Hannibal 3.06's “Dolce” answers whether “Dr. Fell” will accept an amicable divorce over widowerhood. It also returns to Bedelia's axis of Betrayal vs. Forgiveness, and whichever of those claims to be deployed, it comes with lethal edges. As one couple parts, a new power couple will ascend, and the fans' favorite couple will finally reunite.…
Casually, contorno is a “side dish,” but that phrase isn't reverent enough for Hannibal 3.05's ode to accompanying women. I've pointed out other instances in which the women in this show just won't go along, and instead run on their own tracks. In this episode, we're reminded how each acts from her own motivational center,…
In “Apertivo,” a cadre of fractious, murderous conspirators maneuvers to converge upon Caesar (okay, Hannibal). In Republican Rome, a lamb was sacrificed to Jupiter on the ides of each month, and it was by this date in March in 44 B.C.E. that a seer is reported to have told a scoffing Julius Caesar that harm…
In “Secondo,” Hannibal and Bedelia lounge in matching rompwear, while Jack mourns Will, who torments the tormented in the Lecter family vineyards. In the novels as here, the well-heeled Hannibal lives at Florence's beautiful Palazzo Capponi. At home in their gorgeous apartments, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) is glum in a black satin something, and…
In “Primavera,” we see Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) almost together again and meet Florence's Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi, a long-time pursuer of “The Monster of Florence” and here playing the third wheel and last-to-know. First, I enjoyed getting to flashback in leisurely fashion upon the worst dinner party ever, the one…
The Season 3 premiere, “Antipasto” will imperil Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) in ways we've never witnessed. But even with the seemingly impossible challenges of identity theft under the suspicions of canny academic Florentines, and nursing—even provoking—the viper he spawned at his breast who is Bedelia du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), Hannibal's boredom may be growing dangerous. Warning,…
Get a taste of the Season 3 trailer for Hannibal! Purely from later events, Thomas Harris fans already know Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) must have survived the bloodbath at Hannibal's to catch Dr. Lecter later, and we also know for sure that Dr. Chilton (Raúl Esparza) will be a future obstacle. But if you've forgotten…
You may recall the case of the baby-faced “Cannibal Cop,” Gilberto Valle III, who expressed fetishistic fantasies of killing, cooking, and consuming the flesh of women, including his wife. (See the documentary's trailer below for Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.) But Valle never actually did those things… well, he hasn't yet. Maybe…
Thieves Fall Out by Gore Vidal (writing as Cameron Kay) is a pulp novel, rediscovered after sixty years, about a broke American in post-WWII Cairo who gets involved in smuggling, intrigue, and revolution (available April 21, 2015). This novel comes with comparisons to Casablanca right on the back—oh, it's understandable if you didn't notice that…
Drawing Conclusions by Deirdre Verne is the first Sketch in Crime mystery featuring CeCe Prentice, an eco-conscious freegan and artist suspicious of the death of her twin brother, a prominent genetic researcher (available February 8, 2015). We meet CeCe Prentice on her way into a Dumpster. By choice. She's a Freegan, an eco-conscious artist in…
