Ron Does Stuff

After missing a post last week because of a busy schedule, I’m back at it again!

In the previous episode, we saw Molly Shannon get shot and Alana Bloom call out Hannibal shockingly rude behavior and pretty much little else, because it really wasn’t one of the stronger episodes of the season.

This fifth episode, however, really lays down the foundation for events that shape a whole lot of events in this season, if I’m remembering it correctly. It opens with Will sleepwalking and I definitely remember why he’s doing it. He’s found on the street in his shirt and underwear by a policeman and he’s lucky he’s in some secluded part of America because if that happened here he’d probably already been run over by something.

Of course, Will goes to Hannibal the day after because he thinks Hannibal is his friend and gets served with what I assume is one of those French press coffee deals? I am not a coffee drinker but that whole French press coffee thing really took off during the pandemic.

The conversation between Will and Hannibal is a great look into how Hannibal is giving him correct advice but also driving a wedge between him and Jack Crawford, although that may not be as hard as expected given Will already has an adversarial relationship with Jack to begin with. The use of the words devil and saint are also a nice segue to this week’s monster of the week, the Angel Maker.

Remember how I wrote about how the violence here is so over-the-top but also artistically done that I don’t find the gore gory? What’s done to the victims in this episode are one of the best examples. I don’t want to be put on any watchlist or whatever but I truly think that these props are both gruesome and gorgeous.

While Will takes in that whole scene and tries to figure out what the Angel Maker’s deal is, Jack and Bella are having dinner at Hannibal’s house, with food that definitely looks like some of the expensive stuff I ate when I was invited to a hoity-toity gala earlier this month. Maybe I’m just an unsophisticated rube but I couldn’t fully appreciate the expensive food! It was delicious but I just couldn’t fathom paying the amount it supposedly cost!

Anyways, Hannibal is on a charm offensive with the Crawfords but of course I am fully focused on queen Gina Torres, who is always a delight in everything I’ve watched her in. Even 9-1-1: Lone Star! It’s also where Hannibal lets Bella know that he knows about her cancer diagnosis.

Over at the morgue, Will realizes that the Angel Maker isn’t killing these people because he craves violence, but because he’s afraid of dying in his sleep because of his brain tumor. When I first watched this a literal decade ago I didn’t think anything of it but is this really possible for people with a brain tumor? Do they really go off the deep end that much?

While Will has that to worry about, Bella meets up with Hannibal to talk about her cancer and what she plans to do about it. She also shares her resentment at how she can’t be another worry Jack has to think about and I really admire how this show has given more depth to the book‘s female characters. In the two book’s she in, Bella is never more than a shadow or a literal dying body and it’s really great how they’re telling her story here. It gives Gina Torres great scenes too!

The episode also does a great job at crafting the mystery surrounding Will’s condition, which I think we only ever find out about later in the season? Or maybe the second season but I doubt that since I haven’t watched that and I remember watching the reveal of what Will is going through. It also shows that Will isn’t stupid because he can already see that Hannibal is trying to drive a wedge between him and Jack Crawford.

Another thing that adds a layer to a scene between Jack and Bella in this episode is the fact that Laurence Fishburne and Gina Torres were married at the time, but ended up divorcing each other three years later — a tidbit I only found out literally now because I just wanted to confirm if the two of them were married like I thought they were. Being the nosy busybody that I am I wonder if their conversation in their conjugal bed in the episode sorta mirrored what was happening in their actual lives?

As the episode progresses I also start to remember one of my main problems with this episode. I don’t think they ever really explained how the Angel Maker picks his victims and how they always happen to be criminals? It’s not a big deal and doesn’t hugely detract from my enjoyment of the episode, but it’s one thing that I wish they addressed properly.

The therapy sessions between Hannibal and Bella are also effective at underscoring the lasting effects of one death on a person. I know that sounds like an obvious thing when written down but when you put this beside other similar shows airing at the time, Hannibal really dealt with it much more gracefully and artfully and sympathetically.

We also get scenes like this:

A scne perfect for shippers? Check. A scene that shows Hannibal definitely knows Will is sick but he’s an asshole who doesn’t tell him? Check. A scene that takes dialogue from the book but reinterprets it in a sorta fun way? Check.

They wrap up the monster of the week storyline in the lacking way I talk about but really the meat of this episode that is the true star is the “confrontation” between Jack and Bella, where they’re finally talking to each other about the cancer Bella has. Gina Torres is so good in this scene and I am always, always a sucker for scenes where the actors tears are just dangling in their eyes about to fall but it doesn’t.