UK TV review: Hannibal Season 3, Episode 10
Review Overview
Claws
7Teeth
8Compassion
7Jo Bromilow | On 18, Aug 2015
Already seen Episode 10? Read on at the bottom for spoilers.
When a character calling himself “The Great Red Dragon” appears on the scene to bump the Wendigo off the top spot in Monster of the Week polls, there’s definitely something old worldly afoot. The mire of psychiatry appears, if this show is anything to go by, to reveal the most bestial aspects of us all. But to catch a beast and successfully know his mind, must you become one yourself? What really draws the boundary between man and beast?
As we discover over the course of this episode, the lines that divide the two are increasingly blurred. We see that beasts are consumers, but taking in the essence and the flesh of their enemies to consume their power is a more human-like attribute in many ways. We observe beasts as being carnal, yet it is humans that manage to derive pleasure from the carnal in a way animals rarely do. We see the most dangerous beast of all – a human in disguise – learning to camouflage itself to blend in among civilization. We like to believe what separates man from beast is a finer psychology… but it is when men are truly damaged that they revert to becoming beasts. So if we really are dealing with a beast in the form of the Red Dragon, how far can we follow him before we must become him?
These are, of course, similar themes for those of us who recall Will’s earlier journeys to catch Hannibal. As the Red Dragon draws ever closer to meeting his idol or challenging him for dominance – whether man or beast wins out remains to be seen – Will and Hannibal are hard at work at both ends of the scale trying to understand the man behind him. Will, naturally, takes the opportunity to try and understand Francis’ connections to Hannibal, and in that wild chase naturally comes face to face with his former master and prey once again, staring into the eyes of Hannibal to see the true version of himself mirrored back. Then, still unhappy with the reflection, he looks to Bedelia, who reappears this week, for the same. Having lived in and survived the beast’s lair, Bedelia knows a bit about how to become one, or how to trick the beast into not sensing the danger lying beside it, as we observe in a flashback scene hinted at earlier this season. With Hannibal behind bars, how big a role does the enigmatic and clearly lethal Bedelia have to play in the capture of Dolarhyde?
Hannibal, meanwhile, continues to court his elusive prey, or prey plural as he seems intent on drawing Will back into his trap. Or does Hannibal know that it will likely be through a sacrificial lamb, if Will is such a thing, that the Dragon will be caught? As the Dragon continues to make bolder and bolder moves, eventually he will step out of the shadows, and the inevitable showdown can begin.
Hannibal: Season 1 to 3 is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription.
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Photo ©2014 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
Spoilers and further consideration
– Dodgy CGI aside, we do quite enjoy the resolute seriousness used in the sequences depicting the Dragon (which does look convincingly devilish) meeting the Wendigo. That dragon tattoo also lends itself to some great camerawork, with artful and trippy sex scenes that manage to tread the perfect line between weird and erotic that does quite well out of this show.
– That’s an impressively nasty set of fake teeth our poor Tooth Fairy is sporting, though they appear effective at making short work of that William Blake masterpiece. Wonder if that was sugar paper they made Richard Armitage eat?