Review: Hannibal, Episode #9

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

EPISODES 9: Trou Normand

THE MENU: Will Graham continues to lose his grip on reality as he is forced to deal with another string of gruesome murders that resulted in a human totem pole. Meanwhile, Abigail Hobbs is approached by journalist Freddie Lounds to write a book about her father. Will dangerous secrets that risk not only her innocence rear their ugly heads this week?

THE MAIN COURSE: It seems like week after week in my case, there has been an ask and ye shall receive vibe going on with Hannibal and I have to thank the writers of this show for that. I wanted the show to dive into the Abigail Hobbs storyline head first, and I got more than I bargained for. Within tonight’s episode we get a couple of reveals and if you haven’t seen the episode yet there will be SPOILERS in the next paragraph, you are forewarned.

I love the new dynamic that we have with Graham being in on the secret that Abigail and Hannibal are locked together in, it’s a testament to Hannibal’s brilliance for admitting he’s involved straight up then confronting Graham with some twisted morality about the situation that we all know is a heap of bullshit. The other big reveal was a knife to the gut (teehee) that confirmed something we feared but hoped wasn’t true in Abigail tragically being directly involved in her recently stiffed father’s activities. I had nothing but sympathy for her this whole episode; chick just didn’t stand a chance man. I loved Hannibal’s line about him and Graham being Abigail’s “fathers” now, they both seem to feel responsible for her and it will only strengthen Lecter’s delusion of a friendship between him and Will. *END SPOILERS*

Other notable moments in the episode are the kick ass cameo by the legendary Lance Henriksen as the twisted sumbitch responsible for the human totem pole in the beginning of the episode. Henriksen’s character is probably the most chilling guest star yet, the reason for that being his diatribe about how easy it is for him to talk to the families of his victims knowing beforehand what he had done. As out there as the flesh filled totem pole was, it was somewhat tame compared to what we’ve seen the rest of the series, as was most of the episode (aside from some grisly visuals of the decomposing body of Nick Boyle). Before I sign off on the cringe inducing sh*t this episode sported, the idea of that poor sap who ended up being the top piece of that totem pole being made to watch the construction of the thing before being stabbed was chilling. That kinda thing always got me, maybe why endings of flicks like the Strangers have such an effect on me.

Any beef I have to speak of with tonight’s proceedings? Just one, and again there will be some spoilers here but that beef is being the sudden way in which Graham found out about what really happened to Nick Boyle. I mean I know Graham is wired differently and he’s one clever son of a bitch but I had to suspend a bit more disbelief to be okay with the way that revelation was presented. As much as I dig Will being in on the whole thing, I ALMOST wish this reveal would have been delayed a couple more episodes so it could have been discovered by evidence and it would have had more of an impact. But I am willing to dismiss this small complaint because I do dig the moral conundrum it puts Graham in the middle of thanks to his feeling responsible for Abigail, they do a good job of making it make sense why Will would not run to Graham with this.

DESSERT: Tonight’s episode was masterfully written, I feared that all the cards would be on the table a little too quick and they revealed enough within their own little world without shit hitting the fan completely. There are still secrets to hit these characters with, and I can’t wait to see the rest of them come to light. I also dug seeing Freddie Lounds come back into the fray to tell Abigail’s story, she’s a great character because she’s such a damn pest and I can only assume that eventually she’ll get under Hannibal’s skin just a little too much, and we all know how that ends. Graham continues to lose his shit, his “empathy disorder” is causing him some serious problems, and it was touching seeing Lecter show concern for the guy. Props to the writers, props to the cast for continuing to own their roles beautifully, and to Lance Henriksen…just…thank you.

Next week episode is entitled "Buffet Froid", and it appears the main area of attention will be given to Will Graham and his further descent into madness. He quite literally can not tell fantasy from reality by the looks of it and I can't wait to see Hugh Dancy rock it again. I haven't forgotten that Dancy's portrayal of Graham was the main thing that hooked me on this show to begin with, just glad that the rest of the cast has stepped up to the plate as well. Especially Mads as Lecter, he is really making it his own. Check out a promo of next weeks episode here

RATING ON 10

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