Review: Hannibal ‘Amuse-Bouche’ – That’s Not Marijuana

Are we all sure this show is on NBC? ‘Amuse-Bouche’ is a terrific follow-up to my favorite pilot of the 2012-2013 season, as visually arresting (and unsettling) as the pilot, and really diving into some complex, cerebral ideas without a whole lot of hand-holding. ‘Amuse-Bouche’ does exactly what the second episode of a television show like this should: reinforce the style of the series and its characters, settling into a structure (of sorts) and laying the groundwork for what’s to follow. With such a solid foundation to build on, ‘Amuse-Bouche’ has the luxury of blending its procedural material with the fallout from the events of the pilot – and it makes for an another mesmerizing episode of television.

If there’s a weak spot, it’s the mushroom killer/pharmacist Elden Stammetz, who is growing mushrooms out of fields of dead people. He is given a form of motivation that’s both creepy and pertinent to the main character – he’s both trying to create life out of a dying organism, and reach out to a man he thinks will understand him – but as a person, his motives and tactics are only sketched in. But there’s a reason for this – we’re not seeing this from the eyes of an investigation team, we’re seeing the events from the perspective of William, whose job isn’t to pore over every detail. His job is to come in, understand the killer, and leave – something he’s very good at, but also something that threatens to destroy his entire mental state.

The death of Hobbs is not lost on Will; he sees him in numerous hallucinations and dreams, whether in the shooting gallery or in one of the graves found in the woods that he’s studying. Will is struggling with the fact that he kind of liked what he did, feeling like he was serving justice. As Hannibal says eerily at the very end of the episode, because it “feels powerful”, a relation that Will thinks puts him a little too close to the mindset of the killers he hunts down.

We also get a nice introduction to Freddie Lounds, a character who adds a much-needed female dynamic I mentioned last week (there are other females in the episode, but the two women at the FBI have hardly presented themselves as interesting entities yet). I was expecting her to show up on the show (though I was expecting it to be a male, as in the books), but I love the idea of a tabloid journalist who is not only good at her job, but completely aware and lacking remorse for the damage her articles cause.

In a way, it makes her a nice counterpart to Will (despite them not spending any time together in the episode, as she stalks him to get information about his psyche). As Will gets more and more desensitized to the violence around him, he clearly feels less and less remorse for the violence he’s capable of; while talking to Dr. Lector, he admits that he probably walked up to Stammetz (who was trying to steal and bury Abigail Hobbs, in order to connect to Will and make him realize the beauty of what he did) with the intentions of killing him. Freddie seems to act in the same vein, capable of being shocked (in on of the episode’s two jump scares, Stammetz walks up to a local detective Freddie is arguing with and kills him), but in the end, willing to do what she needs to do.Will is in a job that finds him clinging to his morality, while Freddie’s embraced the nature of her own, allowing her moral compass to spin freely in the wind.

As expected from a Bryan Fuller show, ‘Amuse-Bouche’ is obsessed with the idea of death, both as an existential idea and a source for dark humor and characterizations. Combined with the gorgeous visuals of the episode (directed by Michael Rymer), ‘Amuse-Bouche’ piggybacks on the events and themes of the pilot and find new and interesting crevices to explore. For a show that’s only in its second hour, Hannibal has a confidence in its storytelling and characters rarely seen on television – and it’s an absolute blast to watch.

Grade: A-

Other thoughts/observations:

– there’s a lot of plot in this episode, and I nearly missed the bit about Freddie apparently using an FBI agent for something (he whispers “you used me” to her, but I didn’t quite catch what he was inferring she used him for).

– the title sequence visuals are perfect: they really capture the tone of the show, this idea of violence corrupting and reforming a person (the flowing red liquid that eventually forms a face near the end).

– Will finds applause for shooting a man inappropriate, and he won’t have it in his classroom.

– Jack Crawford is a shrewd motherfucker: when Will is asked if he wants to go back in the field, Jack interjects: “I want him back in the field.”

– the shot of the coffee and cream mixing together? Never thought I’d see something like that on an NBC drama (in other words, I fucking loved it).

– We haven’t seen Hannibal kill a single person, but watching him watch Jack eat makes the entire ordeal creepy as hell.

– more dark humor: one of the medical examiners makes a reference to a co-worker being a recovering alcoholic. The man’s reply: “I’m not recovering, buddy.”

– I loved “this is my design” in the pilot, but I hope it doesn’t get forced into every episode somewhere.