Thomas Harris also tries to paint Hannibal as a deeply traumatized child in Hannibal Rising, a narrative which no one was particularly crazy about. Still, I view that rationale as fair enough, as maybe those events could what tilted Hannibal over to being a violent cannibal, but I firmly believe he would nonetheless…

Thanks! I totally agree that Dexter is perfectly in line with what we are talking about, and also that there are some key differences between the characters that allow Dexter to be more successful than Hannibal in establishing human connection.

It depends on whose nomenclature you go by—the terms are often used interchangeablely, with some researchers (http://www.deviantcrimes.co… arguing that the term 'sociopath' means someone who wasn't *innately* psycho/sociopathic at birth but they are socialized into it. This distinction would 'sociopaths' in line with…

Thanks man, I enjoyed your comment too. I'm excited to see how they handle Verger next season as well…that's probably going to provide even more nightmare fuel than watching Gideon vivisect Chilton! I am hopeful that Fuller can make the material from 'Hannibal' more interesting in execution, as so many Harris fans…

This show is so psychological, with so many themes lying just beneath the surface without ever being fully articulated. I'm really glad it exists.

Counter-opinion: A Serious Man is one their absolute best.

I view the first season of this show as the story of Hannibal reaching out for human connection that he can never understand.

Not necessarily, most of those kills were thought to be accidents until Will figured them out, and they were also done over the course of a lifetime. It's not just the fact that Dolarhyde kills these families but the fact that the press gets wind of it and hypes it up so much that puts the pressure on Crawford.

It's premature to know for sure but I suspect Gillian Anderson's character will have that distinction.

They had a solid chemistry going on at the beginning of this  clip, it really didn't have to turn out this way if they were even semi-competent interviewers. 4:40's where it starts to go wrong.

The problem with this assertion is that "someone so utterly inhuman and disconnected…that the best and perhaps only way to appreciate him is as some indefinable other"is exactly what a true ("primary") psychopath is. Psychopaths do feel 'some sort of empathy' and use it to manipulate the hell out of people.

Glad to see Millennium getting its due, I didn't see your post before putting up mine. Too true. I was also disappointed Todd didn't mention it in this review.

That's always been a deliberate aspect of Harris's art, from the very first murder scene laid out in Red Dragon. Remember this scene from Silence of the Lambs? (NSFW) http://www.visualsoc.net/wp…

In addition to Homicide, the show Millennium was at its best a similarly brilliant portrayal of the existential torment of a life immersed in murder. Lance Henriksen's depiction of Frank Black was similarly masterful to Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelson's work, and it's so fitting that Henriksen had the opportunity to…

In contrast to what Todd said, I would strongly argue that Hannibal is the very definition of an intelligent/successful psychopath. Having the capacity to empathize with others is in fact a great skill of all psychopaths, one they use to their advantage to manipulate people routinely. And oh how Hannibal does that. He…

hear hear

I'd be careful about calling it sympathy…it's more insight and psychopathic manipulation. He is a puppetmaster that enjoys playing God as he alludes to countless times in the series. Don't forget he tipped off Hobbs, predicting Hobbs would kill his family and force Will to kill him, which Hannibal knew would tip Will…

This show is excellent, but Millennium pushed past those boundaries years before.

The characters in Promethus are idiots and their behavior is seemingly random, and the nature of the monsters or whatever in Prometheus is incoherent. Its is on par with the worst of those movies like AvP 2 for anyone trying to get any scifi enjoyment out of it. I think Alien Resurrection was much more enjoyable even…

yeah that's a trick only david simon can really pull off