I really wanted Hannibal to turn into a great show. But we're 4-ish episodes in, and it's already turning into another formulaic procedural drama with a little more gore. Criminal Minds has already ripped off the best of Thomas Harris for weekly installments; to work, Hannibal needed to focus on something other than increasingly farfetched serial murders that could be solved in the span of an hour. After episode 3, I was hopeful that it was turning in that direction. But then, the latest episode aired and I'm feeling pretty cynical towards the show.
The fourth episode to air was actually the fifth episode in the series, but apparently episode 4 was deemed too controversial for American television. From the recaps I've read, this episode also featured a new killer-of-the-week with Molly Shannon. Scenes from the episode that involve the main cast and provide exposition are online, but after the episode that did air I haven't been inspired enough to find time to watch them. From what I've read they have had their strong points, which doesn't surprise me--the best elements of this show involve the development of and relationships between the recurring characters. But aside from the killer-of-the-week element in the episode that did air last week, the show has also slipped into a frustrating trope: the case that teaches someone a lesson.
This is present in procedural dramas as well as a lot of medical dramas with weekly cases (it appeared quite often in House, although at least occasionally with some subtlety). Episode 5 of Hannibal had a killer-of-the-week making angels out of his victims with the "blood eagle" method (famously seen in The Silence of the Lambs, because apparently the show is only having Hannibal do things that he's seen other serial killers do first...). As the FBI team tracks the killer they discover that he is suffering from a brain tumor that has affected his behavior and led him to murder.
Our recurring character plot lines focused heavily on Jack Crawford and his wife Phyllis "Bella" Crawford. Bella is seeing Hannibal; at first it seems that she is meeting to discuss an affair, but it is revealed she has cancer and has not told Jack. Since the killer just HAPPENS to have cancer, by the end of the episode Jack has figured out what his wife's secret is and they have a poignant discussion about it.
Okay. I can go along with the story of a rookie FBI agent interviewing a convicted murderer who happens to fall in love with her, while she to get clues on a new case. But I cannot suspend my disbelief enough each week to watch these storylines where not only does the case affect the characters' moods and emotions, but slaps you in the face with almost identical situations (the killer's wife was interviewed in the episode about how she and her husband came to the decision to separate when he became sick, and Laurence Fishburn's dawning realization during the scene was so heavy handed it practically left bruises).
I will give Hannibal at least one more episode, but if the show doesn't find a better way to develop its characters then I won't be continuing with it. There are better ways to move a story forward than shoe-horning in an outside plotline that just happens to coincide with what the cast is going through each week. Hannibal needs to break away from crime drama formulas and develop its story in its own right.
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