Father Son Holy Gore

NBC’s Hannibal
Season 3, Episode 10: “…And the Woman Clothed in Sun”
Directed by Guillermo Navarro (D.P on Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado, & Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim)
Written by Bryan Fuller & Don Mancini

* For a review of the previous episode, “…And the Woman Clothed With the Sun” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “…And the Beast from the Sea” – click here
This week’s episode, a slight different wording from last week’s episode which corresponds to the William Blake paintings “…And the Woman Clothed in Sun”, begins as Francis Dolarhyde (Richard Armitage) prepares himself.
For what? A conversation over the phone with an understanding ear: Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen).

Being an avid fan, an impressed spectator to the greatness of Hannibal’s crimes, Francis prepares himself. He doesn’t want his speaking voice to affect anything on his way to Lecter. He jacks into an abandoned building’s phone line (pretty sure that is actually Dr. Lecter’s old home/office if I’m not mistaken: look in the background carefully) to get in touch with the naughty doctor; he has on a telephone company uniform and all, SureTalk. This will hopefully quench the thirst of people bitching last week that there’d be no way Francis would’ve gotten through to Lecter. Solved now? Then all of a sudden, we are in Lecter’s Memory Palace it seems. Perfect little evolution to the scene, especially if Dolarhyde is in fact at the old office where Lecter himself once saw patients. He and Francis now sit and talk to one another. Here comes friendship again in Hannibal as an over-arching theme. Hannibal is looking for a friend, as is Francis. While Dolarhyde has certainly come to like Reba McClane (Rutina Wesley), he is still searching for that kindred spirit which understands the part of him that loves to – needs to – kill people.
So again, we’ve got this duality going. Added to the fact Hannibal is mad at Will, like a lover scorned and turned away, there is something dangerous and horrible brewing between these two. Worst part is, Francis Dolarhyde is half in, half out, as he struggles against the Great Red Dragon when he’s with Reba; her humanity brings him back to his own, in a sense. Francis: “I want to be recognized by you”
Hannibal: “As John the Baptist recognized the one who came after”
Francis: “I want to sit before you as the Dragon sat before 666 and Revelation. I have… things, I would love to show you. Some day if circumstances permit, I would like to meet you… and watch you meld with the strength of the Dragon.”
Hannibal: “See how magnificent you are. Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” Impressive image as this conversation closes, just as opening credits cut. I actually went “Phewf”. Incredibly powerful and so darkly vibrant looking. Couldn’t get enough of this bit! Now we’re seeing Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) spinning a web of lies. I suppose it’s no different from Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) passing the events three years ago off as something they were not. However, I’d argue that Bedelia had a hand in far too much to truly sit by and believe anything else. Regardless there she is, in all her glory, still on top of the world. She reels off tales of Hannibal Lecter and her forced captivity, when she was “swallowed by the beast“, and a whole room of people clap. Will: “Poor Dr. Du Maurier – swallowed whole, suffering inside Hannibal Lecter’s bowels for what must’ve felt like an eternity. You didn’t lose yourself, Bedelia, you just crawled so far up his ass you couldn’t be bothered.”
Bedelia: “Hello, Will.”
Will: “You hitched your star to a man commonly known as a monster. You’re the Bride of Frankenstein.”
Bedelia: “We’ve both been his bride.”
Will: “How’d you manage to walk away unscarred? I’m covered in scars.”

An impressive exchange between Bedelia and Will. I love the pure sass coming out of Graham, like he’s just chewing on it. Furthermore, we’re getting so much in the way of the relationship between Will and Hannibal; it’s the truest, purest heterosexual male love story of the 21st century this far in. There are some enlightening bits here, especially one of Dr. Du Maurier’s last lines in the scene…

Bedelia: “I was with him behind the veil. You were always on the other side.” Perhaps one of my favourite moments of the entire episode is when Francis takes Reba to see the tiger who is under medication for surgery. There’s this part where Reba is touching all the way up to the tiger’s face, the music is so tense and suspenseful as if we might get a crazy dream sequence where Reba gets her hand bitten off, and Francis has this look on his face, he’s almost biting his own hand, then nothing happens and Reba goes on touching the big animal, rubbing its fur. Just shows how much of a fixation Francis has on mouths, teeth, et cetera, he could barely even handle seeing Reba touch an animal’s mouth. So intriguing and also had my heart rate pumping a few times. How many times can I say it? Richard Armitage is doing a superb job with the character of Francis Dolarhyde.
I mean, I’m a massive fan of Ralph Fiennes – total nut for the guy’s filmography, but still… I think because of his performance, and plus the ability to play the character in a handful of episodes as opposed to a single two hour film, Armitage has the advantage here.
There’s something about his quiet physicality. It moves me, honestly. Even in the beginning when he’s practicing certain sounds, making sure he can sound appropriate enough to make it through so he can speak to Hannibal, I felt this insanely vulnerable feeling for Dolarhyde. Not that he doesn’t scare me at certain times, but Armitage truly makes me feel bad for the guy.
The other incarnations – both Fiennes and also Tom Noonan – really came across with the insane aspects of the character; they didn’t overdo things, they just played it quite well on that end. With Armitage, I’m impressed by how he brings out that vulnerability and the traumatic past so much better. It’s really something to revel in. So glad he was chosen to play this part because even if someone else could’ve done a decent job, Armitage is making Dolarhyde one of the best villains ever on television. The essence of a sympathetic killer, if there ever was one. P.S. The love making scene between Francis and Reba went insanely well. I love how those types of scenes in this series come out as these trippy, psychedelic affairs, which keeps up with the whole weird aesthetic Hannibal has going on. We’re seeing more and more now that struggle of Dolarhyde against the Great Red Dragon, bursting inside him, calling out from the painting, telling him to kill. Because now, the Dragon wants Reba, it does not need that side of Francis clogging things up. The pain, the sound in Francis’ head returns, but he wants to overpower it. No matter how strong the feeling that he is becoming, Francis clearly does feel something for Reba. Good dose of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon.
Hannibal is able to dial his way into Dr. Frederick Chilton’s (Raúl Esparza) office. He manages to con his way into getting Will Graham’s home address, the sneaky, dirty doctor.

Will: “If he does end up eating you, Bedelia, you’d have it coming.”
I’m truly enjoying the scenes between Hugh Dancy and Gillian Anderson this week. Great episode for them. It’s like a tit-for-tat type of situation, the two of them going back and forth – Will trying to get to the bottom of things, Bedelia toeing the edges as long as she’s permitted. Bedelia: “Do no harm”
Will: “And did you?”
Bedelia: “I did. Technically.”
Will: “You dared to care.”
Bedelia: “Not the first time I’ve lost professional objectivity in a matter where Hannibal is concerned.” I fucking love this! Zachary Quinto shows up again, finally not as a corpse like when we last saw him in Bedelia’s office. He was the patient she ended up killing in her office, the one whose death Hannibal Lecter, that damned dirty dog, helped to cover up. I think he’s an incredible actor, despite what anyone else wants to say. He has this very gentle, subtle quality that helps to frighten when things become intense.
His turn in American Horror Story: Asylum is one of my favourite characters on television – ever. Great to see him here. Adds to the ever increasing list of awesome guest stars the show has had in its jaw-dropping three seasons. Not only that Quinto is awesome, his character clearly knew how messed up Bedelia and Hannibal both were. Unfortunately for this he had to go.

Bedelia: “My relationship with Hannibal is not as passionate as yours. You are here visiting an old flame. Is your wife aware of how intimately you and Hannibal know each other?”
Will: “She’s aware enough”
Bedelia: “You couldn’t save Hannibal. Do you think you can save this new one?” The way we learn about Bedelia’s patient, Neal Frank (Zachary Quinto), the one who formerly went to Hannibal, is a great example of why Fuller & Co (this week’s episode is written by him and the most excellent Don Mancini) have done such a fabulous job fleshing the story out in an appropriate way. At least in a way I see as appropriate.
We’ve already seen bits and pieces of this stuff, but now we’re getting the full story, a better look at everything going on. The manner in which Fuller & Co. drop things into the story, little subplots and sidebars, then come back to things later instead of explaining things full-on right away, I think that’s the mark of some excellent storytelling.
Another reason this series is great, and another reason some adaptations are better off on television than necessarily becoming a series of films – I love, love, love the films featuring Hannibal Lecter, there’s just a special place in my fandom of the Thomas Harris novels for this particular version. So much room to move around and play with themes, characters, arcs, and so on.

Also, we come to see how Bedelia is actually more like Hannibal than Will. At the key moment between her and Neal Frank, she does what she does out of pure curiosity. For a moment, I thought it was actually going to be an accident what happened in the end, however, it’s curiosity that drives Bedelia – and drives her hand further down Neal’s throat instead of helping open up his airway. Very interesting. Then it feeds her continuing chat with Will Graham.

Bedelia: “You are not a killer. You are capable of righteous violence because you are compassionate.”
Will: “How are you capable?”
Bedelia: “Extreme acts of cruelty require a high level of empathy. The next time you have an instinct to help someone, you might consider crushing them instead. It might save you a great deal of trouble.” We get more of Will and Hannibal together, working once more in unison towards understanding a killer. Of course, Hannibal has not revealed his call from the Tooth Fairy, Mr. Francis Dolarhyde; though, Lecter does not know the man’s name, only that he is… becoming.
Hannibal certainly didn’t tell Will that he has gotten a home address for the new Graham family. Mostly he is teasing Will; that jealous lover side of him coming out, pissed that Will has decided to have a family, a wife, a child to look after. When Francis Dolarhyde makes his way into the museum, I got giddy. This has always been one of my favourite things out of Red Dragon, particularly because it shows just how beyond deranged Dolarhyde is, I mean, if it wasn’t sickeningly obvious. It has this fascinating quality that speaks to Dolarhyde’s delusions. Further reinforcing the fact he wants to gain control over the hold the Great Red Dragon has over him. Armitage had me just creeped out here, enormously. The teeth come out, he’s sniffing the painting, then starts biting into the thing. BUT WAIT!
WILL GRAHAM. WHAT?
He shows up to see Blake’s painting just as Dolarhyde is chowing down, having himself a nice little snack. I was so blown away by this little moment, the meeting between Graham and Francis – the power of the former comes out as he manhandles Will, literally tossing him like a rag doll, beating him against the elevator’s insides and then throwing him out. What a spectacular end to this episode. I cannot wait to see the next one, to the point I’m freaking out here. One of the greatest yet. Puts a wild twist on Harris here, which I think works perfectly.
We’re going to see one odd love triangle between Lecter, Dolarhyde, and Graham play out. Especially once the bad doctor drops Will Graham’s address to the Tooth Fairy.

Soon, my fellow Fannibals…. soon. The next episode is “And the Beast from the Sea” – so stay tuned with me!