#the value of this moment lives in metaphor || gideon

[loosealcina]

BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S PETER GRIMES AT LA SCALA, NOVEMBER 2, 2023

«L'enfer, c'est les autres». I know: I probably need to cut down on this famous phrases at the beginning of a report thing. I guarantee I will. But for now, it is what it is. Hell is other people. Absolutely no question about it. If you’re interested in solid evidence and/or verification, you can either have a go at Jean-Paul Sartre’s oeuvre (the most popular choice would be L'Être et le Néant [1943]; but the work that actually carries the line is a 1944 play named Huis clos) or turn to Benjamin Britten and Montagu Slater’s Peter Grimes (first performed at Sadler’s Wells [London] in 1945). If you plan to opt for the latter, you’ll sure appreciate the value of a detailed synopsis. Peter Grimes is a fisherman who is haunted by several ghosts. (Some of them, we know who they are and why they’re haunting him). The relationship between Peter Grimes and the community he is part of—a small fishing town, apparently separated from the rest of the world by a thick cocoon of shivery wind, heavy rain, and darkness—is complicated. When the curtain rises, the relationship is poor. Subsequently, it gets worse. When the curtain falls, it’s not even there—thanks to a tragic, violent (and nevertheless barely acknowledged) epilogue.

As for the latest: this materialization of Peter Grimes—a Robert Carsen/Simone Young offering with a cast headlined by Brandon Jovanovich (Peter Grimes), Nicole Car (Ellen Orford), and Ólafur Sigurdarson (Captain Balstrode)—came off as a positively stark, livid, sharp-edged illustration of the Tartarean truth discovered and proclaimed by Jean-Paul Sartre (and brought up few moments ago by myself). It was accurate on at least two levels. In spite of his emphatically independent/solitary persona, Peter is literally obsessed with what people may think or say about him. (That’s specifically consistent with Sartre’s in-depth theorization). On the other hand, a much more outward/flagrant notion of hell—think Dante Alighieri, or some competent horror movie of your choice—was definitely present. Robert Carsen’s staging as a whole (featuring sets/costumes by Gideon Davey, and lights by Robert Carsen himself and Peter van Praet) was rigorous, dry at heart, and somewhat understated. I think it was meant to do sort of what big cats usually do in the wild. Most of the time, it was the big cat slowly approaching his/her prey, making no sound, and trying to go unnoticed.

The attack/ambush moment consisted in a spectacular climax. (Maybe I should call it a turning point, but… I’ll stay with climax). In like one split second (I mean it), every single member of the audience was grabbed, and forcefully pulled onto the stage. You are Peter Grimes. Pure and simple. Plus, after a substantial, burdensome silence: you are one of those who put Peter Grimes through actual, excruciating hell, as well. And then… You’ve got to catch live whatever followed. I realize I’ve been talking for ages already, so I’m going to keep the rest as quick as I can. The orchestra conducted by Simone Young was moody, feisty, brawny, and fundamentally out there. They would gladly leap headfirst into forbidding, unexplored waters. For long stretches, violins were completely silent. Elsewhere, they were only producing eerie noises: a drone, a screech… (In the meantime, percussion [including a celesta], brass, and darker strings were having a field day with Benjamin Britten’s mercurial, ceaselessly imaginative style). At the height of the storm, a streak of brutal all-out solos—trumpet, trombone, and tuba—made the entire house shake (not a metaphor). Also, I wouldn’t call it a day before mentioning the creepiest viola since what John Cale did in “Venus in Furs” (1967) and the red plastic gas can turned drum that took over the lead of that harrowing search party of theirs. (In the end, simplicity is beautiful—even when you’re representing hell itself).

[georgettexollivander]

@gideprew

Candy (2006)

[pheuthe]

Mick + Ray, 26?

(Thank you for this lovely prompt, I really enjoyed writing this one even though it got away from me a bit :D so here you go, atomwave + “I didn’t intend to kiss you.” :))

eighteenth time is the charm

(AO3)

“Are yousure this is the only way, Haircut?”

“Yes,” Raysighs, for what feels like the tenth time. Mick grumbles somethingunintelligible, but still follows Ray down what used to be Santa MonicaBoulevard, through the heaps of rubble and pterodactyl droppings. That’s whatRay has come to value about Mick, actually: the way he will complain, oftenwith his fists, but when shit hits the fan – or when there’s a bomb that needsto be disabled – he’s always right there.

And maybeMick having his back in all the worst situations is messing with Ray’s head,but this is neither the time nor the place to think about it. In fact, Ray hasyet to find the right time and place: not that he’s trying too hard. It’s justso much easier to ignore the warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomachwhenever Mick unexpectedly does something selfless while still frowning aboutit, grumbling like he’s not one of the kindest, bravest people Ray has ever-

“Guys, it’snot the one in Pacific Park, you’ve already tried that one,” Sara says throughthe comm, tearing Ray out of thoughts. He’s secretly grateful for thedistraction; he’s getting steadily worse at ignoring those intrusive thoughts.

Ray bringsup the map of Los Angeles onto the suit’s visor: it’s only moderately accurate,considering that it doesn’t account for several timelines overlapping with eachother, but for their purpose, it will have to do.

“What aboutthe UCLA?”

There arevoices in the background, probably another of their teammates consulting theplans Ray prepared for this mission. A distant roar echoes somewhere nearby, nomore than a few blocks away, just as Sara’s voice returns. “Yeah, that’s stillin the running. You’re about two miles out.”

“Can wefly?” Ray asks, and ignores the way Mick growls in the back of his throat. Therumbling sound sends shivers down Ray’s spine, and there’s definitely no timefor that. In moments like these, Ray really misses the times when he wasn’t soincredibly aware of everything Mick says or does. Ignorance really is bliss.

“You’regood to go up until Westwood, there seems to be a nest of… something unfriendly on the Oppenheimer Tower.”

“Got it,”Ray nods and turns to Mick – who is looking at him like a very angry cat. Ray’sgot experience with angry cats. For some reason, the animals react to him inthe same way his body does to their fur: with violent refusal. But he’s alsogot experience with Mick, and heknows that he won’t actually bepunched in the face when he steps towards the other man and smiles.

“Hold on.And be careful around the jets, okay?”

“I know,”Mick scowls but wraps his arms around Ray’s shoulders, looking pissed. Ray restshis palm against the small of Mick’s back to stabilize the suit’s flight withthe extra weight (at least that’s what Ray tells himself, rather feebly).

It turnsout that rerouting around the National Cemetery is not as much of a good ideaas Ray believed, but they don’t realize that until they see the twenty-feettripods shooting lasers at each other among the graves.

“Very Warof the Worlds,” Mick grunts, close to Ray’s ear. Ray shivers, and wishes theyhad the time to address Mick’s knowledge of that particular work.

Then theyget shot down, or rather, some kind of a charge goes off when one of thetripods explodes, and there’s an emergency landing that Ray thinks could’vegone smoother. Twenty minutes later they’ve managed to shake the machinesrunning after them on spindly, creaky legs, and Ray’s breathing hard as heleans against the dusty wall of a half-collapsed palace that most definitely doesn’t belong in WestwoodVillage.

“If that’s the future, then I’m suddenly alot less excited about time travel,” he groans, pushing his visor up to swipeat the sweat dripping down his brow.

Mick, rightnext to him, leans out of their hiding spot and fires his gun, then grins atRay with that manic light in his eyes that Ray has (unfortunately) come toappreciate.

“I don’tknow, they burn pretty fucking well.”

And ofcourse Mick would be okay with anything that can be torched. Ray lets out aweak laugh and grabs the man’s arm.

“Let’s go.”

UCLA is awhole another can of worms – literally,seeing as there are a few hundred rotting bison corpses lining the streets allaround the campus. Ray gags and covers his nose with his hand, but it doesn’treally help. Mick fires at the nearest corpse and scowls:

“If this isart, I don’t get it.”

Ray wantsto laugh, but that would make him inhale more of the rot, so he just drags Mickinto the School of Engineering, which has somehow acquired a very golden, verystrange clock tower.

And a bomb.That’s the worst part, really.

It doesn’ttake that long to locate the gadget. The timer is counting down, three minutesand fifteen seconds, fourteen, thirteen, and Ray bites the inside of his cheek,stomach squeezing with anxiety at how tight their schedule is. The tripods werereally an unexpected detour… and while technically, they can travel back intime and try again, Gideon has warned them against doing it, their plan alreadyincluding way too much time-travel for the AI’s peace of mind.

Two minutesand fifty-nine seconds, and Mick’s gloved hand closes around Ray’s wrist. Hecan barely feel the touch through his gauntlet, no more than a ghost of afeeling where Mick’s thumb presses into the soft spot against Ray’s wrist, butit’s enough to tear him out of his reverie. He glances at the other man, andsomething in Mick’s eyes flips Ray’s stomach, in the best (and worst,considering their situation) way possible.

“You can doit, Haircut.”

Adrenalinefloods Ray’s system and he nods back, stepping towards the bomb and hoping forthe best. There are two more like it in the city – well, one, considering whatSara said about them having tried the Pacific Park. Fifteen more across thecountry, and only disabling the right one will actually prevent the explosionfrom happening.

Ray has noidea how many they’ve tried before. How many Rays and Micks have been blown uptogether with the rest of the continent while their team blinked out of thatparticular timeline only to retrieve them from an earlier time, so that theycould try again, with a different bomb. Ray tries not to think about hisfeelings on the matter of dying so many times, but… it’s not like he’llremember it, right? And maybe, just maybe, this time they’ll hit the jackpot andthis will be the correct one.

He fusseswith the wires while Mick, unsurprisingly, produces a chocolate bar from somewhere and starts chewing loudly. Itmakes Ray chuckle, which in turn makes him relax a little and focus on his taskbetter. Mick has that effect on him: which should be strange, because mostpeople get really nervous around Mick, not the opposite. Ray’s used to it now,to the unique way they just fit, liketwo pieces of a puzzle. Or like pieces of two different puzzles which were cutout by the same machine, the pictures looking different at first sight but theshapes still matching…? Ray gets lost in his metaphor halfway through, butthen, the build of the bomb suddenly clicks in his brain and he cuts the rightcord, giving Mick a triumphant grin.

The bombstops the countdown at one minute, ten seconds, and Ray lets out a loud breath.

Mick tossesthe candy wrapper to the floor and pushes himself off the table where he’s beensitting, within Ray’s reach.

“Guys?”Sara’s voice sounds worried. “It didn’t work. We’ve got eyes on the PacificPark bomb and it’s still ticking.”

Ray’sinsides turn to lead. He knows what this means – that the team has less than aminute to get out of this particular timeline, return a couple of hours back,and collect the Mick and Ray who have not yet fought off weird futuristictripods or waded through a field of dead animals.

Raysincerely hopes that the past Mick and Ray will have more luck next time.

Heswallows, throat dry to the point of pain and hands shaking, and it filtersthrough his suddenly foggy brain that there’s going to be a Raymond Palmer safeand sound in the future, but it’s not going to be him.

He’s gotjust a few seconds to live, a little more than half a minute, tops. They’reboth going to die, and Ray remembers devising the plan with this exact momentin mind. He’s willing to do it, just as he was willing with the Oculus… but it’shard to fool the survival instinct screaming at him to grab Mick and run, as ifit would do any good with a bomb of this magnitude.

“You reallyshouldn’t have gone with me,” he says quietly, voice thick with the fear hetries not to feel.

Mick’sfingers, bare and scarred, twine with Ray’s own.

“Not like Icoulda let you take all the credit, Haircut.”

And Mick’sgrumbling again, but he’s right there with Ray, about to die who knows how manytimes, but he’s there and Ray’s heartis suddenly filled to the brim and he can’t, can’t die regretting that he never told Mick just how much he meansto Ray.

“Fifteenseconds, guys, we’re out,” Sara’s voice drifts like a distant echo through theearpiece, but Ray doesn’t have time for words, hers or his own. He tosses hishelmet off – it’s not going to protect him now, anyway – and steps right intoMick’s personal space, ignoring the look of dawning apprehension or worry orconfusion, whatever it is, they’ve got no time for that.

Ten secondsnow, or less, and Ray leans into Mick, into that solid warmth that he neverwould’ve expected the first time he laid eyes on the pyro. But Mick is so muchmore than that, so much more than just a goon or a thief or a criminal, morethan Chronos and more than a friend, darn, so much more.

Sevenseconds, and Mick’s sharp inhale cuts through the ominous silence in the room

Six, andhis eyes drift closed, like he trusts Ray, like maybe, he wants this to happen, and Ray’s heart nearly bursts at the thoughtthat he could’ve done this sooner, could’ve felt this terrified and excited andhappy for days, maybe weeks.

Five, andRay closes the distance; four, and their lips meet, Mick’s hands slipping into thesweaty strands of hair at the nape of Ray’s neck. It’s painfully perfect andRay wants to cry, but he can hold it back for the few seconds they still have.

He doesn’tbother coming up for air before the blinding light and the heat of theexplosion swallow them up.

……

“Mick,wait!” Ray calls, stumbling over the debris on the road as he does his best torun after the other man.

Who’smoving surprisingly fast, considering there’s still a broken arrow shaft stuckin his thigh. Ray might be reevaluating his opinion on the dream-come-true ofmeeting – and fighting – actual Cossacks.

“Wait!” heyells again, but Mick isn’t listening, doing his very best to get away from Rayas quickly as possible. Or at least it seems that way, and Ray’s heart is aheap of misery at this point. He didn’t want things to turn out this way, butin his defense…

“I didn’t intend to kiss you, okay?! I’m sorry! Itwas a spur of the moment thing, you know, the moment I thought we had like, tenseconds to live? Mick, talk to-“

He roundsthe corner behind which Mick disappeared and stops short, eyes widening as hespots the whole Waverider crew, allof them, not ten feet away and grinning like a bunch of cats who got a poolfull of cream all to themselves.

“Oh,” Raysighs and rubs at the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks heat up. Mick isscowling, but it’s hard to tell whether he hates Ray or the rest of them moreat the moment.

“You know,”Jax smirks, “it would be much easier to believe that you didn’t intend to do it if you haven’t done it…what, eight times?”

“Ten,” Saracorrects, with an expression that reminds Ray of Leonard Snart.

“What,”Mick snarls, and it’s not even a question, just a demand for explanation. Heshoots Ray a suspicious glare, and Ray’s insides wither like a flower in amicrowave. He wants to ask whether it was really that awful – because for the coupleof seconds they were kissing, Mick actually seemed… not wholly against theidea. Until Sara’s voice came to them through their comms, amusement tintingher words as she announced that she had just been messing with them and theyhave, in fact, disabled the bomb this time and wouldn’t really die.

It’s acruel joke if Ray ever saw one, but he has to admit that he would maybe laugh, out of sheer relief ifnothing else, if only Mick didn’t hightail it out of that room like his buttwas on fire.

No, wait,scratch that, the man might actually enjoythat.

“What?” Rayechoes, albeit weaker. Sara steps forward and wraps her arm around hisshoulders – even the easy, friendly gesture feels like teasing.

“Yeah. Tentimes out of eighteen, you kissed him right before the bomb went off.”

Ray gapes,unable to make a single sound. A part of his brain not completely caught up inthe horror of half-molesting his teammate registers the number eighteen andthinks ‘of course it had to be the verylast one that worked’, but a much bigger part of his mind is trapped in thedawning realization that he won’t get off the hook that easily.

If you dosomething ten times, even if technically, it’s always a different instance of you, it’s much harder to play it off asa ‘spur of the moment’, huh.

Mick growlsunder his breath; Ray really admires Amaya’s bravery for stepping close totheir resident pyro.

“You’ve gotno grounds for that grimace you’re making,” she says, pointing a finger rightin Mick’s face. “The other eight times it was you.”

The changethat washes over Mick’s features is breathtaking: rage transforms intoconfusion and gives way to an expression that Ray would dub ‘deer in theheadlights’. Mick looks a little trapped, and a part of Ray wants to step upand help… but he can’t bring himself to sweep this off the table when he’slearning that maybe Mick could- no, Mick definitely does-

That’s whenMick’s knee goes out from under him and Ray lurches forward to catch him beforehe hits the pavement. Mick’s not looking at him at all, but he does allow Ray to wrap a steadying arm around hiswaist, holding on to Ray’s shoulder in turn.

“Let’s getthat arrow out,” Ray sighs; there’s nothing he can do if Mick doesn’t want totalk about it. Yes, feelings are definitely involved, for both of them… but Raycan’t force Mick to talk about it if he doesn’t want to. And Ray’s learned inthe thirty-seven years of his life that feelings don’t always equal a happyending… perhaps he was naïve to hope that with Mick, things could turn out wellfor once.

The rest ofthe team trail into the Waverider after them, but Ray hardly registers theirpresence. The way to the medbay is one huge awkward moment, the tense silenceinterspersed with Mick’s pained grunts. He still refuses to meet Ray’s eyes andit feels a bit like he’s withdrawing into himself, leaving Ray on the outside… butthat’s okay for the time being, since Ray is doing his best to collect histhoughts anyway.

He sticksaround while Gideon heals Mick’s thigh, and tries not to cast odd looks at Mick’snaked skin. Come to think of it, he can’t remember seeing Mick without pantsbefore, and he flushes when his eyes wander up the surprisingly smooth thigh tothe simple (red) boxer briefs. Ray averts his eyes as quickly as humanlypossible: Mick didn’t react too well to the kiss, whether or not he might’veinstigated a few himself, so Ray’s pretty sure he wouldn’t like to be ogled,either.

Finally,Gideon declares Mick ‘good as new’ and Ray hears the shuffling noises of theother man sliding off the seat and reaching for his bloodied pants. The sightof him, standing in the cold medbay in a long-sleeved shirt, boxers and socks,scowling at the torn jeans in his hand and looking lost, breaks Ray’s heart alittle and he pushes himself away from the wall:

“I’ll getyou new ones, just wait here, okay?”

He’shalfway out the door when Mick’s quiet voice stops him.

“Wait.”

Ray turns,and Mick isn’t hypnotizing the floor anymore: he’s looking right back, andthere’s a kind of vulnerability in his eyes that Ray’s afraid to analyze toohard, for fear of it slipping away.

Andsuddenly, he’s chuckling and walking closer, the feeling of being forced outbehind Mick’s personal barriers gone.

“Who would’vethought we’d have to die eighteen times to get to this point, huh?” he jokes,and a shadow flickers over Mick’s expression. Before Ray can apologize –because what an awful joke to make to someone who lost his best friend twice injust a couple of months – Mick is reaching out and tangling his fingers intothe belt of Ray’s suit, pulling him closer.

“Justseventeen,” he huffs, his face suddenly awfully close. Ray swallows, his brain shuttingdown as Mick crosses the distance, lips almost brushing Ray’s. “And I’ve got ascore to even out, Haircut.”

It’s notthe most romantic declaration of intent that Ray could imagine, but when Mickbites at his bottom lip, he can’t find it in himself to complain.

[bonearenaofmyskull]

What does the “interesting next chapter” for Hannibal involve? Fuller provided no concrete details at Split Screens Festival, but he did tease a very enticing elevator pitch: “It was going to be ‘Inception’ meets ‘Angel Heart.'” Combining Christopher Nolan’s mind-bender with Alan Parker’s supernatural horror movie sounds unsung, but it’s a very Bryan Fuller thing to do and he’s definitely not joking. As a huge fan of your S4 speculations, i got to ask your thoughts on Bryan's latest teases!??!

The short answer is that I have no idea. XD  And the truth is that it’s been so long since the end of the last season, and I’ve had so many discussions over time and read so much fic and planned so much fic and written enough fic that while I know what I think is most likely, any sense of objectivity I have about the subject has pretty much eroded away (as if I ever had any in the first place). And my bluff is still eroding. ;)

WRT the specific article you referenced, I do want to talk about Bryan’s elevator pitches and what we should (and should not) take out of them.

The thing about Bryan is that he’s a positive encyclopedia of film knowledge, and he uses example films to reference any of the scores of ideas he may be having at any given moment, and his mind runs about a million miles per hour nonlinearly (which is why he ends up with verbal diarrhea in interviews sometimes). He’s used a lot of film comparisons for various different Hannibal seasons and episodes, and if you looked at them without watching the show, they might often lead you astray. For example, he’s described the first season as The Shining before, and if you were to take this thought at face value, you’d think Will really would have been the copycat killer and would have ended up killing Abigail (Jack would have been right, zomg!): The Shining is about how a man descends into madness because of a sinister influence and then kills his family. But all Bryan meant was that both stories had the madness component, and in Will’s case it wasn’t even technically madness but a physical condition. Also lots of heartbeats, gaudy bathrooms and clanging noises.

Another time, Bryan caused all kinds of fandom drama when he described “Antipasto” as a “new pilot for the series starring Mads Mikkelsen and Gillian Anderson.” People were taking that to mean that Will was no longer going to be either the love of Hannibal’s life or the star of the show. And Bryan repeated that a bazillion times, either oblivious to or regardless of the panic he was causing, probably because it has a tantalizing vagueness to it so it’s a good advertisement. But it was hardly a straightforward statement about what to expect from the show, although it described that single episode well enough.

So let’s have a look at other comparisons he’s made to various films/shows/stuff:

The Talented Mr. Ripley = “Antipasto”

What you’d expect: Guy in Italy kills the guy he’s in love with and takes his identity, then has to balance it against his own identity as he tries to get away with it, costing him his next lover.

What we got: Italy, murdering the man you’re in love with, and identity shenanigans, so this one was fairly close. Hannibal gets away with it and doesn’t fall in love with anyone else, so that’s different. Also, Bedelia. And Abel Gideon flashbacks in nonlinear narration. It’s…circumstantially similar.

The Hunger = Hannibal & Bedelia in Italy

What you’d expect: A beautiful yet dangerous vampire seeks to replace her old lover, whose life has run out after he kills her protege, by seducing a woman who then destroys her and takes her powers. Supposed to be a metaphor for drug addiction.

What we got: Couple of sexy, ice-cold blondes, I guess. Upper crust musicianing and fancy clothes? A waterphone being hurled down the stairs in the background? IDK, man. IDK.

Don’t Look Now = “Primavera”

What you’d expect: A guy with ESP loses his daughter, but then has glimpses of her as he and his wife go to Italy to deal with their grief. Wife falls in with some old psychic ladies, and it turns out his visions are actually prophetic visions leading to his own death by serial killer.

What we got: Well, we were in Italy to deal with the grief our gifted protagonist suffered at losing his “daughter,” and he continues to have visions of her, and there is a serial killer on the loose and a somewhat grumpy Italian detective hanging around. But like Ripley, it’s circumstantially the same, but the story is totally different.

Frankenstein‘s monster = Will’s Italy arc

What you’d expect: (There are so many film versions of Frankenstein out there, as well as the original novel, that it’s hard to anticipate what Bryan thinks about when he thinks of Frankenstein’s monster. So I’m just kind of throwing together the most commonly remembered stuff.)  An overly ambitious doctor creates a living “monster” out of dead human body parts, then promptly regrets it. The monster escapes, kills a bunch of people including the doc’s fiancee, tries to coerce the doctor into making a mate for him because it’s sad to be alone, and then either the doctor pursues the monster or the monster pursues the doctor and they both end up dead. 

What we got: A doctor made a guy into a monster, and the guy is kind of back from the dead. The doctor was the one who escaped, and the monster is the one who is pursuing. The doctor kills people instead of the monster. They’re each other’s mate, and they don’t kill anyone’s fiancees. XD  They don’t die either. It is, however, sad to be alone. This is a deejay mashup of Frankenstein if ever there was one. 

Death and the Maiden = “Secondo”

What you’d expect: Traumatized woman who had survived torture recognizes the voice of her torturer and kidnaps him on a stormy night, trying to make him confess his crimes to her before she kills him while her husband looks on, not knowing if he believes her or not and if he should help her or her captive.

What we got: There’s a woman in an isolated house with a man captive. Aaaaand…that’s about it. Plot-wise, this movie goes mostly the opposite direction from where the film does, and Will is at best an amalgamation of both the husband and the torturer, and way more active than either in the outcome. Again, circumstantially similar but a different story.

Kill Bill = “Aperitivo”

What you’d expect: After her wedding was crashed in the most violent way possible, a woman awakens in a hospital and goes out seeking vengeance against her former lover by killing all his cronies one by one until she gets to him.

What we got: Not Frederick Chilton in a bright yellow tracksuit, unfortunately. After some violence, people wake up in hospitals and then…talk to each other? 

Hannibal, the film = “Contorno”

What you’d expect: the obvious.

What we got: Pazzi’s story and death, and a fun little turnabout with Alana taking Clarice Starling’s place on the phone. But most of other plot stuff from Hannibal exists elsewhere, and instead we got some snail-y conversations and a barefoot beatdown on Hannibal by Jack Crawford.

Bound = Margot and Alana’s storyline

What you’d expect: A woman and her lesbian lover plot to steal the money her mafiaso boyfriend owes to his boss in order to escape the boyfriend’s tyrannical hold, but the plot goes wrong and they get caught, making it so they have to improvise their way out.

What we got: Again, circumstantially something very similar, but only in the loosest of terms–that two women lovers are seeking to escape the tyrannical hold of one of the men in their life, getting his money and ending up killing him. For some reason, there’s no pig-baby in Bound. Unless you count Christopher Meloni.

Leopold and Loeb = “Tome-wan”

What you’d expect: Two men, convinced they’re above everybody else, try to create the perfect murder by hatching a plot and killing a kid. They get caught.

What we got: Two men–at least one of whom is convinced he’s above everyone else–hatch a rather haphazard plot without really telling each other what they’re doing, then hunt down a guy and don’t actually kill him, and then they don’t get caught.

…

So is there a pattern in any of this? What can we take from it to apply to the Inception meets Angel Heart (with maybe a dash of Ripley, since that’s what Bryan told Matt Zoller Seitz in the past) pitch for the fourth season? What would we expect from these films?

I think the answer seems to be nothing more than circumstantial similarities, turnabouts on the expectations that these films might have set up, and some tonal similarities. That’s the pattern, and that’s the only pattern as far as I’m concerned. 

That said though, we might as well have some fun speculating with them.

Angel Heart

What you’d expect: A private detective is hired by a mysterious stranger in a manbun to track down a missing person who was last known to be in a coma. When every person the detective interviews about the case ends up meeting a grisly end, he comes to discover that he is the very man he is looking for, and the devil made him kill all those people in a fugue state because he had attempted to cheat the devil from coming to collect his soul.

…Wait, wait wait…. Isn’t this already Hannibal season one? An investigator falls in with the devil, who helps in with his investigations, all the while encouraging a fugue state to get him to kill people, so that at one point he thinks he’s the very killer that he’s looking for??? 

Didn’t Bryan already tell us that the fourth season would be an inversion or subversion of S1?

Cleverrrrrrrrr, Bryan Fuller! You made us think you were telling us something new by just saying the same thing you said before in another way. But there really isn’t anything new here at all, is there???

I guess, circumstantially, there could be a detective searching for them, or they could be searching for killers, or Will could be metaphorically searching for himself. The deal with the devil has obviously already been made, and maybe Will is trying to find a way out of that, as the guy in Angel Heart was. 

People have made a big deal about the coma and fugue state business, and I’m not ruling that stuff out, but I don’t think they’ll retread ground that they tread in S1 with Will, and I don’t think that they’ll put Hannibal in any sustained position of weakness. They never do either of these thing, and that limits where they can go with the coma and fugue state things.

Inception

What you’d expect: A wanted corporate espionage dream-hacker tries to get his name cleared in order to return to his children after being blamed for the death of his wife, so he agrees to attempt to create an idea in the mind of an unknowing victim by generating a dream within a dream within a dream, where there is a danger of not knowing what is real and what is not.

Well…not quite knowing what is real and what is not is Hannibal all the way, and Will is a dream-hacker if ever there was one. And he will probably be wanted by the law. Kinda doubt he’ll be looking to return to his wife and child, though maybe he is interested in clearing his name. And Hannibal and Will do share mental space, just as Cobb and Mal do…and there could be some comparison to be made between Mal and Hannibal here, in how they haunt their husbands…and how Mal frames Cobb for murder. XD 

People get very hyper-focused on the dream-within-a-dream business from Inception, but I found that to be kind of beside the point, tbh. “Inception” refers to the process of planting an idea in another person’s head in such a subconscious way that they believe that idea is their own and they make it a part of themselves and their reality. I guess because I find this to be the more interesting part of Inception, I’d personally like this to be what Bryan Fuller is talking about here, rather than the dreaming stuff. It’s very psychological, and if Will is looking to understand who he is on the other side of the veil, I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity here for both or either man, within that alchemy of truths and lies. 

If we were looking for a more plot-driven similar circumstance, a situation in which some rich person paves the way for Will to clear his name in America. We do have some powerful rich people on this show. 

To be quite honest, the first thing that came to mind when Bryan said Inception was him talking about how Richard Armitage and Gillian Anderson never had a chance to be in a scene together, so maybe they could be in a scene together in the future in Will’s mind--like he’s hosting all the people he’s killed, or whose deaths he blames himself for (sorry, this thought isn’t very optimistic about Bedelia’s chances). And that reminded me a lot of Cobb with Mal. 

I’m less clear on any of this with regard to Hannibal: it’s as he says himself in “Digestivo,” it’s dangerous to get everything you ever wanted, and that’s where Hannibal finds himself at the end of TWOTL. I’m not sure where that will take him after, though Hugh being convinced that Hannibal would always have to fight for Will is somewhat heartening. I’ve spoken elsewhere on my preferences for where Hannibal goes in S4, but I don’t have a particular sense of anything for him that comes from either Inception or Angel Heart. He’s more likely to be the devil than Will is, and he’s more likely to be compared to Mal. I could see scenarios that would cast him as Cobb, I suppose, but nothing concrete. 

I wrote a lot here to say that I don’t have much to say, but the truth is that I think we should be skeptical about taking anything Bryan says that sounds like an elevator pitch too literally.