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A while back I thought, “I really want to rewatch (X Show) with some people.” That idea grew into this “TV Club,” where together we watch old seasons of good shows as chosen by your fellow goons. Every month, we’ll talk about the assigned episodes, and at the end of the month vote on what to watch next. First up: Hannibal Season 1 Bryan Fuller’s hosed-up masterpiece. I’ve never been a fan of horror, and this show crosses the line too many times to count, but there’s always been something deeply fascinating about this show beneath the gore. Hell, the gore even works as part of this intense, morbid atmosphere where every mutilation is treated a work of art. Viewer discretion is obviously advised here, though I’m pretty squeamish and managed to get through it. It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime in the US and Netflix in the UK. We’ll be watching at a pace of 3-4 episodes a week, starting Sunday, June 2nd. So, the schedule will look like this: June 2-June 8: Episodes 1-3 June 9-June 15: Episodes 4-6 (Episode 4 was never aired on television, so there’s an extra treat for some of you) June 16-June 22: Episodes 7-9 June 23-June 29: Episodes 10-13 Spoiler Policy: I understand that the intended purpose of this is a rewatch, so I won’t prohibit spoilers, but I ask that you tag anything we haven’t covered yet just in case we get any new viewers. Future Shows: We haven’t determined what we’re going to watch next yet, but here’s some suggestions we’ve gotten so far: Person of Interest The Wire Justified Oz The Shield Under the Dome (Pretty sure this was a joke suggestion but there might be some merit in at least one hatewatch, lol) Feel free to suggest some other shows if you have any ideas! This is the first time we’ve done this so there might be some kinks to work out, but I hope this goes well. Happy watching!
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May 19, 2019 19:40
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 15:22 |
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Gonna reserve this post just in case
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May 19, 2019 19:45
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We'd definitely at least have the option of going straight to Season 2, I think. I don't want us to get forced into watching entire series for a few months back-to-back if the thread isn't up for it, though, so I'd probably still do votes month by month.
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May 19, 2019 22:13
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I want people to be able to do this on their own schedules, but I'm looking into the potential of some good old-fashioned  -ing. We could do it in here or in the Discord, whichever works better.
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May 23, 2019 16:28
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We're starting this tomorrow, and I'm glad to see a decent amount of interest. I'm still working out some details, but I'm excited to see this series again with fresh eyes (though I'm also kind of dreading it, lol). I'll try to watch these before everyone else in the future so I can gather my own thoughts as a sort of guide, if that's desirable, or people can try to steer the conversation themselves. We're starting with Episode 1: Aperitif. For those of you who want to watch that episode and react with your fellow goons, we'll watch that episode tomorrow at 8 EDT in the Discord, if that works.
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Jun 1, 2019 22:40
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Arist posted:For those of you who want to watch that episode and react with your fellow goons, we'll watch that episode tomorrow at 8 EDT in the Discord, if that works. I almost forgot about this! I don't know if anyone is ready yet, but I'm gonna watch episode 1 in fifteen minutes or so and people are happy to come into the Discord if they want to.
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Jun 3, 2019 00:50
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Wrote up some thoughts on this episode: Episode 1: Aperitif Hannibal is a show I kind of dread, and in some ways that’s really the attitude it wanted from me. It’s a show I had to watch weekly, had to watch live for almost every episode because I knew that watching it time-shifted, in a scenario where I controlled the pace, I would probably never be able to get through the episodes. And while this first episode is honestly downright tame in comparison to some of the later offerings in terms of pure gore, it certainly brings that dread. There’s the immediate brutality from Will’s recounting of a home invasion that starts the episode (in what must be the most uncomfortable FBI academy class ever), followed by the desperate horror of the wife’s paralysis from a shot to the neck. There’s the looming, oppressive bass hums on shots of blood and bodies. There’s pretty much any time Hannibal is on screen, the show not even pretending to hide the monster just under the refined surface. Lecter doesn’t actually show up until halfway through the episode, and it’s a credit to the show that his presence isn’t rushed and he isn’t missed before then. He is the gravitational center around which the show orbits, but the show feels compelling even before he enters our perception. Lecter is immediately captivating, in no small part thanks to Mads Mikkelsen’s incredible gravitas. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role these days. A lesser show might have tried to hide just what Lecter is for at least the first episode, but Hannibal knows why people are here, and relishes in scenes of people not realizing just what they’re looking at. The first two things we see Hannibal do are eat (which you probably shouldn’t do when you watch this show), and stare ominously as his oafish patient Franklin drops a used tissue on his table. Those scenes with Franklin and Jack Crawford maybe err a bit too far on the side of cute winks to the audience, but they add to that constant dread. It’s like watching some idiot teenager make a bad decision in a slasher movie; you can only look on, powerless to help or do anything but make futile yells for them to do something else. What I was really surprised about when I watched this again for the first time was that Lecter wasn’t just that superior figure, that shark in the pool of fish no one seems to notice, but that there was this sense of petulance to the character. He utterly refuses to accept anyone else as a full person, and that’s why he barely bothers to hide his identity, confident that no one is as smart as he is. When Will tells Lecter he doesn’t find him that interesting, Lecter responds with a loaded, “You will.” And god forbid he become interested in you, as he does with Will. That relationship, which forms the backbone of the series, all starts in this episode, and it’s fascinating to see knowing where it goes. Will himself is an interesting figure. The scene where he meets Jack after his class is a little perfunctory and obvious, probably the single element that has aged the least well of this whole episode, serving to introduce us to his “disorder.” The show at least tries to present his weird serial killer empathy superpower as something outside of that, but it’s still kind of off. That said, Will is still a compelling character. This episode posits him as someone not deficient, but simply too good at caring in a way that is actively harmful to his overall mental health. He cannot repress his empathy. When he figures out a profile for the Minnesota Shrike, there’s a sense of rage in Hugh Dancy’s performance, sure, but also a hint of sadness, of betrayal and loss. He adopts lost dogs in his spare time and names them cute things like Winston. He’s hard not to like even as we watch him choke out an innocent woman in his imagination. Finally, we see the show’s recurrent motif of antlers for the first time here as well. The antlers in the wounds to promote healing, the women mounted on antlers, and dreams of stags. The stag is a noble, majestic creature, but it’s still just meat for the wolf.
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Jun 4, 2019 01:01
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I wanna do the second episode tomorrow but I have no idea when I'll be available that afternoon, sorry.
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Jun 4, 2019 22:03
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“Killing must feel good to God too, he does it all the time. And are we not created in his image?” Episode 2: Amuse-Bouche This one’s not really much to talk about in its own right, being mostly fallout and setup. We’re introduced to Freddie Lounds, who’s so terrible she wraps back around to great (not the only character in this show who’ll be guilty of that), we get started on some running plotlines, and elements of the first episode are repeated and elaborated upon. The biggest “event” of this episode will probably be Hannibal becoming Will’s therapist, which will have repercussions that will reverberate until the end of the show. He rubber-stamps Will’s psych evaluation out of a stated desire to clear the air for more productive conversation, but he’s clearly just excited to have a new toy to play with. Hannibal’s incredibly leading conversations with Will give him (and through him, us) the impression that killing Garret Jacob Hobbs in the last episode felt good and just and powerful. It made him feel like God. And that leads to the obvious connection here: Did it make Will feel how Hannibal must feel all the time? Like an omnipotent figure, smirking while looking down on the peons below? Speaking of how Hannibal sees people, what possibly inspired him to let Freddie live after committing numerous heinous breaches of etiquette? At this point it feels like a bit of an inconsistency for the sake of a hilarious fake-out where we’re meant to assume Hannibal has fed her to Jack, as well as keeping a character who will remain important later alive, but even if it’s not explained later it’s intriguing to consider what Hannibal deems worthy of death. Does he recognize a fellow snake in his midst, or perhaps does he see another tool with which to turn the screws on poor Will? Anyway, the killer of the week this time is a man trying to form “connections” by putting his victims into diabetic comas and turning them into mushroom food. It’s honestly not terribly well explained, which is a shame. When I came up with TV Club, I wanted to do procedurals because they are a quintessentially, uniquely “television” genre, so it’s unfortunate that Hannibal takes a bit to grow into that aspect of itself. It’ll get better, but already the first case kind of overshadows this one, in part because Will had a much more emphatic reaction to it. I’ll close this one by mentioning just how much I’m already enjoying this. We’ve already gotten some real gross-outs with the dude in the garden who was still alive, but even still this show is a treat. The thing I had most forgotten was just how short these episodes feel, like I could watch another half-hour just of characters talking to each other. The endings haven’t been abrupt, just (in search of a better word) “loose” and somewhat "dirty" and unresolved. As someone with depression, pretty significant anxiety, and ADHD, it’s kind of like trying to live and cope with your own messed-up brain. There aren’t answers at the end of the day, there’s no clean ending, there’s just you.
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Jun 7, 2019 20:46
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Antifa Turkeesian posted:Is this something in episode 2? I think I missed it. I think they're watching ahead.
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Jun 8, 2019 13:39
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Watching 103 and Hannibal is such a cheeky motherfucker, god. He's like this weirdo alien tiger lingering in the backdrop of every scene, waiting for an excuse to pounce.
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Jun 11, 2019 00:53
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Knowing what I know about the future of this series, even the characters like Alana, who is elevated by Dhavernas but not really interesting in her own right, become fascinating. Also Abigail is just a low-key unsettling kid. They threaded so many needles casting this series. e: there's a moment in 104 where one of Hannibal's cheeky cannibalism jokes is accompanied by a second-long flashback and scare chord. It's a weird-as-hell moment from a series that usually lets that stuff be (unsubtly) implied. Arist fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jun 12, 2019 |
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Jun 12, 2019 16:35
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I'm catching up and I'm so glad I did because we got Chilton up in this motherfucker, aw drat, best worst character
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Jun 21, 2019 17:49
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Making the poll for the next month, vote for any and all you approve of. We'll have the first option generally be to continue the current show we're watching. Also, we added an ~anime~ to the list at esperterra's behest. If you want to suggest an option, write it in under "Other." https://forms.gle/CzXuobt6qtZ6K96C9
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Jun 25, 2019 01:42
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Told me about it. (I forgot)
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Jun 25, 2019 23:33
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 15:22 |
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I'll update the OP eventually, but since we're moving straight on to Season 2 I'll just say I'm going to abandon the idea of specific weeks because it doesn't make sense when there aren't a consistent four every month. Besides, most people were watching at their own paces anyway.
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Jul 1, 2019 14:36
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