Hannibal premiered on NBC over 10 years ago and the series has never faded from memory, for good reason. The show brought to life characters from Thomas Harris’ novels, namely Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and the infamous Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). The story of the FBI profiler and serial killer psychiatrist was previously adapted in the movies Manhunter (1986) and Red Dragon (2002) โ Anthony Hopkins reprised his Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs role as Hannibal in the latter. While the performances in the films are highly regarded, Bryan Fuller‘s Hannibal series is arguably the best take on Hannibal and Will’s characters.
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Hannibal was a boundary-pushing network show that expertly intertwined dark humor with drama and horror. It helped that the audience was in on the big secret that Hannibal Lecter is a serial-killing cannibal from the beginning. There’s also no end to the gore, body horror, shocking twists, and unhinged relationships that all lend themselves to rewarding rewatches. The ghastly violence makes sense in a world set on hunting and peeling back the layers of the criminally insane.
Nearly every episode of Hannibal has moments one could squirm at, either in disgust, fright, or a twisted delight. The following episodes stand out as some of the best at getting under your skin, one way or another.
“Amuse-Bouche” (Season 1, Episode 2)
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The first episode of Hannibal immediately introduced viewers to the darkness fans could expect from the network series, but it was the second episode, “Amuse-Bouche,” that affirmed the show’s wonderfully unique grotesque nature (beyond cannibalism and a young woman being impaled on antlers). In this episode, Will and Jack’s team search for a killer who buries his victims alive so that their bodies can fertilize his mushrooms, leading to some haunting imagery.
The visual of the mushroom graveyard is striking, as is the knowledge of the victims slowly decomposing as they are kept temporarily alive as the fungus grows out of them and eats away at their flesh. Besides the deadly mushroom garden, other aspects of the series that are just as dark that fans can’t help but relish are introduced. This is Dr. Lecter’s first time having access to Will during a therapy session where he can privately manipulate the special agent, even getting Will to admit that he liked killing serial murderer Garrett Jacob Hobbs.
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On the one hand, being in the know about Hannibal’s murderous ways and how he’s influencing Will is unnerving, but every part of their cat-and-mouse game (even when Will is unaware that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper) is enjoyable no matter how depraved. “Amuse-Bouche” was also the first instance in which viewers watched Hannibal feed someone human meat โ only the audience and Hannibal were aware of the secret ingredient. In this case, it’s Jack Crawford, and the FBI agent happily and unknowingly chows down on the meal Hannibal has painstakingly prepared. Hannibal’s bleak humor is undeniably gratifying despite its squirminess.
“Coquilles” (Season 1, Episode 5)
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Near the midpoint of Season 1, Hannibal’s manipulation of Will intentionally alienates the profiler away from Jack slowly. This continues throughout the season as Hannibal essentially makes Will solely dependent on Dr. Lecter as a friend, his psychiatrist, and someone he trusts as his health deteriorates. When Will begins to sleepwalk in “Coquilles,” Hannibal is quick to suggest any new symptoms, including his headaches, are entirely based on mental illness. However, we know that Hannibal is aware something physiological is going on with Will, and Lecter is gaslighting him (it’s later revealed that Will has encephalitis).
Of course, besides the continued manipulation and traumatization of Will, this is also the episode with a killer turning people into angels by carving pieces of their flesh and using fishing lines to give them “wings.” He holds up their bodies in prayer positions over where he sleeps, creating angels to watch over him. The fear of dying in one’s sleep, especially if you have a deadly illness, is easy to sympathize with. Still, the killer’s reliance on murder and extreme body horror to find this comfort is intriguingly unsettling.
Back to Will, it’s imperative to remind fans that “Coquilles” contains the scene where Will asks Hannibal, “Did you just smell me?” as he hovers behind Will. It’s a funny moment, but also dreadful. Hannibal has evolutionary traits he could use to help people, such as being able to literally sniff out diseases in people who haven’t yet been diagnosed; instead, his skills are largely only used to serve his tainted curiosity and to cause harm. Additionally, it’s heartbreaking when Will once again needs help โ even telling Jack that profiling the criminally insane is bad for him โ as his condition worsens, but Will is fundamentally abandoned.
“Fromage” (Season 1, Episode 8)
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The Hannibal episode “Fromage” introduced some amazing ingenuity in the show’s signature style as the body of a trombonist is found sitting on a stage with his vocal cords exposed, treated, and playable as he was turned into a human cello. The visuals of the body and Will “playing” the human cello as he digs into the mind of the killer are enough to land this episode on the list, but it’s not the only reason “Fromage” stands out.
In Hannibal’s messed up misunderstanding of what a healthy friendship is, he sends Will to interview a man named Tobias, who owns a string shop in Baltimore. He does this knowing that Tobias is the murderer the FBI is searching for and has essentially put an unaware Will in the position to either die at Tobias’ hands or kill him. Why? Because he wants Will to prove he is worthy of Hannibal’s friendship, and this is how the profiler can do that.
Hannibal has the audacity to be worried about Will when he believes he is dead but is visibly pleased in a rare, honest show of expression by Will’s survival when they reunite after Hannibal has killed Tobias at his office. Again, we know their relationship is beyond unhealthy and unnerving, but the situation being Hannibal’s fault doesn’t make his relief any less palpable.
“Trou Normand” (Season 1, Episode 9)
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The totem pole of bodies on the beach is a striking image from Hannibal, like the world’s grossest jigsaw puzzle. As Jack’s team attempts to piece together clues from the victims that have been collected over time, the symptoms of Will’s encephalitis cause him to lose bigger gaps in time and experience severe hallucinations.
The case of the totem pole killer (played by Lance Henriksen) reaches one of the show’s most disturbing ends when Will and Jack reveal that the man unknowingly murdered his own son as his final victim. The theme of fatherhood extends to Hannibal and Will, as the former promises Abigail Hobbs that he and Will are going to protect her from Jack and the FBI, essentially desiring him and Will to act as Abigail’s fathers. All of this while Lecter continues to prevent Will from getting a brain scan and gaslighting him still into believing his symptoms are all due to mental illness.
“Su-zakana” (Season 2, Episode 8)
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Animal death is always upsetting, but “Su-zakana” has to be included for teaching audiences that a dead horse is an unexpected place to store a body. Will’s first case after being exonerated and beginning his patient scheme to unveil Hannibal as the Chesapeake Ripper leads him to a farm and employee, Peter (Jeremy Davies). It’s ultimately revealed that Peter’s social worker (Chris Diamantopoulos) is the serial killer and has been attempting to frame Peter.
The dead bodies in dead horses are disturbing enough, but then there’s the direct parallels of the social worker taking advantage of Peter, who is mentally disabled following a horse-related accident, and Dr. Lecter manipulating Will, who was meant to be under his care as a psychiatric patient. Will identifies with Peter through the betrayal they both experienced by people they thought were friends they could trust. Near the end of the episode, Will is seemingly considering shooting the social worker (after he climbs out of a dead horse, of course), but Hannibal grabs the gun to stop him. Hannibal being proud and delighted by Will’s close call with violence is on par with the dead horse rebirths.
“Tome-wan” (Season 2, Episode 12)
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Mason Verger (Michael Pitt) introduced a new level of monster to Hannibal by being a sadistic, unforgivable predator with nothing to empathize or sympathize with. The Season 2 episode “Tome-wan” finally treated fans to Mason’s comeuppance in a manner truly befitting the character.
After drugging the heir to the Verger Meat Packing dynasty with psychedelic drugs, Hannibal takes Mason to Will’s home. When Will arrives, he finds Mason laughing and carving pieces of his own face off in strips, feeding them to Will’s dogs as Hannibal watches. No one feels sorry for Mason when Hannibal directs him to cut off and eat his nose; it may be a gruesome moment, but it is undeniably satisfying to see some deserved justice come to Mason after the suffering he has caused.
“Digestivo” (Season 3, Episode 7)
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Hannibal Season 3 is arguably less focused on the grotesque, but with Mason Verger (played by Joe Anderson in a recast) still in the picture up to this point, it is unavoidable that some form of nightmare fuel would make an appearance. As a means of further torturing his sister Margot (Katharine Isabelle), Mason promises to “replace” the baby he took from her with another being born via surrogate. Margot and Alana discover this surrogate is actually one of Mason’s pigs, and the gestating infant they pull from the animal is dead. Mason’s final act of cruelty is the push Margot needs (with the help of Hannibal’s manipulation of violence) to kill her brother.
The episode also features one of Hannibal’s most diabolical plans ever. After Hannibal follows through on his promise to save Will from Verger, Will tells Hannibal he’s moving on. Hannibal can make his escape; Will is not going to try to arrest or kill him, but after everything, he’s over it. He tells Hannibal he doesn’t want to know where the cannibal is and that he doesn’t want to think about him anymore. Hannibal’s response? He allows Jack and the FBI to capture him so he can be locked up in Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Will has no choice but to always know where the dramatic and highly obsessive cannibal is.
All seasons of Hannibal are available to stream on Prime Video, AMC+, and Pluto TV.
What is your favorite episode of Hannibal? Let us know in the comments!