Even better, the show has given me a new appreciation for an old favorite and reminded me what I found compelling about it to begin with. Not only has it been incredibly good and returned Hannibal Lecter to his creepy best, it’s clever use of events referenced as backstory in Red Dragon had me digging out my copy to refresh my memory. I was more than skeptical about the NBC prequel TV series Hannibal, but great reviews and the involvement of Bryan Fuller got me to check it out. Since I felt like Harris was just cashing in and had pretty much ruined Hannibal in the process, I hadn’t felt the urge to revisit Red Dragon or The Silence of the Lambs in some time. So after Thomas Harris and Hollywood ran the character into the ground after the second movie, it’s been years of shaking my head and saying, “Man, nothing’s been the same since Anthony Hopkins gave his Oscar acceptance speech.” Twice! (I’m pretty sure this is the literary equivalent of claiming to have seen a band in a bar with eleven other people long before their first record deal.) Hell, I’m so Hannibal-hip that I’d caught Brian Cox playing him in Michael Mann’s adaptation Manhunter, and I didn’t just see it on VHS like all the other late-comers, I actually saw it in the theater. I’d read this years before the book of The Silence of the Lambs came out and led to the excellent film adaptation that skyrocketed Hannibal to the top of pop culture villains. When it comes to Hannibal Lecter, I’m like one of those music hipster douche bags that everyone hates because I’ll snootily declare that I knew about him long before most people did and that he’s sucked ever since he got really famous. Like him, the murderer is a ruthless hunter, already beginning his search for Will Graham. And in one terrifying respect he is right.
In a chilling race against time, Graham searches desperately after Dolarhyde, always conscious that he and the killer are, at some fundamental level, alike. The killer, Francis Dolarhyde, is a terrible accident of nature, shaped by his early life into a monster. This ability and his forensic skills make him the prime threat to the murderer. Graham’s keen empathy permits him– sometimes forces him – to see the crimes from some haunting points of view. Graham must find him before the moon is full again or another family will die. A ritual murderer has struck twice, killing entire families in two South-eastern cities. He has caught two mass murderers in his FBI career. Will Graham has a fearful gift – a talent for the pursuit of human monsters.
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