[S1 Ep1:Apertif]

*The first time I watched this I could not figure out where they were going with it and almost gave up in the first 5 minutes.I'm glad I didn't.

*I am always,every time I watch this episode,in awe of the cinematography-the blood drops reversing.

*"This is my design". The first of many times we will hear Will say this.

*Love the nods to the books-and Bryan admitted that the Marlow crime scene is the early work of Francis Dolarhyde.

*"This is when it gets truly horrifying for Mrs. Marlow" which goes into Will in his classroom.

*We meet Jack-who violates Will's personal space by pushing his glasses up. I love how we get a mention of Will being on the Spectrum.

*"They're all very Mall of America".-interesting, given that Abigail Hobbs is from Bloomingtom Minnesota.

*Golden Ticket..I can't watch Willy Wonka  without thinking of Hannibal.

*The Elise Nichols crime scene- this re creation of Will's is the one that freaks me out the most.It's violent.

*We meet Bev-and Jimmy, and Brian! The killer was trying to save her life with antler velvet even though she was already too far gone.

*Will finds Winston by the side of the road :) We get a "Will Graham:Dog Whisperer" moment.

*Will imagines Elise rising from the bed next to him.This is taken from the book.In the book I believe it's Mrs. Leeds that he sees. Good lord does Will sweat a lot.

*Jack's "USE THE LADIES ROOM!!" will never not make me laugh.

*Beverly finds a clue-another thing lifted from the books-in the books she even says "Gotcha". This is cut with a job site- where we get glimpses of Abigail and of her father, Garret Jacob Hobbs.

*We meet Alana, who is changed from the books(in the books, she is a man, named Alan and is more of a minor character.)

*In the morgue Team Sassy Science(Bev, Jimmy and Brian) are doing an autopsy on Elise Nichols. Will realises that she was probably bled. On hooks.Then we find out she had cancer-the killer put her liver back in. This goes into Hannibal sitting at his dinner table.This is where we get our first look at Hannibal.It's unsubtle, and unsettling.

*Just so we get to know Hannibal a little better we get a scene with him in a session with his patient Franklyn(as an aside:I think "You have to convince yourself the lion is not in the room" is psychiatrist/psychologist speak. My psychologist says it too.)

*Jack needs Hannibal's help with a profile. In hindsight..

*Hannibal is very observant..notices that Will doesn't like  eye contact(that's putting it mildly.. this is a common trait of people who are on the Spectrum.

*"Don't psychoanalyse me.You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalysed"(I almost expect him to add "Will Graham smash!" but he doesn't.) Actually, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to teach a class..on psychoanalysing" is much more... amusing.

*Field Kabuki(fun fact:Hibbing Minnesota is the hometown of one Robert Zimmerman..you may know him better as Bob Dylan. )The lungs were taken(whilst she was still alive-eek) which goes to another shot of Hannibal in his kitchen, this time

*Will in the shower which goes into a dream sequence where we get our first glimpse of Swiggity Swag The Nightmare Stag(the fandom's name for the deer in Will's nightmares)

*Hannibal has to ask twice to come in to Will's hotel room which makes me think of  vampire lore-that vampires have to ask to come in.That,IMO is NOT a coincidence.

*Hannibal and Will have breakfast(the sausages are people!)

*I love the scrunchy face and laugh Will does after Hannibal says "You're the mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by". I can't see mongeese quite the same way now :P

*The worksite Garret Jacob Hobbs worked on is hella unorganised.But it's probably not permanent, so..

*Hannibal calls Garret Jacob Hobbs. "They know".

*This is where it gets intense..we see a recreation of what happened from Will's POV, it starts with Will, covered in blood, sitting in a car and goes back and shows  what happened-Mrs. Hobbs had her throat slashed, as did Abigail, his daughter. Mrs. Hobbs doesn't make it, and Garret Jacob Hobbs is taken down, by Will, in a hail of bullets. Before he dies, Garret Jacob Hobbs says "See?See?"(the word "see" will become a recurring theme on this show.) In the book, Abigail is only mentioned briefly-it mentions that she recovered.

*Jack shows up  to Will's class only to find Alana teaching it(as Jack is walking into her class she is talking about bitemarks, another reference to Red Dragon).She says "You said you wouldn't let him get too close". But he did,obviously.

*The final scene is Will and Hannibal sitting at Abigail's bed, which will be mirrored again, but this time with Jack and Hannibal, in Savoreaux.

Episode Insight

I've said, on more than one occasion,that I thought, when I heard that they were making a Hannibal TV show that it was a bad idea.I also almost quit watching within the first few minutes!

I didn't know Hugh Dancy was British until after I watched the first episode and I couldn't believe it.(though there is at least one accent slip in the first episode when he says "Garret Jacob Hobbs? FBI!"-you can hear his real accent ever so slightly.

And Mads as Hannibal.What can I say that hasn't already been said.Well,OK, he's really made  Hannibal his own.That sums it up pretty well.

Quotes:

What kind of crazy is he?-Jack