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While Will and Hannibal’s relationship is the one at the core of this series, Jack Crawford – an integral character in Harris’ books – was hardly shortchanged. The entire season felt like a well-constructed story where the majority of the cases Will worked contributed to the tapestry being completed. The totem pole on the beach may have had no connection to the main story, but it would continue to resonate with Will as he began to hallucinate. Will killing Hobbs in the premiere was a huge event that would haunt and shape Will through the entire season. The events in Hannibal were never self-contained. In fact, several of these cases would have repercussions in later episodes, or even the killers themselves (such as Gideon and Georgia) returning. Yes, Will’s job had him working several different cases this season, but it was hardly a bunch of one-off, unimportant stories. But Fuller quickly proved he wasn’t playing into our assumptions at all. All of which is to say, it sounded like it could be tedious. When Hannibal was first announced, it sounded like the show would be about Hannibal and Will consulting together on killer-of-the-week cases, with Hannibal managing to keep the truth about who he was from Will for several seasons. If Hannibal was going to convince the world at large and possibly even Will himself that he was a killer, we had to see how that could sell, and Dancy’s performance did that perfectly. Dancy managed the difficult task of portraying Will’s amazing skill set and his innate “goodness” while also showing that this guy has severe problems that would make him genuinely seem like he could be someone to keep an eye out for.
#HANNIBAL SEASON 2 REVIEW IGN SERIES#
As the true protagonist of the series, Hugh Dancy is also perfect as Will Graham, who goes far beyond the usual “eccentric but skilled” archetype of crime series heroes to portray someone with some genuinely traumatic issues – which only escalated through the season. But Mads Mikkelsen proved to be an excellent Lecter, giving the character an ever-cool, ever observational demeanor that conveyed both his intelligence and his danger while not behaving in such an arch manner that he would come off as too obvious a villain to those he interacted with. It’s now a very daunting task for any actor to play Hannibal Lecter, thanks to how beloved and memorable Anthony Hopkins was in the role.
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And it became clear that he had a true passion for the story he was telling with Hannibal, reminiscent of how Josh Friedman took Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and made it into something so much more special and notable than was expected to be when the project was announced. An amazingly imaginative and distinct voice in TV, Fuller’s previous shows like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies had proven he was someone whose work was always worth a look. There was always a major reason for optimism, amongst all the naysayers, and that was Bryan Fuller. But lo and behold, not only was Hannibal good, it was great. And going the prequel route? Not only has that not turned out so well in Hollywood in general, it’s already given us a disappointing prequel in this very franchise with Hannibal Rising. While the original source material were Thomas Harris’ books, the movies loomed so huge in the public’s mind. There was a lot of wariness of Hannibal initially.
#HANNIBAL SEASON 2 REVIEW IGN FULL#
Note: Full spoilers for Hannibal: Season 1 follow.