Listen to this while reading, you will feel the harmony between sound and word ..
It has been exactly a week now since Hannibal’s
shocking and blatantly eventful final episode from the jaw-dropping season 2. I
wanted to write something about this exceptional series and the unexpected turn
of events of the last episode as I believe I just got out from the seven days
state of denial that the beautifully wicked Mr Lecter has immersed me in.
Three possible deaths are the culmination of this
intellectually and psychologically provocative season. Surprisingly, the
victims are three of the fundamental characters of the entire series: “Will
Graham” .. Is he a killer in transition, in disguise, by proxy or unconsciously
.. No one knows .. Yet.
The second victim is the innocent and caring Jack
Crowford and the third one is the gullible Dr Alana Bloom. If one is to expect
a common pattern between all these probable deaths, one is to be disappointed !
I do not know if this violent hastiness in the killing process is done on
purpose or is simply the result of a lack in preparations as the fatal visits
of these three characters was unpredicted by Hannibal The Cannibal .. Or
perhaps he made it look like he was surprised at their breaking in into his
sacred and ritualistic dinner preparations.
Every reading is possible at this point .. His
reckless behavior when dealing with the attacks signals an astonishment at
their coming. However, the reiterative focus on the knife when it smoothly
slays the meat, accentuates the idea that his Mind’s Eye is at work here, for
it is the knife, the cannibal’s tool, which mirrors the invading and
threatening faces of the ominous victims.
Now, the fashion according to which he handles the life
of his victims can either manifest a prominent degree of dexterity or an
unusual degree of rashness .. An act, of course, that does not become the minutely
calculating mind of Hannibal Lecter.
With his sharp cooking knife, he cut the throats of
both Jack crowford and Abigail Hobbs. Perchance, there is a latent pattern in
the slaughtering act after all. Moreover, Alana’s the throat was cut in the
same way by the helpless Abigail Hobbs. This undecidability still persists,
however, when the viewer examines the way Hannibal attempted to end Will’s life.
While Alana and Jack were swiftly cut, Will Graham was pierced right through
the stomach by his “friend” Hannibal.
Logically, as such, the release of the soul will be
slow and painful. Does he desire to internalize the last breathing moments of
the friend he loves and engrave them in his memory ? Is Hannibal Lecter
becoming a voyeuristic ? Perhaps he already is ! He does relish in the
aesthetic ways of death he designs. Following this, Hannibal rejoices in both
process and result of assassination. He enjoys the while and the post, maybe
because the “post” reminds him of the “beauty” of the “while” and the “while”
paves the way to the gratification of the “post”.
The question that remains at the end, did Hannibal honor
them by such mundane and plain forms of murder ? Is there a tale to tell behind
them ? Was there an ancient ritual executed in the process ? Was there a
philosophy underlying them ? Did he intend to immortalize them in so usual a
murder ? Is there an ultimate design or does the design lie in the no design ?
Why does he “eternalize”
anonymous people and rewards the people he knows and loves with a normal death
? Is it because he knows them ? Perhaps he wants to remember them as living
creatures and not as a set of peculiar exhibitions of Life and Death.
“I
gave you a rare gift, but you didn’t want it.” He says to Will Graham while the
latter is lying on the floor gasping for breath. One can argue that he is
talking about his unappreciated friendship, or, more far-fetchedly about the “honor”
of dying like a normal human being.
Ideas are painfully irreconcilable when it comes
to Dr Hannibal Lecter .. Cognitive provocation, visual amazement and psychological angst are what he offers you, yet we, the wretched viewers, continue to watch
awe-inspired and impressed. These paradoxes make of Hannibal a series to watch,
rewatch, brood over, study and even teach ..
