I'm one of those people who stopped watching Hannibal midway through this season. I found season 2 boring and almost quit at that point but gave it a second chance after the strong season finale. When everybody but Abigail survived I knew I was pretty much done with the show. I watched until they started the red dragon stuff and turned that episode off half way through and haven't gone back.
You really haven’t missed much. At it’s best moments, this arc is just a staler version of Manhunter and Red Dragon. I keep drifting off during episodes because I already know this and have seen it all before. My mom gets annoyed the times I watch the episodes live cuz she’s like “I THOUGHT YOU HAVENT SEEN THIS??” and I say “Yeah, I haven’t… but this is all book and movie stuff.”
I try to gif the better moments, things that are unique or funny. but those moments are getting fewer and fewer.
I quit after Dolce suddenly lurched from ‘murder as metaphor for intimacy’ to actual boring murder.
More fun for us who haven’t read the books or watched the movies TO NOT SPOIL EVERYTHING BECAUSE SOMEONE JUST COULDN’T WAIT AND CONTROL THEIR URGES 0-0
You people simply.. lack… patience..
….you do realize that this is a 35 year old franchise, right?
Not trying to start anything, but this is a good example on how based-off-of stuff just can’t seem to win. There are the people who get aggravated that the movie/show/whatever isn’t close enough to the source material. And I’ve seen a couple examples of that involving Hannibal (and I’ve done it with Harry Potter 3). But then if they stick to or get close enough to the source material then, yes, people get bored because it’s already been done; no surprises, you know what the outcome is. Honestly, which is the side you try to please?
Personally, I enjoy the paralleling scenes between show and movies (haven’t read books yet). But I totally get how seeing the exact same scene being played out for the fourth time can get really dull.
my issue with the way the series is handling the Dragon arc isn’t the arc itself or not being true enough because honestly, they’re doing paint by numbers with it. It’s like word for word taken from the pages.
The problem is that because they’ve decided to suddenly stay about as true as they can with the RD plot, it’s actually negating everything they’ve built from Season 1 to the first half of Season 3. So much of the Red Dragon story makes no sense after everything they’ve been through.
Dolarhyde’s case is actually quite dull and simple compared to other cases we’ve seen the team solve in single episodes? It leaves the audience baffled at how it’s taking them 6 episodes to solve this guy, when someone like the angel maker or Budge or Georgia or the totem maker all were dealt with in one episode.
A lot of the characterizations from the book make no sense in the show’s established universe. Why is Jack still working for the FBI after Bella? He should be retired. How is Will able to still work for the FBI? Why is Prurnell allowing this? How did Alana take over the BSHFTCI and why is she in charge of Lecter’s care when she’s his last known relationship? Why is Will suddenly so shattered by crime scenes and is “afraid” of becoming like them when he’s already killed several people? How on earth is a film processing company still profitable, realistic and not niche enough to throw up instant comparison red flags in the FBI’s investigation of the dead families as Dolarhyde uses the footage to find them? I could go on and on.
A lot of the RD story is dated, it being a 35 year old story. Why didn’t they modernize aspects of it? And why didn’t they adjust and spin it to actually fit this universe instead of destroying all the characters development to shove them into this story that doesn’t work?
Cuz now we’re left with a story trying to stick to the original but in a universe where the canon is absolutely a silly idea. That’s like writing a medieval AU of Star Wars and suddenly in the third film deciding someone invents the Death Star anyway.
You’re absolutely right. About all of it.
I wonder how much of these issues are time related. Like, did we really need that 3 year time jump? Did we have that simply because the constant fear of cancellation and the need to do the Red Dragon story line? I’m starting to think if the show gets saved (by some miracle), they should give us those 3 years; hell even a comic or something. A lot can happen in 3 years–apparently, a lot has. Some answers are could be there.
Although, Will’s shattering is most likely family (I could be wrong); not unlike a recovered alcoholic that sees their family as their savior. It’s possible to write off the inability to find the bad guy within one or two episodes as Jack, Will, and Alana have been changed so much they can’t get their head in the game; don’t have to same flare as before and of course Hannibal is really screwing with them now. But I’m something like plot-hole blind; I come up with all sorts of excuses/possiblities to fill them in
I never thought about how dated RD is…how hard would it have been to update it? C’mon, Lecter hacked his phone with a bubble gum wrapper instead of fiddling with the insides; there are other means to scope out victims—do you think the RD story-line might’ve been rushed?
I think it was very rushed, because it’s clear to me that the Red Dragon arc is wholly unnecessary in this universe. They’ve already adapted most of the book in other unique ways throughout the series, and now we’re left with them using the same lines again in the original way. It’s tedious. I mean, the Marlow murders in the pilot? THAT WAS DOLARHYDE, and yet no one is mentioning this???
The series has evolved past Red Dragon, shoving that arc into this universe is pointless. It’s not adding anything to the series or the characters, if anything it’s dragging it down and dismantling everything that came before for no payoff. Because at best, this is a tired third onscreen adaptation of the book that’s adding nothing unique other than an honest to god CGI dragon.
The only reason they’re doing it is because the writers wanted to. And they were afraid this would be their last chance so they shoved it in. It was a poor decision and a waste of the last half of their last season. In my opinion, it’s without a doubt the worst decision this show has made.