Ok, so lets just address the elephant in the room right off shall we? You see, this week’s episode was supposed to air, but unfortunately, due to sensitive subject matter in the episode, it was pulled. The episode was about a character played by Molly Shannon who was brain washing children into killing other children. Due to the recent school shootings here in America, it would probably be in bad taste to air the episode. Whether I believe this was a good move or not is irrelevant; the most important thing to remember is that this happened and we may need a little time to get past it. It will be aired in other countries and has only been pulled in the United States. This controversial episode would more than likely put Will Graham in the shoes of the children and show him killing them, that in itself would be hard to watch. Regardless, I was worried that pulling this episode would cause a continuity issue. As it would seem, we are getting a different serial killer each week with a little bit of the main narrative of Hannibal consulting with Will and Abigail Hobbs interaction with Hannibal as well. Bryan Fuller, the creator of the show understood that concern and released six webisodes on NBC.com and YouTube that cut the episode down to the bare minimum. It didn’t show the case, it only showed the character development for each of the main cast. This was a smart move. However, pulling an episode could lead to viewer disinterest, which could lead to cancellation. It was pretty much a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. With that said the webisodes were actually very interesting.
Each webisode was about three and a half minutes long, altogether being at least 21 minutes. It might seem that they are dedicating little to the main narrative of the story, but considering each episode is at least 43 minutes long that means almost half of the episode was dedicated to the main storyline. I loved how manipulative Hannibal is in this episode. I believe he sees how much Abigail is like his sister Mischa, which, if you have read the books, you know what happened to her. He wants to take care of her, because he feels a deep connection to her and if that means breaking a few rules, so be it. However I could also see him seeing her as a daughter, as he has never had his own. Will also sees her as a daughter and together the two are her father but they are trying to raise her very differently. I think these webisodes definatley have somewhat homosexual undertones to them when it comes to Will and Hannibal’s relationship. Some would see a bromance, but maybe its more than that. I don’t think it is a literal homosexual relationship and I feel neither have a deep romantic connection to one another, but it is more metaphorical seeing how they fight, how they are raising this daughter, one who is the strict figure and the other is the best friend father figure. I find this interesting and I hope it continues throughout the show, it will be cool to see how it develops further.
Overall I think this was one of the best episodes in terms of story, and the theme of the episode appears to be children and raising a family and what the proper way to do it is. This would coincide with the parts that were cut out of the episode about the literal children. The character development was fantastic and it will be fun to see how it plays out through the rest of the series. We finally see a shot of Jack Crawford’s wife and it makes me hopeful that this will start his own character arc in the story that I have been waiting for since the story started. I give Hannibal: Ceuf Webisodes 10 father figures out of 10.
—Coty
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