Ricky Church reviews the twelfth episode of Hannibal season 3…
Let me preface with this: I’ve read Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I’ve seen Manhunter and have watched Red Dragon several times. Now that that’s out of the way… what the hell did I just see?!
Don’t misunderstand; this was an outstanding episode. Even knowing what was going to happen, the episode was wracked with a tremendous amount of tension due to the great performances by the whole cast, but most notably Richard Armitage and Raul Esparza. As Hannibal’s penultimate episode ‘The Number of The Beast is 666’ may prove to be Hannibal’s best.
Restraint was something all the characters lacked in this episode. From the very beginning, everyone was voicing their opinions with no filter. Will was particularly blunt to Jack when he told him how glad he must be not have asked Will to act as bait, thereby removing any blame from himself. Everyone was unrestrained with their feelings, yet funny enough the most honest character was probably Hannibal Lecter as he amusingly chided Jack and Alana for their role in poor Chilton’s situation; they both knew what they were doing whether they liked to admit it or not and knew there were ways to prevent Chilton from being hurt. They only chose him because he was an easy scapegoat and an acceptable casualty.
Bedelia was likewise just as honest with Will. While she didn’t admonish him the way Hannibal had the others, she realized he subconsciously targeted Chilton for attack rather than himself. Whether he did it to keep himself safe or because he was curious to see if Francis would take the bait is the question he needs to ask himself, but it is quite telling how much Will has slipped back into his dangerous mindsets, especially after being tampered with by Hannibal for so long. It was a very nice callback to this season’s premiere when Bedelia told Will he was responsible through ‘participation’, a distinction Hannibal made clear to her when she thought she was merely observing. It was also a nice thematic tie-in to Bedelia’s metaphor about what to do if Will came across an injured bird: save it or crush it out of its misery.
As for Frederick Chilton himself… man, this guy cannot catch a break! It seemed early on in this episode Hannibal would replace Freddie Lounds’ fate in the novel and films with Chilton instead. Part of me wishes Bryan Fuller had kept to the original story and have Freddie kidnapped so she would be given a bit more to do, but Chilton was also quite a good substitution. As stated above, the hostage sequence was quite intense largely due to Armitage and Esparza’s performances. Armitage gave quite a different performance of Francis in this scene than Tom Noonan or Ralph Fiennes did in their respective films, coming off as much more monstrous and animalistic than his predecessors.
As for Esparza, his fear was extremely palpable despite being stuck to a chair and limited to only a few lines throughout this sequence. The tension grew as the scene deviated from the source material by having Reba show up briefly. Even though she didn’t react, it almost seemed like she knew someone else was there or at the very least something was off. It seemed for a moment Hannibal would take a bigger deviation by letting Reba discover what Francis was then and there.
As for that moment… Like I said, having read the book and watched the previous films, Francis biting Chilton’s lips off was no surprise, yet it also was quite shocking as Hannibal was very explicit showing the act. In Manhunter and Red Dragon the act was more implied than shown, limiting the amount of blood. Fuller, however, went all out by showing Francis tear Chilton’s lips off, even adding a grotesque close up immediately after and again later on. Those few shots probably rival last season’s gory moment of Mason Verger cutting his face off.
This was a phenomenal episode of Hannibal and stands as a testament to what makes this show great. Much like its characters, ‘The Number of The Beast is 666’ was unrestrained, showing fans more of what has made it so unique throughout the entire series. It had excellent themes, character development, gore and dark humour (the visual of Hannibal quickly swallowing one of Chilton’s lips was very memorable). It’s bittersweet to think this is its penultimate episode, but with luck Fuller and company can deliver a worthy finale next week in ‘Wrath of the Lamb’.
Ricky Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=8k_v0cVxqEY
Originally published August 21, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
