Hannibal: Futamono   Rewatch 
April 10, 2015 7:02 AM - Season 2, Episode 6 - Subscribe

A city councilman's body is found intertwined with a tree; Jack crashes Hannibal's dinner party to investigate Will's suspicions; a revelation shocks everyone.

Ah! So much to unpack in this one, even now. Especially with the script beside it.

On the one hand, Chilton is a much bigger part of this episode than he's been in the past and Esparza completely knocks it out of the park. I still feel sort of ... deflated that the first time we hear "Hannibal The Cannibal" spoken aloud is from him in an aside to Jack but even then, everything he does here is perfect. This time around I was particularly struck by his "OH SHIT" face when he's listening in on Gideon and Will talk about how he's a target now.

But speaking of Gideon... He even more than Chilton really makes this episode on rewatch than I'd remembered. I mentioned last week that there were some fantastic bits for him, but really his finest moment here is the final scene with Hannibal. Compliments to the chef indeed.

Outside of that, we have Hannibal in "Dr. Steal Yo Girl" mode, a delightful dinner party powered by one of the better montages the show has done, and so much else.

I'm pretty sure this was noted when the episode first aired, but we all agree that Jack calling on Hannibal for an alibi and Hannibal saying, "That's not all you're asking..." is when he decides to reveal Miriam, right? He just seems so... Offended. He was already put off by Jack taking food to go from a party in his honor (the content of the food was not a concern of Hannibal's in retrospect). And then to be questioned so rudely... I'd have to go back and look, but I feel like we pinpointed a similar moment in S1 where Hannibal decided it was time to have a little fun with crank calls and Miriam's arm?

Script bits:

The episode as filmed focuses on Hannibal's composition and the script does as well. The teaser ends "As the first rondo of Hannibal's sonata concludes..." as the Tree Man is revealed in the parking lot, and it's mentioned in a few other places too.

The initial conversation between Jack and Hannibal at his house is initially supposed to be at Hannibal's office. Also, there's a decent-sized chunk of the conversation cut. As written, the scene begins with Jack and Hannibal talking about how if Bella had died, Beverly would've lived. Instead, we come in on "There is a pattern taking shape..." Of course, I am very much in the "anything that doesn't make it into the final cut of the episode isn't canon" school of thought, but it's interesting. This made me want to go through the deleted scenes on the dvd/bluray to see if they'd shot the omitted part and included it or not.

As to Hannibal and Will talking about Alana, the script notes after the "give her your best" line: "It's a veiled threat and they both know it."

At the dinner party, the script makes no mention of those weird chicken foot/claw things, so there's nothing for Chilton about "whatever this is," which is one of Esparza's funniest lines. Most notably, The Wink™ isn't written at all. Hannibal merely scans the room after Jack runs off and sees Chilton watching.

There's also a cut bit of conversation before Hannibal and Alana kiss that just... Yeah. That needed to go. After Alana says walking away leaves them "with each other"...
Hannibal: Most stable elements, Alana, appear in the middle of the periodic table. Roughly between iron and silver. Between iron and silver, I think that is appropriate for you. Between strength and elegance.

Alana turns to face Hannibal. He feels her gaze and turns to her, their hands stilled on the keys.

Alana: Aren't you tired of talking? I think the last thing either of us needs to do right now is talk.
It's just... So clunky. I'm glad that bit didn't make it in. The script also includes more of a sex scene for them rather than moving to Hannibal ensuring that she's drugged to sleep and going off to have his fun with Gideon.

Speaking of, a more minor cut: Gideon says, "I knew you'd come," when Hannibal greets him at the hospital. I like the way this plays so much better when Hannibal cheerfully says hello and Gideon just makes a WELP face and says nothing. There's some more lines that Gideon simply doesn't say in the final meal scene with him and similarly... I think it just works better. I'm guessing it's one of those things where the lines are written, but then you get in the moment with the actor and you don't need the lines to sell anything. You can just go off Eddie's expressions and it's so much more effective when Hannibal is being chatty and Gideon is being stoic.

The most significant cut here: Hannibal takes his first bite and Gideon says in the script, "Three words. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." and only then does the "take a bite, compliments to the chef thing." It's one thing to pare down some of the chatter before the meal is served but I really feel like that line would've deflated things significantly if it'd been included. Hannibal doesn't need that kind of reminder (and surely he'd take precautions against such a thing), Gideon is so much more fascinating as played. Interestingly, Hannibal's expression as Gideon eats himself isn't mentioned at all, much less that little smile at the compliment. That's all Mads.

Anyway, uh. Yeah. Dang, I love this episode a lot and it's got more changes from the script to what we see on screen than usual, and I think the episode is all the better for every single one of those changes.
posted by sparkletone (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I thought the councilman was Hannibal's most elegant kill.
posted by homunculus at 10:06 AM on April 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


I thought that Hannibal in his purple velvet jacket, and Alana in her pretty blue dress tied with a bow, looked like a pair of children at a Currier & Ives or Jessica McClintock style Christmas party.

Jack's disruptive behaviour, from Alana's point of view, must be like dumping a bucket of pig's blood over her head at the prom.

The scene at the harpsichord is notably listless and lifeless. Alana seems like she's saying her lines and going through the motions, but underneath that a dreaded inevitability is about to come to pass. Like the youngest sibling realizing that she's reached the age where Daddy is about to exercise his droit de seigneur over her, too, but she has to go along with it and play her role in order to keep something even worse at bay. All we know about Alana is that she has brothers, but I feel like one of them must have been a problem child, like Will. Heck, we have a thread on that very subject on the blue right now, but it's just too sad to link here. Meanwhile, I'm more and more convinced that Hannibal sees her as the latest iteration of Mischa - someone he doesn't want to transform into a companion who will understand him, because the essence of her role is to adore him while being too young to understand.

Meanwhile, there's a young girl being held prisoner in the basement. Until very recently, there will have been two girls being held prisoner in the basement. Gee, Hannibal really respects women he has a soft spot for women he's practically a feminist what a standup guy.
posted by tel3path at 12:16 PM on April 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'd say the imagery with the blossoming musical notes is one of my favourite things ever seen on television.

I was also thinking about people saying how unrealistic it is that Hannibal could have been a surgeon and a master chef and a composer and and and.

There was an Olympic figure skater in the 1950s, Tenley Albright. Figure skating demands the same kind of 100% dedication and time as ballet, you cannot do it half-assed. She won her gold medal and then qualified as a surgeon.

What is unrealistic, I think, is Hannibal writing out his score in pen and ink, and yet still having time to do anything else at all ever. I think he's actually notating it in software with a pull-out keyboard on the quiet, and only getting the ink-pen out when someone's looking.
posted by tel3path at 4:15 PM on April 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


That thing about them looking like children at a Christmas party - when Hannibal answers the door the next morning there is a Christmas tree on a table behind him.
posted by tel3path at 6:39 AM on April 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Who does he have to kill before you open your eyes?

Smash cut to Alana, and Hannibal slicing open a heart.


It's noooot suuuubtle
posted by The Whelk at 6:29 PM on April 18, 2015


More time reversals, both bringing Miriam back from the dead the the wilting / blooming flowers.

Also, poisonous flowers, flowers of evil, very potent symbolist image.

Is is the start of the slow seeping into Hannibal as the main POV, so Will is an actor in Hannibal's story not the other way around. It's a tricky shift and they do it very elegantly - Hannibal is a performer after all.

Love that mouse running down between Will and Gideon, while Will performs for Chilton.

Interesting how Gideon keeps trying to go for motive, he wants to understand Hannibal cause he wants to understand what he was supposed to be - he's still a pm imperfect copy tossed aside, nice mimic between Hannibal casting off failed vampire transformation attempts.

"Jack he fits the profile" of course the fool has the say the truth, just as the socially inferior person spells the truth and isn't believed.

I talked a lot in the previous threads about Hannibal's separation of space in his environments, the formal encrusted almost museum like living room and parlor, the intimate stage-like dining room, and the sober, blankly tasteful bedroom. A space for the public, a space for guests, and a place that looks like its intimate but has almost none of Hannibal in it. False revealing.That looks like an attic bedroom, as far from the basement (Hannibal's real home) as possible.

Right before Will's stag tree.. "That's what makes him dangerous" the cutting between the bars of the cage and Jack and Lana walking, they're both in cages.

Also, Will beginning to wrap Hannibal around, playing the Ideal Boyfriend/Vampire subject cause of course, it has to be someone Hannibal has to win over. It's not fun if they're not trying to kill you.

Not even getting into the Miriam reveal.
posted by The Whelk at 6:44 PM on April 18, 2015 [3 favorites]


Also, Gideon as a has no fucks to give truth telling figure who then ...goads to guards into killing him. He gives Jack ...and also Chilton all the infor they need before committing suicide by guard.

That blood drop in the coffee! Eek.
posted by The Whelk at 6:51 PM on April 18, 2015


And that Dinner Party, again, Hannibal's POV, a little ballet of beautiful waiters and fashionable guests
posted by The Whelk at 6:52 PM on April 18, 2015


Also, Alana's makeup during the party. She looks like a corpse.

Like a zombie.
posted by The Whelk at 6:56 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


(I always figured Gideon was trying to commit suicide by guard and was very shocked to end up in the hospital and become Lecter's uh uh most aggressively taunted victim.)
posted by The Whelk at 7:00 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


Hannibal's white flannel patterened suit matches Gideon's white stripped bathrobe in the dinner scene.
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 PM on April 18, 2015


And the shooting script clearly states that Alana, after the "open your eyes" line, "opens her eyes after a blink, staring into the camera".

I think that in the kitchen scene, when Alana talks about the perils of being your own therapist, she is pretty much aware that Hannibal's talking about his vulnerability and cultivating casual Will-type shirts and floppy hair - that these are his ways of helping her to transfer her feelings from Will to him, and that she regards her own seduction as therapeutic. I mean, she doesn't go out and get an actual therapist, so really the only way of interpreting that scene is that she regards her affair with Hannibal as mutually therapeutic. Does Alana know about Bedelia, and that she left? If so, that would add another dimension of "Bedelia wouldn't fuck you but I will!" to this.

If - as she after all states in ep11 - she has a sense of futility that it's possible to win against Hannibal, then it all makes even more sense. You can't solve the human condition, but you can adjust your attitude within it to thrive and be happy. If your best option for that is to bang a cannibal, well... wouldn't we all! That's the mature relationship that she's buckling down to accept as her best option.

And then by Mizumono her biggest problem is that she can't sleep - she can't CLOSE her eyes.
posted by tel3path at 5:24 AM on April 19, 2015


It's so unnerving that the next morning, Alana's hair isn't mussed at all.
posted by tel3path at 5:25 AM on April 19, 2015


I always thought Hannibal's bedroom was interesting cuz it looks bland but it has details like mirrors positioned so he can see anyone coming into the room while he's lying in bed, and the dagger that "decorates" his nightstand. Also the fact that there are two entrances, one leading to a staircase down to the front hall.

The conpartmentalisation is the opposite to Will's occupying only one room in a really very large house. That's why Hannibal's house needs to be so huge!

(I like to think that in alt!nice!Hannigram, Hannibal encourages Will to sleep in a separate room that has minimal stuff in it, and that's one of the things that helps Will to detach a little from the horrors of his work. That, and the frequent thorough rogering, of course.)
posted by tel3path at 5:30 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


That blue wrap dress... it doesn't look like a party dress. Everyone looks like they came straight from work and Alana is no exception. She just threw on some jewelry.

You know the blue coat she wears in Savoureux in Hannibal's office, going over the clock tests? She seems to be wearing it over a wrap dress. Can anyone see if that wrap dress is blue or black? If it's blue, is it possible that the dress she wears to the party is that exact same dress?
posted by tel3path at 5:33 AM on April 19, 2015


False eyelashes AGAIN this episode.

Oh well, I hope Sheldon Isley's heart tasted good.
posted by tel3path at 3:04 PM on June 1, 2015


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