I'll admit that I was slow to warm up to Bryan Fuller's Hannibal; I found it difficult to accept the show's interpretation of a character that I felt had already been adequately immortalized by Anthony Hopkins in three films (of admittedly varying quality). This was mostly due to the fact that the Hannibal I was used to was, more or less, depicted in a realistic/naturalistic world. Fuller and company opted for a far more operatic environment to explore the character. Rather than taking the suspense/thriller route of the films, the show goes more for horror. It is romantic, not realistic.
Once I finally came around, I fell in love with the show: It is one of the most visually breathtaking shows on television (I really should get it on blu-ray). The plots are more far-fetched and convoluted than what we see in the original films and novels but, that's ok, this is high opera (seriously, look up the plots to some of those things). It's smart--- probably too smart for its own good; I still feel it takes itself a little to seriously from time to time myself.
And, like most shows that are a little too intellectually challenging for the average viewer, it had difficulty finding its viewership and, ultimately, found itself cancelled by NBC. However, this might not be as bad as it seems.
This was, more or less, Fuller's original plan for the show: seasons 1 -3 would be a 'prequel' to Red Dragon, 4 would have adapted Red Dragon itself, 5 would have taken on Silence of the Lambs, 6 would be Hannibal, and then the 7th season would have gone beyond Hannibal to resolve the fate of the titular character.
However, MGM would not release the rights to certain characters that they, somehow, hold exlusive rights to--- namely, Silence of the Lambs characters Clarice Starling, Jamie "Buffalo Bill" Gumb, and Barney Matthews (the orderly who manages to stay on Hannibal's good side). And, it would seem, the show sort of invented their own versions of these characters with Anna Chlumsky playing a 'Silence of the Lambs-era Clarice-like' character in Miriam Lass and with Gilian Anderson's Dr. Du Maurier filling the Hannibal/post-Hannibal role of the character.
Additionally, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising (the only novels that they have the total rights to) have both been mined heavily for plot throughout the 2nd and 3rd seasons. The first half of season 3 was, in fact, very much this show's version of Hannibal; it covers Hannibal's escape to Italy, his pursuit by a corrupt police officer, and his capture by and escape from Mason Verger (in a twist, it is an unconscious Will Graham that Hannibal carries in his arms, as he flees from the Verger estate--- in place of Clarice Starling; the show is kind of a really twisted bromance).
So, if the final episodes of this season are adapting Red Dragon, they will have effectively exhausted their source material. And, as much as it sucks that the show will be cut short, it is a good way to end the series. The story of Red Dragon has always been about how Will Graham, traumatized by his previous experiences as a profiler and, in particular, his near death at the hands of Lecter, comes out of retirement confronts Lecter and his own Demons, and emerges triumphant and lives happily ever after (and, when one considers what the character has been through on the show, this resolution will be all the more poignant). Will's story is finished and, to continue it beyond this, would feel forced.
If nothing else, perhaps the additional time off will allow them to secure the rights to Clarice and Silence of the Lambs and return in a couple of years with a couple of new principals and a new sense of purpose on, presumably, a new medium....
No comments:
Post a Comment