You can say goodbye to Hannibal after season three since NBC has decided to officially pull the plug on the series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the reasons the cannibal killer show is getting canceled is because ratings for third season have been fairly low.

Another reason why the show is getting the axe could be rights issues to some of the characters from the novels such as Clarice Starling, who was previously played by Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs and Julianne Moore in Hannibal (the movie).

Bryan Fuller, the series showrunner released the following statement regarding Hannibal‘s cancelation on NBC:

NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancelation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers… Hannibal is finishing his last course at NBC’s table this summer, but a hungry cannibal can always dine again. And personally, I look forward to my next meal with NBC.

The season finale will air on Thursday, September 3, 2015. So, how do you feel about this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Hannibal, Season 3 will get underway on NBC Thursday, June 4th, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, and if you witnessed the killer Season 2 finale, then you’re dying to see this… especially after the series was postponed to this summer!

There’s a new promotional trailer for the show, which you can view here. Clocking in at just a minute, they trailer is jammed full of action and intrigue, not the least of which is Hannibal’s recital of Dante Alighieri’s “La Vita Nuova” sonnet, which translates to:

To every captive soul and gentle heart
into whose sight this present speech may come,
so that they might write its meaning for me,
greetings, in their lord’s name, who is Love.
Already a third of the hours were almost past
of the time when all the stars were shining,
when Amor suddenly appeared to me
whose memory fills me with terror.
Joyfully Amor seemed to me to hold
my heart in his hand, and held in his arms
my lady wrapped in a cloth sleeping.
Then he woke her, and that burning heart
he fed to her reverently, she fearing,
afterwards he went not to be seen weeping.

Basically, Season 3 sees Hannibal on the run in Europe, aided by his psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), and being hunted by Will (Hugh Dancy), Jack (Laurence Fishburne), and Alana (Caroline Dhavernas). Judging from the trailer, it looks like the show might step out of the blanket of doom and despair while maintaining its sickening tone.

Don’t forget to tune into one of TV’s best shows on June 4th!

Rock Hard \m/

According to Entertainment Weekly, Hannibal, Season 3, has been postponed till the summer instead of its usual spring season. Despite NBC’s Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt confirming, “it’s a show we love, it’s critically acclaimed, we love it… and we also love summer. We have exciting plans for summer,” one has to wonder what’s going on. Last year it was questionable whether or not the show would get picked up for a third season, and now it’s being postponed. What gives?

True enough that Hannibal is probably one of the most beautifully shot and goriest crime dramas on television, but will fans have the patience to wait until the summer? Perhaps the network is hoping to pick up some new fans and higher ratings during the summer when there’s less competition, and we hope it works out for them, but it’s possible that the show will lose some core fans and it might prove difficult for a show to gain new followers in its third season. Plus, it’s such a dark and heavy show, so airing it in the summer, when people are looking for fun and happy forms of entertainment, might prove perilous.

What do you think: Is it a mistake to air Hannibal in the summer? If you’re a fan, does this strike you as a bad move?

Rock Hard \m/

Television has been so great in recent years that it’s a wonder that people still actually go to the theaters to watch movies. I’m being facetious, of course, but 2014 has been another fantastic year for the small screen, which is why we feel that it’s about time that we do our first ever list of the best TV shows of the year.

Even though we limited our selections to genres that interest us and our faithful Yellers (i.e., horror, fantasy, and crime), it’s still a tough crowd to choose from. Naturally, there have been some misses in 2014 (From Dusk Till Dawn, Sleepy Hollow, and Person of Interest, I’m lookin’ at you), but the hits, man the hits just kept rolling.

As great as these series appear to the eye in terms of the cast and their skills as actors, we’d be remiss if we neglected to give a nod of appreciation to the source material (if there is any), to the directors, to the writers, to the special effects teams, to the set directors, and, well, to everyone else involved. No, we’re not accepting an award… but you should award yourself the opportunity to give these shows a try.

No.14 Bates Motel

How is a show that I cover on a weekly basis at the bottom of this list? As interesting as Bates Motel is, it plods along at a very leisurely pace. And while the show is still coming into its own, finding focus on Norman rather than his sensational mother, it still has growing pains, but there’s huge potential, which its already begun to fill.

Synopsis:
Bates Motel is a contemporary prequel to the genre-defining film Psycho, and gives a portrayal of how Norman Bates’ (Freddie Highmore) psyche unravels through his teenage years. Fans discover the dark, twisted backstory of Norman Bates and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga), truly is.

No.13 Constantine

To be honest and fair, I’ve only seen a couple Constantine episodes, but it looked very promising and I really liked what I saw, causing me to dog ear this one for later viewing. Call me what you will, but I actually liked the Keanu Reeves movie of the same name, based on the same graphic novels.

Synopsis:
A man struggling with his faith is haunted by the sins of his past but is suddenly thrust into the role of defending humanity from the gathering forces of darkness.

No.12 Penny Dreadful

This one is as fun to watch as it is visually arresting. An all-star cast leads this show as it weaves the tales of our favorite monster legends into a single web of intrigue and horror.

Synopsis:
Explorer Sir Malcolm Murray, American gunslinger Ethan Chandler, and others unite to combat supernatural threats in Victorian London.

No.11 Vikings

Synopsis:
The adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok: the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the saga of Ragnar’s band of Viking brothers and his family as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods: legend has it that he was a direct descendant of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

No.10 American Horror Story

Honestly, this show is on this list more for second half of Season 3 than for the current Freak Show. Nonetheless, the series has an amazing concept: a different story each season with different characters played by the same actors, more or less.

Synopsis:
An anthology series that centers on different characters and locations, including a haunted house, an insane asylum, a witch coven, and a freak show.

No.9 Hannibal

Hannibal struggles with audiences and very nearly didn’t get picked up for a third season. It’s a dark, twisted, cerebral show, which might have something to do with its limited audience. The show can also be horrifyingly graphic in its depictions of violence and gore.

Synopsis:
Explores the early relationship between the renowned psychiatrist and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers.

No.8 True Detective

Another crime drama that, at times, is as disturbing as Hannibal, but with a distinctively different palette. What’s more is the amazing performances turned in by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Synopsis:
The lives of two detectives, Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, become entangled during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana.

Find out the next 7 shows on our list and our Number 1 pick after the jump…

We finished breaking the first arcs of the season. That’s the first seven episodes and we have scripts for the first four in. I’m finishing polishing the first episode and ready to jump into [episode] two. We’ll start shooting in October. We were so snowy and wintry in season two we want to get some autumnal colors in there. – Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller gives an update on Season 3

And so, Hannibal, Season 2, ends, and we have no idea where Season 3 will take us, other than France, presumably. Considering that the series was in jeapordy of not being renewed earlier this season, this Season Finale would have felt very satisfying if it had served to be the Series Finale, albeit very depressing and forelorn.

From the start we knew where this episode was going to go, for the most part, but the journey to get there was half the fun. So much about the “Mizumono” was perfectly amazing. The near perpetual tick-tock of the score/sound effects added a wonderfully simultaneously conscious and subconscious sense of urgency, yet David Slade kept the pace steady and unhurried. The opening sequence with Graham’s duplicity and/or indecisiveness kept us on edge throughout the episode, wondering which way he’ll sway (Hannibal/Crawford to Graham: “When the moment comes, will you do what needs to be done?”). The overall dialog and reintroduction of supporting characters rattling our brains with questions about “What does it all mean?” And, last but not least, the epic battle splatter scene that dominated the episode’s conclusion.

But let us not forget, or underestimate, the sympathy for Hannibal Lector that this episode managed to ellicit. If you don’t believe it, check your heart when Hannibal embraces Graham and offers him a faster way out after gutting him. For what was probably the first time ever Hannibal believed that he had a comrade in Graham, a partner, a sympethizer… just someone who understood him and his motivations. But in the end all he discovered was that Graham had betrayed his trust and double crossed him. It’s like believing you have an epic Shakespearean love, only to find out that your lover has sleeping around.

It all came crashing down when Hannibal caught a wiff of Freddie Lounds on Graham. In that moment, all of his talk about his “memory palace” and escape with Graham disappeared and moved his “punctuation mark.” It “moved his meaning,” to echoe what Bella had said to him earlier in the episode. And contrary to what Bella said to Hannibal about forgiveness (“Forgiveness is such a profound conscious and unconcious state of affairs; you can’t actually choose to do it, it simply happens to you”), he chose to forgive Graham, lamenting, “Now that you know me, see me. I gave you a rare gift, but you didn’t want it.” But not only that, Hannibal outright says he forgives Graham, but it’s a double-edged blade when he asks Graham if he would return the favor, just before giving Abigail Hobbs a Colombian necktie. You could ask, “Well, how much genuine forgiveness is there in that?” Well, don’t forget that this is Hannibal Lecter and his sense of reality is different than yours.

What’s that? Did I just say that Hannibal killed Abigail Hobbs? Yup, I did. And what did Abigail do in the first scene of her big return? She pushed Dr. Bloom out of a second-story window to her inevitable death. When Graham was reunited with Abigail, his surogate daughter, she said to him, “I didn’t know what else to do so I just did what he told me.”

We all had our doubts that Abigail was actually dead, and in retrospect it seems likely that Beverely saw Abibail held captive in Hannibal’s basement. But why was she kept alive? She was what was going to bring Hannibal’s tea cup together again. In Hannibal’s words, “the place was made for Abigail in your world,” suggesting that Hannibal had long planned to transform Graham and kept Abigail for a prize gift.

But with Crawford bleeding out in the pantry, Bloom dying in the rain on the sidewalk, and Graham’s and Abigail’s impending fatal wounds, the most profound thing said was Graham’s response to Hannibal’s querry about Graham thinking that he could change him, which was “I already have.” And it’s true; Graham manipulated the master manipulator, and because he did, he won.

Perhaps less significant to the overall episode was Kade Prurnell interference with Crawford’s case, calling it entrapment and putting Crawford on forced compassionate leave. But as Bloom told Prurnell, Crawford knows what the FBI do and that knowledge won’t stop neither him nor Graham from going forward with their plan to catch Hannibal in the act. In fact, it only pushed them into action sooner.

In the bloodbath of Hannibal’s kitchen we don’t actually see anyone die. We can be sure that Abigail dies, and probably Crawford, who calls his wife from the pantry with his dying breath. Can we be sure, however, that Graham will die or Bloom? Especially with the two placed calls to emergency services? It’s a safe bet though since Graham has a vision of a stag dying along with him… and would the showrunners really give us that final scene with Hannibal and Du Maurier on a flight to France, sipping champagne?

Odds and Ends:

-If Prurnell intended on having Crawford and Graham arrested, why did she just let Crawford leave?
-Although it wouldn’t really be suitable in this season finale, I did miss some of the black humor we’ve seen throughout the season. The only spot of humor, as subtle as it was, was perhaps Prurnell’s Sex and the City walk into the meeting with Crawford.
-And the big question, what does Season 3 hold for us?

Rock Hard \m/

At this point in the show, with one episode remaining in Season 2, it’s difficult to say if Graham is winning or losing this battle of wits with Hannibal. In his win column goes his liberty to tell Hannibal that it was his curiosity to know what would happen after telling Mason that Hannibal wanted to kill him. In his lose column goes his failed attempt to persuade Hannibal to kill Mason, his expression of all that he’s lost at the hands of Hannibal, and we’ll see how Graham’s attempt to persuade Hannibal to reveal himself to Crawford pans out next week.

We’ve known since the Season opener that there is a physical fight between Hannibal and Crawford in the finale and, however unlikely, it would be easy to assume that Hannibal does reveal himself.

But what drives both Hannibal and Graham in their little game? As twisted as it is, it has to be a mutual curiosity and fascination to know what the other will do next. At the same time it’s admiration and a desire to be the superior intellect.

And that’s essentially what Hannibal’s “Tomewan” was about: finding out who has the upperhand, Graham or Hannibal. Perhaps that will be partially answered next week, but it will likely carry over into Season 3. The rest of this episode essentially serves to lay the foundation for next week and support the Graham/Hannibal story.

Also, as shocking as the forced abortion and hysterectomy was last week, it’s hard to believe that the psychotic minds could outdo themselves in the gore department, but they did. Equal to the visceral gore in this episode were the golden one liners. I hope that I’m not the only one who finds this show funny; it would really say something about the state of my mind if I’m alone here.

This episode dealt with Mason a lot, and as a result he delivered a fair share of those funny lines, as well as being the source of them (“free-range root” anyone?). The writers did a brilliant job of setting up some outrageous facial expressions from Hannibal. Between Hannibal and Graham we learn that Hannibal finds that “Mason is discourteous, and discourtesy is unspeakably ugly” to him. After which, Hannibal has a session with Mason in which Mason puts his feet on Hannibal’s desk and stabs his chair. Hannibal’s dismayed face was priceless. Interesting that the writers drew our attention to the face.

The discourse between Graham and Hannibal as they discuss possible cannibalism and killing has become surprisingly, or not, nonchalant. Just everyday conversation for these two. While we know Graham has ulterior motives for his ease with the subject, he does seem a little too convincing, don’t you think? His empathy seems to be getting the better of him once again (considering what he visualizes when Hannibal has him close his eyes to imagine how he’d like to see Hannibal’s death). But you have to love it when he says, “Mason Verger is a pig and he deserves to be someone’s bacon. Maybe you should kill Mason during your next session.”

The fact that Crawford and Graham are working together to catch Hannibal was carried over from last week. But this week we learned that Crawford is aware that Graham killed Randall and he doesn’t approve, although he’s working to relieve Graham of the legal guilt. Graham also hatches a plan to catch Hannibal, but Crawford, an experienced lawman who’s making tons of liberal choices in this case, wisely has his doubts about the outcome.

Graham’s plan was forced into play when Mason requested Graham’s presence and abducted Hannibal for pig-feeding time. Confronted with the situation, Graham cut Hannibal down instead of taking the easy way and letting Mason feed his pigs with some delicious Hannibal meat. Don’t forget that Graham wants to beat Hannibal at this game of chaos.

It’s odd to think of Hannibal as anything but pure evil, but he does seem to have his tender moments. He appears to actually care for those he persuades to kill, even if he ends up killing them later. And his act to break Mason’s neck just enough to paralyze him so that Margot could still benefit from the family’s wealth shows that he was listening when she expressed the trap she was in after Graham suggested that “Mason can be undone.” It’s a beautiful thing that Margot can now make her faceless and paralyzed brother her plaything.

But Mason would be Hannibal’s plaything first. With the help of some drugs that both enchanted and terrified Mason, Hannibal persuaded the pig to cut his face off and feed the strips to Graham’s dogs. Pushing it further, Hannibal told Mason to eat his nose when Mason said he was hungry. The ensuing battle between Graham and Hannibal about who should kill Mason was quite funny, but at the same time it catered to the game between the two. Graham, I think, won this round, citing Hannibal as Mason’s doctor who should do with him what he thinks best, which was to let him live so that Margot could “enjoy” life.

Bringing Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier back to the show was a great surprise. Through her “confession” to Graham we learn a lot more about what happened between her and her patient, Hannibal, which ends up being his MO. What he’s doing to Graham is exactly what he did to her. She also provides a great deal of insight when Graham asks her how she would catch Hannibal: “Hannibal can get lost in self-congratulation, at his own exquisite taste and cunning. Whimsey, that will be how he will get caught.”

Odds and Ends:

-Apparently Mason bacon wasn’t good enough for anybody, just the dogs.
-Mason – “What game of chicken are you and the sperm donor playing?”
-Graham – “Hannibal considers him rude. That’s motive enough. It’s as though committing murders has purged him of lesser rudeness.”
-Du Maurier – “Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, Agent Crawford… If you think you’re about to catch Hannibal that’s because he wants you to think that.”
Hannibal – “Whomever is pursuing who in this very moment, I intend to eat them.”
-Graham – “What are you feeding my dogs?” Mason – “Just me.”
-Mason – “I’m full of myself.”

Rock Hard \m/

Family, being born, being reborn, and children were important themes in this episode of Hannibal, “Ko No Mono.” First of all, while I was wrong about Graham being reborn as a dyed-in-the-wool killer (thank god), he has/is undergone a rebirth and transformation, made explicitly clear in the opening scene in which he emerges from an amniotic sac. We also returned to Graham’s feelings of paternal love and loss for Abigail Hobbs. And we had Mason’s endless talk about his Papa, his legacy, and breeding.

But most of all this metaphor or symbolism frames the actual baby on board Margot, courtesy of Graham. Graham expresses his conflicted feelings (“I’m so preoccupied with taking a life, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around making one”) to Hannibal, who repeats his conclusion about Graham’s transformation into a killer, “When men become fathers, they undergo biochemical changes that affect the way they think.”

Although it was revealed that Graham didn’t kill Freddie Lounds, he has still tried to kill (Hannibal) and he has killed (Randall), so he’s not entirely the same man he was in Season 1. In fact, he’s far away from that man, and as a result, the pride that we’re seeing in Hannibal is deserved. What is interesting, however, is Crawford’s role in devising this plan to “lure” Hannibal.

We learned last episode that Crawford has doubts (though he wasn’t entirely honest with Hannibal when he told him what those doubts are), but one thing he’s sure of is that he can’t allow Graham to just kill anyone at will — not even Hannibal. Step one in catching Hannibal is putting Graham under Hannibal’s tutelage, allowing him to believe that Graham is transforming. Step two is faking Lounds’ death and Graham telling Hannibal that he felt “euphoric” when he killed her. Finding out what Step three is something to anticipate.

Continuing with the family theme, Graham (despite being an expecting father himself) seems to have two paternal figures: Hannibal, teaching him a trade and passing down a skill (if serial killing can be considered a skill), and Crawford, putting an end to erratic behavior and poor judgment, and enforcing a righteous and moral code.

One of the episodes most disturbing scenes was Mason’s enforced abortion for his sister, Margot. Again, this seems to be a paternal act, or the completion of their actual father’s last will to not give inheritance to Margot. I’d actually like to know more about this man and in what world he imagined the family business and legacy would be in better hands under Mason’s care than Margot’s.

Mason’s behavior, which seems to be torn from Greek Mythology, didn’t end at the abortion; he went a step further to have Margot’s reproductive organs removed, ensuring that she could never “inherit” the Verger business. (As a side, I couldn’t help but notice the red surgical shmocks and masks, which conjured visions of Katharine Isabelle in the Soska sister’s American Mary.)

And let’s not forget that in aborting Margot’s fetus Mason also aborted Graham’s fetus. I’d like to think that any man would do what Graham did, which was to pay a visit to Mason. Unfortunately, that’s all he did. In a just world we’d be permitted the ultimate act of vengeance without consequence, right? But that’s not what happened, despite Mason’s masterfully delivered arrogance and snarkiness (and hilarity), “You must be the baby daddy. Excuse me if I don’t offer you a cigar.”

But Graham did hit him, yay! Then Mason said that he was going to feed Graham to his pigs, but Graham was quick to neutralize the situation by telling Mason that the only thing the three of them (Mason, Margot, and Graham) have in common is the same psychiatrist. In not so many words, Graham makes it clear to Mason that Hannibal has
coordinated this whole situation and makes the strong suggestion that it’s Hannibal who should be fed to the pigs.

Even with Crawford putting the brakes on Graham, preventing him from killing Hannibal directly, the suggestion Graham makes to Mason was the second instance in this episode
where he put the bulls eye on Hannibal. The first time was when Bloom questioned Graham’s intentions; Graham literally put a gun in Bloom’s hand and told her to go to the range and not to be afraid of using it.

Odds and ends:

-“No, not that one” – as Mason considers life stories to speak of in his therapy session with Hannibal
-Mason literally drinks the tears of children
-Bloom’s outrage at Crawford was epic, saying everything we’ve been thinking of his case up to that point
–Star Wars moment? – “Your design is evolving. Your choices affect the physical structures of your brain”
-It’s a lovely romance between Graham and Hannibal: “…to fuel your radiance, just as the source of light is burning”
-The point about Freddie Lounds’ journalistic integrity was beaten to death — enough already
-“I always thought men were an optional extra in child rearing… I’m not opposed to a male influence, as long as it’s not my brother, he’s not good with children”
-“Hannibal is good enough for you”
-Graham, “What god do you pray to?”; Hannibal, “I don’t pray. I have not bothered by any considerations of deity, other than to recognize how my own modest actions pale beside those of god.”
-Curious, Hannibal’s hyper sense of smell was learned in Season 1, and he was able to smell the carbon residue on Bloom’s hand in this episode, yet he’s unable to smell that Freddie’s body has been substituted.

Rock Hard \m/

If you’re having doubts about another season of Hannibal, then this breaking news update coming directly from NBC will definitely put you at ease today and in the upcoming months.

Get ready for another round at the diner table with the cast of Hannibal, because on Friday NBC officially announced a Season 3, which will most likely be a 13-episode order like the first two seasons. Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller, who created a number of other critically acclaimed television series, also confirmed a third season to his loyal fans on Twitter.

Fuller tweeted:

Raise your hands if you’re excited about Hannibal Season 3 #HannibalRenewed #FannibalsRising

He confirmed the news before the eleven11th episode of Season 2 that aired last night on NBC. It’s also fair to say that the Shiva-stag that appeared during the episode also approves of the announcement.

Check out the Shiva image Fuller posted right below.

If last week’s episode, “Shiizakana,” was about Graham accepting his animal instincts (i.e., becoming a monstrous killer), then this week’s “Naka-Choko” was about Graham being that animal.

As a show, Hannibal operates like locks on a river; it builds and builds its story and the suspense, and it then eases away from the tension to let the muddy water stand. It can be annoying since it leads to some useless episodes. “Naka-Choko” was hardly useless, because it gave us the opportunity to see Margot a little more intimately (both figuratively and literally) and to meet her brother, Mason.

The opening scene was the same as the closing scene last week, only from a different perspective, and more complete. We know it was Randall in his mechanical beast getup, but what Graham saw was Hannibal as a stag; as he was beating Randall, the stag turned into Hannibal, and once he was dead the body Graham saw was Abigail Hobbs’. I’m surprised it wasn’t himself that he saw as a dead body since he’s all but killed that part of himself to embrace his new animal. Maybe the writers thought of that, but decided that it was a bit too similar to Luke’s experience in the Dagobah System.

The relationship between Graham and Hannibal is clearly one of student and mentor, despite Graham’s proclamation that he is of his own volition. They’re also lovers of sorts, an aspect of their relationship that was strengthened through the imagined threesome between Graham, Hannibal, and Bloom. However you want to describe their relationship, there’s a shared affection between them, an affection that is shown through Hannibal’s desire for Graham to feel intimately connected to his murders by killing with his hands, Hannibal helping Graham clean up after killing Randall, Hannibal and Graham’s declaration of understanding the nature of their relationship, the intimate dinner that they prepare together, the communion of human flesh, and their collaborative lie to Crawford.

The intimacy of their relationship makes for an interesting contrast to the words of wisdom Hannibal gives to Margot in this episode: “In love you take leave of your senses, but in hatred you must be present to calculate your actions.” Of course, in his advice to her he goes on to tell her to allow herself to hate her brother so that she can kill him. However, in the greater scope, Hannibal is betraying himself by allowing himself to “love” Graham; he’s letting his guard down, which may be detrimental to his second life.

Urging Margot to kill her brother wasn’t the only topic of discussion; they also spoke of legacy. Upon hearing Margot say that she doesn’t get a legacy, he tells her that what “shapes us as human beings is the desire to leave a legacy,” and that she must make her own if she desires to leave one. What will Hannibal’s legacy be? Obviously one of being a cannibalistic serial killer, but what else? Perhaps mentoring countless other killers, and then killing them. Perhaps being a mastermind hiding in plain sight.

If you’ve been paying attention, then you know that Margot and the rest of the Verger family are a livestock empire. This partially accounts for Margot’s inability to kill Mason, because of a stipulation in her father’s will that says she won’t inherit the empire if her brother dies. That, and according to Hannibal, she still loves the disturbed bastard, masterfully played by Michael Pitt (Funny Games).

Now, Mason has spent his life torturing and tormenting his sister, but what he’s doing now is so messed up that Charles Manson would be impressed. He’s breeding pigs to feast on living people, and the most interesting thing he says is calling Hannibal a pig… well, not in so many words, but a pig just the same. What he says, exactly, as he explains himself to Margot is, “any pig will eat a dead man, but to get him to eat a live one… some education is required”

And let us not forget dearly departed Freddie, who told Graham that she didn’t believe Dr. Chilton was the Chesapeake Ripper, went snooping around Graham’s farm, found the mechanical beast getup and some body parts in a freezer… and then Graham found her and called her a pig.

Odds and ends:

-”Even Steven” — because it’s still funny.
-Hannibal: “It’s the prospect of death that drives us to greatness.”
-Hannibal: “Did you fantasize you were killing me?”
-Graham: “I never felt as alive as I did when I was killing him.”
-Mason named his pet pig Pavlov.
-Margot: “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” — um, yes please.
-Freddie: “Maybe what Will understands is that if you can’t beat Hannibal Lector, join him.”
-Hannibal: -“I can’t tell you what Margot and I talk about, fortunately for you I can’t tell anyone.”

Rock Hard \m/