#the book: the rembrandt with the storm

[clonerightsagenda]

Reading another of the Chasing Vermeer books and started getting increasingly suspicious about the art heist they were describing and yup, the author took the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist and moved it to Chicago. Gardner's name got changed, but all the works of art are the same. Possibly the name change is because the story seems to be heading in a 'her ghost is still there' angle and it would be reasonable for the author not to want to make a real person's ghost a character but still this kind of feels like stolen valor on Boston's behalf.

[summerfevers]

running """joke""" of peter threatening to send neal back to prison is OVER. clear as day in my mind i can invision this instead. peter, believing neal to be 35 in s1 (a full decade older than he actually was), has a conspiracy corkboard in his basement (why don't the burkes have a basement?) full of his 'evidence' of how neal and mozzie were the ones behind the isabella stewart gardner museum heist. here is the police sketch of the suspects so you can see where peter is coming from with this:

neal thinks this is hilarious. he's flattered, honestly. no one in the fbi is seriously investigating this, this is peter's passion project. he thinks neal was like 17 (the robbery was in 1990 btw) and that he was mozzie's apprentice or something. he thinks the thieves making sure the security guards taped up in the basement weren't uncomfortable and even chatting with them SCREAMS neal&mozzie shenanigans. this mystery of the ages heist that changed museum robbery forever is exactly the kind of bullshit neal and mozzie used to get up to.

but all good things must come to an end... at some point when peter is in his distrusting neal part of his friendship cycle he is REALLY leaning into this. tbh with neal's history he is getting a little worried that a court could be convinced of peter's tale. he has to break it to him.

peter has neal captive at the kitchen table, going over his "timeline of events" for the billionth time until neal is like "ok peter.... i have a confession to make." peter's expression at this can best be described as !!! "when the isabella stewart gardner museum was robbed in march 1990 i was..." peter is on the Edge Of His Fucking Seat "...five years old. i genuinely am stunned that you really believed that i'm 35. i was born in 1984. i literally did not even meet mozzie until like 6 months before i met YOU."

peter is fucking floored. his life is a lie. he put neal, a fucking baby? in jail? the implications this has for his five other caffrey-spiracy boards are far reaching and beyond what he can try to understand right now. he has been trying to pin the most infamous art crime of the last century on neal for years and his alibi is that he was in kindergarten.

[artandthebible]

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669)

Genre: Religious Painting

Date: 1633

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Movement: Dutch Golden Age

Location: Unknown Since 1990

Rembrandt’s most striking narrative painting in America, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, is also his only painted seascape. Dated 1633, it was made shortly after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam from his native Leiden, when he was establishing himself as the city’s leading painter of portraits and historical subjects. The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the relatively polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style. Eighteenth-century critics like Arnold Houbraken often preferred this early period to Rembrandt’s later, broader, and less descriptive manner.

The biblical scene pitches nature against human frailty – both physical and spiritual. The panic-stricken disciples struggle against a sudden storm, and fight to regain control of their fishing boat as a huge wave crashes over its bow, ripping the sail and drawing the craft perilously close to the rocks in the left foreground. One of the disciples succumbs to the sea’s violence by vomiting over the side. Amidst this chaos, only Christ, at the right, remains calm, like the eye of the storm. Awakened by the disciples’ desperate pleas for help, he rebukes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” and then rises to calm the fury of wind and waves. Nature’s upheaval is both cause and metaphor for the terror that grips the disciples, magnifying the emotional turbulence and thus the image’s dramatic impact.

The painting showcases the young Rembrandt’s ability not only to represent a sacred history, but also to seize our attention and immerse us in an unfolding pictorial drama. For greatest immediacy, he depicted the event as if it were a contemporary scene of a fishing boat menaced by a storm. The spectacle of darkness and light formed by the churning seas and blackening sky immediately attracts our attention. We then become caught up in the disciples’ terrified responses, each meticulously characterized to encourage and sustain prolonged, empathetic looking. Only one figure looks directly out at us as he steadies himself by grasping a rope and holds onto his cap. His face seems familiar from Rembrandt’s self-portraits, and as his gaze fixes on ours we recognize that we have become imaginative participants in the painter’s vivid dramatization of a disaster Christ is about to avert.

Source: Michael Zell, "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 145.

Jesus Calms the Storm

"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mark 4:35-41 New International Version

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey Nalyra,

First of all I love your blog and reading your thoughts so thank you for that!!!

I'm curious to know what you think and tbh i might be reaching lol but I found it too interesting not to bring it up.

Basically, I noticed something in ep7, there is this slight scene where they're around the table with Daniel and Louis throws his bowl full of blood across him after sharing that this is hard and it lands/splashes on the painting but also it was imo purposefully thrown toward Armand (we can see him dodge/have that slight stunned expression right afterward) and like Louis could have thrown the bowl in any other direction but he chose that one so I was wondering if you think this might be a sign that Louis isn't as clueless anymore or maybe it's just a sign of his resentment or again just me reading into this way to much lol?

Hey!

Glad you like! 💕

So I think there were several layers to that scene.

For one, this is Louis, his emotions a roller coaster, and they need out. He literally puts the golden spoon down, to reject the controlled food he was given, and hurl it back at the one who is responsible for this controlled environment.

It is an event to clue us in on Louis reaching the end of his tether and him knowing who is responsible both, at least deep down inside of him.

It is also a hint that Armand is losing his control over him.

And then... there is the layer of where that blood lands.

Because... that is not any painting. That is the "Sea of Galilei", a stolen Rembrandt painting. In the story referenced through the painting Christ calms the storm after his disciples panic, and he admonishes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

Louis literally throws blood at a painting depicting Christ trying to calm his disciples, metaphorically rejecting the calming influence he has been under, by spilling blood on it. Blood has been spilled. Blood will be spilled.

Going by the fact that Louis throws that bowl at Armand... it might be Armand's (too).

And Louis is actively rejecting the "calming influence", something that has been called the "veil" in the book.

Lestat also spoke of the veil that separates them in his letter.

Louis throwing the blood there will ultimately lead to them reuniting again.

Eventually.

[random-writing-thoughts]

Thought #206

Feel free to change the pronouns. 😁😁

Warnings: swearing, talk of cheating

That fucking bastard.

Civilian stormed into the art museum.

"Hello Civi..." Receptionist looked at Civilian's mascara smudged face. "What happened?"

Civilian gave them her card. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Can I just get in? Is my favorite painting still on display?"

"Yes and yes. Let me know if I can do anything." Receptionist handed her card back.

Civilian grabbed her card. "Can I have tissues?"

Receptionist nodded and handed her a box of tissues.

"Thank you." Civilian said softly.

She made her way through the galleries as tears streamed down her face.

With my best friend. What kind of low life cheats on their girlfriend with their best friend? And he proposed to her? Without breaking up with me first?

Civilian plopped down on a bench and covered her eyes.

"And I thought I was having a bad day." Someone said softly next to them.

Civilian glared at him. "Usually people don't talk to others who are crying in an art museum."

The handsome stranger laughed. "I didn't know there were rules for this specific situation. I should have reread the rule book."

She let out a small laugh and wiped her eyes.

"What's got you so upset?" He asked placing his hand over hers making her stomach flutter.

She took a deep breath. "My boyfriend just cheated on me. And proposed to my best friend." She stopped and looked at him.

His eyes looked at her with kindness. Understanding.

Why am I telling a stranger my life story? Why do I trust him?

"Sorry. I didn't mean to unload that on you." She said softly pulling her hand from his.

"That guys an idiot." He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and wiped some mascara from her face. "Why would someone give up a girl as pretty as you?"

Civilian laughed. "Thanks." She said softly. "What brings you here?"

"I was just going to steal a painting."

Civilian froze.

"Just kidding." He laughed and Civilian relaxed. "I'm just here to see the beautiful art."

His eyes never left hers.

Civilian blushed and turned away from him.

He stood. "Do you want to walk around and forget about your terrible day?" He held out his hand. "Unless there's a new rule in this museum rule book I don't know about that says I can't ask a beautiful girl who was crying to walk around with me."

She laughed, her stomach fluttering again, and grabbed his hand. "I'll have to double check, but I'm pretty sure there isn't."

He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her. He grabbed the tissue box from her and put it on the bench.

"I don't think you need those anymore."

She smiled at him, as they started to walk through the gallery.

"If you were actually here to steal a painting which one would you steal?" She asked as they looked at a large masterpiece by Rembrandt.

He paused and stroked his chin. "Hmm... if I was to steal one I think it would be your favorite painting."

"Why? So I couldn't see it anymore?" Her eyes were laser focused on the Rembrandt.

He laughed. "No." He looked down at her. Fascinated with how much joy was on her face as she studied the painting. How she looked more relaxed. "So you could look at it every single day."

She turned and met eyes with him. "You wouldn't sell it or try and get money from it?"

"Why would I do such a thing? I would have much more joy seeing you study it than the money I would get from it."

She blushed and turned away. "Good thing you aren't an art thief then. I don't know what I would do with a masterpiece."

"At least show it to me so I can plot my course of action when I want to steal it."

She smiled. Bigger than she had all night. "OK. If you can keep up."

She pushed away from him and took off down the hallway. He chuckled and took off after her.

He tried to keep up with her, but she was quick. She had ducked into multiple galleries and had disappeared.

He wandered around until her found her standing still in front of a painting.

He walked up to her and draped his arm around her shoulder. "Tell me about it."

She took a deep breath. "This is Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth."

"I love this one because I see myself in Christina. I'm alone. And so is she."

"Did you relate to this painting before your boyfriend cheated?" He looked down at her sad eyes.

"Yes. I've felt alone my entire life. My dad wasn't around and my mom had to work three jobs to get me through school. Even when I was dating my ex I always felt alone. He wasn't around much. I should've known he was cheating. All the..."

"Don't." Stranger said sharply. "He was an asshole."

Civilian looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"None of that is your fault. He screwed you over. He's a fucking loser. You deserve so much better. You should never feel alone in a relationship. Never."

She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

He pulled her into a tight hug.

She grabbed at his jacket and looked up at him with a laugh. "I only met you an hour ago. Why do I feel so safe around you?"

He smiled. "I don't know, but I feel the same way."

She rested her head on his chest. "Can you walk me home? I'm nervous Ex or Best Friend is there."

"Of course." He rubbed her back as she pulled away from him.

Damn it. I really wanted to steal something tonight. Supervillain is going to kill me, but hopefully they will understand.

Stranger Villain thought to themselves as they walked Civilian home.

Next

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

A List of Works Influencing and Referenced by IWTV Season 1

Works Directly Referenced

Marriage in a Free Society by Edward Carpenter

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Cheri by Collete

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

La Nausee by Jean-Paul Sartre (credit to @demonicdomarmand )

Complete Poetry of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson*

Blue Book by Tom Anderson

The Book of Abramelin the Mage

The Savage Garden by Mark Mills credit to @speckled-jim

Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could by Adam Schiff credit to @spreckled-jim

America and Dissent: Why America Suffers When Economics and Politics Collide by Alan S. Blinder credit to @speckled-jim

Dairy Queen Days by Robert Inman credit to @speckled-jim

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester R. Brown credit to @speckled-jim

Attila: the Judgement by William Napier credit to @speckled-jim

In A Heartbeat by Rosalind Noonan credit to @spreckled-jim

The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal credit to @speckled-jim

Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism" by Jacques Dupuis credit to @speckled-jim

Strawberry Hill: Horace Walpole's Gothic Castle by Anna Chalcraft & Judith Viscardi credit to @speckled-jim

Sailing to Byzantium by Yeats

The Circus Animal's Desertion by Yeats

The Second Coming by Yeats

Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti with libretto by Giovanni Ruffini

Iolanta by Pyotr Tchaikovsky with libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky

Pelleas et Melisande by Claude Debussy

Epigraphes Antiques by Claude Debussy

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Nosferatu (1922)

The Graduate (1967)

Marie Antoinette (1938)

On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin

De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis by Michael Ranft (1728)

Emily Post’s Etiquette

Bach’s Minuet in G Major (arranged as vampire minuet in G major)

Artworks referenced (much credit in this section to @iwtvfanevents and to @nicodelenfent )

Fall of The Rebel Angels by Peter Bruegel The Elder (1562)

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt (1633)

Three Peaches on a Stone Plinth by Adriaen Coorte (1705)

Strawberries and Cream Raphaelle Peale, (1816) credit to @diasdelfeugo

Red Mullet and Eel by Edouard Manet (1864)

Starry Night by Edvard Munch (1893)

Self Portrait by Edvard Munch (1881)

Captain Percy Williams on a Favorite Irish Hunter by Samuel Sidney (1881)

Autumn at Arkville by Alexander H. Wyant 

Cumulus Clouds, East River by Robert Henri 

Mildred-O Hat by Robert Henri (Undated)

Ship in the Night James Gale Tyler (1870)

Bouquet in a Theater Box by Renoir (1871)

Berthe Morisot with a Fan by Édouard Manet (1872)

La Vierge D’aurore by Odilon Redon (1890) credit to @vampirepoem on twt

Still Life with Blue Vase and Mushrooms by Otto Sholderer (1891)

After the Bath: Woman Drying her Hair by Edgar Degas (1898)

Bust of a Woman with Her Left Hand on Her

Chin by Edgar Degas (1898) credit to @terrifique

Backstage at the Opera by Jean Beraud (1889)

Roman Bacchanal by Vasily Alexandrovich Kotarbiński (1898)

Dancers by Edgar Degas (1899)

Calling the Hounds Out of Cover by Haywood Hardy (1906)

Dolls by Witold Wojtkiewicz (1906) credit to @gyzeppelis on twt

Forty-two Kids by George Bellows (1907)

The Artist's Sister Melanie by Egon Schiele (1908)

Paddy Flannigan by George Bellows (1908)

Stag at Sharkey’s by George Bellows (1909)

The Lone Tenement by George Bellows (1909)

Ode to Flower After Anacreon by Auguste Renoir (1909) credit to @iwtvasart on twt

New York by George Bellows (1911)

Young Man kneeling before God the Father

Egon Schiele (1909)

Kneeling Girl with Spanish Skirt by Egon Schiele (1911)

Portrait of Erich Lederer by Egon Schiele (1912)

Krumau on the Molde by Egon Schiele (1912)

Weeping Nude by Edvard Munch (1913)

The Cliff Dwellers by George Bellows (1913)

Church in Stein on the Danube by Egon Schiele (1913)

Self Portrait in a Jerkin by Egon Schiele (1914)

The Kitten's Art Lesson by Henriette Ronner Knip credit to @terrifique

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion by Francis Bacon (1944)

New York by Vivian Maier (1953)

Self Portrait by Vivian Maier (Undated)

Self Portrait by Vivian Maier (1954)

Slave Auction by Jean-Michelle Basquiat (1982)

(Untitled) photo of St. Paul Loading Docks by Bradley Olson (2015)

Transformation by Ron Bechet (2021)

(Untitled) sculpture in the shape of vines by Sadie Sheldon

(Untitled) Ceramic Totems by Julie Silvers (Undated)

Mother Daughter by Rahmon Oluganna

Twins I by Raymon Oluganna

@iwtvfanevents made a post of unidentified works here.

Works Cited by the Writer’s Room as Influences

Bourbon Street: A History by Richard Campanella (as it hardly mentions Storyville I think interested parties would be better served by additional titles if they want a complete history of New Orleans)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (This was also adapted into an award winning opera)

poetry by Charles Simic (possibly A Wedding in Hell?)

poetry by Mark Strand (possibly Dark Harbour?)

Works IWTV may be in conversation with (This is the most open to criticism and additions)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, uncensored (There are two very different versions of this which exist today, as Harvard Press republished the unedited original with permission from the Wilde family.)

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Warsan Shire for Beyoncé’s Lemonade

Faust: A Tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

La Morte Amoreuse by Theophile Gautier

Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (credit to @johnlockdynamic )

1984 by George Orwell (credit to @savage-garden-nights for picking this up)

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Gone With the Wind film (1939)

Hannibal (2013)

Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle Suzanne de Villenueve

Music used in Season 1 collected by @greedandenby here

*if collected or in translation most of the best editions today would not have been available to the characters pre-1940. It’s possible Louis is meant to have read them in their original French in some cases, but it would provide for a different experience. Lydia Davis’ Madame Bovary, for example, attempts to replicate this.

** I've tagged and linked relevant excerpts under quote series as I've been working my way through the list.

Season 2 here

Season 3 here

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

(Art: 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee', 1633 by Rembrandt van Rijn)

* * * * *

Danger, when it is always imminent, does harm. It doesn't need to actually arrive. You exhaust yourself in the act of forever looking over your shoulder. Your body readies itself to fight and never quite discharges that chemical cocktail. You channel it instead into anger and self-pity and anxiety and hopelessness. You divert it into work. But really what you do, with every fibre of your being, is watch. You are incessantly, exhaustingly alert. You don't dare ever let up, just in case the danger takes advantage of your inattention. I've forgotten what it feels like to have space in my brain for anything other than watching. For a long time I kept working teaching, pitching articles, writing editorial reports and for a while, that felt like a life raft. But then, incrementally, it became impossible. I was aware of a fog descending, a seizing of the gears, but it seemed diffuse until now. 

~Katherine May (Book: Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age)

[Philo Thoughts]

[numbwhileintertwined]

listing my favorite things bc im bored

Movies:

Lilya 4-Ever

Christiane F

Level 16

The Chalk Lines

The Tourist

American Mary

The Man Who Cried

The Rum Diary

The DaVinci Code

All of Pirates of The Caribbean

All of Fantastic Beasts

Alice in Wonderland

Orphan

Twister

Room

But I'm A Cheerleader

Interstellar

2001: A Space Odyssey

Blade Runner 2049

Kids

Buffalo 66

The V*rgin S*icides

Eyes Wide Shut

Requiem For A Dream

Prozac Nation

Thirteen

Marie Antoinette

Priscilla

Midsommar

The Florida Project

Trainspotting

Bones and All

Enter the Void

White Oleander

Soylent Green

TV Shows

South Park

Hannibal

SVU

Alba

Criminal Minds

(Old) Grey's Anatomy

(Old) Station 19

The Idol

Inventing Anna

(Old) New Amsterdam

Everything Sucks

Midnight Mass

The X-Files

Books

Aeneid- Virgil

Dante's Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri

The Brothers Karamazov- Dostoyevsky

Industrial Society And Its Future- Ted K

Anti-Tech Revolution- Ted K

Technological Slavery- Ted K

The Golden Ratio- Gary Meisner

Imperialism THSOC- Vladimir L

The Ego and Its Own- Max Stirner

The Art Of War- Sun Tzu

The Iliad and The Odyssey- Homer

Speak- Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

1984- George Orwell

Crime and Punishment- Dostoyevsky

L*lita- Vladimir Nabokov

The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Decoding the Universe- Charles Seife

Art

Our Lady of Kazan- Unknown

A Limier Briquet Hound- Rosa Bonheur

Cats- Armando Spadini

Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay- Martin Heade

The Martyrdom of Saint Thecla- Pietro Valsecchi

The Abduction of Europa- Rembrandt

The Albobrandini Madonna- Titian

The Sistine Madonna- Raphael

A Young Girl and Her Dog- Joshua Reynolds

Girl at a Window- Rembrandt

Rio Palo Battle- Jose Espinosa

Valley of the Yosemite- Albert Bierstadt

The First Thorns of Knowledge- Unknown

Inside of a Church- Carl Graeb

Highland Raid- Rosa Bonheur

After the Rain- Rae Bredin

Girl Getting Out of the Bath- Paolo Vetri

Shipwreck 1783- Claude-Joseph Vernet

The Birth of Venus- Nicolas Poussin

Virgin Mary of the Cathusians- Manuel Bayeu

Puerto Mediterraneo- Claude-Joseph Vernet

The Consecration of Saint Nicholas- Paolo Veronese

First Mass In Brazil- Vitor Meireles

The Death of Sardanapalus- Eugene Delacroix

Europa- Titan

Divine Shepherdess- Manuel de Samaniego

Saul and David- Rembrandt

Respect- Paolo Veronese

Moses with the Ten Commandments- Rembrandt

Westminster Abbey- Max Ainmiller

Song of the Waters- Jerome Thompson

guys i have over 2k pics saved on google arts and culture I gotta stop

[whatilistenedtoatwork]

From September 4th to September 8th, 2023

04-09-23

HEAVENLY “Dust To Dust”; WILLIE NELSON “Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson”; KREATOR “Pleasure To Kill”; TELEVISION PERSONALITIES “…And Don’t The Kids Just Love It”; SKYCLAD “Vintage Whine”; G.I.S.M. “Military Affairs Neurotic”; FRANKIE COSMOS “Vessels”; KRISTIN HERSH “Strange Angels”; THE HANDSOME FAMILY “In The Air”; LAVERN BAKER “LaVern”; THE AQUABATS “The Return Of The Aquabats”; SUN CITY GIRLS “Torch Of The Mystics”; BUTTHOLE SURFERS “Rembrandt Pussyhorse”; TAYLOR SWIFT “Lover”; YOUSSOU N’DOUR & LE SUPER ETOILE DE DAKAR “Immigres”; JOHN LEE HOOKER “Burning Hell”

05-09-23

THE VASELINES “The Way Of The Vaselines”; THE FLAMING LIPS “At War With The Mystics”; BIG DADDY KANE “Looks Like A Job For Big Daddy Kane”; HELLOWEEN “Keeper Of The Seven Keys – Part II”; BOBBY FREEMAN “Do You Wanna Dance?”; MERCURY REV “Yerself Is Steam”; AL GREEN “Have A Good Time”; MOVING HEARTS “The Storm”; THE BLACK KEYS “El Camino”; PRIMAL SCREAM “Sonic Flower Groove”; JENS LEKMAN “I Know What Love Isn’t”; LINKIN PARK “Hybrid Theory”; MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD “Some Place Simple”

06-09-23

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS “Damn The Torpedoes”; THE OFFSPRING “Americana”; ZION TRAIN “Passage To Indica”; KRISTIN HERSH “Live At Maxwell’s”; KATHRYN TICKELL “Borderlands”; THE AQUABATS “The Fury Of The Aquabats!”; THE PLUGZ “Better Luck”; U-ROY “Dread In A Babylon”; MODEST MOUSE “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”; HORSLIPS “The Book Of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony”

07-09-23

VIOLENT FEMMES “Hallowed Ground”; THE FUTUREHEADS “The Chaos”; THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH “Welcome To The Beautiful South”; CHARLIE RICH “Lonely Weekends With Charlie Rich”; THE JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET “Do Your Own Thing”; ERASURE “The Circus”; BAD RELIGION “Suffer”; fun. “Some Nights”; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”; THE DECEMBERISTS “Castaways And Cutouts”; LITTLE SIMZ “GREY Area”; BLINK 182 “Enema Of The State”; NIGHTMARES ON WAX “Smoker’s Delight”; REUBEN WILSON “Blue Mode”; THE ONLY ONES “The Only Ones”; THE LEMONHEADS “Come On Feel The Lemonheads”; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “The River”; WANDA JACKSON “Wanda Jackson”

08-09-23

JULIAN COPE “Saint Julian”; SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX “OK Crooner”; DAVY SPILLANE “Pipedreams”; GREGORY ISAACS “Willow Tree”; THE JAM “Sound Affects”; CULTURE “Harder Than The Rest”

[a-bright-young-reporter]

For me, it was mostly about this large, recognisable, highly valuable stolen painting (currently valued between $200 million and $500 million, with reward money for information currently up to $10 million) being openly on display in their dining room. That suggests a few things - that Armand and Louis believe they have enough power over their staff and over the local authorities to not need to worry about any legal repercussions, and that they themselves are very wealthy and well-connected (I think they probably got it through the illegal market, as Louis is presented more as an art dealer than an art thief). It’s a unique painting, both because of it being Rembrandt’s only seascape, and because of the added status/mystery it has because of the Gardner museum heist. And it also suggests that Louis and Armand believe in enjoying their wealth - this painting isn’t hidden from view in a vault, but on display for them to see every day, even if that puts it at risk of Louis throwing his dinner at it.

Louis throwing blood at it shows he struggles to control his temper and he damages things important to him.

Also, having it on display might suggest trust in Daniel’s professionalism and discretion as a journalist, or at least a belief that he respects them and their power? Otherwise, he might report them and get the reward money.

As for the painting itself, it being a depiction of Jesus in a scene from the Bible seems significant. It shows Jesus and his disciples in the middle of a huge storm at sea, the disciples panicking and thinking they are going to die, whilst Jesus sleeps peacefully as he knows everything will be fine. Eventually, they wake him up, he calms the storm and questions their lack of faith. So it’s a story that shows Jesus’ power over nature and also is a challenge to his followers to believe he will protect them. And it raises some questions about whether Jesus is good for protecting his disciples or bad/complacent for letting the storm continue and sleeping whilst they were scared. I’ve only read the first couple of Vampire Chronicles books, but from what I can remember, the vampires spend a lot of time obsessing over religion and faith, what their status as vampires means for the existence of a good God, whether they are automatically condemned to hell etc. There’s some of that discussion included in the TV show with Louis’ interactions with his brother Paul and his family, but it seems a lot more significant in the books. Anne Rice herself seems to have spent a lot of her life thinking and writing about faith and religion - she was raised Catholic, and later rejected organised religion, but still remained, in her words, ‘committed to Christ’, and wrote some books about the life of Jesus. So I think the painting might be intended to reflect some of those big questions of faith and doubt that many people (and vampires!) obsess over.

Has anyone done a deep dive/meta/analysis/whatever as to how/why Armand and Louis have Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Season of Galilea in their dining room?

I'm always fascinated when this piece of art shows up in media because it says soooo much about the person who has it in their possession but also brings up soooo many questions.

(It also recently showed up at the end of Season 5 of Cobra Kai when Mike Barnes took the painting from Terry Silver's house as repayment for Terry burning down his furniture store.)

For those who don't know, this Rembrandt was one of 13 artworks stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. So, does this mean Armand and/or Louis were involved in the heist? Do they have it simply because they know people on the Black Market? The whole heist is so interesting because, to this day, none of the works have been recovered. There are no suspects. The pieces that were stolen seem so random, some virtually worthless in the grand scheme of things. There is a 4-part mini-series on Netflix called This is a Robbery that takes a deep dive into this whole thing.

Anywho, I'm just interested in any theories that people might have on this little plot point.

[otrtbs]

HELLO NAT!!! okay I have a few things to say and I will try to make this short because I have habit is talking too much on Internet BYE

okay so the thing is, I don't just love ahb,,, I ADORE it. like,, straight up adore it. I associate so many things with ur fic and maybe it's little bit insane and unhealthy but it makes me so happy and I'm ATTACHED okay?? it's just THAT GOOD.

now, I've always loved arts. my grandpa is musician, my dad is obsessed with paintings and has collection of books about artists (I have degas' book next to my bed atm), my sister is taking art studies in uni so i've always been close to arts and always wanted to take art studies in uni as well,,, but after ahb??? OH don't even get me STARTED.

that fic changed so many things for me, I became totally different person during summer and even my classmates can see that. I started consuming more information about paintings as well and discovered paintings that now I simply adore (the kiss by hayez, death and life by klimt (all credit to ahb for this one), the storm on the sea of galilee by rembrandt (watched documentaryabout gardner heist, LOVED IT), the angel in the sun by turner and SO MANY MORE!!) and all of it happened because of YOUR fic

all of this is exactly why I absolutely lost my shit and legit CRIED when I saw that u read my fic,,, it just means so so much I simply can not put it into words. I hope I don't sound too dramatic when I say that you, quite literary, changed the way I viewed arts and some other things as well with your fic and it just means a lot that you read something I created and most importantly - you LIKED it?? OH yeah imma go CRY again /pos

obviously that's not everything I have to say but it's 3 am and I have school tomorrow AND I don't wanna bore you too much with my rantings sooo I guess that's main things I wanted to say.

(OH and I absolutely LOVED new chapter of tcb!! you're amazing.)

ahh hello!! (I also talk too much on the internet,, rambling is my favorite so I see you and I am you haha)

first, I want to say you have no idea how much it means to me to know that my fic had a positive impact on you oh my goodness :,)) i am so happy that you love art heist, and that it makes you happy, and that it led to you looking into art more (let me cry for 284858201 years,, my heart is so FULL :,)) )

second!! THE KISS BY HEYEZ that’s such a good one!! ALSO THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER HEIST I THINK ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME !!! i want it solved !!! i want to know !!!!!! I WANT THE PAINTINGS BACK!!!!

also YEAH UR FIC WAS SO GOOD AHHH

i love love love unrequited Bartylus and ur fic had regulus AND barty yearning :,( my feeble heart i adore both of them so much <333 if you ever write a follow up please lmk so I can read it !! haha (absolutely no pressure though!! ur fic is wonderful as a stand-alone!!)

i cannot thank you enough for your kindness and the love you’ve shown art heist, baby! :,) i hope you get a good nights sleep and you have a good day!!!! (also you could never bore me, this I can promise)

(also, also ahhh thank you so so much for reading tcb! I’m so glad you like it <33)

okay, thank you again for sending this wonderfully kind message ahhh good luck with school :,) <333

[holdoncallfailed]

idk why the isabella stewart gardner theft makes me as emotional as it does but there’s something about it that just breaks my heart. the first piece of writing i got paid for was about that, those empty gilt frames still hanging on the wall in the dutch room. the scene in the goldfinch where boris finds the trove of stolen art and theo’s first thought, hoping against hope, is to ask after the storm on the sea of galilee—and even in that universe it is still lost. but at least there if nowhere else rembrandt’s other masterpiece (“people in a dark room. little bit boring”) was recovered. i think i cried harder at that exchange than at any other point in the book. things lost, things stolen, things returned and unreturned. well i’ll never get over it. as if it were ever mine to get over

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! Hope it’s okay to message. I saw your post about Marius and the paintings in the series/trailer but I’m dumb and don’t understand them. Can you explain them screenshots of when they’re in the trailer and series? Thank you so much

Hey!

Of course!

So in episode 2 we see Daniel in front of a painting.

Armand: "It's Venetian. A contemporary of Tintoretto's." Daniel: ""Marius de Romanus." Never heard of him." Armand: "Little of his work survives. Mr. de Pointe du Lac covets the rare."

Now. it's probably important to know here that Marius is Armand's maker, and he painted him quite a few times. (Armand also was an icon painter in his mortal life, in the book, we'll see how they'll spin it here, though the art in that one shot in the trailer is very interesting.)

Supposedly Armand thought Marius dead for long periods of time. However, given that we're in a mixed timeline, and that there are indisputable elements of the last trilogy in the show (Fareed, for example.) I believe that we are looking at the show's version of "Trinity Gate". And in the Trinity Gate era Armand was more than aware that Marius was indeed not dead. In fact there had been reconciliation. For me the painting on the wall of that apartment indicates that a certain reconciliation between must have happened already. I cannot see Armand look at his maker's painting when he still harbors the negative feelings he must have felt after it all came down.

In the trailer we see this guy, played by Justin Kirk, who I think will be/is Marius. He says: "You should fear the other one."

And right afterwards there is a shot of Louis hurling his glass with blood at a painting.

However, that is not the painting by Marius (that would be behind Louis there). This is "Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" (something which Assad Zaman cheekily posted ages ago^^).

Here you probably need to know that after the "chase" of the Devil's Minion arc (so when Armand hunted Daniel across the globe and eventually fell in love with him) there was a phase, where they hunted down art thieves. And kept the art.

That is stolen art from Daniel's and Armand's time together on the wall.

Edit: @cbrownjc pointed out that the timeframe of the theft doesn’t match the likely DM timeframe. So the painting might be from after DM! (But still stolen art^^)

And Louis throws blood at it in obvious frustration.

In the story referenced through the painting Christ calms the storm after his disciples panic, and he admonishes them: "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

Given that (I'll just call him that until proven otherwise) Marius just talked about who Daniel needs to fear in the previous scene? Definitely not a coincidence :)

I also do not think the "presence" of Marius behind Louis on the wall there is any coincidence. (But it cannot be seen, and that is definitely no coincidence either, imho.)

Marius has been foreshadowed, and quite heavily, imho. He is also necessary for both Armand's and Lestat's backstories.

It's... too early I think to fully analyze what it means. It could mean Daniel has fully remembered and he and Armand are in their own little bubble (after all Louis seems to be alone there). We'll see.

Last but not least:

This - there's paintings.

Has Armand started to paint again? Has he shown Louis his paintings? Does he make himself vulnerable there for Louis, and Louis... accepts the invitation? Bites him there? Turns him to kiss him?

I would actually love that.

Because that would be a huge step for Armand. Huge. Cannot be overstated. Because Armand, too, carries lots of trauma. (They all do.)

[tybaku]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30691259

Midoriya Izuku finds the incarnation of beauty and divinity sitting at a window of a hole-in-the-wall café just a few blocks away from home.

Or: An artist in search of inspiration unexpectedly finds a new muse.

When Izuku lays eyes on him, it’s like salvation.

It’s a feeling of warmth, like fire licking at the grooves of his teeth and spreading throughout the apples of his cheeks. It’s a pleasant thing, the following lurch in the very pit of his chest, like all the air in his lungs had turned into honey the color of molten gold. It’s electric in the way he can feel it’s lingering buzz in his fingertips just as he’s left in a reverie.

Izuku hasn’t felt this way in weeks.

A thin, reserved smile finds its way onto his bitten lips as he twirls his mechanical pencil between his fingers. If he were an artist of a different medium—say, a photographer—he would capture this very moment for safe keeping, have it frozen in all its sharp and bright clarity and contrast. (But he is not, so he will have to make due with his pencil and paper.)

It’s a gray kind of day today. Storm clouds were rumbling gently in the sky, crooning and purring in the promise of rainfall. It set a somber mood, and a gloomy undertone to the colors of the café Izuku frequented, despite its yellow lights and setup of deep, rich browns, reds, and oranges.

Though it did pair perfectly with the man who sat by the window.

Izuku’s eyes fell, and his pencil danced on the paper of his sketchbook. Curves and corners formed a light, faint base, precise enough to embody a sitting figure. Izuku looks up again, eyes gently observing the piece in front of him.

And damn if that man at the window didn’t resemble something straight out of a Rembrandt. He was soft, pale colors, from fair skin to blond hair, and awfully kind on the eyes, muted and light. He held a dark sort of overtone over his features and the way he breathed, grays and blues amongst warmth.

He’s wearing a scarf in a bright shade of cream low on his neck, and the material gives off the impression of cotton, which is soft and comforting in the current cold of late autumn. His clothes are dark, old, and large, falling off his slim figure. His eyes are downcast, and though Izuku can’t quite tell from this distance, they are deep and dim in hue, and enraptured by the laptop in front of him, a halo of cool light illuminating his high cheeks and sharp jaw.

Simply put, the man at the window was agonizingly gorgeous, and Izuku was determined to capture his beauty on sketch paper.

He’s quietly scribbling his third concept drawing (he quietly berated himself for not bringing any paints today, but then considered the fact he wasn’t even planning to draw at the café anyway, and he could always just start a piece when he got home as long as he had a decent thumbnail) when the man stops, rolls his shoulders back, and rises from his seat.

Surprised, Izuku nearly drops his pencil, not having expected any movement and having forgotten the man at the window wasn’t actually modeling for him, nor made of marble. (He could be though, Izuku thinks. If he let me, I could immortalize him with just my hands.)

The man steps up to the counter and orders a coffee.

Izuku watches him wait as subtly as he can, glasses slipping to the tip of his nose with how often his head moves up and down, and up and down again in order to somewhat perfect the piece in his book.

Faintly, he realizes that he should maybe be a little more inconspicuous about his sightseeing, but he’s too thrilled about finally finding a view that was actually worth looking at. Plus, the man hasn’t yet noticed Izuku’s stare on his stern profile, even if the artist was just as tactful about it as a toddler.

Izuku rolls his own shoulders, a mimic of what the man had done earlier, and continues. When the man returns to his seat, Izuku is on his third sheet of paper.

They’re faint, quick doodles now, thumbnails overlapping thumbnails, because Izuku is rapidly losing his patience, and doesn’t want to spend more than a minute on a sketch. He’s too excited now, and the ideas keep coming in, insistent on making their presence known even as the page becomes more and more crowded, filled to the brim with messy artwork.

The man finally meets his eye, and scowls.

Embarrassed, Izuku ducks his head quickly, pretending to be occupied with his sketchbook. It’s a half-truth really, because he has been busy with it for the past twenty something minutes. Only now there’s a more than healthy flush to his cheeks that can’t be blamed on the chilly weather. He looks up tentatively.

The man has gone back to glaring at his laptop screen and sipping on what Izuku assumes to be his dark brew (with exactly two and a half packets of sugar substitute—Izuku knows this because he had seen him pour and stir them into his mug at the sidebar before he took his seat again).

Izuku lets out a quiet sigh of relief as the heat in his face fades out like a dying candle, and then resumes his sketching calmly. He never really could draw when he knew someone was watching, it made him feel too nervous, and much too exposed. One is meant to create art privately, and wholeheartedly, not under a persistent microscope.

Then again, Izuku probably shouldn’t be out in public if he wanted privacy and be away from prying eyes. Even if they are a deep, rich shade of brown that sat on his skin like hot, burning coal. (Even if they are red and piercing like they must be in another life, in another painting of beauty.)

And it wasn’t as if Izuku came to the little coffeehouse with the intention to create, he had simply wanted to mill about, and see if maybe he could find some inspiration outside his lonely studio apartment, and even his actual art studio. He never thought he would actually strike gold, and have to sit down to milk it for all it was worth.

Unfortunately, there comes a point where all the gold runs out, and Izuku is left with dirty hands and an ache in his chest.

The man packs up his belongings and leaves. The bell above the door sings cheerily. Izuku watches as the man breathes a puff of air like smoke before he shields his mouth from the cold with his scarf. Izuku's eyes fall when the man rounds a corner and disappears from view.

The coffee in the mug Izuku bought out of courtesy has gone cold, since he had been far too busy trying to map out the shapes and shadows of the man at the window. He looks down into it, detested, not being able to help feeling a little upset about the man’s departure.

If I had asked, Izuku thinks rather absently, would he have stayed?

He shakes his head at himself, hair tickling his cheeks, feeling a little ridiculous. That wasn’t something you could just ask of someone you didn’t even know the name of. It wasn’t appropriate by any means, to ask a stranger something so intimate. To stay. And just so you could admire them and the lines of their human body, and preserve them on sketch paper for you to have and hold selfishly.

So really, there wasn’t anything Izuku could’ve done to prevent the inevitable. The loss of a light and warmth so bright it felt holy—the inside of a dying sun, the core of a supernova.

What he does do, however, is take advantage of all that he had basked in and hurry on home with intent of creating a new art piece of paints, making sure to leave a fat tip on the underside of his untouched coffee before leaving the shop with a little spring to his step and a pink blush on his face.

He makes it home in a flurry, hair wildly windswept and cold air in his panting mouth, having broken into a sprint, and then a run, by the time he was only a block away from his apartment, nerves buzzing under his skin. He had taken two steps at a time up the stairs and into his studio, as if he were being chased by a madman. (He was the only madman around really, one who was much too eager to capture what he felt back at the café on a canvas with his oils at home, rather than make the trip to his professional workspace.)

Izuku makes a quick beeline to his art desk (it’s standing where maybe a television stand would be if he had one, right in front of his comfy loveseat, and it’s covered in all sorts of paints because Izuku tends to use it as a glorified paint palette) and sets his sketchbook down on the cleanest spot he could find, immediately crouching down in order to rummage through his art supply bins for his spare oil paints.

He mutters as he does this, about colors and brushes and the man at the window of the café, but it’s nothing short of white noise to his ears, a harmless habit. It helped him focus in fact, his own whispered musings to an empty room, and it helped him relax enough to calm the heart trying to break his rib cage and beat a gaping wound through his chest.

He finally finds the oils, and then the brushes, that he needs to replicate the image in his head that burns in the backs of his eyes. He sets them all down on his art desk, only where it’s dry, and moves about the apartment in search of the final, most important ingredient: a canvas.

He looks down, around, and behind every piece of furniture, grumbling under his breath. After about five minutes, it finally sinks in, and he makes a terrible discovery: there were no clean canvases he could use.

Usually, he would have one or two lying around, for easy commission pieces, and even when the occasional creative mood would randomly strike, but as of late, he hasn’t actually been painting much of anything, whether it be for personal purposes or professional pursuits. And his past self had figured the canvases in his art studio would suffice because of this, so he hadn’t bought any to keep at home.

His past self was a bumbling idiot.

Determined, and not yet ready to detach himself from this bout of sudden inspiration, Izuku rolls up his sleeves, gathers his supplies, and gets to work, canvas or no canvas. He paints and paints until his knuckles ache and his jaw goes sore from clenching in concentration.

He finishes his piece with tired arms and oils not only on his face, but on his plastic frames. He finishes liberated, with relief strung throughout him.

Admittedly, it’s not his best piece, for his living room wall isn’t suited for his oils, but Izuku can’t help but think it’s his most beautiful. It’s the first thumbnail he made of the man at the window of the café, one where he’s looking out the window, blown out right on the wall, his sharp yet soft profile glowing gently with warm, nude colors.

The man at the window takes Izuku’s breath away all over again.

Warm in the face, Izuku lets his eyes wander away, and fall to the wooden floor. The sun is bright and high in the sky now, a telltale sign of noon, beaming hot yellows into the apartment, and beating down onto the back of his clothes. The lighting is wonderful, and perfect for a picture, but a seed of greed is already sprouting in the mouth of Izuku’s stomach.

This sight, this piece, wasn’t one he was willingly to share with anyone just yet, if ever. It feels too deeply personal somehow, and much too intimate to showcase on any of his social medias, much less his professional art blog. Plus, it’s not even a complete piece, or one he can profit off of, since it lies dormant on his wall. There wasn’t a reason to post this anywhere, and there wasn’t a reason why Izuku should even want to. This piece was for his eyes only.

Embarrassed at the mere thought, Izuku brings his stained hands to his face, no doubt smearing more oil paint onto his blushy cheeks. Now what kind of reasoning was that? He didn’t want to share? The man at the window was only his to admire? How selfish! And how embarrassing! Izuku thinks in a flushing stupor, berating himself in belated humiliation. He hadn’t meant to think any of that, honest!

The artist smacks his face once, and then twice, to pull himself back together. Nevermind all that, there was nothing wrong with wanting to keep some of his work to himself in the first place. Just like his personal, and very much private sketchbook where he allowed himself to experiment and make mistakes, this living room piece served as an act of unexpected creativity and originality, a subjective study of an intriguing character.

At the very least, Izuku had fully convinced himself of this in less than a minute, not allowing himself to think about the matter any further lest he wanted to mutter a whole dissertation about it straight through the wall and into his neighbor’s apartment. (The walls here weren’t as thick as they were supposed to be, unfortunately.) (Vaguely, Izuku recalls his apartment lease and its rules, specifically the too-lengthy paragraph under “alterations” and how he was not allowed to “paint, wallpaper, alter, or redecorate without written consent of the landlord.”)

Izuku brings his thumb to his mouth and bites down on the painted nail to keep himself quiet, letting his eyes settle back up to his artwork. It truly was an astonishing piece, if he did say so himself. It was very new, and very different from any of his other work, and it reflected an entirely distinct side of Izuku’s artistic capabilities. It felt real, and warm, and overwhelmingly human; very dissimilar from his usual painting style.

It was nude, and dark, and utterly stunning in all the unexpectedly right ways. A handsome painting crafted by hands that never knew they could portray such divinity.

A fresh flame ignites in Izuku all over again, and his hands go back to feel the blood rising in his face once more. It was becoming increasingly more and more difficult for him to mellow out of this stage of embarrassing elation, since each time he tries to take a look to admire his piece he gets worked all up, and ends up awkward and out of place in his own home. He just—He just needs something more.

Huffing, Izuku removes his glasses and wipes them down with the hem of his shirt. His hands go a little blurry under his gaze, which was a little watery and soft at the edges, far-sightedness at its best. As he removes any paint off his lenses, he allows his mind to wander just a bit, back to his painting, and back to the prospect of sharing.

He nearly drops his glasses moments after, right on the line of a most groundbreaking revelation—a victory caused by something straight out of a storybook or myth, one where stars, planets, suns, minds, and hearts aligned.

Izuku fits his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and quickly fishes his phone out of his pocket, inputting his passcode with no hesitation.

He had some calls to make.

[kathrynethegreat]

@random-emerald-thoughts​ asked: Hello, hope you are doing well. I have to say I am beyond fascinated with your Hannibal Au and was wondering if you might divulge some extra info about what you imagine season 1 would entail...Basically, anything you’ve got.

 Oh boy, do I have more info. 

 While I did not write full episodes, I do have a lot of details for them – some more than others. Season 1, and actually this whole series direction came about when I read Hannibal Rising for the second time. I wanted to see if I could use flashbacks from Hannibal Rising to run alongside the story I was telling. Since Rising has so much Japanese influence, I set the majority of season 1 in Japan to further bring that theme forward.

Below the cut is the following information:

Additional Information about each episode and the real crimes that inspired some of the stories

Artwork featured in each episode

A couple pieces of Fan Art that didn’t make the cut for the Season Rundowns.

Flashbacks featured in each episode

General Season Arcs / Information / Themes

 General Clannibal info (Will they kill each other or kiss each other? Who knows?)

A full summary of the absolutely bonkers season 1 finale (scroooolll to the bottom)

These notes in some instances assume you have read the four novels. If you have questions pertaining to anything you’ve not read, let me know.  The notes also sometimes specify how a scene may be viewed – because this is envisioned as a TV show and not a standard fan fic.

If anyone has questions about any of the below, want more info on season 1 or the other three seasons, just let me know and I’d be happy to provide. I’ve had all of this information sitting in my head for the last eight months, and I am glad to get it off my plate, as it were.

OVERVIEW

SEASON 1 SUMMARY | SEASON 1 DETAILS

SEASON 2 SUMMARY | SEASON 2 DETAILS

SEASON 3 SUMMARY | SEASON 3 DETAILS

SEASON 4 SUMMARY | SEASON 4 DETAILS

Season 1 General Notes / Arcs / Themes:

The main case Clarice is working on is the Gardner case, which spans all four seasons. However, in each individual episode, she is usually solving other cases along the way.

 Hannibal Lecter's background will unfold to help us better understand his attachment to Clarice Starling. Over time we come to understand how they are the same.

Flashbacks with regard to Hannibal and his esteem for Lady Murasaki will run parallel to the episode’s events and hopefully mirror Hannibal’s feelings for Clarice Starling. All flashbacks in general try to mirror some element of the present-day story.

This season focuses heavily on Hannibal Lecter's background, with heavy flashbacks from Hannibal Rising, with the big reveal essentially being that Mischa was eaten. There are a few Silence of the Lambs flashbacks as well.

This season also focuses on the growing relationship between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. Precarious, with an undeniable attraction at its core.

Hannibal Lecter's affection for Hiroshi Soah's youngest child mirrors his affection for Mischa

Emphasis will be put on the effects of WWII, specifically on Japanese art and culture. 

Please note this season takes place in 1990. No internet, no cell phones. Clarice Starling knows Lecter because she’s recently met him several times for the Buffalo Bill case – but our other characters have never seen him. American characters may have seen a photo in a newspaper, but would someone really remember?  Characters in Japan would have heard of his name, but almost certainly would not have seen a photo. He would not have been front page news in Japan. For this reason, we must suspend our disbelief and assume even the F.B.I team (except for Clarice and Ardelia (who is not yet on Clarice’s team)) is pretty clueless that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. Plus, they simply aren’t looking for him…he’s not on their radar.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 1: The One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu

DATE: April 1990 FLASHBACKS: 

 Hannibal - Short bursts of young Hannibal sheathing Date's sword

Hannibal - Short bursts of young Hannibal painting with his uncle

 Hannibal - Short burst of young Hannibal seeing Murasaki in her bath

Clarice - Speaking with Hannibal Lecter at the Baltimore Asylum about The Flaying of Marsyas painting (broken into several different flashbacks)

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Concert by Vermeer - Gardner Museum

The Rape of Europa by Titian - Gardner Museum

Storm of the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt - Gardner Museum

Sheba by Robert Lecter  - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Starling on a Branch in the Japanese Style, Signed with Infinity in Eight Strokes, Hiroshima, Japan, Painted by Hannibal Lecter, but attributed to Robert Lecter - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Armor of Date Masamune, and 3 of its 4 pieces of weaponry - Murasaki's Estate Sale, Hiroshima, Japan

Flaying of Marsyas by Titian - National Gallery, Washington D.C., USA

NOTES:

The title refers to Date Masamune’s nick name.

 The episode opens with the Gardner Heist in Boston. We do not know the robbers. From their conversation, it is clear they have been hired by someone. We will not find out by whom until season four. They work quickly. One of the two men stops in the dining room to admire Titian's The Rape of Europa. "No." says the other robber, "He said he didn't want that one." 

In Japan two men bid against one another for the armor of Date Masamune at the estate sale of the recently deceased Lady Murasaki. We are introduced to Dr.John Fell and Hiroshi Soah. Those who have not read the book will not yet know that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. Clarice’s The Silence of the Lambs flashbacks throughout the episode will show Clarice talking to Lecter, but the viewer will be standing inside of Lecter’s cell, looking at Clarice. We will only see Lecter’s shoulder. During Clarice’s last Silence of the Lambs flashback at the end of the episode, we finally switch views to see what she sees. We see inside Hannibal Lecter’s cell, and we realize that Dr.Fell and Dr.Lecter are the same person.

 Both Dr.Fell and Hiroshi Soah bid on a piece by Robert Lecter. They both lose to someone over the phone. The viewer, Soah, nor Lecter knows who the anonymous bidder is. This will be revealed later in season four.

The Samurai armor comes complete with 3 of its 4 original weapons. Soah and Fell begin talking about the lost Tanto sword, and when Dr.Fell mentions he may be able to track it down, Soah is intrigued and understands that Fell means this may not be through entirely legal means. They quickly build a rapport, and ultimately Fell is hired by Soah to curate a new museum Soah is opening in Hiroshima. 

 Hiroshi was young when the bomb went off in the city, but he is still haunted by the war, and wants to create a world-class museum to showcase the culture of Japan, which Dr.Fell will help him with. In addition, Dr.Fell will work to track down the Tanto sword, as well as help to acquire pieces for Soah’s own private art collection – sometimes through legal means…sometimes not. Soah is aware Dr.Fell is a criminal with a decent background in art – but he has no clue he has hired Hannibal Lecter.  

 Clarice has a somewhat embarrassing meeting with Noble Pilcher's family. They are wealthy and educated and it is obvious that they look down on her. She is mortified. While she is more determined than ever to show that she has class, it is for her own self, not to fit in with his family, as she does not see her relationship with Pilcher as going anywhere. The incident is none the less formative. 

Miranda Pilcher, Noble Pilcher's mother is the Curator at the National Gallery. While Clarice and Miranda are frosty at first, ultimately Clarice trusts her judgment in art and will begin going to her for art-related advice in the future. In Miranda, she sees the kind of well dressed, well educated, classy woman that she wants to be. 

  Miranda mentions over dinner that she helped negotiate the sale of The Fall of Phaeton by Rubens for the Gallery in January of 1990 

  Clarice is devastated when she is put onto the Gardner case instead of being able to join Behavioral Science. Paul Krendler is shown to clearly not be a member of her fan club. None the less, she starts to do what she can, going over old evidence and trying to look deeper into the situation than those on the case before her.  They are expensive pieces of artwork - they were stolen by someone who appreciates them, and understands them. She knows in order to find the culprit, she too will need to learn to understand and appreciate these pieces too. 

 Clarice goes to visit the National Gallery to speak to Miranda and to see The Flaying of Marsyas. Miranda tells Clarice it is headed back to Czechoslovakia soon, but she is worried about the painting - she doesn't know if there will even be a Chzechosolovaia for it to return to.  This begins a deeper conversation about art that will carry through all four seasons.  Yes, museums are filled with stolen art from pillaged civilizations – but what about instances where art is put into museums for its safety? Where is the moral line?  The show doesn’t aim to give answers – as there are no easy answers – but it will aim to show that the questions are complicated.

 Miranda asks Clarice how she heard about the painting, and Clarice merely says "He told me to come to see it."  Miranda understands that "he" means Lecter. Miranda does not ask further questions. She does, however, mention she was also trying to purchase a piece by Robert Lecter from Murasaki's estate over the phone several days before but was outbid. Clarice asks if there is any relation to Robert Lecter and Hannibal Lecter. Miranda says she is not sure, but this gives Clarice an idea of where Lecter might be, and she is the first to understand that he is not in South America, but perhaps in Asia. 

 An event happening in the background is the fact that Lithuanian independence was restored in March of 1990. A recent development that Hannibal Lecter would be following closely, and would be bringing up very strong feelings.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 2: A.A.Aaron

DATE: May 1990 FLASHBACKS:

 Hannibal – Young Hannibal meeting Robert, Murasaki and Chiyoh

Hannibal – Young Hannibal awakes at night in the Chateau screaming. We know something terrible has happened to him, but we don’t yet know what.

Clarice - Hannibal in his cell in Baltimore, talking to Clarice about wanting to give her what she craves most - advancement. 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

An Experiment on a Bird In An Air Pump, by Joseph Wright - Hanging behind Paul Krendler's desk

Ancient Chinese Gu, unknown artist - Gardner Museum 

SUMMARY:

Hannibal Lecter leaves a clue for Clarice in the China Mail. He has seen that she is looking for the Gardner pieces, and he lets her know some information about the Chinese Gu that was stolen. He addresses Hannah, but does not sign his name, though Clarice pretty much figures it's him. She realizes her hunch that he is in Asia and not South America must have some merit to it. 

Paul Krendler has never forgiven Clarice Starling for catching Buffalo Bill. Krendler made sure Clarice was put onto the Garnder case, knowing all evidence that could be found, had already been found. Clarice takes this opportunity to create the F.B.I.'s Art Crime Team, which can not only work on the Gardner case, but other important art cases as well. Clarice trying to make the best of a dead-end case, and actually make progress further enrages Krendler. 

Clarice assembles her team – herself, plus four other agents.  Clarice asks Miranda to help educate her and her team about the ins and outs of Art and Art History.

Hiroshi Soah is recently widowed with three daughters. He is a patron of the arts, and very generous - but also suspected to be very dangerous, and a possible Yakuza (Spoiler, he is). He owns a very successful motorcycle business that he started just after the war with his brothers. Both brothers died of mysterious causes.  His sister-in-law, Chiyoh also recently windowed, has moved into his home to care for her nieces. She is suspicious of the sudden death of her husband and is fairly certain that Hiroshi had something to do with it. Chiyoh's husband was head of the Yakuza in Hiroshima, as well as the head of the board of the Motorcycle company.  With his death, Hiroshi's position as head of the Yakuza and head of the company was assured. She meets Hannibal when Hiroshi hires him on as curator. She has not seen him in years - not since Hannibal and Murasaki put her onto a train in France years ago. She is vaguely aware of Hannibal's past, but since she has lived for years amongst the Yakuza, his crimes don't really phase her. Turning him in does nothing for her either - she chooses to wait and see if he might be of any use to her at some point. They were good friends once - so she confesses to him her suspicions about the death of her husband. He shares with her how things ended with Murasaki and she confesses that she knows and that she and Murasaki met again after she moved back to Hiroshima. 

SEASON 1, EPISODE 3: Eternity in Eight Strokes

DATE: June 1990 FLASHBACKS:

 Hannibal - Robert teaching Hannibal to paint

 Hannibal - Murasaki teaching Hannibal Calligraphy, specifically Eternity in Eight Strokes

Hannibal - Mischa laughing in the garden in her bathtub

Clarice - Clarice's sitting on her father's lap, looking at his badge

Clarice - Clarice and Mapp discuss Johnny's tattoo 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Eternity in Eight Strokes - Symbol

Three Beauties of the Kansei Era by Kitagawa Utamaro

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture by Ruth Benedict, being read by Clarice 

NOTES:

Since Hiroshi is recently widowed, his sister in law Chiyoh has been teaching the girls, but he asks Dr.Fell to augment their education in art and culture. Natsu, the eldest daughter, is about 18 years old and very impressionable. She very quickly falls in love with the charming and mysterious Dr.Fell. The middle daughter, Aneka, is about 10 and she is a complete smart ass and tends to not have a filter. She’s the comic relief. Emiko, the youngest is about 6 years old, and very sweet, and reminds Hannibal Lecter very much of his sister, Mischa. 

 When confronted with the Symbol Eternity in Eight Strokes, Clarice consults Jack Crawford’s extensive library on symbology. She finds that many past works by Hannibal Lecter were signed with this symbol.

Very quickly finding that the art theft rings she is dealing with are often dark covers for far dirtier crimes, with art often being used to help with the laundering of money, Jack Crawford decides to send Johnny Brigham to join Clarice and her team of agents.  Johnny is tasked specifically by Crawford to watch out for Clarice’s safety. 

Johnny has always liked Clarice and she has always liked him. His presence constantly alongside her begins the whole “will they or won’t they?” situation between them. He very quickly becomes smitten.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 4: The Provenance of Dr.Fell

DATE: June 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - "Clarice, your case file." The touch in Memphis before Lecter’s escape. The crackle in Hannibal's eyes. A shock runs through Clarice's body.

Clarice - Watching the news just after Hannibal Lecter's escape

Clarice - Ardelia asking Clarice if she fears Hannibal will come after her 

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Jade burial suit of Liu Sui

NOTES:

 Clarice uses her alter ego, Elizabeth Chase for the first time. Elizabeth Chase was the name of an art student and the wife of Robert Hecht, a man who dealt in smuggling antiquities illegally, and the name is an intentional selection on Clarice's part. Her whimsy is showing, and Hannibal Lecter would take notice.

 A discussion of art provenance and its importance in authenticating art leads to the idea that people also have their own provenance that gives them their value. This is a major theme that is unfolding, as we essentially see flashbacks from Hannibal and Clarice showing us their own “Provenance”

 Clarice does not yet know Hannibal Lecter is in Hiroshi Soah's employ, though she suspects he is somewhere in Asia. She goes undercover as Elizabeth Chase - an art dealer - at a private party at Soah's house celebrating the purchase of the Jade Burial Suit of Liu Sui. When she is dancing with Hiroshi Soah, he tells her about his new curator for the museum he is building, and that he would like to introduce her. He takes her over to Dr.Fell, whose back is turned to her.  When Dr.Fell turns around, Clarice is shocked.  "Do you two know one another?" Soah asks.  "Do we madame?" Dr.Fell asks, taking Clarice's hand and kissing it. She touch sparks again for both of them, and they are aware of it. "I feel if we had, I should not forget.”  Clarice is not amused, but cannot cause a scene, as there are several hundred people present, and doing so would endanger them, as well as ruin her cover and her mission.  "Not to my knowledge, Dr.Fell." She finally says reluctantly.  Dr.Fell asks Clarice to dance, and again she is hesitant to do so. When he sweeps her out onto the floor, they both begin to negotiate, talking quickly through gritted teeth as they both try very hard to smile and not let on that anything is wrong. There is a very real tension between them - both sexual, as well as a heightened feeling of danger. Lecter reveals that he has a good deal of insider information and that he can help her with her case, if only she will not reveal his identity. She agrees – for the time being.

Hiroshi and Johnny both watch Dr.Fell and Elizabeth Chase - Hiroshi is unaware of either Clarice’s and Dr.Fell’s identity, while Johnny also has no idea that Dr.Fell is Hannibal Lecter. What they do notice, however, is that there is clearly undeniable chemistry between the two. Natsu also witnesses the clear chemistry between Elizabeth Chase and Dr.Fell. Both Natsu and Johnny Brigham find themselves feeling jelous.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5: Sadako and the Thousand Cranes

DATE: July 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki, Young Hannibal and Chiyoh fold paper Cranes for Chiyoh's cousin, Sadako

 Hannibal - Murasaki mentions her home, Hiroshima, being destroyed

Hannibal - Deserters approach the lodge, killing Jakov and Hannibal's parents

Hannibal - Authorities yell at Lecter in his cell, he folds an origami chicken

Clarice - Clarice speaks with Lecter and pulls the origami chicken out of her purse

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Children's Peace Monument by Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe - Hiroshima, Japan at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Traditional Origami

NOTES:

One of the major art pieces in Heroshima is the Children's Peace Monument, which memorializes Sadako, said to be Chiyo’s cousin. The monument helps to emphasize the absolute horrors of war.

Though many of our characters are rather villainous – they have all been impacted by an actual war or a terrible hardship in their life. Soah had his home destroyed, Lecter lost his family, Johnny finds being back in Asia brings back memories of his time in Vietnam, something he doesn’t like to think about.  Clarice, though not affected by war, has had terrible hardships and is also learning about the horrors of war via the art she is studying.

Traditional Origami is used to link Sadako, Hannibal Lecter's past, and Clarice's experience with meeting Hannibal Lecter for the second time (When she rescued his origami chicken from a trashcan) - A clue to the Chinese Gu is uncovered in the Yakuza crime ring, and Clarice believes it may be in China

 Chiyoh and Hannibal come to an agreement - Chiyoh will not reveal who he is to authorities, and in exchange, Hannibal will kill her brother-in-law, Hiroshi Soah in retaliation for her husband's death. He agrees to do this in his own time.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6:  Kyū Bon

DATE: July 15, 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki mending young Hannibal's finger and asking him to arrange flowers

Hannibal - Hannibal defending Murasaki from the butcher

Hannibal - Robert's death and funeral

Clarice - Hannibal asking her worst memory of childhood

Clarice - In the hospital with her dying father as a visitor recites Thanatopsis

Clarice - Cleaning hotel rooms, Clarice's mother tells her she must move to Montana

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Thanatopsis, a poem by William Cullen Bryant read as a v.o. in the last scene

The Tale of Genji, a novel by Murasaki Shikibu

Kokin Wakashū by Court Poets Ki no Tsurayuki, Ki no Tomonori, Oshikochi no Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine

NOTES: 

 This episode deals heavily in family and their impact on us

Clarice disregards the festival, but ultimately changes her mind in the end, and winds up going back to the U.S. to visit her father’s grave.

Hannibal Lecter gives Clarice Starling Chinese Lantern flowers

SEASON 1, EPISODE 7: Honjō Masamune

DATE: August, 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Clarice - Hannibal asking if she thinks he is evil, Typhoid and Swans discussion

Clarice - Hannibal telling her they are going to be partners

Hannibal - Butcher being killed with a sword

Clarice - The Screaming Lambs Confession in Memphis / Clarice escapes in the night as a child

Hannibal - Very quick, flashes of Mischa screaming, an axe, Hannibal's hand reaching for Mischa. We still can’t see what happened.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Honjō Masamune, a famous sword

Homicide Investigation: Practical Information for Coroners, Police Officers, and Other Investigators by LeMoyne Snyder, being read by Clarice

David with the Head of Goliath, Caravaggio

NOTES:

August 26–28 – In Gainesville, Florida, police find five murdered college students, apparently killed by a serial killer. Clarice is pretty gutted to not be able to work on this case.

This episode is inspired by the real life sword. When Japanese weapons had to be surrendered in 1945, it was given over to a Sgt. Coldy Bimore. Unfortunately, no record of such a Sgt. has ever existed. This has never been solved, but this story tells a bit more about how Hannibal and Clarice uncover the sword at the hands of a man who falsified his name. The American Sgt.’s family had been killed by the Japanese during the war, and thus he took their sword from them.

This adventure takes place over a series of several days, and both Hannibal and Clarice must keep up their identities of Elizabeth Chase and John Fell. They speak a lot during this time.  Lecter wakes Clarice from her nightmare during this time.

Clarice experiences her nightmare during this time and heavily begins to question if what she is doing is enough - she’s rescuing art - not people (The Florida serial killer weighs heavily on her). Hannibal Lecter holds her in the dark and tells her that what she is doing is very important and noble. She says, "I was in the barn" she says, to which he replies, "I know." "I was so cold and afraid." she says, and he says "I know." again. He closes his eyes and we understand he is speaking of more than just her dream - that he knows from his own experiences. She is disturbed to realize that she feels very safe with him.

 Season 1, Episode 8: The Hall of Two Truths

When eighteen carefully chosen treasures are stolen from the Cairo Museum, the Minister of Antiquities enlists Clarice’s team to help find the culprit. Clarice suspects that a wealthy private collector may be responsible, but soon finds that the truth is far more complicated than she could have imagined.

DATE: September 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Inspector Popil arrives and says that organs of the butcher were removed

Hannibal - Murasaki tells Popil she and Hannibal are moving to Paris and that Hannibal is to enter medical school

Hannibal - Hannibal helps a doctor sketch dead bodies in order to remake De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, which was lost during the war

ARTWORK FEATURED:

 Bust of Neferititi

 Book of the Dead: The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony

 Canopic Jars

 De humani corporis fabrica libri septem,

NOTES:

The title references the Egyptian "Hall of Two Truths" where the human heart is weighed against a feather in the Egyptian afterlife. For our purposes, of course, the feather represents Clarice (bird imagery) and the heart represents Lecter (burning heart imagery, organs, etc)

The scales also represent the changing feelings and conflicting emotions going on with Clarice Starling.

Inspired by a 2011 Cairo Museum heist, which was never solved, but likely the pieces were stolen by a wealthy businessman who picked out specific pieces that he wanted.

The removal of organs in Egyptian mummification will be compared against Hannibal Lecter removing the organs of his victims. 

SEASON 1, EPISODE 9: Kintsugi

DATE: September 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Flashes of Dog tags hanging around the necks of the men in the lodge

Hannibal - Flashes of Mischa screaming

Hannibal - Flashes of Hannibal and Mischa with the deserters

Hannibal - Mischa is taken away “to play”

ARTWORK FEATURED:

- The Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin

- Japanese art of Kintsugi

NOTES:

 Kintsugi refers to the art of mending broken vases / pottery with gold

September 12 – Cold War: The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification.

- A major theme is brokenness. Hannibal's brokenness, Clarice's Brokenness, but her scars ultimately making her more beautiful in Lecter's eyes. He also seems to be intrigued that her brokenness has not managed to destroy her. When Soah's daughter breaks a priceless vase, Lecter discusses with her the art of Kintsugi and discusses with her how one's damage is important to their overall history. Together they repair the vase, as Lecter thinks of Clarice and of his own scars.  

 On the other, much darker end, it is the shattering of one of the terracotta warrior sculptures reveals that they are fake, and their insides are filled with drugs. The art world is using them as a cover for a much larger drug smuggling operation.  Inspired by the movie True Lies, as well as multiple drug busts - hiding drugs in sculptures is fairly common. 

 There should be a discussion that each Terracotta warrior represented an actual person should tie in to Hannibal thinking about the dog tags, and that they are also tied to an individual. We don't know if this is actually true or not - I've read articles that confirm and deny this, but for our purposes the statues are indeed individuals.

The youngest of Soah's daughters likes the Ninja Turtles (popular in the 90s). Dr.Fell is confused as to why these cartoons are named after painters from the Italian Renaissance.

The episode would either open or close with the quote by Rumi, "The Wound is Where the Light Enters You."

SEASON 1, EPISODE 10: The Three Sacred Treasures of Japan

DATE: October 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal tries to remember the faces of the men who killed his sister and draws their faces in medical school

Hannibal - Uncovering the Dog tags in the lodge

Hannibal - Hannibal kills Dortlitch and puts the tag around his neck

Hannibal - Murasaki asks Hannibal to stop. He refuses.

 ARTWORK FEATURED:

Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, a sword

Yata-no-Kagami, a mirror

 Yasakani no Magatama, a jewel

NOTES: 

October 3 – Cold War: East Germany and West Germany reunify into a single Germany.

The three Sacred Treasures do exist, though very few people know where they are kept, and even fewer people have seen them.  Clarice and her team must figure out how to find something without even knowing what it looks like. This is paralleled with Flashbacks of Hannibal Lecter not knowing what his sister’s killers look like...

Not knowing what the 3 Treasures look like, and the search for them can bring flashbacks to Hannibal Lecter not knowing the killers that he seeks revenge upon for Mischa's death.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 11: The Last Emperor

DATE: October 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal sees Kolnas daughter's bracelet and flashes back to Mischa

Hannibal - Kolnas daughter puts his dog tag in the offering plate

Hannibal - Hannibal kills Kolnas with a Tanto after he is given information on Grutas

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Ancient Chinese Gu, unknown artist - Found in China, to be returned to the Gardner Museum

The Forbidden City

NOTES: 

When looking for a stolen Chinese Puzzle box, long lost, Clarice ultimately finds herself in search of a theif who it turns out has purchased the Chnese Gu from the Gardner museum. At first she thinks he may be the original theif, but she realizes the piece has changed hands several times.

The Chinese Gu has yet to actually be found.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 12: The Idol Thief 

DATE: October 1990

ARTWORK FEATURED:

Natarajan Idols

NOTES:

 This episode is based off of Subhash Kapoor is a New York-based art dealer on trial in Chennai for allegedly running a $100 million international smuggling racket.[2] He was previously the owner of the Art of the Past gallery in Manhattan. His sister business, Nimbus Import/Exports, specialised in selling antiquities from across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia to major museums around the world.

Natsu looks into Dr.Fell’s past and manages to uncover who he is. When she does, she also sees a picture of Clarice Starling and realizes that she is the same woman she knows as Elizabeth Chase.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 13: Yuanming Yuan

DATE: November 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Murasaki and Hannibal put Chiyoh on a train and discuss her fiancé, a man with two brothers who is starting a motorcycle business

ARTWORK FEATURED:

A variety of Chinese vases and bowls around the world

NOTES: 

This episode is inspired by several thefts of Chinese pieces that were stolen around the same time. The case has never been solved, but it is most likely a Government inside job.  Clarice - if she finds it’s a Government job - can’t really do anything when up against a Government. 

There is a discussion about theft. If the pieces were stolen from China...and China steals them back - is it stealing?

SEASON 1, EPISODE 14: Teacups and Time

DATE: November 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Hannibal searches for Grutas

Hannibal - Grutas confirms Mischa's fate

 ARTWORK FEATURED:

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Chinese Yixing Teapot

A Brief History of Time, a book by Stephen Hawking

NOTES: 

November 19–21 – The leaders of Canada, the United States, and 32    European states meet in Paris to formally mark the end of the Cold War.

Lecter reads A Brief History of Time. The broken teacup is mentioned. When he is at the Japanese tea ceremony, a teacup is broken, and his calm exterior falls away for a very brief moment. Clarice seems to be the only one to notice.

Clarice has found the Chinese Gu in a previous episode. This is a huge break in the Gardner case. However, since it appears all of the items that were stolen were dispersed to different people, the other items have not yet been found. Still, she has decided that though it is a great break in the case, they will keep its discovery a secret so that it does not compromise the rest of the case or her secret identity as Elizabeth Chase.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 15:The Tantō Sword of Date Masamune

DATE: December 1990 FLASHBACKS:

Hannibal - Grutas tries to shoot young Hannibal. He is shot in the back. He appears to be dead, but he pulls the Tanto sword out from the back of his shirt. It has deflected the bullet.

Hannibal – Young Hannibal asks where Grentz is and is told he is in Canada. Hannibal then kills Grutas and puts his dog tag around his neck. Murosaki has been witness to all of this.

Hannibal - Hannibal confesses his love for Murasaki. She rejects him.

ARTWORK FEATURED:

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife by Hokusai, on loan to the Hiroshima Museum of Art from the British Museum, in conjunction with an exhibition called "Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art"

 Starling on a Branch in the Japanese Style, Signed with Infinity in Eight Strokes, Hiroshima, Japan, Painted by Hannibal Lecter, but attributed to Robert Lecter - found in Dr.Fell's studio

Clarice with a Lamb by Hannibal Lecter, found in Dr.Fell's studio

Armor of Date Masamune, and 3 of its 4 pieces of weaponry - Hiroshi Soah's private collection.

Tanto Sword of Date Masamune, 4th piece of weaponry - on Hannibal Lecter's person

Tessen, Japanese War Fan - on Clarice's person

FULL EPISODE SUMMARY:

We open the episode in the newly opened Hiroshima Museum of Art, opened and funded by Hiroshi Soah in an attempt to help replace heritage lost to the Hiroshima bomb, as well as an attempt to make Hiroshima a center of culture for the nation – a Phoenix from the Ashes, as it were. 

Clarice stands in the Hiroshima Museum of Art’s newest exhibition on Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art, which was Curated by Dr.Fell (this is a real exhibit that would not happen until 2013/2014 at the British Museum). She stands before The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife and considers it, waiting. Johnny appears and stands beside her. He too considers the painting. He wrinkles his nose - he does not care for it. After a few moments of silence, Johnny hands Clarice some paperwork and tells her that they have enough information, and they now officially have permission from both the American and Japanese government to raid Hiroshi Soah’s private collection and arrest him. They have to be smart about it, as they do not think Soah will go quietly. His home is highly guarded, and even with a warrant, his thugs are likely to put up a fight.

Due to the museum opening, as well as some new private acquisitions, Soah’s private collection has been in constant movement. His renovation on his own personal gallery means there is lots of construction in the home, and it’s agreed that the FBI will disguise themselves as workers. Clarice will need to go in first and assess the situation to make sure to determine the important pieces currently are so that nothing is damaged during the raid, as that would defeat the purpose of the entire mission, which is ultimately to keep the artwork safe and back where it belongs. They agree that Elizabeth Chase will go during the day to assess the situation, giving some other art related reason for being there – offering up a painting she has recently acquired in the hopes that she could walk with Soah through his gallery and tell him exactly where she thinks it should go, meanwhile noting specific placement of everything.

Clarice Starling is mildy concerned and plagued with guilt, however. Several months before she had sent warning to Behavioral Science that she had found Hannibal Lecter. However, Lecter has not betrayed her identity, and has not only been helpful in uncovering information for her, they’ve also begun to confide in one another. She worries that if he discovers her betrayal that no one will be safe from his wrath.

Clarice Starling arrives for her appointment with Hiroshi Soah and is asked to wait in the garden. She sits and drinks tea and hears laughter in the background. She looks to see on the far side of the garden, Dr.Fell teaching the three girls about Japanese Weaponry. He has a long sword, and he two eldest Natsu and Aneka have shorter swords, while Emiko being very young has a fan. She is rather put out that she is not allowed to play with big knives.

Clarice goes closer to watch and she and Lecter acknowledge one another with a nod and a smile, but say nothing. Natsu, who has a big crush on Dr.Fell notices this, and her jealousy flares again – for she has found drawings of Elizabeth Chase in Dr.Fell’s studio. 

Dr.Fell assures Emiko that the fan she has is just as important as a sword, and he reveals to her that the spokes of her fan - a tessen - are pointed and indeed very dangerous. 

We see a short flash of young Hannibal Lecter fighting with Grutas. Dr.Fell, mildly disturbed by his thoughts, steadies himself back in the present and then teaches Emiko how to deflect a sword using the fan. She is placated. 

Clarice playfully mentions “When you taught me how to use a sword, you never mentioned the fan to me.” She then tells him that she has seen the new exhibit he curated at the museum, and she is not entirely sure what to think. Dr.Fell covers Emiko's ears, and seductively begins to talk to Elizabeth about how the West tends to find pleasure and sex sinful, but the east has no such reservations, etc. 

Natsu is further angered that Dr.Fell is very clearly entranced by Elizabeth. A servant comes for Elizabeth Chase and leads her into Hiroshi Soah’s study. Clarice and Hiroshi speak for a long time, and then walk down his gallery. Elizabeth mentions the piece she has just acquired from one of her customers who has passed away and pulls out photos from her purse. Soah isn’t sure, but they continue their walk, and she tells him she has a few other pieces that she thinks he might like. She also asks him how the restoration on the sword that she and Dr.Fell managed to find several months ago is going. He takes her over to a new portion of his gallery where he has many pieces of Japanese Weaponry on display – several swords, fans (Tessen) and of course the Samurai suit is the centerpiece.. He mentions that Dr.Fell did the restoration on the sword himself. He also mentions Dr.Fell is close to finding the lost Tanto sword – might Elizabeth be able to help with that as well and she and Fell worked together so well on finding the other sword? 

She mentions she will keep her ear to the ground about it. As Hiroshi, very polite and charming, escorts Elizabeth from the house, says goodbye and goes back into the house.

Chiyoh and the three girls are on the terrace folding origami as Elizabeth heads to her car. When Elizabeth asks where Dr.Fell has gone, Chiyoh mentions that he had been called to the museum to consult on the layout and hanging of several paintings. 

Emiko goes to Elizabeth and hands her a paper crane before she can descend from the terrace. “Doctor Fell asked me to give this to you.” She says. Elizabeth thanks her and moves put it into her purse when she hears Hiroshi Soah calling her name. He walks out onto the terrace and says he’s re-considered – would she be willing to leave those photographs of that painting with him for a couple of days? She says, of course and digs into her purse and sets them down beside the paper crane. He thanks her, and she turns again to leave, forgetting the crane. 

When Elizabeth is gone and the others have all gone inside, Natsu takes the paper crane and unfolds it to reveal a note written on it. It is addressed to Clarice and it indicates that he knows what she is up to, and that he does not advise a raid tonight, as security has just been doubled. It is signed “H.” 

Clarice assembles her team and discussed the layout, the plan, and where certain pieces of art are. Some they will take, some they will not, some have been illegally aquired, some have not. She also mentions where Soah will most likely be able to be found in the home. She alerts the men to the bedrooms of the three daughters as well as their aunt Chiyoh and makes sure that everyone is well aware to be very careful around the women, not to scare them, harm them, etc. 

Her team asks if Dr.Fell will go along with the law, and she confirms that she has made sure there will be an “urgent call” from the museum an hour before they enter in order to get him off the premises in case he comes back to the house.

Later, Lecter returns only to be called back to the museum on an emergency.  Clarice’s team watch and confirm that Dr.Fell has left. Dr.Fell, of course, knows it is a ruse, and later sneaks back in disguised as one of the construction workers, alongside the FBI.

Clarice goes in the back way to secure the inside of the gallery before the raid begins. The men outside await her go ahead via an earpiece, but it is dropped when she is grabbed by one of Soah’s security men who drags her into the newest part of the gallery containing the Japanese weapons, where Soah and Dr.Fell stand. Dr.Fell remains calm and betrays nothing until it looks like Clarice really is going to be killed by one of Soah's men who has a knife to her throat and is just waiting for Soah's command.

Finally, Dr.Fell lets in a sharp intake of breath, which causes Soah to make his men pause while he turns to Dr.Fell and asks if he likes Elizabeth?

 “I do believe my daughter is rather jealous of the two of you.” Soah confesses. “It was her jealousy that caused me to find out about you, miss Clarice Starling.” 

Fell admits Clarice Starling is very lovely. Perhaps they could make it look like she has gone missing? Soah considers. Fell has given him 100s of millions in stolen goods and has done a great job over the past year. It is clear that though Soah knows Clarice’s identity, he does not know about Fell’s… He agrees to let Dr.Fell have the girl. 

Clarice spits at both their feet and says she'd rather die. 

Soah says that can be arranged and gives the order for his men to kill Clarice. Just before the knife slits her throat, another knife is thrown through the air and strikes into the henchman’s neck.

 It is clearly a match for the Tanto sword of Masamune.

 We see a quick flash of young Hannibal Lecter getting up from the floor of the boat after having just been shot and pulling the Tanto sword out from the back of his shirt. We realize suddenly – he’s had the knife all along. We learn Mischa was eaten.

Hiroshi Soah’s eyes grow wide at the realization that it is the knife he’s been looking for. He turns to confront Dr.Fell, but Lecter has grabbed a sword from the armor and takes Soah’s head clean off. He then throws Soah's sword to Clarice, who catches it, midair, while he goes over to the wall and removes the sword he and Clarice tracked down together several months before. 

Together they are surrounded on all sides by member’s of Hiroshi’s Yakuza, and they must fight together to kill them. At one point Hannibal Lecter is almost taken down - there is a knife to his throat and he has no weapon. Clarice shouts out his real name to him as she tosses him a weapon that he uses to kill the man holding him back. 

All the henchman pause at hearing Lecter's real name - they only knew him as Dr.Fell. There is a new level of fear now that these men know they are fighting Hannibal Lecter. 

There is a quick flashback of Hannibal Lecter killing Grutas in front of Murasaki, and then confessing his love for her. She tells him there is nothing left of him to love and leaves him. 

Back to reality, the man standing closest to him is now frozen in fear, and Hannibal grabs him and rips out his throat with his teeth. Blood dripping from his mouth, he spits the contents onto the floor, reaches out, and grabs Clarice, kissing her fiercely before they go back to taking down the remaining men. 

While fighting, Lecter tells Clarice he didn't betray her. Clarice does not mention that she, several months earlier, had betrayed him. Clarice grabs a Tessen fan from the wall and uses it to deflect a sword and spike another henchman in the heart. Lecter makes a crack about fighting in her good shoes, at which point Clarice takes off her shoe and spikes the heel through one henchman’s eyes.

Lecter is delighted with both her resourcefulness and ferocity. Once all the men are dead, they are surrounded by bodies and covered in blood, breathing heavily. Standing inches apart, they grab one another and kiss hungrily, angrily. When they part he asks her to come away with him. She is upset by this and asks that he turn himself in. Again he asks for her to come with him and promises that he will give her everything she ever wanted. Again she begs for him to turn himself in. 

He says he won’t – and that she doesn’t want to turn him in either or she would not have tried to make sure he was off the property during the raid. She hesitates. 

Suddenly there is the sound of crashing glass as the FBI come in from the long side of the gallery, and Soah’s backup from the other side. Clarice rushes towards her men, while Lecter heads in the opposite direction. 

On his way out of the house he encounters Natsu, who has heard the commotion and come running. She is crying and tells Hannibal Lecter that she did not betray his true identity to her father – only the identity of Clarice Starling. Chiyoh comes up from behind Natsu and takes her arm, calls her a foolish girl and says that she would have been wiser to betray them both. 

Hannibal Lecter tells Chiyoh that their agreement has been settled, and she knows that Hannibal Lecter has killed her brother in law for her in retribution for Soah having her husband killed. 

Chiyoh lets Hannibal Lecter go, and later is seen speaking with the police. She is shown ascending to the head of the board of Soah's company - as well as becomes the head of Soah's Yakuza clan.

Ultimately the FBI is successful and manages to secure the pieces that they need, and arrest several of Soah’s men. 

Dr.Fell cannot be found, but all of his paperwork checks out beautifully...Chiyoh makes an agreement with the Japanese government, and Dr.Fell is not persued.

When Dr.Fell’s studio is found in the attic of the house, the FBI is surprised to find several drawings and paintings of Clarice Starling. Nobody yet realizes that Dr.Fell was Hannibal Lecter.

[ifuckinglovestvincent]

Switching Lanes With St. Vincent

By Molly Young

January 22, 2019

Jacket (men’s), $4,900, pants (men’s), $2,300, by Dior / Men shoes, by Christian Louboutin / Rings (throughout) by Cartier

On a cold recent night in Brooklyn, St. Vincent appeared onstage in a Saint Laurent smoking jacket to much clapping and hooting, gave the crowd a deadpan look, and said, “Without being reductive, I'd like to say that we haven't actually done anything yet.” Pause. “So let's do something.”

She launched into a cover of Lou Reed's “Perfect Day”: an arty torch-song version that made you really wonder whom she was thinking about when she sang it. This was the elusive chanteuse version of St. Vincent, at least 80 percent leg, with slicked-back hair and pale, pale skin. She belted, sipped from a tumbler of tequila (“Oh, Christ on a cracker, that's strong”), executed little feints and pounces, flung the mic cord away from herself like a filthy sock, and spat on the stage a bunch of times. Nine parts Judy Garland, one part GG Allin.

If the Garland-Allin combination suggests that St. Vincent is an acquired taste, she's one that has been acquired by a wide range of fans. The crowd in Brooklyn included young women with Haircuts in pastel fur and guys with beards of widely varying intentionality. There was a woman of at least 90 years and a Hasidic guy in a tall hat, which was too bad for whoever sat behind him. There were models, full nuclear families, and even a solitary frat bro. St. Vincent brings people together.

If you chart the career of Annie Clark, which is St. Vincent's civilian name, you will see what start-up founders and venture capitalists call “hockey-stick growth.” That is, a line that moves steadily in a northeast direction until it hits an “inflection point” and shoots steeply upward. It's called hockey-stick growth because…it looks like a hockey stick.

Dress, by Balmain

The toe of the stick starts with Marry Me, Clark's debut solo album, which came out a decade ago and established a few things that would become essential St. Vincent traits: her ability to play a zillion instruments (she's credited on the album with everything from dulcimer to vibraphone), her highbrow streak (Shakespeare citations), her goofy streak (“Marry me!” is an Arrested Development bit), and her oceanic library of musical references (Kate Bush, Steve Reich, uh…D'Angelo!). The blade of the stick is her next four albums, one of them a collaboration with David Byrne, all of them confirming her presence as an enigma of indie pop and a guitar genius. The stick of the stick took a non-musical detour in 2016, when Clark was photographed canoodling with (now ex-) girlfriend Cara Delevingne at Taylor Swift's mansion, followed a few months later by pictures of Clark holding hands with Kristen Stewart. That brought her to the realm of mainstream paparazzi-pictures-in-the-Daily-Mail celebrity. Finally, the top of the stick is Masseduction, the 2017 album she co-produced with Jack Antonoff, which revealed St. Vincent to be not only experimental and beguiling but capable of turning out incorrigible bangers.

Masseduction made the case that Clark could be as much a pop star as someone like Sia or Nicki Minaj—a performer whose idiosyncrasies didn't have to be tamped down for mainstream success but could actually be amplified. The artist Bruce Nauman once said he made work that was like “going up the stairs in the dark and either having an extra stair that you didn't expect or not having one that you thought was going to be there.” The idea applies to Masseduction: Into the familiar form of a pop song Clark introduces surprising missteps, unexpected additions and subtractions. The album reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200. The David Bowie comparisons got louder.

This past fall, she released MassEducation (not quite the same title; note the addition of the letter a), which turned a dozen of the tracks into stripped-down piano songs. Although technically off duty after being on tour for nearly all of 2018, Clark has been performing the reduced songs here and there in small venues with her collaborator, the composer and pianist Thomas Bartlett. Whereas the Masseduction tour involved a lot of latex, neon, choreographed sex-robot dance moves, and LED screens, these recent shows have been comparatively austere. When she performed in Brooklyn, the stage was empty, aside from a piano and a side table. There were blue lights, a little piped-in fog for atmosphere, and that was it. It looked like an early-'90s magazine ad for premium liquor: art-directed, yes, but not to the degree that it Pinterested itself.

Coat, (men’s) $8,475, by Versace / Shoes, by Christian Louboutin / Tights, by Wolford

The performance was similarly informal. Midway through one song, Clark forgot the lyrics and halted. “It takes a different energy to be performing [than] to sit in your sweatpants watching Babylon Berlin,” she said. “Wherever I am, I completely forget the past, and I'm like. ‘This is now.’ And sometimes this means forgetting song lyrics. So, if you will…tell me what the second fucking verse is.”

Clark has only a decade in the public eye behind her, but she's accomplished a good amount of shape-shifting. An openness to the full range of human expression, in fact, is kind of a requirement for being a St. Vincent fan. This is a person who has appeared in the front row at Chanel and also a person who played a gig dressed as a toilet, a person profiled in Vogue and on the cover of Guitar World.

The day before her Brooklyn show, I sat with Clark to find out what it's like to be utterly unstructured, time-wise, after a long stretch of knowing a year in advance that she had to be in, like, Denmark on July 4 and couldn't make plans with friends.

“I've been off tour now for three weeks,” she said. “When I say ‘off,’ I mean I didn't have to travel.”

This doesn't mean she hasn't traveled—she went to L.A. to get in the studio with Sleater-Kinney and also hopped down to Texas, where she grew up—just that she hasn't been contractually obligated to travel. What else did she do on her mini-vacation?

“I had the best weekend last weekend. I woke up and did hot Pilates, and then I got a bunch of new modular synths, and I set 'em up, and I spent ten hours with modular synths. Plugging things in. What happens when I do this? I'm unburdened by a full understanding of what's going on, so I'm very willing to experiment.”

Coat, by Boss

Jacket, and coat, by Boss / Necklace, by Cartier

Like a child?

“Exactly. Did you ever get those electronics kits as a kid for like 20 bucks from RadioShack? Where you connect this wire to that one and a light bulb turns on? It's very much like that.”

There's an element of chaos, she said, that makes synth noodling a neat way to stumble on melodies that she might not have consciously assembled. She played with the synths by herself all day. “I don't stop, necessarily,” she said, reflecting on what the idea of “vacation” means to someone for whom “job” and “things I love to do” happen to overlap more or less exactly. “I just get to do other things that are really fun. I'm in control of my time.” She had plans to see a show at the New Museum, read books, play music and see movies alone, always sitting on the aisle so she could make a quick escape if necessary. But she will probably keep working. St. Vincent doesn't have hobbies.

When it manifests in a person, this synergy between life and work is an almost physically perceptible quality, like having brown eyes or one leg or being beautiful. Like beauty, it's a result of luck, and a quality that can invoke total despair in people who aren't themselves allotted it. This isn't to say that Clark's career is a stroke of unearned fortune but that her skills and character and era and influences have collided into a perfect storm of realized talent. And to have talent and realize that talent and then be beloved by thousands for exactly the thing that is most special about you: Is there anything a person could possibly want more? Is this why Annie Clark glows? Or is it because she's super pale? Or was it because there was a sound coming through the window where we sat that sounded thrillingly familiar?

“Is Amy Sedaris running by?” Clark asked, her spine straightening. A man with a boom mic was visible on the sidewalk outside. Another guy in a baseball cap issued instructions to someone beyond the window. Someone said “Action!” and a figure in vampire makeup and a clown wig streaked across the sidewalk. Someone said “Cut!” and Clark zipped over for a look. It was, in fact, Amy Sedaris, her clown wig bobbing in the 44-degree breeze. The mic operator was gagging with laughter. It seemed like a good omen, this sighting, like the New York City version of Groundhog Day: If an Amy Sedaris streaks across your sight line in vampire makeup, spring will arrive early.

Blazer (men’s) $1,125, by Paul Smith

Another thing Clark does when off tour is absorb all the input that she misses when she's locked into performance mode. On a Monday afternoon, she met artist Lisa Yuskavage at an exhibition of her paintings at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea. Yuskavage was part of a mini-boom of figurative painting in the '90s, turning out portraits of Penthouse centerfolds and giant-jugged babes with Rembrandt-esque skill. It made sense that Clark wanted to meet her: Both women make art about the inner lives of female figures, both are sorcerers of technique, both are theatrical but introspective, both have incendiary style. The gallery was a white cube, skylit, with paintings around the perimeter. Yuskavage and Clark wandered through at a pace exclusive to walking tours of cultural spaces, which is to say a few steps every 10 to 15 seconds with pauses between for the proper amount of motionless appreciation.

The paintings were small, all about the size of a human head, and featured a lot of nipples, tufted pudenda, tan lines, majestic asses, and protruding tongues. “I like the idea of possessing something by painting it,” Yuskavage said. “That's the way I understand the world. Like a dog licking something.”

Clark looked at the works with the expression people make when they're meditating. She was wearing elfin boots, black pants, and a shirt with a print that I can only describe as “funky”—“funky” being an adjective that looks good on very few people, St. Vincent being one of them—and sipped from a cup of espresso furnished by a gallery minion. After she finished the drink, there was a moment when she looked blankly at the saucer, unsure what to do with it, and then stuck it in the breast pocket of her funky shirt for the rest of the tour.

A painting called Sweetpuss featured a bubble-butted blonde in beaded panties with nipples so upwardly erect they actually resembled little boners. Yuskavage based the underwear on a pair of real underwear that she'd constructed herself from colored balls and string. “I've got the beaded panties if you ever need 'em,” she said to Clark. “They might fit you. They're tiny.”

Earrings, by Erickson Beamon

“I'm picturing you going to the Garment District,” Clark said.

“There was a lot of going to the Garment District.”

As they completed their lap around the white cube, Clark interjected with questions—what year was this? were you considering getting into film? how long did these sittings take? what does “mise-en-scène” mean?—but mainly listened. And she is a good listener: an inquisitive head tilter, an encouraging nodder, a non-fidgeter, a maker of eye contact. She found analogues between painting and music. When Yuskavage mourned the death of lead white paint (due to its poisonous qualities, although, as the artist pointed out, “It's not that big a deal to not get lead poisoning; just don't eat the paint”), Clark compared it to recording's transition from tape to digital.

“Back in the day, if you wanted to hear something really reverberant”—she clapped; it reverberated—“you'd have to be in a room like this and record it, or make a reverb chamber,” Clark said. “Now we have digital plug-ins where you can say, ‘Oh, I want the acoustic resonance of the Sistine Chapel.’ Great. Somebody's gone and sampled that and created an algorithm that sounds like you're in the Sistine Chapel.”

Lately, she said, she's been way more into devices that betray their imperfections. That are slightly out of tune, or capable of messing up, or less forgiving of human intervention. “Air moving through a room,” Clark said. “That's what's interesting to me.”

They kept pacing. The paintings on the wall evolved. Conversation turned to what happens when you grow as an artist and people respond by flipping out.

“I always find it interesting when someone wants you to go back to ‘when you were good,’ ” Yuskavage said. “This is why we liked you.”

“I can't think of anybody where I go, ‘What's great about that artist is their consistency, ” Clark said. “Anything that stays the same for too long dies. It fails to capture people's imagination.”

Coat (mens), $1,150, by Acne Studios

They were identifying a problem with fans, of course, not with themselves. It was an implicit identification, because performers aren't permitted to critique their audiences, and it was definitely the artistic equivalent of a First World problem—an issue that arises only when you're so resplendent with talent that you not only nail something enough to attract adoration but nail it hard enough to get personally bored and move on—but it was still valid. They were talking about the kind of fan who clings to a specific tree when he or she could be roaming through a whole forest. In St. Vincent's case, a forest of prog-rock thickets and jazzy roots and orchestral brambles and mournful-ballad underlayers, all of it sprouting and molting under a prodigious pop canopy. They were talking about the strange phenomenon of people getting mad at you for surprising them. Even if the surprise is great.

Molly Young is a writer living in New York City. She wrote about Donatella Versace in the April 2018 issue of GQ.

A version of this story originally appeared in the February 2019 issue with the title "Switching Lanes With St. Vincent."