I think it absolutely is doing a bit of meta play, but not necessarily relying on having detailed knowledge. I have never seen nor read any of the Hannibal mythos; all I knew going in was that he was a cannibal and that some person called Clarice is pretty important at some point. So I don't think he's necessarily…

Yeah, I have to admit that also the shushing he was doing combined with everything all of you have mentioned…was a thing. That I, um, noticed. I've said to multiple people that I feel a bit evil for liking this show so much and that was definitely the apex of that feeling.

Luckily, Hannibal has enough murderboners to go around.

He's a highly motivated therapist. Really goes above and beyond. I said something like this above, but I think there's a lot of thematic power in how they show us him feeding his victims to these people in his life over and over and over again, usually multiple times per episode: it's an act that's both horrifically…

@avclub-3bca94e353e508c1a49bf984fc5c346d:disqus It makes sense when you connect it to the common thread of death. The source of life, and its end. Hannibal basically spells it out in "Sorbet" (spoilers, I guess): "Oh, but the feast is life, you put the life in your belly and you live." Given Hannibal's mode of putting…

I'm both late and tangential, but I honestly think Sherlock's self-diagnosis is a minor example of unreliable narration. He wants very badly not to care about people, even though it's clearly demonstrated over and over again that he does; I think he's decided he's a sociopath because he finds it comforting to tell…

I was thinking about how they've both played neuroatypical people and whether it's something they talk about. Like, comparing notes about empathy disorders (is this even a real thing?) and bipolar disorder, or comparing Temple Grandin's autism to Will Graham's "closer to the autistic end of the spectrum" hitching…

The Irrelevants were deleted because even pre-2010 Finch knew they made him and anyone else uncomfortable. It was a way of keeping not just the Machine but the people working on and with it focused on the Relevant list, and also a way of sticking his head in the sand. We saw a flashback a while back where Nathan…

I think this was part of the protocol for the "setting free" process. Root really was admin temporarily (remember right before they walk in the door of the huge room where the Machine used to be, you see from the Machine's point of view something like "admin access expired" and Harold gives the camera a knowing look),…

Yeah, I think it definitely had more to do with the emotional damage of perceived rejection by the Machine than it did with what actually happened. That moment when she said, "Where are you? Why won't you talk to me?" She might as well have been talking to a missing spouse.

@disqus_okgItcD0yy:disqus I think it's somewhat utilitarian in that it views people as basically parts of a larger machine (I'm sorry, I really tried to think of another way to phrase it). Some parts are just cogs; some are going to need maintenance (numbers); some parts are levers, pieces that stick out and are used…

Well, some of the things it does by manipulating other people—for example, the whole process of being moved would have been billed to the Secret Government Agency, not to Harold or the machine itself. Since it can basically access any bank it wants, I like to think it's got a fun little Ponzi scheme going on, just…

I know what you mean about the Carter plotline, but I think it was a good choice in terms of connecting the end of this season to the beginning of the first. They've done such a hard reboot (pun unintended but kind if inescapable) with the Machine and its relevant plotlines that the break might be too clean—the kind…

Yup, and one of the worst Irene Adlers of any adaptation I've ever seen. Not Rachel McAdams' fault, just a terrible rendition of the character by the writers.

Me too. It takes me like five full minutes to butter a piece of toast.

WHERE IS MS. HUDSON? I've put her on Clyde Watch. If she's coming and cleaning the brownstone once a week she should be around a little bit. And if they (understandably) don't want to bother showing her in the background or something, they could at least throw in a line or two mentioning her existence so we know they…

Moffat is great at stunts and fireworks, but breaks down when he gets much room to stretch out. One reason is definitely characterization. His work in Sherlock comes off very well, most of the time, because a) he's got a limited amount of time to work in and b) he's mostly working off of established characters that he…

@avclub-13d7df3c17502af69aafccc758195f96:disqus It was also paternalistic because rather than just talk to her about it, he tried to ship her off to Florida. He didn't allow any room for what she might think about it or her ability to make an informed decision for herself. She's seen Moriarty's assassins drop multiple…

Sherlock also did repeatedly try to get Watson to start learning some form of martial arts or self-defense. She turned him down every time, partly because it was a part of a larger campaign to "train" her that was massively inappropriate and crossing all sorts of boundaries, but it's been bugging me that they've never…

I am SO HAPPY that Irene's American. Almost every adaptation makes her British, even though in the books she's from New Jersey. It's not that I have a problem with changing things around with the characters (hi, Joan Watson, hi, Ms. Hudson, love you both), but it tends to go hand in hand with profound misunderstanding…