The Televerse #226- 2015 Best Of Smorgasborgy
After counting down their Top 20 TV Series of 2015 …
After counting down their Top 20 TV Series of 2015 …
For possibly the final time, welcome back to This is Our Design. With some time to digest the season three finale of Hannibal, set aside a chunk of your evening to dive in with co-hosts Sean Colletti and Kate Kulzick, who are joined by Noel Kirkpatrick of TV.com.
Hannibal and Will’s first scene together begins in Hannibal’s memory palace but notably, the organ-based scoring for the Norman Chapel and the Italy arc is not used. Instead, we get clustered clarinets and winds.
The events of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon has been adapted …
Watch a side by side comparison of the famous ‘Red Dragon’ scene adapted three times Read More »
This week on the podcast, Emily L. Stephens of The …
The Televerse #209- Monty Python’s Flying Circus with Emily L. Stephens Read More »
This week on the podcast, Emily L. Stephens of The …
The Televerse #209- Monty Python’s Flying Circus with Emily L. Stephens Read More »
A day after it ended, the creator of Hannibal says …
‘Hannibal’ could live on in movie form, creator says Read More »
With “The Wrath of the Lamb”, Hannibal wraps up its run, at least for now. While all involved have been qualifying the episode as merely the series finale on NBC, the show has yet to be picked up anywhere else and several key figures have moved on to new projects. Creator Bryan Fuller has mentioned the possibility of the team reuniting for a film at some point down the line, but for the foreseeable future, this is the series finale of Hannibal, and given its bloody, spectacular climax, that feels appropriate.
Frederick Chilton has had a rough go of it in his time on Hannibal. He makes himself an easy target—the man has learned nothing, it would seem, from his disastrous experiences with serial killers over the years—but when faced with the enormity of the Dragon, Chilton is so unabashedly human, so relatable and terrified one can’t help but feel for him. Raúl Esparza has been a delight in the role throughout his tenure on the series, often giving a comedic lift to otherwise very dour episodes and arcs, but he’s particularly impressive here. Chilton’s terrifying capture by the Dragon makes up the center of the episode, but Esparza gets much more to play than fear.
The string bass is featured prominently throughout this episode as the voice of the Dragon, groaning and growling in the shadows. Whereas Reitzell introduced the character in “The Great Red Dragon” with layers of percussion, the Dragon we hear here is very different: that was an instinctual, physical being, a wordless monster pulled to the surface by the phase of the moon.
This week, co-hosts Sean Colletti and Kate Kulzick are joined by author Cooper S. Beckett of Eat The Rudecast as the crew breaks down yet another strong central sequence…
As the season (and possibly series) nears its end, we’re pulling out all the stops. This week, co-hosts Kate Kulzick and Sean Colletti are joined by Aaron Abrams of the Hannibal cast (and much more).
“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” is a lovely and simple short piece for solo piano composed by Debussy. It’s a fantastic selection for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s a beautiful piece. The simplicity of the piece also reflects Reba’s straightforward trust in Dolarhyde and the beauty of their relationship. However, for classical music fans, this selection acts as a warning. “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”: only two women in this season fit that description, and Dolarhyde likely isn’t thinking about Bedelia.
“…And the Beast From the Sea” is the series’ most stressful episode to date, surpassing the tense, but exciting battles between Jack and Hannibal and the tragic, but inevitable Red Dinner with a pulse-pounding central set-piece that sees the Dragon come for Molly and Walter.
The scene of Dolarhyde eating the painting has plenty of percussion, but not the same layered elements as the Dragon scoring earlier, when Dolarhyde woke up and Reba was gone. There’s a high wind chime-like sound, some rattling, and drums and cymbals, but not the different, distinct rhythms syncing up with each other, and the strings only come in towards the end, when Will and Dolarhyde see each other. The percussion builds in intensity and speed until it cuts off with Will’s discovery of Dolarhyde, leaving behind soft vocals and the aforementioned strings, and this is when we hear the more characteristic Dragon percussion.
This week, co-hosts Kate Kulzick and Sean Colletti are joined by father of Chucky and the Child’s Play series, Don Mancini. Finally, we get answers to the lack-of-subject idiosyncratic writing of Hannibal that we’ve been talking about for years.
This episode embraces the spectacle and sweep of the Blake paintings, elevating Frances and Reba’s romance to the same epic scale as Dolarhyde’s horrific killings, and in doing so, cements the story of this half season as a battle for the soul of an already damned man.
Topics include a closer look at Francis Dolarhyde, consideration of two-character dialog and the use of flashbacks.
The use of strings in the Dolarhyde arc has been notable. Here we get dissonant violins and rising clusters of pitches as Abigail is faced with her father’s corpse as well as a warm, inviting string sound as Will begins to watch home videos of the Leeds family. Reitzell has previously used solo instruments, only expanding into larger sections with this arc.
Despite spending plenty of time with Will and Hannibal, “And the Woman Clothed with the Sun…” focuses on the women of Hannibal, fleshing out Molly and post-“Digestivo” Alana, resurrecting Abigail and Freddie, and introducing Reba McClane.