Support NeoGAF

[TheOddOne]

Today is the day!

Season 1: Episode 1 "Apéritif"

Spoiler

When the FBI takes on a case of disappearing college girls, Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) recruits Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), a gifted criminal profiler with a unique view into the psyche of serial killers, to consult. Jack also seeks the help of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), a brilliant psychiatrist, who, unbeknownst to him, is not only one of the most successful serial killers of all time, but also a cannibal.

 

[TheOddOne]

 

[Cornballer]

A few more reviews. I might have doubled up on some of these from before.

- Denver Post: “Hannibal” a savory new entree on NBC

A well constructed, masterfully written piece, Hannibal exceeds the "ick" factor of any crime procedural on the air.

- NY Times: A Serial Killer Now Prepared for TV Dinners

Those who don’t find Hannibal fatally slow and pretentious can stick around to enjoy the superior production values and the stylishness of the pilot, directed by David Slade with an ominous suggestiveness reminiscent of David Fincher.

- USA Today: 'Hannibal' serves up visceral surprises

If you stay, you just may find yourself captivated by a trio of strong performances from Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne--and entranced by the fevered-dream spell cast by creator Bryan Fuller, the brilliant TV auteur behind Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls.

- Boston Globe: ‘Hannibal’ is creepy and empty

On just about every other, deeper level--plotting, acting, dialogue--Hannibal is lousy.

- SJ Mercury News: 'Hannibal' revisits one of the screen's most evil villains

Hannibal is a sturdy offering, one that keeps viewers guessing and tensions simmering. Most TV crime shows have a tendency to quickly fade from memory. This one just might haunt your dreams.

EDIT:
- Matt Zoller Seitz: Though We’ve Seen This Story Before, Hannibal Is the Most Beautiful Series on Network TV

Either way, it’s hard to imagine Hannibal scaling new peaks of originality as drama — not with characters and situations that have, in more than one sense, been done to death. At least there’s life in the acting and in the show’s inventive visuals.

 

[RustyNails]

Mads Mikkelsen is truly awesome and amazing actor. It's sad that most people only remember him from being the bad guy from Casino Royale. He has so much charisma and screen presence, and is a fantastic actor to boot.

 

[xenist]

Sepinwall and Feinberg got me excited about this at their podcast. Especially since I share with them the same view towards serial killer shows.

 

[Cornballer]

- Mo Ryan Review: This Serial Killer Drama Is To Die For

At times, this drama is absolutely transfixing, and I say that as someone who felt great weariness at the thought of watching one more show about murderers. If nothing else, watch "Hannibal" for Mads Mikkelsen, who is sensational in the title role.

- THR: 'Hannibal's' Bryan Fuller on the Rise of the Horror Genre, Violence on TV

 

[TheOddOne]

Added the links to the OP

 

[Cornballer]

- Onion A|V Club: “Apéritif”

What’s amazing is the way that Fuller and his colleagues have restored to the genre the sense of terror, the sense of sorrow, and the sense of weight that it had lost along the way. Hannibal isn’t perfect, but it is beautiful, and in its consideration of death, mortality, and the human mind, it flutters toward profundity.

 

[xbhaskarx]

I will be giving this a shot... can't believe I'm saying that about a network show.

 

[Cornballer]

- Andy Greenwald for Grantland: NBC's Hannibal Serves Your Gore Platter With a Generous Side of Intelligence

All violent cop shows natter on about motives and charismatic evil; only Bryan Fuller seems able to back it with up a dark genius of his own. In his steady hands, Hannibal is the grad school version of The Following's relentlessly dopey glue-eating. He practices what they screech.

 

[Raxus]

Fuller strikes again. A great series that is doomed. Will watch only to have my heart broken in 2-3 episodes.

SCREW ALL OF YOU! WHY DIDN'T YOU WATCH IT!

...wait too early.

 

[vertopci]

Does this fit in with the movies in anyway? Or is this a complete remake?

 

[xenist]

I can't believe I went from groaning when I first heard of this show to salivating.

 

[Ingeniero]

Wow, I never heard of this new show, will watch for sure!!!!

 

[ezekial45]

Wow, those are some positive reviews. I'll have to check this one out.

I hope it can break the streak of misses for the NBC Thursday Night slot.

 

[anaron]

The best thing is that it's adapting the 13 episode season model AND due to foreign syndication and Gaumont International Television, it looks like it should be safe to continue.

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

Checking in. Here we go!

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

lol wut

His thoughts are weird.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Really digging this so far. They put a lot of effort into the set, great use of red everywhere.

 

[Timurid]

That sausage...

 

[The Last Wizard]

Is this a retelling? I'm confused about the time period.

 

[The Last Wizard]

That escalated quick

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

Interesting.

I'll check-in next week.

 

[Nesotenso]

yeah I will keep watching.

 

[kaskade]

I really liked it. Definitely going to keep watching if it keeps up this quality.

Hopefully a lot of people tuned in. It'll really suck if it turns out to be a great show only to get canceled.

 

[Cornballer]

- Sepinwall's review of the premiere

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Is this a retelling? I'm confused about the time period.

Modern day. This is before Silence of the Lambs though. If you saw the movie Red Dragon, this would also be considered a prequel to that.

 

[GQman2121]

Thought it was alright. Definitely high production values, which really helped. I hope they don't find a new killer every week though. I don't think that's what they're going for, but that would kill the show for me.

 

[Futurevoid]

I loved it. In for the season.

 

[Mobius 1]

Holy shit out of nowhere.

 

[Cornballer]

- Promo for next week / this season on Hannibal (please spoiler tag any discussion)

 

[AlimNassor]

I'm in!

 

[Sean]

Great pilot, will continue watching.

- Promo for next week / this season on Hannibal (please spoiler tag any discussion)

Nice to see

Spoiler

Gillian Anderson

in there at the halfway mark, hope it's more than just a guest star role.

 

[Futurevoid]

Spoiler

Izzard and Gillian Anderson

? Awesome casting.

 

[OdysseusVA]

Hmm... the positive feedback here has me interested. As a great man once said "You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention."

 

[985boi]

Whatttt? I had no idea it was on tonight!

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Scott Thompson is one of the medical team. Subscribed.

 

[dead souls]

That was a pretty awesome pilot. I wonder what the ratings will look like tomorrow.

 

[lostxii]

Wow, that was great. Can't wait for next week.

 

[ezekial45]

The production values for the show are through the roof. I hope this is a success.

 

[Wiktor]

Great premiere, extremely stong perfomances and absolutely stunning visually. I can't remember the last time I've seen a tv show show so beautifully.

 

[Tpthrlldragster]

Great premiere, extremely stong perfomances and absolutely stunning visually. I can't remember the last time I've seen a tv show show so beautifully.

David Slade really knows what he's doing. He directed the pilot of Awake last year, which also looked amazing.

 

[obin_gam]

For some reason I get a "The Profiler" feeling around this show. Is it that kind of gritt or could this be compared to some other show?

 

[TheOddOne]

*NSFW gif*

Excellent pilot. Directing was top notch and the cast is really great (Mads blew me away). Can't wait for next weeks episode.

 

[Symphonic]

Gonna watch this tomorrow hopefully. Fuller can do no wrong.

 

[TheOddOne]

What the hell!

 

[anaron]

Really enjoyed that. I wasn't blown away, but I prefer it that way rather than letting the pilot be mindblowing and overshadow the rest of the series.

What I appreciated most was the display of empathy throughout. Death wasn't simply used as a device and was actually illustrated in the devastating way it should be. Most upsetting and affecting though I think, was the killer's daughter struggling so badly on the floor to stay alive. While there's really no happy ending for her now, I was so glad she survived.

Oh and Will's stray dog rescue was beautiful/awesome.

 

[obin_gam]

Just saw it, very good pilot. Although I'm a little afraid it'll get stuck quite quickly in trying to progress the Hannibal storyline. It will be very easy to fall down into the Procedural 101 swamp...

 

[Kuroyume]

Freaking looooooooooved it!!!!!!

They did a great job with the production and direction. Really creepy dream sequences. Cast is great. Looks like they're not cutting back on the graphic imagery either. Only complaint is that sometimes it's kind of difficult to make out what Mikkelsen is saying. He's fucking great otherwise though.

Mikkelsen pulverizing the lungs with his knuckles while the show would cut back to the corpse... F'd up. lol

 

[anaron]

Really creepy dream sequences

oh, these were stunning