#Scott Nimerfro

[preordainedplace]

‘however hungry one might be’ (the social network script - aaron sorkin // cannibalism and the common law - a.w. brian simpson // hannibal s208 script - scott nimerfro // wishbone - richard siken // where the wild things are - maurice sendak // alive in the new machine - ao3 user fuckener)

[dapurinthos]

yes, yes, social worker in the horse, yes, the chrysalis speech, yes, the vergers, yes, but all that's turning around in my head is:

like, whatever scott nimerfro, brian fuller, and steve lightfoot were on for this episode, it was on.

[sihaya74]

NEW The Lessons of Bryan Fuller's Hannibal S1:E5 -- DEATH SUCKS

Lessons of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal

S1:E5 – DEATH SUCKS

Hello readers and #FannibalFamily! And so I return to my current mission – to extricate and analyze the numerous and profound life lessons that can be found in the episodes of one of the greatest TV shows ever made, Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal.

            I am a desperate English major and so it must be rightfully said that I can find a lesson in anything, which is true, but some lessons are more significant than others. Some are more beautifully rendered in the artist’s medium – on the screen, or on the canvas, or on the page – in the words, in the colors, in the images. Please don’t ever let any fool tell you differently – THE BEAUTY MATTERS. THE ART MATTERS. The lesson I will be examining in S1:E5, “Coquilles,” is not a new idea. In fact, it is one of the most tried and true, most universally expressed lessons in all of history. But the beauty with which the lesson is communicated is what makes it different, what makes it special. It is also true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder – but this is MY blog, and I am the Beholder (MWAH HAH HAH), so just go with me on this one.

            As stated before, the focus of this post is Season 1, Episode 5 of Hannibal. The episode is titled “Coquilles.” The story is by Scott Nimerfro. The script was written by Nimerfro and Bryan Fuller. The episode was directed by Guillermo Navarro.

            According to the episode titles, named after courses in French cuisine – we, as the viewer, have had a pre-dinner drink, a little bitty appetizer, a bowl of hearty soup, and some eggs. And now – our next dish is a bit of a dealer’s choice. According to Dictionary.com, this dish can be “any of various seafood or chicken dishes baked with a sauce and usually served in a scallop shell or shell-shaped serving dish” (“Coquille”). There is not a dish served like this in this episode. However, this episode presents the most beautiful dish in the series in my opinion, the “foie Gras Au torchon with a late harvest Vidal sauce and dry and fresh figs,” a stunningly gorgeous dish created by Hannibal’s food stylist, Janice Poon (Nimerfro and Fuller 1). And if you haven’t purchased a copy of Janice’s cookbook, Feeding Hannibal, like…what are you even doing? Go buy one immediately. I’ll wait…

            Okay, now – back to the coquilles. Since there is no dish like this shown in this episode, I must look at the title as I have done before – as a plate of symbolic meaning. “Apéritif,” as the first episode, prepared us for all the delicious drama to come. “Potage” served us a warm bowl of issues that had been simmering up to that point – Will’s feelings about killing Garrett Jacob Hobbs, Hannibal’s plans to create his Murder Family, and other chunky, soupy bits.

            In this episode, one could say, that there are three characters who are in the process of being “baked.” The sauces in which they are baking, are, in fact, poison – but they have been marinated and are baking all the same. The scallop shells on which they are to be served vary depending on the character, but they are all symbolic in some way. In Christian mythology, scallop shells are symbols of journey and pilgrimage. In Greek mythology, scallop shells symbolize both birth and rebirth – Aphrodite, “the foam-born” goddess of love, was spawned from the waves of the ocean and floated to land on a scallop shell, as seen in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.

            The fate into which all three of our “baking” characters are heading has been described as all of these things: journey and pilgrimage, birth and rebirth. If this seems like a bit of a strangled comparison to you, please remember as I previously stated, this is MY blog, and I can strangle any figurative language I can like. Don’t even look at what I did to the simile – he will never be the same, trust me.

            In my last post, my analysis of the lesson in S1:E4, “Oeuf,” I wrote an act-by-act summary of the episode’s script because the lesson was woven so completely into every scene, there was no feasible way to excise its slice from the eggy goodness of the episode.

            In “Coquilles,” I can provide a quick summary of the episode and return swiftly to the lesson itself, as it is more self-contained.

            In this episode, Will and Jack and Team Sassy Science are pursuing a new serial killer, one they have dubbed “the Angel Maker,” based on the way he leaves his victims. Jimmy Price explains the killer’s display method. It is one borrowed from Scandinavia: “Vikings would execute Christians by breaking their ribs and bending them back so they looked like wings. Then they’d rip out their lungs. Called it a blood eagle” (Nimerfro and Fuller 13). I must confess, despite my schooling in Anglo-Saxon history, the first time I heard of the blood eagle was on one of my other most beloved TV shows, Bones. In an episode entitled, “Mayhem on a Cross,” a real human skeleton is found being displayed on stage, in the posture of the blood eagle, by a Norwegian black metal band. The victim is traced back to the United States and so the plot begins. If any #Fannibals out there don’t mind the more archetypal elements of a procedural crime/forensic show, I would give Bones a try. ANYWAY…I digress…time to regress. Congress? Progress? Gress. I’m just going to gress.

            Through investigation and Will Graham’s uncanny ability to enter the minds of murderers, it is determined that the killer, Elliot Budish, is dying of a brain tumor. This is most likely causing all sorts of terrifying hallucinations. In order to protect himself from these horrors and the horrors of an impending, extremely painful death, Budish turns his victims into angels to protect him. Eventually, Budish commits suicide and manages to angelize himself, complete with lack of genitalia and ribcage wings. He is one of our characters who was “baking.” He was baking in all the pain and fear-inducing chemicals in his brain triggered by his cancer. When he was done, his scallop shell was the ceiling of a barn and with his bloody wings, he embarked on his next journey.  

            Another plotline of the episode revolves around my baby Will himself – the second of our “baking” characters. He is becoming more mentally unstable. Early in the episode, we see Will in his skivvies (thank you again, Bryan) walking barefoot down an asphalt road in the middle of the night, goaded on by the black stag of his psyche. The black stag is a motif that emerges in the show’s very first episode and continues until the end of Season Two. The stag makes only a few minor appearances in Season Three, but I would assert that is because of the changes in Will’s character in Season Three. Many Fannibals have pondered the meaning of the black stag. To me, it is Will’s animal nature – it is the predator, the benighted creature that hides inside him – the one that loves to kill and trample and live in the wilderness of instinct. Therefore, it is no surprise at this point that the black stag is the beast that is forcing Will down a nighttime road into the darkness. Turns out, Will is sleepwalking. He is awoken by some helpful police officers and discovers pebbles embedded in his feet and that the only creature that is following him is his loyal dog, Winston, the sweetie-pie Will rescued in Episode One.

            Will consults his good friend and “psychiatrist,” Hannibal, about his sleepwalking experience. Hannibal believes it is caused by trauma – past trauma and the present trauma Will has to live every day in his capacity as Jack Crawford’s bloodhound. Hannibal says to Will, “You entered into a Devil’s bargain with Jack Crawford. Takes a toll…When it comes to how far he’s willing to push you to get what he wants, Jack’s certainly no saint” (Nimerfro and Fuller 8). Any reasonable Fannibal realizes the sheer hypocrisy of Hannibal’s statement here. Based on later events, this very criticism would be best applied to Hannibal himself – the man who pushes Will so hard he pushes him right into a prison cell. But as our beautiful King Narcissist, Hannibal is immune to hypocrisy. The only evildoers in his world are others. As the Hannibal Apologists like to say – “Hannibal Lecter is just a sweet baby who never did anything wrong in his life.”

            I am curious if at this point in the series if Hannibal has already begun drugging Will and using the light therapy to alter Will’s brain chemistry. If he has not done so yet, Hannibal definitely decides to begin this dangerous experimentation later in the episode, after the scene in his office, which is cherished by Fannibals as one of the most iconic scenes of #Hannigram canon.

            Just before a conversation and/or therapy session in Hannibal’s office – I mean really, who knows if Hannibal is Will’s friend or psychiatrist or both – I guess both – his “friendatrist,” later to be his “friendAchilles,” but again, I digress. Just before this conversation, Will has a another disturbing sleepwalking episode. This time he finds himself waking up atop the roof of his own house, his pack of loyal woggies barking like crazy at him from the window. I always imagine their woofs to translate into something like…

“DADDY! ON ROOF! DADDY! BAD! ON ROOF!”

And so, Will goes to see Hannibal once again understandably upset about the disconcerting trend his life has been taking – he even jokes about zipping himself up inside a sleeping bag before bed. Will is taking aspirin by the handfuls in this episode and speaking as a viewer, I can almost feel Will’s headache through the screen. The two men discuss the Angel Maker and how he chooses his victims. Hannibal draws parallels between the Angel Maker and Will, that they both want to “feel such sweet and easy peace,” but that unlike Budish, Will understands, “the impossibility of such a feeling” (Nimerfro and Fuller 30). Hannibal seems to be espousing an existential theory that all human endeavor is fraught with worry and torment. The very human condition itself is one of a frittering and clawing anxiety that scratches away at any semblance of mental and emotional calm. This idea and the idea of our episode’s lesson remind me so much of John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale.” Keats laments the sad future of all mortals, saying that life is a place “where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; / Where but to think is to be full of sorrow” (26-27).

            Hannibal then indicates that unlike Budish, who is too far gone to be saved, that Will, has “a choice;” he claims that “Angel Maker will be destroyed by what’s happening inside his head. [Will doesn’t] have to be” (Nimerfro and Fuller 30). This is more of Hannibal’s subtle manipulation, more of his slow and ardent attempt to ease Will into a life of murder, which will let the “destructive forces” out of Will’s head. Hannibal likes nothing better than talking other people into being murderers – as I discussed in a previous post, like God, Hannibal loves making people in his image. And Hannibal needs his bride for the Murder Wedding; hopefully, the one we will get in a Season Four someday – that is, if the dragon-slaying at the end of “The Wrath of the Lamb” doesn’t count. What happens in TWOTL seems more like wedding NIGHT material to me. I guess the plunge over the cliff is them eloping. Anyway, AGAIN I DIGRESS…

            Just after Hannibal makes this statement about Will’s “choice,” he sidles up behind Will, who is very symbolically scrutinizing the stag statue in Hannibal’s office, and…Hannibal leans in and takes a BIG OL’ SNIFF. Like, a verrrry noticeable one. So noticeable that Will minutely flinches and observes over his shoulder, “Did you just smell me?” (Nimerfro and Fuller 31). To which question, Hannibal tells the most BALD-FACED LIE he tells in the entire series: “Difficult to avoid” (Nimerfro and Fuller 31).

            It is, in fact, difficult to avoid receiving smells passively. Someone passes gas and you smell it. The acrid, yet pleasant (to me, anyway) odor of skunk spray filters into your car as you are driving somewhere and you smell it. There is difference between that type of passive “smelling,” and the type where, say, you pull a container of sour cream from the refrigerator and open it and lower your nose to its contents and take in a deep whiff of the foodstuff, in order to determine its state of spoil. Hannibal didn’t passively smell Will – he scented the beautiful profiler like a hound dog tracking a fugitive through the woods. He didn’t even try to avoid it.

            I am not blaming Hannibal. If I was around Will Graham on a daily basis, I would probably bury my face in something of his that was delightfully pungent and pray for death. I’m just taking Hannibal to task over the lie. It’s a poor lie. Hannibal is so stunned by what he smells – invariably what he later determines to be encephalitis – that the lying center in his brain fails and all he can manage is “difficult to avoid.” It’s okay. We Fannibals find it cute. Will is the only person who makes Hannibal say silly things. Jiggity-jog.

            This is the last scene Hannibal and Will have together in this episode and it is a doozy. It is the scene, I like to say, that launched one very significant ship – and so begins the maiden voyage of the B.F.S. Hannigram. Toot toot.

            I am now moving on to the final major plotline of the episode – the love story of Jack and Phyllis – and how Hannibal’s nose causes trouble yet again. This is the story of our third character who is “baking.”

            In the very first scene of this episode, we see Hannibal’s royal blue dining room, and in it, his guests are the strapping and handsome Jack Crawford and his stunning wife, Bella, resplendent in a white dress and a guarded smile. In this scene, Jack explains how his wife, whose real first name is Phyllis, came to be known as Bella – the Italian word for “beautiful.” Jack explains to Hannibal, “We were both stationed in Italy. I was Army. She was NATO staff. The Italian men called her Bella. But I wanted her to be my Bella” (Nimerfro and Fuller 1).

            The Crawfords being stationed in Italy is canon in both Harris’ books and Fuller’s show and I have always loved the fact that a knowledge of and deep appreciation for Italy is something that the Crawfords and Hannibal have in common. In Harris’ books, Bella has no contact with Hannibal Lecter whatsoever. In the film adaptations of Harris’ work – Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, Hannibal – (I am not including Hannibal Rising because it is a prequel and has no mention of any Crawford) – the subplot about Bella’s illness and death does not appear. As I recall (someone please correct me if I am wrong), Bella is never even mentioned. Now, of course, there are many more things that can be done in a three-season television series than can be done in a two-hour movie, and so I do not blame any directors or screenwriters for leaving the Bella subplot out – there just wasn’t enough time.

            Also, I think that the screenwriters for the movies wanted to keep Jack Crawford harder and neater and more dictatorial. Revealing Crawford’s dying wife and his love for her – his desperate attempt to hold things together – to continue to catch notorious serial killers while he slowly loses the most important thing in his life would make the character too sympathetic – he couldn’t be Will Graham’s big boss or Clarice Starling’s big boss if he showed his soft underbelly. Not being a huge fan of the film Red Dragon, I don’t plan to say much about it. But the Crawfords in Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs – actors Dennis Farina and Scott Glenn – I believe did what they could to show Crawford’s human side where they could. But ultimately, the Jack Crawford of the movies is a martinet – a manipulative lawman who stops at nothing to get his man. A tried-and-true stock character, but necessary all the same.

            One of the things I adore the most about Bryan Fuller’s adaptation of Harris’ work is his inclusion of Bella’s story and his humanization of Jack Crawford. I love Jack with all my heart. In my fan fic, I am writing him a new ending – I believe Bryan also was writing Jack a new ending. The ending Harris gives him in the book Hannibal is not worthy of the character. I know why Harris did it and it makes me weep like a babe, but my Jack Crawford deserves better.

            As they dine, Hannibal is moving around the table serving, and he catches a whiff of Bella’s perfume. He remarks, “Your perfume is exquisite, similar to the aroma on the air just after lightning strikes. Is it Jar?” To which Bella responds, “You’ve got some nose, Doctor” (Nimerfro and Fuller 2-3). By the way, to any Fannibals who were wondering – Jar is indeed a real perfume and is crafted in a mysterious Parisian perfume house, founded by the equally mysterious Joel Arthur Rosenthal, a jeweller. His clientele for both his jewelry and perfume is so select that one must assume that Bella has used her NATO contacts to secure a bottle of the scent, which is undoubtedly the one named, Bolt of Lightning. When Bella was able to secure the perfume, it cost her at least $700 and perhaps a plane ticket both to Paris and back.

            It’s just funny to me. While Clarice Starling is relegated to the pedestrian L’Air Du Temps, which one can pick up at any department store, Bella is scented with one of the world’s most expensive and rare perfumes. I sincerely hope Bryan was actually able to get a bottle. Being a perfume collector myself, I would love to know what it smells like.

            Anyway – the point is that Hannibal is smelling Bella with that legendary nose of his. After he guesses Bella’s perfume, Hannibal says, “I first noticed my keen sense of smell when I was a young man. I was aware one of my teachers had stomach cancer even before he did” (Nimerfro and Fuller 3). It is important that the uhhh…stage directions? I don’t know what you call these things in scripts for the screen – screen directions? Well, in the “screen directions” almost immediately after Hannibal makes this admission, our authors note: “An almost imperceptible reaction from Bella Crawford. Exactly the effect Hannibal was trying to achieve” (Nimerfro and Fuller 3).

            Hannibal smells Bella’s cancer. And he wants her to know he smells it. She is now uncomfortable and Hannibal is imperious in his annoying and adorable way and Jack is completely oblivious and just eats foie gras and figs and has no idea of the import of the conversation that seems utterly unimportant.

            A few scenes later, we see Bella sitting in the patient’s chair in Hannibal’s office. The audience can conclude that Bella has decided to seek psychiatric help from Dr. Lecter. I have to hand it to Nimerfro and Fuller here – the dialogue here can absolutely lead an unknowing viewer to the interpretation that Bella is having an affair. Because I had read Harris’ books, I knew what was happening and would happen to Bella. But even I had to do an auditory double-take at this series of lines:

            HANNIBAL: How often do you see him?

            BELLA CRAWFORD: Twice a week at first. Now it’s usually just once.

            HANNIBAL: You’re satisfied then?

            BELLA CRAWFORD: (shrugs) Enough to keep seeing him (Nimerfro and Fuller 9).

I still am not sure if Bella is speaking of her doctor who is treating her cancer or another psychiatrist, but this dialogue can definitely lead viewers to believe that Bella’s problem is not illness, but infidelity. It is not until later in their conversation when Bella says that she has “indignity to look forward to” that the audience begins to sense she is not talking about a romantic dalliance with another man (Nimerfro and Fuller 10). Affairs can be quite undignified, but something about the connotation of the word “indignity” suggests something darker. Bella has decided not to tell Jack about her illness, to protect him. Hannibal does not approve of this tactic, even though Bella seems to feel it is the best course of action.

            Later in the episode, while listening to the wife of Elliot Budish discuss her husband’s illness, Jack begins to put the pieces together about his wife’s recent distance and silence. Budish’s wife, Emma, explains what happened when her husband was diagnosed with cancer:

EMMA: I took a leave from work to be with him. I wanted to be there for him. But what he wanted was to be alone.

As she speaks, CAMERA PUSHES IN ON Jack, who is coming to the unfortunate realization he and Emma have something in common (Nimerfro and Fuller 32).

Towards the end of the episode, we see Jack surprise Bella as she is coming out of Hannibal’s office. Hannibal turns the suite over to the Crawfords for what will no doubt be a difficult discussion. In this exchange, we find out that Bella was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer three months ago. Both the Crawfords feel the diagnosis is ironic considering Bella is not a smoker. We find out later in the series that Bella’s mother died of lung cancer, so it is no doubt, hereditary. Bella has decided not to have chemotherapy and tells Jack he has no say in the matter. Then, Jack Crawford illustrates exactly why I love him so much.

JACK CRAWFORD: Do you want to be alone?...I don’t want you to answer that. I just want you to think about your answer. Because I don’t want you to be alone. Now or ever.

            BELLA CRAWFORD: We’ll beat this together?

JACK CRAWFORD: No, baby, this is your fight. But I’m in your corner and I’m not going anywhere (Nimerfro and Fuller 40).

There is absolutely no chance that Jack was going to leave Bella alone in this circumstance. In Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs, the tenderness with which Jack treats his wife, especially in the final stages of her disease, is heart-rending. But there is something to be said about Jack’s cognizance of the fact that the battle with her illness will be solely his wife’s battle. He cannot fight it for her and he does not rob her of the experience. It is actually very anti-patriarchal of Jack to willingly admit that just his male presence helping his wife does not mean that he is assuming any of her pain. He loves his wife enough not to make her illness about him. He assures her he is on her team, that he will not leave her side, but he does not fool himself into thinking that her fight will be easier simply because of his commiseration. Jack is truly one of my favorite characters in the show.

AND SO…the lesson…

            Our lesson lies earlier, in Act Three, when Bella and Hannibal are discussing the progress of her cancer and her continued decision to keep Jack in the dark about it. Bella tells Hannibal that she is not angry at her disease: “There’s no point being mad at cancer for being cancer” (Nimerfro and Fuller 26). Bella explains that even though she knows that the cancer is slowly growing inside her and will eventually kill her that she feels “fine.” Then, the following exchange occurs:

            HANNIBAL: You’ll feel fine up until the precise moment you don’t.

BELLA CRAWFORD: It’s really a very dull story, isn’t it? The ending is always the same and that same is that it ends (Nimerfro and Fuller 27).           

At last – our lesson…

No matter how it happens, sudden or prolonged, painful or painless, in your warm bed or in a flaming plane crash – DEATH SUCKS. The fact that one day your life will just end is the greatest tragedy of human existence. And the inevitability of it is trite and overdone.

Death is a hack. He has no new material. Sure, he comes up with lots of new methods to kill people every day – horror movies are wonderful for depicting every method of death under the sun and moon and stars.

I have often thought about death. I have made a list in my mind of my least favorite ways to go. Third is plane crash. Second is being buried alive – I realized that after I saw The Vanishing. First is drowning in a elevator.

This is a real death that actually happened to a poor soul in the Houston area during Tropical Storm Allison in the early 2000s. The lady worked downtown. She had no idea that the parking lot in the substructure underneath the building had completely flooded. All her colleagues had already gone home and so no one told her. I won’t continue with the details, but when I read the story, I had to sit down and cry for a long while about the sheer terror that woman must have experienced in her last moments before death.

Death is cruel to us all. When I was thirteen, I realized my mortality and I spent the next full year moping about it. I was a real pain in the ass. My mother is a saint for not strangling me. I eventually pulled out of the darkness I had descended into, but the realization has never left me. And even now, as a full-grown, big, bad adult person, I still have days when my existential self pushes forward and makes me just cry about the fact that my death will one day happen. That one day I will cease to see and hear and think and I will be taken away from my loved ones. I have no idea what happens after death, if anything happens at all, but I am MAD AS HELL that one day I will have to shuffle off this mortal coil.

I am mad as hell that I have lost loved ones. Mad as hell about the people in this world who are taken too soon through violence, or accident, or disease.

I accept the fact that one day I will die. But I sure as hell don’t have to be happy about it.

AND NEITHER DO YOU.

DEATH SUCKS.

Live it up, Fannibal Family. Live your lives as best you can.

When death comes, he will be honored to take us.

Here endeth the lesson…

References:

“Coquille.” Dictionary.com, 2023.

Keats, John. “Ode to a Nightingale.” Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023.

Nimerfro, Scott and Bryan Fuller. Writers. “Coquilles.” Hannibal, season 1, episode 5, Chiswick Productions, 2012.

[moistvonlipwig]

just watched the snw musical episode and more thoughts incoming but first i have to say how touching the namedrop of the uss nimerfro was. it's almost certainly a reference to the late scott nimerfro, who worked as a writer on once upon a time alongside dana horgan (co-writer of the snw musical ep). for those who don't know, scott was not only a skilled writer but was especially beloved by lgbt+ fans of ouat for his vocal support of them in the face of hostile heterosexual fans and rather mixed messages from the production staff, marketing team, and actors. he is remembered fondly by many, and i think it was so sweet that snw gave him a shout-out like that. :')

[hannibalcompendium2]

Murder or Mercy: Red Dragon, Thomas Harris and Hannibal, Episode 212, “Tome-wan,” written by Chris Brancato and Bryan Fuller & Scott Nimerfro, dir. Michael Rymer

[hannibalcompendium]

Bella: The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris and Hannibal, Episode 105, “Coquilles,” story by Scott Nimerfro, teleplay by Scott Nimerfro & Bryan Fuller, dir. Guillermo Navarro

Revised format.

[negativewriter26]

1) Hannibal season 1 episode 13 “Savoureux” final shooting script, written by Steve Lightfoot, Bryan Fuller, and Scott Nimerfro 2) Hannibal season 3 episode 6 “Dolce” final shooting script, written by Don Mancini, Bryan Fuller, and Steve Lightfoot

[90smovies]

[hannibalanalysis]

Hannibal Analysis: s01e05 – Coquilles

Coquilles: A scallop shell or a container shaped like one, in which seafood is served. 

We open this episode with Will walking along an empty road at night, dressed only in his underwear, and hallucinating our old friend, the Ravenstag. This sleepwalking and hallucination scene is the first real clue the show gives us that Will is really not okay– that we aren’t just talking about weird trauma from the Hobbs case and his own pre-existing social inability, but that his work in the FBI and his relationship with Hannibal are having psychological consequences we cannot yet measure. As he tells the police officers who find him, “I’m not even sure I’m awake now.”  Will was already starting to lose grasp of his own identity, as a result of his empathy disorder, but now he might be losing grasp on reality too.

We are now starting to see just how much Will trusts and already relies on Hannibal: after getting back home, Will immediately drives an hour from Wolf Trap to Baltimore and turns up at Hannibal’s house apparently unannounced, as Lecter has not had time to get changed. This is also the first time Hannibal calls Will his ‘friend’. They discuss Will’s sleepwalking, and Will suggests a seizure (only one of many moments in this episode that foreshadow his encephalitis), while Hannibal simply blames it on the emotional and psychological stress from working with the FBI, and both of them express their dissatisfaction with Jack, as Will says he no longer feels like a fragile teacup (a metaphor which will be heavily exploited in the next seasons) but like an old mug, and Hannibal flat out states that Jack manipulates Will.

This episode’s killer of the week ties with the main plotline in a number of interesting ways: most obviously, his brain cancer mirrors Bella’s story (who is possibly the only character in the entire series who has absolutely no bearing on the main plot), but it also provides a few moments of foreshadowing for Will’s encephalitis in the very episode in which it starts to affect him. And lastly, it’s the beginning of the series’ use of heavy christian symbolism, excluding Hannibal’s speech on God in Amuse-Bouche. The theme of transformation through murder seems oddly reminiscent of Dolarhyde’s “Becoming”, as does Budish’s obsession with religious imagery.

Back at Hannibal’s office, the psychiatrist continues his attempts to, as Will himself puts it, “Alienate [Will] from Jack Crawford,” questioning whether Will feels abandoned by the head of the BAU. In scene, the staging is again relevant, as it’s a reverse of their first session in Amuse-Bouche: if then, Will was uncertain and distrusting, facing away from Hannibal and staying up on the balcony, now it’s Hannibal who’s up there, towering over Will. This comes at the moment where Hannibal begins to manipulate Will in earnest, assuming the upper hand in their friendship.

And all this manipulation seems to be working, as Will talks back to Jack, frustrated at his inability to understand the Angel Maker, until he snaps, essentially telling him to actually do his job instead of just shoving everything into Will’s arms. Jack’s reaction makes the entire team excuse themselves and leaves Will muttering a half-assed apology like a misbehaving teenager, calling to mind last episode’s mention of Jack as a stern father figre for the BAU. As he leaves, Will goes back to contemplating one of the series’ most religiously charged tableaux: The victim not only was wings like an angel, but was also set up to appear as if floating in mid-air, guarding over his murderer. The light behind him suggests the heavenly light associated with angelic appearances in art, while the shape of the alley is even reminiscent of the long rectangular towers of gothic cathedrals. And, as this post points out, there is a second, smaller light shining just behind Will’s head. It’s clearly a foreshadowing of the episode’s last scene (which is in itself another foreshadowing of Will’s encephalitis), but the most obvious association is of course, that of a halo.

Bella’s cancer is handled in a very interesting way during this episode: first, we are lead to believe that she is, indeed, having an affair, as in her first session with Hannibal they only mention her doctor as “him,” and never mention a disease, while focusing on her guilt and Jack’s possible reaction. It’s only after Jack tries, in an extremely awkward way, to confront her about his suspicions that her condition is outright stated, though the episode had been throwing some hints at us, especially with Hannibal smelling her and immediately telling the story of his teacher’s cancer, clearly telling her that he knows (he will diagnose Will’s encephalitis in the same way later in the episode). Instead of making it a big twist, her disease is told to us in a nonchalant way, as if the earlier omission had been simply on accident. This avoids a “plot twist” type of revelation, and instead creates a certain level of tension as we wait for Jack to realise what is the real problem, watching his face fall as he connects the dots between Bella’s behaviour and Elliot Budish’s, as recounted by his wife.

Will and Jack’s confrontation at the shed seems to confirm that Hannibal’s attempts to turn Will against Jack are working: Will complains about Jack about the lack of the support he was supposed to be giving, and mentions that’s it’s getting harder and harder to empathize with the killers he’s trying to catch. This had been discussed earlier in the episode, at Hannibal’s office, and is almost a reversal of Will’s earlier situation: before, he empathized with Garret Jacob Hobbs to the point where he would feel like they were doing the same things at the same time– even after he was dead. Now, he’s unable to connect with Budish enough to catch him in time. It could just be a side effect of his growing encephalitis, or could it be that his mind is so full with Hobbs and the copycat that he cannot focus on others?

The scene where Will hallucinates Budish still alive has an interesting background: In the script, it plays in the exact same way, except it’s not a hallucination– Budish actually drops down and tries to “transform” Will before collapsing. This change fundamentally alters the significance of this scene, since it isn’t Budish who believes Will to be a criminal, but that is how Will views himself. The vision of his head in flames may be more than guilt, too: it could be that he’s aware there’s something physically wrong with him, instead of simple trauma, as Hannibal would like him to believe. And this scene ends with a very deliberate foreshadowing to the Dolarhyde plot, three seasons away– just before the dream fades away, Budish tells Will: “I can give you the majesty of your Becoming.”

Despite their fight in the shed, Jack and Will do manage to have what is possibly their closest moment at the end of this episode, as Will gently demands Jack be honest with him about what’s going on in his personal life. But their earlier conflict is more than just a hiccup in their relationship–it’s one of the biggest turning points of the season. Will has just begun to see the signs of the disaster that will befall him, and attempts to get off before the train crashes, while Jack, in a very fatherly manner (and reminding Will he is not his father), tells Will he can quit if he wants to (and making it clear that’s not quite an option). Had Will actually bailed then, he probably would have escaped mostly unharmed, but then there would be no series. This episode is the point of no return. Having made his choice not to leave the BAU, Will has made himself a powerless victim to all that will happen in the rest of the season.

The Lamb is set for sacrifice.

[romancestual]

• love of the wolf tr. keith cohen from stigmata: escaping texts by hélène cixous. • ‘secondo’, 3x03, hannibal. written by  bryan fuller, angelina burnett, and steve lightfoot.  • when rome falls from bloodsport by yves olade. • ‘su-zakana’, 2x08, hannibal. written by bryan fuller, scott nimerfro, and steve lightfoot. dir. by vincenzo natali. 

[bluebeardsbride-archive]

2x04, ‘Takiawase′ directed by David Semel, written by Bryan Fuller & Scott Nimerfro

2x03, ‘Hassun’ directed by Peter Medak, written by Bryan Fuller, Jason Grote, & Steve Lightfoot

[dearorpheus]

s02ep12, “Tome-wan”, Hannibal, dir. Michael Rymer, written by Chris Brancato, Bryan Fuller and Scott Nimerfro

[coffincoitus]

darkness as a place of freedom/connection/understanding.

1, 2.  hozier, no plan. 3.      black sails. s4e10, XXXVIII. dir. by jonathan e. steinberg. written by jonathan e. steinberg, robert levine. 4.      hannibal.  s2e8, su-zakana. dir. by vincenzo natali. written by scott nimerfro, bryan fuller. 5, 6.  john milton, paradise lost, book I.

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 4X06 - Family Business

After spending ten minutes trying to make a pun for this one, I don’t SNOW if I can do it!

...Well, there you go!

Review’s under the cut!

Main Takeaways

Past

I’m torn between disliking and liking the writing choice to have Anna doubt Ingrid so fiercely. On one level, I sort of get it. After being betrayed by Hans (And more recently, Rumple), Anna’s become a bit less trusting. That’s good character development. However, to have Anna be untrusting to this degree is just a little too far fetched for me. I think had Anna wanted to accept her and been more outright friendly, but was too curious to settle for Ingrid’s non answers, the story would’ve been a bit more palatable for me.

So, as far as Belle goes, I’m kind of inclined to treat this episode in a way as a precursor to Belle’s attitude later in life, kind of like“Best Laid Plans.” Just like how Snowing dedicated themselves to being the best people they could be after their horrible sin, Belle does the same thing through a combination of seeing Anna be taken and learning the truth behind her mother’s death. That also having been said, I feel like had they stated that the stone of memories was a one-off item, I wouldn’t be so frustrated with Belle because why not just get another stone after saving Anna?

That also having been said, I get that it didn’t matter. What mattered in this segment was that Belle’s selfishness fucked over someone and the point of this episode was to realize that and show that she’s grown from it. And that is the important part of the episode and it was delivered well. What I pointed out were smaller narrative crumbles that don’t amount to absolutely nothing, but are ultimately less important than the delivery of the theme.

Present

I can talk about a lot of aspects of this episode (And I will), but let’s be real here: The big part of this episode really comes down to a singular moment. While most of this episode is pretty clearly framed otherwise, so much so that I wonder just how much can write about, this moment’s where shit gets complicated and messy. That, of course, is Belle’s use of the “dagger” to make Rumple take her to the Snow Queen’s fortress.

Let’s break my thoughts on this down a bit.

It’s...a complicated situation. I’m sympathetic to Belle in the sense that she’s trying to stop The Snow Queen and making a hard choice like that is something she sees as just something that has to be done. Additionally, the mirror scene establishes that Belle might have doubts about the validity of the dagger, so there might have been a part of her doubting that it would work. I also get that this was Belle’s weakest moment and thus, it’s something she doesn’t want relayed.

That having been said, this episode frames Belle’s motivation as wanting to keep a secret. That’s the reason why she doesn’t relay her information to Emma and Elsa. And for a secret that is so relatively small in the grand scheme of not only the scope of the universe, but what villains have been forgiven for around in these parts, I find it rather weak and makes for a stark contrast to her attitude of just shutting up from the present scenes prior It’s brought on by a sad conversation with Elsa and Belle finds it more appropriate to use the dagger on her husband than just simply tell the truth, a moment that when finally comes to pass, isn’t given any gravitas, meaning that Belle keeping that secret wasn’t that big of a deal. It’d be one thing if Elsa was so mad that she froze Belle or shut her out or something like that, but she doesn’t, making the reason Belle wants to hold out telling the truth fall flat.

I also almost wish this moment had come earlier in the season, maybe before “The Apprentice” because that look of fear on Rumple’s face when he realized that his own wife is using the dagger to control him would’ve been a hella effective point in showing why Rumple feels like he needs to go to the extreme of putting people in a magic hat to ensure that he never has to be controlled again. That said, it does work here, albeit not as effectively.

I do think that the framing of this moment works. Ignoring the motivation behind it, Belle is shown as going too far by using the dagger, BUT the more complicated nature of the dagger being as real as a $3 bill isn’t ignored by the narrative either.

Okay, now that that’s done, let’s move on.

The mirror scene is a really chilling look into Belle’s psyche. Not only is there a great display of Belle’s insecurities on display in this scene, but it truly sets up the mirror as a genuine threat. Belle is one of the purest characters in the show, second to probably only Ariel at this point. And yet the mirror is able to pull at the weaknesses she doesn’t possess as easily as loose Jenga pieces. Within a minute, she feels helpless.

I also really like the way Rumple is presented here! He’s at once a villain and a victim in a way and the balancing of that was well done!

Stream of Consciousness

-I like the costume Belle has in the first bit of her flashback. It does a really good job of painting her youth and naivete.

-I love how literally every piece of Belle’s wardrobe and decorations in her room are Beauty and the Beast colors!!! Dude, if she wasn’t the actual Belle, I’d accuse her of being the biggest fangirl in the world! XD

-Really, Rumple? Belle doesn’t know about the hidden safe by this point?

-”Before we open.” So I guess that library scene really didn’t carry over in any capacity. That’s a shame.

-I absolutely LOVE the zoom out shot as everyone takes in the Snow Queen video tape! All eight of the mains are in the shot as well as Elsa! And everyone is so serious, even the woman in the blue sparkly dress! I know it’s been said 1,000 times, but it’s totally CSI Storybrooke up in this bitch! XD

-Belle, you are amazing at tracking! And you dig any chance to be a hero! Why the fuck are you willingly stepping down?! XD

-Why does everyone diss books?! And if you’re gonna diss the book, maybe take the book? Like, I don’t want Maurice to take the book, but if he’s gonna go to the trouble of being a douche nozzle, at least go all the way.

-I feel the need to ask if Ingrid has employees at “Any Given Sundae.” Does she just switch off between driving the truck and running the shop? Did she ever have an intern? XD

-”Was she afraid someone was gonna steal the rocky road?” You’re three episodes off, Emma.

-Ice powers are the world’s most dangerous mood rings! XD

-”Do you really think she would’ve discovered that if I didn’t want her to?” And what part did you have to play in Emma discovering that evidence? Like, every piece of evidence Emma has uncovered has been by total coincidence! The video, the truck? Both of those were spur of the moment decisions!

-I feel like mirror Belle is what would happen if Lacey had Belle’s memories.

-Ummm, if that was the real dagger, would that slash have killed Rumple or would it kind of be like what happened with Dark Hook where only the lethal cuts matter? But then again, that was close to the throat.

-Belle, where the hell did that gorgeous ass coat come from? Because holy hell, I LOVE it!

-Okay, am I the only one who feels like Maurice had some personal experience with Rumple prior to Belle’s summoning?

-”Spend a little more time in this town love, and you’ll realize that just about everyone’s related.” This is true and I LOVE it! XD

Favorite Dynamic

Regina and Robin. I really like Regina’s scene with Robin in the forest. Lana perfectly shows Regina’s frustration at having tried every possible approach to waking Marian and failing at it as well as this sense of resignation about what she has to tell him. It’s a fantastic moment in how it’s performed and written. Regina’s in her best form by being blunt, but not unsympathetic: If Robin wants to save Marian, he has to fall in love with her again, no if’s, and’s, or but’s. You can tell that this is the last thing she wants to say, but she knows it’s the truth. It’s a really good display of her growth as a character. Something very difficult for her to do and the truth isn’t pretty, but she’s delivering it anyway, even at her own expense. The added bits of snark additionally really help it too by giving the scene a bit of levity and gives the dialogue a bit of that Regina fierceness.

Writer

Kalinda Vazquez comes in for her second episode in a row, a first for a writer for this series outside of A&E! Alongside her is Andrew Chambliss. I gotta say, it’s nice not having a newbie this episode. While there are some character issues, I think the episode works more than it doesn’t due to the more complicated nature of the present segment’s story and the fact that the framing is spot on.

Rating

8/10. I think there are a fair amount of good elements to this episode. The delivery of the themes is solid and that is the ultimate make or break piece of an episode like this. Additionally, the framing of this story was hard, but successful.

-----

Hey! Sorry this wasn’t my best review. I don’t know what happened with this episode, but it just took me so long to figure out how I felt about it. I hope what I put out made sense.

Thank you for reading, if you did as well as to @watchingfairytales and @daensarah. Love you!!!!

Season 3 Total (42/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (9/60) Jane Espenson: (10/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (10/50) Andrew Chambliss: (14/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (14/40) Scott Nimerfro: (6/30)

*Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.

[onceuponaseriesrewatch]

OUASR Press Release 4x5 Breaking Glass

4x5 Breaking Glass

Synopsis: Regina reluctantly teams up with Emma to search for the Snow Queen after Sidney, who is once again Regina’s prisoner in the mirror, discovers her whereabouts and agrees to lead her to the location.  With Belle babysitting baby Neal, a nervous Mary Margaret and David prepare for their first date night away from their child and find themselves on a mission to track down Will Scarlet, who has escaped from the town jail, and Elsa sees Anna in the Storybrooke woods.  Meanwhile, back in the past, young Emma finds herself a kindred spirit when she befriends a girl who, like her, is a runaway orphan.

Written by: Kalinda Vazquez, Scott Nimerfro

Directed by: Alrick Riley

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard); Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan); Lana Parilla (Evil Queen / Regina Mills); Josh Dallas (Prince Charming / David Nolan); Emilie de Ravin (Belle French); Colin O’Donoghue (Captain Killian ‘Hook’ Jones); Jared Gilmore (Henry Mills); Michael Socha (Will Scarlet); Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold)

Guest Starring: Giancarlo Esposito (Magic Mirror / Sidney Glass); Georgina Haig (Queen Elsa); Elizabeth Lail (Princess Anna); Elizabeth Mitchell (Ingrid); Nicole Munoz (young Lily); Abby Ross (young Emma); Anson Hibbert (policeman); Barclay Hope (Lily’s father); Kelly-Ruth Mercier (store manager); Ilias Webb (Kevin)

Breaking Glass airs June 9 at 8:00 pm EST

[hannibalcompendium2]

Whisper Through the Chrysalis: Hannibal, Thomas Harris and Hannibal, Episode 208, “Su-zakana,” written by Scott Nimerfro and Bryan Fuller & Steve Lightfoot, dir. Vincenzo Natali