#amuse bouche

I wrote some thinkpieces about the titles for episode 1 and episode 2 in my previous entries, but I stopped because I genuinely didn't know what to make of fuckin..Soup, Egg, and Shell (Potage, Oeuf, and Coquilles). I need to do some deeper digging because my brain is not conjuring anything.

Anyways it's worthwhile to keep tabs on the shallow notes that I have:

Potage --> soup

Oeuf --> egg

Coquilles --> shell

Entrée --> dish before the main course (or the main course itself; contested defn)

Sorbet --> dessert

Fromage --> cheese; Reddit says Will is the Cheese. Franklyn says "we are cheese folk". Whatever these mean.

Trou Normand --> a break in digestion, a pause in between dishes, helps with appetite

I can draw some broad strokes between Apéritif, Amuse Bouche, Entrée, Sorbet, and Trou Normand, not so much with the others. My broad stroke says the titles have much to do with preparing an appetite. They're all appetizers in a way (makes sense because it's the first season). I forget what happens during the season finale, so I guess I'm going to find out what the main course is, if there is one.

1) amuse bouche -- "complementary little bites that chefs send to diners at the start of their meal" --> not quite meal proper but we're getting there

2) I love when characters' beliefs get distorted because of their core conflict, where they are otherwise capable

I am talking about Will's insistence on GJH hunting alone (iirc Abigail hunted with her dad though as a lure? still an accomplice) out of his want for normalcy -- a good father for a surrogate daughter -- and guilt (not for simply killing GJH but for enjoying it). He is atoning.

Alana shows the same concern for Abigail but it is born out of a different core urge entirely; she sees the good -- strives to see the good to the point of blinding. She is the kind character, the narrative makes that clear. I am interested in how I'll be revisiting her character arc.

3) Hannibal loves art. He makes violent tableaux for everyone to appreciate. This is why he preens at the sight of Will delivering his lecture on the copycat killer, his art so well-understood by this beautiful mind. He prides himself on his art, his innately depraved self. He is self-assured, the opposite of Will who flees during their psychoanalytic meet-cute in episode 1.

Very good character work in a gothic horror disguised as a cop story. Yum dot com.

4) Hannibal is also a dirty little schemer. He just wanted to see what would happen (e.g., calling GJH, Abigail). At this point of the story, it may seem like he's god (he certainly feels like one), setting things into motion like the schemer that he is. Soon we'll see that hes not all that infallible. A brilliant way to characterize an "evil omnipresent" character.