Only a few days after Hannibal is canceled at NBC, “Apertivo” barely contains the title character. Hannibal has certainly been pushed to the side before, but tonight’s episode was more focused on the relationships he left behind. For better or worse, the episode seems to meander because the focus is so dispersed. On the one hand, its most effective when telling us more about the characters left in questionable states after season two, and on the other it risks too much focus on last season’s final moments.
I have to give Bryan Fuller a hand, this season is all over the place chronologically, yet still makes complete sense. “Apertivo” could have easily been the first episode of this season, and arguably the show would have been worse for it. It’s so surreal to take a step back and see what motivates Will to leave for Europe in the first place, and what propelled Jack to follow.
Each act of the episode had a lingering focus on a different character left maimed by Hannibal. Dr. Chilton seems at first to be the most motivated to take down the cannibal. But is certainly enjoying the degree of fame garnered by his involvement with such a high profile criminal. He’s still an unlikable jerk, but Raul Esparza is so damn compelling to watch that it’s hard to look away. Especially in that phenomenal piece of facial deconstruction. Hannibal is never one to shy away from gore, but tonight’s bullet to the face was one of the best sequences the show has ever given us.
Elsewhere, we’ve got Mason Verger. Joe Anderson steps in, and you can hardly tell beyond the makeup. His depiction is a little hamfisted for my tastes but hell, if I didn’t find him compelling by the end of the episode. His determination makes his revenge that much more tantilizing, although he’s far too idiotic to defeat Hannibal, unless…
Alana really goes through with this character transition. In fact, the night belonged to Alana. As it was incredibly surprising to see her alive, and even more so to see her ready to kill Hannibal. She is frail now, but definitely not defeated. There is a fire in her eyes in every scene, a determination that we haven’t seen before. It almost seems that she provided that impetus for Will to head to Italy. She’s carefully undermining the efforts of Chilton and perhaps using Will as a pawn in her bigger play against Hannibal.
Will’s scenes were a mixed bag tonight. On the one hand it was lovely to see his delusions manifesting themselves via Chilton in the recovery room. On the other it was devastating to see his interaction with Jack. Knowing that these two men exist on either end of an unrepairable rift is something that was solidified in that chilling hallucinatory murder of Jack.
As much as tonight’s episode shifted some key players around to encircle Hannibal – there wasn’t anything of much effect outside of Alana’s transition. Most of what transpired tonight could have easily been inferred from prior episodes of season three and while most of it was incredibly engaging character work it still felt a little jarring to see an episode with such a diverse focus.
Often Hannibal is a show with a laser-like focus on a single character or plotline, tonight was just the opposite. And, it was a gamble. An admirable one that while fun, didn’t totally engage in the right ways. A little less Will, and a little more Alana would have went a long way tonight.