Review: Hannibal ‘Sorbet’ – Nothing Here Is Vegetarian

There are a lot of orchestral arrangements playing throughout ‘Sorbet’ – and they’re slightly grander than usual, the strings flaunting their high notes and bouncing with a certain vibrancy. It’s a delightful bit of audio work that parallels Hannibal’s mood throughout the episode. He’s at his most boisterous this week, perfectly manipulating the intelligent people around him like a philharmonic conductor. They rise when he rises, listen to his opinions, and share their innermost doubts with him, and he takes all of it in, and arranges it to his own personal tempo. There’s a distinct reason this episode is called ‘Sorbet’: it’s a bit of sweet desert for Hannibal in the middle of his feast, a chance for him to feed his ego with the infectious, tangy flavors of influence, respect, and power.

Throughout the season, Jack’s often tried to tie various murders to the Chesapeake Ripper, even when they seem a little far-fetched. And at first, the victim in tonight’s episode has all the markings of the Ripper beginning another trio of killings (22 of them, in fact) – until Will realizes that the man wasn’t trying to kill him at the end, but save his life. Jack’s again ready to run with the theory, insisting that it’s the Ripper, a notion that Will is reluctantly buying into to. And that’s enough for Hannibal, who sees the opportunity to both fuck with Jack and earn back some points on his reputation.

As always, his plan is executed to perfection. He plants the seed of an organ harvester in Will’s brain, innocently attributing it to the Ripper, knowing full well it would send Will, Jack, and company into a wild frenzy. It also gave him the opportunity to tag along when they captured Devin, a guy who was presumably selling organs on the black market (if there’s anything fuzzy in the episode, it’s the bad guy – but his presence serves its purpose many times over in the serialized narrative, so it’s forgiven). He even notes to Will while they’re closing in on him that “this is very educational”, another way to poke at Will in ways he can’t even recognize. Every conversation he has with the FBI, or moment in the field, only makes his brilliant mind more keen to the tactics the people chasing him are going to use.

In the ultimate display of his hubris, Hannibal selects three names from his Rolodex of Shitty People, and prepares a grand feast for his friends, who just can’t believe there hasn’t been a dinner party in a long time. Hannibal tells them that he’s been looking for inspiration; “a feast must present itself”, which it certainly does. He re-affirms both of his public identities (or as his psychiatrist tells him, his “well-tailored person suit”, a nice reference to Silence of the Lambs‘ James Gumb), saving a man’s life and discrediting the fool harvesting organs (“he was trying to remove his kidney” he notes to Jack, “sloppily”) , and then closing out the episode by receiving a round of applause for the feast he’s prepared for everyone.

I thought this week might slow down a little after last week’s ‘Entree’, but ‘Sorbet’ continues firing on all cylinders – and might be the better episode for it. Jack’s still being haunted by his visions of Miriam (and is seeing visions of a dead, amputated Will; Jack knows that if he keeps pushing Will to get the Ripper, it’s going to kill him), we meet Hannibal’s therapist, and we find out that Hannibal and Dr. Bloom might be harboring a long-term attraction for each other (“why didn’t we have an affair?” he asks her, in the most elegant, classy way I’ve ever heard someone say “why haven’t we fucked?”).

We even get a sight of Abigail, as Will hallucinates sitting in the woods with her in front of the woman impaled on the deer from the pilot: she warns him that they’re not alone, to which he wakes up with Hannibal in the room. This would suggest that Will’s becoming vaguely aware of something, that there’s some kind of connection he’s missing. It’s dark out in his daydream, so he can’t see anything around him: even if it was daytime, though, I’d imagine the field surrounding them would be covered in fog. Will’s sharp, but he’s losing something inside his head, and the farther he chases, the closer and closer he comes to losing himself for good.

It’s little moments like those (we see the raven-feathered elk again, as Will pursues the death waiting in the bathtub) that really elevates Hannibal into the upper echelon of shows on television. Everything is so carefully structured and thought out, right down to the wink-wink references to the Lecter mythology and how subtly its integrated into different scenes. Adapting well-known works (especially those with significant pop culture relevance) is not easy to do, and Bryan Fuller (and his writing staff) have struck gold with their ability to organically wrangle an established narrative and create a completely unique – and often superior – show.

Grade: A

Other thoughts/observations:

– note how the opening opera performance is at a hunger relief benefit.

– I didn’t even talk about the set design this week, but the hotel room where this week’s crime scene is staged contains a number of shots that pay homage to The Shining and the Overlook Hotel.

– Hannibal takes a certain interest in Tobias, the man accompanying his patient to the opera. Something to watch for, I’d think – this show isn’t one to waste details.

– the shot that started inside the singer’s vocal chords and slowly pulled back out of her mouth was such a beautiful, beautiful sequence.

– I’d totally watch a Hannibal cooking show. Spin-off!

– this show makes me hungry – and then it makes me feel bad for getting hungry watching people eat people. This is what contestants of The Biggest Loser should watch for training. NBC synergy!!!

– was Will’s “fresh as a daisy” comment a subtle nod to Pushing Daisies? I haven’t seen enough of that show to know, but it felt like it was.

– one of the Chesapeake Ripper’s victims had his tongue placed in the Bible… to what page, might I ask?

– Let’s talk about fatty with a beard: we didn’t see him leave Hannibal’s office, but I don’t think he killed him. We didn’t see anymore cooking after that, so I’d assume he might be a victim for later. He’s certainly a pain in the ass (crying to Michael Jackson? c’mon dude).

– “Should we have red or white?” Hannibal: “I think something pink – don’t you?”

– I love the little exchanges between the M.E.’s. “I was agreeing with you…. (“your tone was a little…”) well I was.”

– “Who gets a spleen transplant??” followed up by “we’re either looking for someone with short bowels… or the Ripper is making sausage.”