Hannibal Season 1 (NBC)

As a general rule, I tend to avoid horror. Or at least, I did tend to avoid horror, and whilst that rule applies to a certain extent to movies still,  I’ve really increased watching the genre when it comes to television. Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow, Constantine, The Originals (all to a certain extent, as they rely more on action), American Horror Story, The Strain and Penny Dreadful have all been horror shows that I’ve been watching and I suppose you could probably include Buffy in there as well. One of the strongest of the shows that I’ve recently branched out towards has been Hannibal, which serves as proof that US network television can produce masterpieces once in a while (I also point people who have lost faith in US network TV to Person Of Interest as another example), and if you end up watching this show, you’ll be surprised to see that it’s come from NBC, a network that has given us The Blacklist, Chicago Fire/PD, and the like in the past and continues to do so. It’s clearly more at home on a network like FX or Cinemax, but that doesn’t stop Hannibal from being able to pull off all the stops when it comes to gore and horror, with it being one of the most gruesome shows on television (along with The Knick).

The show is essentially a prequel to Silence of the Lambs, a movie which sadly to this day I still have not seen all of, and frankly, I don’t want to until this show finishes in order to have the ending unspoiled. I’m going in dark, and not knowing who will survive,(apart from a select few characters) and now that I’m caught up I can avoid spoilers altogether, making the experience a lot more awesome and unpredictable, because damn if this show isn’t one of the most unpredictable series on network television right now, with it not being afraid to kill off major characters.

Our main protagonist in the series is Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), a gifted criminal profiler who has a unique way of breaking down crime scenes, and can emphasize with anybody including serial killers. He’s recruited by Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) to aid him in cases, which are often gruesome and gory in nature. Whilst yes, this is technically a case-of-the-week show, at least in its first season, there is a main ongoing narrative arc that runs over the course of the series, making each episode unmissable. In fact, each episode is too good to be unmissable, with a spectacularly high level of quality.

After the introduction of Will and Jack, it doesn’t take us long to meet our third major character, Hannibal Lecter himself. Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), most people will know even if they haven’t seen The Silence of the Lambs is a cannibal who eats human flesh and constantly leads the FBI on a wild goose chase as they hunt for the main, mysterious villain of the series, the enigmatic Chesapeake Ripper, who remains elusive and uncaught for most of the series. Hannibal himself sees an opportunity in manipulating both Will and Jack to suit his own needs, and as we progress through the course of the series we get to see the extent of Hannibal’s methods and tactics unravel before our eyes. It’s great to watch, and the characters really do grow and develop over the course of the season, and by the end, it’ll be easy to see how they’ve changed from episode one.

The cast is fantastic and the acting talent on display is one of the finest I’ve seen on TV. Combining a veteran cast of movie and TV actors, the likes of Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale), Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne (Black-ish) all put on a fantastic performance and there’s some very good acting on display here. The chemistry between the lead cast is great, and there’s also some great interplay with the rest of the characters as well. We meet a variety of characters over the course of the series, including the likes of Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavemas), Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) and Freddie Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki) who all play pretty good roles in the series. There’s no weak link in the show, which is fantastic when you consider how common that is on most shows nowadays.

The visuals and effects are superb. The gore and blood effect never feels cheap and everything is handled spectacularly well. The series creator, Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me) gives Hannibal lots of room to grow and continues to make it one of the best shows on television with some great creative work in play. The various murders that Jack and Will chase after never feel repeated and there’s always something new to uncover.

The repercussions of the ‘cases of the week’ always feel relevant and as a result there’s never anything that feels like a filler episode. They’re always exciting and always of good quality as well, as the series continues to build to a fantastic ending that really is one of the strongest cliffhangers that I’ve seen. I know how it is resolved as I have seen Season 2 whilst typing this (in fact, I finished it only recently) but I won’t spoil it here for you. It’s darkly compelling and incredibly well executed.

Hannibal then, is probably one of my favourite shows on television and certainly in the Top 10. If you don’t mind gore and violence (that really works, trust me), then this show comes with a high recommendation. At only thirteen episodes long, each roughly 45 minutes, it shouldn’t take you too long to get caught up before the start of Season 3 next year.

VERDICT: 9.5/10                                                                                                                                             

 

Sleepy Hollow Season 1 (Fox)

 

I ranked Sleepy Hollow as one of the best new series of 2013 at the end of the year and I believe it is fully justified in being up there with the likes of Orphan Black, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders and The Blacklist. It’s just a great piece of TV entertainment that blends action, conspiracy thriller, horror and even odd moments of comedy together pretty well with a great overarching mystery that keeps the show very entertaining to watch. It’s fast moving and with the thirteen episodes that we have on offer there never feels like any episode that’s a waste of time – despite the occasional slip into monster of the week formula that plagues most shows in its early seasons.

Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane is a turncoat in the Revolutionary War, fighting alongside the Americans after abandoning the British. This leads Crane to a direct confrontation with a British Mercenary whilst on a mission for George Washington, where he and the Mercenary are wounded in mortal combat. Crane wakes up several hundred years in the present day – in a town named Sleepy Hollow. It’s a modern day take on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and sees Crane teaming up with Nicole Behari’s Abbie Mills, a Police Officer with a buried past, as they work together to stop the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse including the return of the Mercenary, who is essentially Death. The premise alone is what makes Sleepy Hollow very risky for mainstream TV audience – but as it’s been renewed for a second season people who are catching up on the series do not have to worry about losing another awesome show on FOX when they canned Firefly too early.

The show’s cast is pretty well chosen. Our window into the supernatural world, Nicole Behari’s Abbie Mills, is a kickass character with some great chemistry with Mison’s Ichabod Crane. In fact, the chemistry between Behari and Mison is probably the main reason that most people will stick around watching this show – they are incredibly strong lead actors and work extremely well together. The supporting cast are equally great as well and there aren’t any poorly casted recurring actors/actresses in the whole show – something that really enhances the overall feel of the show and when the plotlines may tread into predictable monster of the week storylines, you can always count the lead actors to keep you entertained. Orlando Jones plays Captain Irving and is Ichabod and Abbie’s main ally in the Police – his name also being a nod to the creator of the original series, and he undergoes great character development in the show and is one of the more awesome parts of it. One of the many highlights that Jones has in the show is actually being the first officer in a horror TV show to actually call for backup before entering a hostile and not end up killed – something that works really well in the episode that it features.

As well as Behari, Jones and Mison, there are several other actors who play a key role in Sleepy Hollow. Katie Winter is unfortunately reduced to a damsel in distress for most of the series as Ichabod Crane’s wife, but then there isn’t much Katrina can do when she’s trapped in Purgatory. Lyndie Greenwood also puts on a strong performance as Abbie’s sister, Jenny Mills – whose character arc is great to watch as we learn that the sisters have a hidden past with a subplot that is explored a lot over the show as it continues. Two other major standouts  who don’t crop up every episode unlike the majority of the actors who I’ve already mentioned are Clancy Brown as Abbie’s mentor Augustus Corbin, and the fantastic John Noble as Henry Parish, the Sin Eater, who gets a fantastic role in the show and delivers some of the greatest moments.

For the most part, Sleepy Hollow is a lot of fun, and I think that’s the best word to describe this series. There are a few problems that can be expected from a show such as this but one of the best parts is that the overall storyline never is predictable (although the monster of the week episodes often are) and the cliffhanger is quite possibly one of the most memorable season finale cliffhangers that I have ever seen – putting the Cranes, the Mills and Irving in a situation that looks as impossible to get out of as Doctor Who’s Season 5 episode The Pandorica Opens – however the only difference here is that it is even more challenging due to the lack of the Doctor involved. It certainly makes the wait for Season 2 seem even longer and the decision to keep the show at 13 episodes as opposed to 20-odd really paid off, as it allowed for concise and quality storytelling even if most monster of the week episodes are forgettable.

Witty, funny and incredibly exciting with some great moments of horror in the entire series, Sleepy Hollow should be you must watch fantasy series from 2013. In fact, it’s probably the best new Fantasy series that I’ve seen this year – and is a modernization of a classic that actually works thanks to some great casting choices and a great overall plot, with a memorable cliffhanger to boot. You can certainly count me in for Season 2 and I’m really looking forward to seeing where this show goes.

VERDICT: 7/10