“Hannibal” never should’ve worked on broadcast television.
When it premiered a decade ago on April 4, 2013, NBC’s take on Hannibal Lecter (masterfully played by Mads Mikkelsen) must have been Standards and Practices’ worst nightmare.
Each episode presented audiences with brutal, blood-drenched killings that were artfully rendered, as if they were paintings sprawled across the ceilings of cathedrals. Bodies were skinned to look like angels, mounted like deer antlers, fertilized as flower beds, hollowed out as human beehives. Creator Bryan Fuller and his executive producer, the late Martha De Laurentiis, repeatedly redrew the line for how much blood could be spilled on TV before your local news aired at 11 p.m.
For good measure, “Hannibal” also set the standard for exquisitely filmed culinary creations that looked good enough to eat –– until you remembered where the chef was sourcing his meat.
Looking back, the boundary-pushing series was far better suited for HBO, or a cable network like FX or AMC. Streaming might have taken a chance on the built-in IP from Thomas Harris’ novels, but Netflix had only just premiered its first original series, “House of Cards,” two months earlier. The concept of a streaming service was still in its infancy.
And yet, “Hannibal” managed to survive three perfectly portioned seasons on broadcast — a lot longer than most of its characters.
At its core was the emotionally charged relationship between gifted FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Mikkelsen‘s distinctive Hannibal, a serial killer and cannibal who serves as Will’s therapist before slowly inducting him into his murderous worldview. Attempting to wrangle Will’s fragile mental state are his boss, Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), and his friend Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas), an FBI psychiatrist..
The series never attracted the attention of the Television Academy for Emmys, nor did it set Nielsen ratings aflame. But it cultivated a devoted fanbase, known as Fannibals, who still beat the drum for a revival long after the series finale ended with a bloodied embrace and a cliff dive.
In honor of its 10th anniversary, we’ve ranked “Hannibal’s’ 13 best episodes, which is no easy endeavor for a show crafted with the precision of a scalpel. Like any good meal, this ranking is guided by the palette, and may vary by reader.
“Antipasto” (Season 3, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Hannibal on holiday is an enticing palette cleanser after the bloodbath that is the Season 2 finale (we’ll get there). Season 3 of “Hannibal” will be a lot of things –– the arrival of the Red Dragon, the tug-of-war between Hannibal and Will, the vengeance of Alana and the end of the series. But this first taste in the premiere, with Hannibal having fled to Paris with his captive former therapist Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), is a confident mood setter. Against the lavish French scenery, watching Hannibal make no pains to hide the decadent monster he is in front of the traumatized Bedelia is riveting. The moment she realizes she’s being fed foods that will make her taste better –– whether as a threat or a promise –– will chill you to your core.
“Futamono” (Season 2, Episode 6)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Nothing sounds more threatening in Hannibal’s world than a dinner party, especially when you aren’t sure if the food on the plate once had a Social Security number. Jack isn’t convinced that Will’s rantings about Hannibal’s cannibalistic nature are true. But he’s skeptical enough to test what he’s being served. Naturally, it comes back as traditional farm-to-table meat, and that’s because the real dinner is being saved for a special guest –– Dr. Abel Gideon (Eddie Izzard), a conniving killer Hannibal kidnaps in order to silence. He will be served a last supper, his own leg, before the hour is up.
“The Number of the Beast Is 666” (Season 3, Episode 12)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Season 3 adapts the Red Dragon storyline from Harris’ books on its own terms, but one thing remains intact –– a sequence in which a baited “The Tooth Fairy” killer Francis Dolarhyde (Richard Armitage) kidnaps a poor soul to whom he rants to about his killings before biting off his victim’s lips and burning him alive. It’s a prolonged sequence that’s not easy to watch, but its unforgiving cruelty shows the threat Will and company face ahead of the series finale. The entire arc is a great showcase for Rutina Wesley as Dolarhyde’s human obsession, Reba. But perhaps more than anything, the anger that fuels the episode teases the untapped wrath within Will that will soon rear its head.
“Apéritif” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Pilot episodes often stumble under the weight of expository world building, and “Hannibal’s” pilot is not perfect. But it is incredibly effective in casting a villainous icon of the big screen in a new light. The opening sequence leans heavily on Will’s keen ability to literally step into the minds of killers, putting the show’s unique procedural POV front and center. But it also primes the audience to understand their hero’s fraught mind before ever putting him in the path of his eventual friend, foe, partner, mentor and everything else Hannibal will play for him. “Hannibal” doesn’t waste a second telling viewers it is not for the weak stomached or faint hearted with its rich and unforgiving visual style. Plus, no show churns out striking serial killer nicknames like this one. The pilot alone gives us The Minnesota Shrike” and “The Chesapeake Ripper.”
“Fromage” (Season 1, Episode 8)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Considering all it would become, it’s easy to forget “Hannibal” began as a killer-of-the-week procedural. That framework was deployed less and less by Season 2, but “Fromage” was when it was at its best and weirdest. A killer who cuts open his victim’s throat and inserted a cello neck in through his mouth to be played for an audience of one. It’s silly and unnecessarily grotesque, but it’s all a means to an end. The killer wants Hannibal’s attention, and he gets it, eventually coming to blows with the therapist in his office — a tussle the victorious Hannibal uses as cover to kill one of his own patients who annoys him.
“Savoureux” (Season 1, Episode 13)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Finales will be a common theme in this list, and the Season 1 ender returns to the scene of the crime (literally) as Will’s sanity hangs in the balance. Hannibal’s manipulations and the stress of everything that has happened since killing Garret Jacob Hobbs (Vladimir Jon Cubrt) in the pilot has left Will with dementia-like episodes. His latest is so severe he coughs up an ear, for real. He’s convinced he killed and ate Abigail (Kacey Rohl), Hobbs’ daughter whom Will and Hannibal have come to protect and, in the latter’s case, influence. While this finale is not as grand as its successors, it does stand as the first time Will’s mental instability gives way to the clarity of Hannibal for who he is –– something that repulses and intrigues the fragile hero.
“Mukōzuke'' (Season 2, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC The FBI lost a lot of agents in the course of Hannibal’s tenure, from consultant to target. But none stung or shocked more than the demise of Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park), who is found vertically vivisected and displayed in nauseating fashion. The loss comes in the middle of Will’s imprisonment, but that doesn’t stop him from visiting the crime scene at Jack’s behest, like so many times before. Only this time, he’s in a straitjacket and restrained to a standing wheelchair with a bite guard and an armed escort. It might seem overkill, but Will proves he’s capable of anything when he enlists a deranged orderly (Jonathan Tucker) to try to assassinate Hannibal.
“Contorno” (Season 3, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Hannibals unfailing streak of evading suspicion and capture finally comes to an end in this exceptionally satisfying Season 3 installment. After he manages to avoid being sold to meat-packaging heir and self-mutilating sadist Mason Verger (Joe Anderson), Hannibal believes he is in the clear. Until a vengeful Jack shows up and brutally beats up his former ally, reminding Hannibal and the audience that he is what he eats after all — human. Hannibal survives Jack’s best attempt to finish him off, but it was a worthy rematch following their Season 2 finale bout that left Jack on death’s door (more on that later).
“Entrée” (Season 1, Episode 6)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC This episode marks the arrival of three essential characters in the mythology of “Hannibal” the series. First, there’s the pitch-perfect casting of Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”) as Miriam Lass — an FBI trainee bearing shades of Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling — who disappeared years earlier while investigating the Chesapeake Ripper’s killings. She was the first to make the connection to Hannibal and paid the price for it, or so it seems. Then there’s the odd couple of Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raúl Esparza), and his murderous psychiatric inmate Dr. Abel Gideon (the aforementioned Eddie Izzard). All three become important prongs in Hannibal’s evasive game through Season 2, none of which would be possible without their stellar introduction to the board.
“Digestivo” (Season 3, Episode 7)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Conversations about cannibalism were always going to be on the menu for “Hannibal,” and Mason Verger doesn’t play coy when he finally gets his hands on Will and Hannibal. He’s going to cut off Will’s face and wear it while he eats Hannibal. Some people just have to outdo everyone, don’t they? Fortunately, Alana’s bad streak has put her in the orbit of the Vergers, and she brokers a deal with a caged Hannibal to free him, save Will and kill Mason. There’s also the messy business of a pig surrogate for a human baby, and a quest to preserve Mason’s sperm that’s too convoluted to explain. Ultimately, all Mason eats is a mouthful of his pet eel, and Hannibal and Will make it back to the United States just in time for Hannibal to surrender and take his turn behind the signature mask.
“Yakimono” (Season 2, Episode 7)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC This is the perfect example of the show’s long-game storytelling paying off in spades. First spun in “Entrée,” the threads of long-lost Miriam (who is shockingly discovered alive at the end of “Futamono”), Chilton and Gideon all converge in dramatic fashion. The miraculous rescue of Miriam may ease Jack’s guilt over her mysterious disappearance, but it turns out her kidnapper, Hannibal, has brainwashed her to falsely identify Chilton as the Ripper. He has also planted the mutilated bodies of Gideon and a few FBI agents in Chilton’s home for added confirmation. By the end, what began as divergent stories a season earlier collide in an expertly executed twist. But the episodes final note is one of poetic tragedy. Miriam is finally free of her captor, but she’s so overcome at the mere sight of Chilton that she shoots him in the face in front of Jack –– an action that will likely rob her of any return to normalcy.
“The Wrath of the Lamb” (Season 3, Episode 13)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC The inciting incident of the series finale finds Dolarhyde faking his death as a means of freeing Hannibal from his luxurious prison cell so he can kill him and Will. Tracking them to Hannibal’s conveniently remote cliffside house, he takes his best shot. But even with the various stab and gunshot wounds between them, Hannibal and Will come together to hunt their prey in unison, viciously murdering Dolarhyde with both a knife and teeth. It is a moment three seasons in the making, and one they celebrate by embracing cliffside. “This is all I have ever wanted for you, Will,” Hannibal says. “For both of us.” Will grins through his blood-stained teeth to speak the series’ final two words: “It’s beautiful.” Then, they tumble over the edge, together in death or in a next chapter we won’t see.
“Mizumono” (Season 2, Episode 13)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC If you don’t go into the Season 2 finale with an elevated heart rate, you clearly haven’t been watching. “Hannibal” always understood how to build an almost unbearable tension, and this episode cuts into it as effectively as Hannibal in the kitchen. No one believed this man would go quietly when the time came, but who could have predicted the season’s final course? Jack’s inevitable smackdown with Hannibal (we will never open the refrigerator door the same way again!) ends with him profusely bleeding out in a wine cellar. Alana’s attempt at intervening fails when she’s thrown from a second-story window by resurfaced Hannibal acolyte Abigail. But what of Will?
Much has been made about the sexual tension between Hannibal and Will, and this masterpiece of an episode plainly spells out what they mean to each other. “I let you know me, see me,” Hannibal confesses to Will after he crudely cuts open his stomach. “I gave you a rare gift, but you didn’t want it.” The two never consummated their relationship, nor did they have to. For both, there is nothing more intimate than a companionship blessed in blood. Something we watch come true in the aforementioned series finale. But Will isn’t ready to see what Hannibal sees in him. Instead, in this captivating climax, Hannibal is no more than a lethal man betrayed by the person he loves most. For all the gruesome artistry and luxurious dinners the show cooked up over three seasons, this episode proved Will and Hannibal’s relationship was always its most flavorful dish.