On Time Tuesdays: Is "Hannibal" Worth Sitting Down With A Glass of Chianti?

NBC's new series Hannibal has aired two episodes now, giving some hints at what the show might be leading towards and setting up its cast of characters. For those who are even more behind than I am, Hannibal is a prequel to the original Hannibal Lecter trilogy made most famous by the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. The original three novels and corresponding movies all take place after Hannibal has been caught and incarcerated (a later fourth book, Hannibal Rising, examines Hannibal as a child and young man, but is rather disconnected from the original trilogy), and although we get snippets of Hannibal's original crime spree, the new series is the first narrative to show Hannibal when he was an uncaught serial killer.

Since the novels give just enough about Hannibal's past to tantalize the reader, the concept is pretty ripe for the picking and has been brought to the small screen by Brian Fuller. Fuller, who has a history of creative but short-lived shows (Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, for example), takes on a darker world here, although it's still possible to see how his sharp sense for visuals comes into play with rooms full of antlers and mushroom gardens feeding on very special plant food.

Much like The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal hasn't focused so much on the good Dr. Lecter in its first two episodes as it has on Will Graham, the FBI agent who, as we know from the books and movies, eventually catches Hannibal and puts him behind bars. Graham, played on the show by Hugh Dancy, is the protagonist in the first of the books, Red Dragon, and was introduced after he had already been scarred by Lecter's actions. Fuller creates him in the show not as a confident FBI agent but as a socially anxious man who teaches at Quantico because he's previously been unable to cut it in the field. The first episode shows Graham pulled into consult on the case of the Minnesota Shrike, a serial killer briefly referenced in the novel (kudos to Fuller for really digging deep with the canon here). Graham's potential instability in the field leads Jack Crawford, the agent leading the Behavioral Science Unit, to put him in touch with Lecter, and the show hints that Lecter's relationship with Graham may spur him to kick off his killing spree in the first place.

Hannibal picks Will's brain at his office. Image via NBC.com

Hannibal himself is played by Mads Mikkelson, perhaps best known for playing a Bond villain (although he and Dancy have starred together previously as knights of the Round Table in King Arthur, and I'd definitely geek out of they got some more knights to guest star on the show). So far we've seen a mostly refined side of Mikkelson; he cooks exquisite food with perhaps questionable ingredients and conducts therapy sessions with Graham in his impeccable, gigantic office. There have been hints of Hannibal's talents for manipulation, but we haven't yet gotten Mikkelson's version of complete off-the-rails creepiness (I don't think anyone can forget that sound Anthony Hopkins made in The Silence of the Lambs after discussing the best accompaniments for Chianti).

Fuller has taken some interesting liberties with another canonical character, Freddie Lounds, making him into a sexy her and updating the tabloid reporter into a muck-racking blogger. Lounds' attempts to get inside info from Hannibal have been a fun subplot for me so far; I like that this is becoming an important back story considering how Lounds' plot line plays out in the novels.

Fuller has also added a few other female characters to flesh out the show, notably Caroline Dhavernas as Graham's friend and colleague (and likely love interest) Dr. Bloom and Hettienne Park as a feisty field agent named Beverly Katz. These supporting characters will likely be instrumental in the success or failure of the show, as the Hannibal/Graham dance can only be drawn out so much before it becomes frustrating rather than interesting. One of my biggest concerns so far has been the characterization of Jack Crawford, played by crime drama veteran Lawrence Fishburne. He was extremely frantic, particularly in the first episode, and it seemed a bit chaotic to me, particularly compared to his portrayal (by multiple actors) in the films.

The biggest test will be in how the show runners keep the concept going as a serialized television show. The use of the Minnesota Shrike was a great start; this was something that had a great impact on Graham in the literary canon, and it's already clear that despite the dispatching of the Shrike at the end of the first episode the case is far from closed. This, coupled with Graham's response to shooting the Shrike and his developing relationship with Hannibal, Bloom and Lounds, could give them a lot of material. However, the second episode presented a new case and introduced an element of a more garden variety procedural drama to the show. We already have C.S.I. and Criminal Minds; we don't need Hannibal to come up with a new serial killer every episode. I hope they don't collapse into this formula, but it's obviously a difficult one to overcome. The only investigative drama that I can think of that's managed to move past it has been The Following, but that show has had plenty of issues of its own (full discloser: I stopped watching it a few episodes ago).

This Thursday will present Hannibal's third episode, and hopefully it will continue to build on its strong points and offer a great blend of fresh ideas and canon references. It's too early to call whether the show might break Fuller's streak of bad luck, but I'm willing to pop open a bottle of wine and see what happens in the meantime.