medical texts of wounds a person could suffer. This is the way The Chesapeake Ripper has left his victims so it all seems to check out. At least on the surface.

In previous episodes, Hannibal has needled Jack Crawford about special agents he may have lost in the past. In a move that we see later in the storyline in “Silence of the Lambs,” Jack Crawford recruits a student named Miriam Lass to help him track down The Ripper.

Sadly, this arrangement does not work out so well as it does for Starling.

Now, in the books, it is Will Graham who tracks down Hannibal Lecter through his work in the ER as having treated a man who he would later murder. And it is Will who finds the image of the Wound Man and who Hannibal sneaks up on and assaults. History may repeat itself, though it seems unlikely that Hannibal would be that clumsy around Will now. This is interesting because it could be a way of telling us to put some of that canon out of our heads. I don’t mind this because it’s more fun to have Hannibal in play than locked up, of course.

Jack Crawford has much to angst over. His wife is dying of cancer and he’s going to lose her, but the Chesapeake Ripper case comes alive again and he can’t help but think of Miriam. Especially when the killer uses a recording of her voice, presumably the last recording of her alive, to taunt Jack, calling from various untraceable locations.

This serves two purposes: torment Jack, but also makes a definite statement that Gideon is most certainly NOT the Chesapeake Ripper and that he is still at large. This seems like an extraordinarily dangerous game. We don’t know Hannibal or his motivations well enough yet to know why it would matter so much to him to be known, but unknown.

It makes me even more curious to know what game he’s playing with Will. Is Hannibal just a straight up sadist, or is he attempting to reach out? In the third novel, differing from the movie version, Hannibal reaches out and successfully conditions Starling to accept him as family and as a lover. We see shades of this in the TV show with Abigail Hobbs in the pulled episode of Ceuf that you can now get from iTunes (Or just watch it on the webisodes on the NBC site for free.) It would definitely make for interesting television to see the very broken Will in a mental battle with Hannibal for his own free will. But we will see.

While Jack is definitely haunted by his memories of Miriam, or perhaps because of them, Jack pressures Freddie Lounds to write an article about Gideon being the Chesapeake Ripper to flush the real one out. He receives another recorded message while he’s interviewing Gideon that comes from his home. Miriam’s prints and hair are found in his bedroom which, while Will and Jack seem pretty sure she’s well and truly dead, causes Will to ask some interesting questions about what happened to her. They never found a body.

I think I know why.

In the end, they find her disembodied arm holding her phone at an observatory. The message, “What do you see?”

I see me looking forward to next Thursday!

And Monday. Don’t forget, hunties, #TEAMALASKA

I see a lot in my referrers that this is what people are looking for: Sharon Needles and Alakska Thunderfuck fanfic. I don’t have any, but perfect casting. Just been too busy now but if I were to… what would you like to see them do? Get me inspired!

ETA: If you have any or know of any, call me link me!

The episode starts with Will Graham sleepwalking, nudged on by his imaginary buck. I suspect psychedelic mushrooms may be involved. That is, after all, Hannibal’s MO, but Will is an emotionally distressed man being effortlessly puppeted by a psychopath and used by the FBI. Other than that, I don’t see what’s so stressful about his situation.

The next morning, Will checks in with Hannibal who again points out that no one cares near as much as about Will as Hannibal. That may be true. He’s just leaving out that no one wants to EAT him as much as Hannibal.

Meanwhile, in the morning, a man in a hotel getting ice sees everyone with their heads on fire. That rarely leads to anything good.

In fact, it leads to quite a lot of bad.

Now, in the missing week’s episode, we did get to finally see Jack’s wife. This week Hannibal meets her. He serves foie gras, which she turns down. Also in last week’s episode, we got a flash on the fact that Hannibal is, indeed, serving up people, or it’s certainly being heavily implied. So when Hannibal assures her that the next course is a supercilious pig, I imagine he’s been driving in Austin traffic and found himself a winner.

Things are obviously not going so well in Jack’s marriage. His wife seems a little toned down. Hannibal sniffs her, remarks on her perfume, then sniffs Jack. The implication is confusing but a suspicious person like me thinks, “Oh, is he smelling someone else on her?”

But then Hannibal makes an interesting remark about how he smelled stomach cancer on a professor before he was properly diagnosed. As it turns out, the wife has lung cancer and has been keeping it from her husband, which she reveals to Hannibal in a counseling session.

The man who has been seeing Ghost Rider people, it turns out, has a sort of supernatural ability to see who is evil. And in his Dexter way is killing killers but beyond that, cuts their back skin into flaps and strings them up with fishing line to make them appear as angels. As such he transforms them from demons to angels.

However, he is a man who has cancer who is dying and his mind has apparently turned against him. Now, this is where it gets dicey and I may have to rewatch to sort this out. But somehow this man manages to cut his own back into wings and string himself up. I kind of suspect intervention but if Will thinks that, he isn’t saying. At least, not yet.

And in truth, Will is pretty distracted. He’s sleepwalking. He wakes up standing on his roof with his dogs barking at him that life is still worth living. That doesn’t indicate the best night’s sleep.

In the midst of trying to resolve the case, Will stopped by Hannibal’s office and after a quick whiff, Hannibal suggests that Will invest in a better cologne. He keeps getting the cologne he’s wearing for Christmas which means either he has someone who really doesn’t like him on his Christmas list, or, knowing that Hannibal has been house sitting for Will, perhaps he has dosed the cologne with something. We know that he has given Abigail Hobbs shrooms. Is he experimenting with this therapy with Will? Or is someone else messing with Will? Freddie Lounds?

Feeling paranoid now, which is a great way to feel when you’re watching Hannibal. I’m very excited for where this is going, seeing the building dread and the way that the story is building between the Hannibal cannon that I at least vaguely remember and how this is playing out.

The webisodes are in six parts and basically cover the relationship portions of that episode that was cut. I’ll note that the intro in part one Bryan Fuller explains that this is only being cut from the US NBC market. If’n you’re out there and have the full episode stashed somewhere…call me!

Ceuf, part 1

Part one starts with Graham telling Hannibal about his experiences “channeling” Garret Jacob Hobbs. Hannibal takes an unseemly amount of interest in this, like he’d like to be the focus of such empathy and understanding. Using the books, it does seem that on some level Hannibal is seeking the ultimate companion–someone to murder with. A lonely God searching for an equal. Perhaps his future actions per the book cannon are an expression of his disappointment that Will did not respond.

Hannibal then shows up at Will’s home while Will isn’t there. He feeds Will’s dogs sausage to keep them compliant and then pokes around in Will’s drawers. Of particular interest is a fishing lure that Will has mounted. Hannibal finishes the fly then penetrates his thumb with the hook. I believe this to be foreshadowing of penetration he wants to happen but I write gay porn. Chances are, there’s something more sinister going on.

Ceuf, part 2

Abigail is damaged by what happened to her and uses strategic scarves to hide her scar. Dr. Bloom visits her at the hospital. She is also wearing a scarf. Hmm.

Apparently group therapy doesn’t work for Abigail, but Dr. Bloom insists it’s the best way before she goes to have a beer with Hannibal. In his office. Where he keeps wine and beer. Well, he is a serial killer, that’s probably not professional either.

Ceuf, part 3

Will & Hannibal talk about their childhoods, though not in great detail. Just enough that Will is aware of Hannibal being an orphan like Abigail and we find that Will never knew his mother. Will’s father was a bit of a nomad who went from town to town working on boats.

Will thanks Hannibal for checking on his dogs which lets us know that that field trip into Will’s home was authorized. But since this isn’t the full episode, I have no clue where he was.

Hannibal makes dinner for Jack Crawford where it is implied that the “rabbit” they were eating was likely a young man who should’ve run faster. Hannibal is disappointed that Jack’s wife does not attend. They discuss Will’s state of mind and Abigail. Hannibal suggest that Jack’s job at the FBI isn’t tearing Will’s psyche apart but is an anchor. Only, not so much.

Ceuf, part 4

Hannibal didn’t agree on the course of treatment for Abigail, so he boosted her from the hospital. Perhaps, as he said to Will, he feels responsible for her now that she’s been orphaned. Or maybe he senses that Will’s intention to bond with her may actually work. It’s better for him if they are isolated from each other–it would make them easier to control and dependent on them.

Ceuf, part 5

As part of therapy, Hannibal feels that Abigail should be tripping balls and doses her with shrooms. His theory, as he sells it to her, is that he could “rewire” her brain by creating positive associations to her bad memories. I’m no doctor, but I don’t think that’s how it works.

But, he makes her the dinner she was having with her parents the night that her father went crazy and killed her mother.

Ceuf, part 6

Dr. Bloom is pretty ticked about this alternate therapy and she doesn’t even know about the shrooms. She is at his house where Hannibal and Abigail are sitting down to dinner. Dr. Bloom joins them, but what Abigail sees are her dead parents. I don’t know if it’s good, but she at least looks happy.

In bed, Jack tries to close the distance between himself and his wife with no success.

It’s a little May/December, some nice comfort and, of course, there are a couple of cats that oversee everything. Oh and did I mention a hot mechanic? Hm. I must’ve forgot that part. We’re kind of taking some of our love of classic cars, love of hometown Austin, and, you know, I’m a crazy cat lady, and Thursday’s love of history for the romantic lead, a history professor, and smashing it all together.

I think it’s quite charming, but I guess that’s my job. Hopefully you will, too!

And… drag race. OMG. It’s getting so tight now! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Alaska, but you never know how it’s going to go. There isn’t really a queen I dislike in this final four, but I ain’t their momma so I have a total favorite. 

I’m a little curious about “Defiance” but it chose a bad time to be on. If it’s any good I’m sure SyFy will have a catch up session. Actually even if it isn’t good I’m sure they’ll play it a million zillion times. Their series are always so hit or miss for me. I really like “Being Human” but I think I catch the eps on an “alternate time” late on Fridays. Good stuff, though. 

This week, the actors seemed, in general, more settled into their roles. We learn that Freddie Lounds is now with an ie and is a female. We also learn that the FBI scenes are not nearly as impregnable as previously presumed, which lends some credence to my husband’s theory that perhaps the Shrike copycat killer was not, in fact, Hannibal as the editing would certainly imply but may be a true copycat.

Though, even if it wasn’t Hannibal himself, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a patient. And, I do wonder what happened to Hannibal’s administrative assistant. Who told Freddie Lounds about when Will’s appointment was, indeed?

Because I was pointed at Reddit earlier in the week, I’d had seen the fungus bodies, though a flash of the bodies was already part of the preview, this just gave me a better look. My favorite serial killer stories are those where if you tilt your head, you can see how they got there. This murderer wanted the spores, the threads of the mind, to be able connect and communicate, perhaps even beyond death. It wasn’t stated, but I had a moment of drifting off thinking of fungus as transmitter of thought and experience, spores that spread. In that respect, it was quite beautiful and even poetic.

In another respect, I remembered confirming my address for my pharmacist this morning and tried to remember if she had dirt under her nails.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Hannibal without food porn. After Freddie Lounds is exposed by Hannibal, he tells her that she has been very rude, which in movies, seems to be the only provocation Hannibal needs for murder. But this is again where I think of Hopkins v Mikkelson. Hopkins Hannibal is already exposed. There is less need for subtlety unless he’s in hiding.

Mikkelson’s Hannibal has everything to lose, so perhaps killing the reporter isn’t the priority. And, perhaps, her article about Will is something he can use for his seductive dance with Will.

Because there is a seductive dance. Hannibal is clearly interested in Will, though whether he intends to eat him or try and draw him close for another purpose, we do not know. As of this episode, that dance seems to be going as planned. In episode 1, Will winds up at the exact right construction site where he could find Hobbs. Hannibal smiles.

Hannibal knows exactly what to do to set the man off, though why he does this, we do not know yet. It seems to be part of this dance. And in the end, with Will struggling with his humanity, grieving that he felt good about killing Hobbs, like he’d settled the issue with finality in spite of the orphan in the aftermath, Hannibal presses on. Because God kills. Must enjoy killing as he does it so much. And if we are in His image, then perhaps this is how we are meant to be.

But are we better than that? Should we be?

Those are the bigger questions, not resolved this week. Next week promises the return of Hobbs’s daughter, which should throw an interesting quandary in the mix: was she complicit in her father’s cannibalism? What does this mean for her?

Watch this episode on Hulu

It is the stuff of great fanfiction, my friends and this is fanfiction by the professionals with a great cast.

Now, I love Hugh Dancy but I don’t always love the roles he chooses. This time, the script and the storyline is playing to his strengths in a way only he can. I see now why Bryan Fuller jumped on casting him.

Mads Mikkelsen has a hell of a poker face, which is a good thing when you’re trying to portray someone who gives little away. He has a sort of quiet quality to him that, unlike Superman who is hiding that body under a suit, I could buy as being someone that everyone might overlook as being truly psycho.

Mostly what we saw of the other characters, including Laurence Fishburne, was connecting the dots. I imagine we’ll see a bit more from them as the series progresses. The first half was pretty much dedicated to getting into Will Graham, which makes sense since he’s a lead we have less familiarity with. Plus it saved the money shot of Mads being all cannibally until after the commercial break.

I love the mood of the show and the way that it is shot in moody blue and red tones that will make the color RED jump out at you. It would be a good thing if you really like RED. But also it’s difficult to get a real sense of time and place. The first time we see Hannibal he is wearing a more retro-looking suit, perhaps taking cues from the movies.

Anthony Hopkin’s Hannibal seemed to have a bit more twinkle than our Mads Hannibal, but there are aspects of that portrayal that I find more in character from the books. If that’s better or worse would depend on your preference. I like both for different reasons. The only criticism I had was that my ear is less attuned to Mads’s accent so it was difficult at first for me to understand what he was saying. His voice has that quiet, soothing quality but by the second scene he was in I’d sorted it out.

The other thing that some may find troubling is the graphic nature of the story. Meaning gore. Meaning very disturbing imagery. If you go into a series about a cannibal serial killer and are surprised by this, turn in your TV now. Seriously.

Now, I already knew this show as for me, but seeing Kids in the Hall’s Scott Thompson made me grin and previews that promise Gillian Anderson and Eddie Izzard, plus others that I was too overwhelmed to properly comprehend make it beyond must-see TV.

I’m excited to see everyone settled into their roles. It has some great potential and a very promising start. Can’t wait for the next!