Hannibal (2013-2015)

1x12 - “Relevés”

Hannibal (2013-2015) blooper reel

#fans who want a new season vs. fans who don't

Will Graham, an empath: The suspect woke up at exactly 11am EST this morning, had a quart of milk and some cheerios, then strangled his wife at exactly 12:42 pm EST to the opening tune of Sesame street.

Also Will after 3 seasons of grandiose cannibalistic courting rituals and murderous displays of affection: ...is Hannibal...in love with me...??

Hannibal (2013-2015)

2x13 || 3x04

*emerges from the other room covered in blood* you should see the word document

Abigail is such a fascinating character to be placed between Will and Hannibal. She's so good at seeming unstable enough to avoid suspicion, but she still has micro-tells when she's trying to lie.

Long before she pulls the "you be the man on the phone" line with Hannibal, you can see her eyes flick over to him as she tells Will that she didn't recognize the voice of the person who called.

But she seems genuinely shocked and distressed when she realizes that her father had been feeding his victims to his family. And she's utterly horrified when she finds the girls' hair in the pillow.

Abigail is such an interesting mix of manipulation, survival skills, guilt, and high-key anxiety after she kills Nicholas Boyle. But she is still one of the smartest people in the room at all times. Unlike the analytic Will or the ruthlessly pragmatic Hannibal, Abigail has such a high degree of emotional intelligence that she can stay in the good graces of two serial killers. She can call out the fact that Hannibal is happy she killed Nicholas Boyle, that he called the house, that he has something to hide and reeks of danger, but she's also smart enough (or traumatized enough) to know not to press the issue.

There's a lot made of Abigail's constant victimization (by Hobbs, by Hannibal, by Jack, by Freddie Lounds, and arguably by Will), but this girl knows damn well how to survive. The first time I watched Hannibal, Abigail seemed like a set decoration. I didn't know how to look at her back then, because she spent so much time making herself subservient to the whims of the people around her. It's possible that only Alana was honestly trying to know her, while everyone else was casting her as a paper doll in their own emotional dramas.

At every point in the series, Abigail is fighting for a piece of stable ground. She had stability with her father, before Will tracked him down, and she finds it again with Hannibal, before Will betrays him (and Abigail - she would have been part of their new life as well).

But that's the thing - Abigail exists past season 1 because she is a figure in the life the Hannibal wants with Will. She has bent to the will of the people around her time and time again, and in the end, she becomes no more than a piece of set dressing for an imaginary life that Hannibal has been preparing for Will. For all that she has been fighting for stability, she doesn't know enough to ensure that her stability is not tethered to the decisions of someone else. She's smart and traumatized and naive enough to think that Hannibal is her only way out.

(that's the trick though - Hannibal makes himself the only way out. He does this for Abigail, for Will, for Margot Verger, for Bedelia du Maurier, and for anyone else he thinks he can get away with. Whether he truly wants connection with these people or just dominion over their lives is fodder for another post.

But I'm a romantic when it comes to Hannibal's feelings for Abigail - I think he truly cares for her in the only ways he knows how. I think he sees her as a surrogate daughter, and I think he shares more with her than he does with anyone else in the first 2 seasons. Unfortunately, he doesn't want a daughter. He wants a partner, and he wants that partner to be Will.

And once again, Abigail's world collapses.)

1.03 | 2.13

"You say he was loving, I believe it. That's what you brought out in him."

—Going my way?

would you believe me if i said… that i am on my second hannibal rewatch in as many months…

i hate to be that guy, but the idea that gender, sex, and sexuality are ontologically pure concepts that can be rigidly defined if we simply police our language enough (our english language, because of course) is—i cannot stress this enough—a total waste of time. you may as well spend your afternoons teaching a brick how to swim

the more books i read, the more i feel like all these people and beings and thoughts i love (and loathe) get to start populating another world in my mind, in which i can observe and participate through them and my own lens on them, without being under all the pressure i feel in my own world and the places i am supposed to have in it and things to live up to. i love reading. it’s like living without the risk. without having to be perceived.

average friendship

yeah sure read Stone Butch Blues to understand he/him lesbians but don’t forget the unionizing your workplace part