I feel like that's the kind of episode that you could only create because the ratings are so low and the show has already been pushing so many boundaries and alienating enough people after two seasons of increasingly intense violence and increasingly abstract filmmaking that the only folks left are those willing to take the show entirely on its own terms. So while it felt slight in some ways - mostly the self-imposed myopia of taking place entirely in this new setting of Europe - it was also easily the most exquisitely shot and constructed episode of the entire series thus far. The cheeky, winking references to art and aesthetics - and even giallo, with that synthy Goblin-esque score accompanying Bedelia throughout Florence - served to underline the fact that this show is operating on a level of both ambition and execution pretty far above most anything else on television, network or otherwise.
The running comment in season 3 reviews was that the show was "bold," and yes, it takes a huge amount of boldness to not only defy, but straight-up ignore convention in concentrating entirely on one set of characters (Hannibal, Bedelia, Gideon) to the complete exclusion of everyone else - most of whom are far more easily sympathized with than three of the show's coldest and most impenetrable people. But I also feel like there's a surety of vision here that is perhaps more like a film or a miniseries or a novel, because we trust that the show absolutely knows what it is doing and where it is going and right at this moment this is the narrative line it wants to follow, and nought else.
It is a bit too disconnected from the whole right now for me to say that I really loved it, in spite of the great character work, pacing, and craft displayed throughout, but because of that boldness and vision I feel like this will play out far better on video or streaming after the fact wherein the show's design will be more readily apparent. On its own, it's an outstanding episode of television; the structure of the episode sort of reminded me of "Unfinished Business," an episode of Battlestar Galactica that similarly skipped here and there in time and featured a similar focus on building character and creating a particular mood (in Hannibal: a creeping dread more heightened than usual) than addressing goings on in the plot. The interweaving of various timelines, often without an obvious marker to indicate what era we're in until the dialogue and scenery subtly reveals it, was as superb here as it was there.
For an episode of Hannibal and as a fan of the show, well- I wanted to know what happened to Will, Jack, Alana, Chilton, Margot, Mason, Bella, and that makes this episode less than fully satisfying even when I can appreciate it and its aims on an intellectual level. I like that the show has fully embraced the symbolism of Hannibal as Satan - seductive, clever, and observant, but fundamentally evil, and interested largely in poking and prodding at humanity in whatever ways he pleases divorced of any moral grounding or core. It's more than a bit on-the-nose to have him literally interposed with imagery of the devil, and called so in flashback, but from the perspectives of Bedelia and even Gideon that's exactly what he is. The ways in which the show explored her complicated push-pull relationship with Hannibal, and the ways in which she is both captivated and captured by him, are as fascinating as ever, though the highlight of various interactions for me might have been the way that Gideon continually tried to get under Hannibal's skin as the latter had so literally done to the former. It's a fascinating turn that has given him a lot of depth.
That focus on the two characters who have been most privy to seeing Hannibal without his person suit - save for, arguably, Will himself - was an interesting and smart way to segue into a season that represents a huge shift in the direction of the show. Now we're all, like Gideon and Bedelia, privy to seeing Hannibal as he is, something the show (and the character) have been very selective in portraying thus far. It's a huge part of why he has been so likeable and charming a character in spite of the monster he clearly is lurking so close to the surface; if season 2 was about slowly stripping away that facade, season 3 is about gazing into the abyss that we're left with.
