Welcome to TV Ate My Wardrobe’s “Best of 2014″ costuming series and rather than doing a straightforward countdown we’re going to do a variety of posts that look at which costumes and shows have made a huge impact this year. From items that we want in our own wardrobe to pieces that got everyone talking, we want to look at this year’s TV through the prism of costume.
Will Graham went to some dark, dark places in season 2 of Hannibal as he crossed a very big line in an attempt to reveal Hannibal’s true self. Will Graham started the year in prison as a result of being framed for Abigail’s death and several other murders, which meant a whole lot of jumpsuits. Will’s brain is no longer on fire and he is relatively lucid (the stags still appears to him in various terrifying and non terrifying forms), which means he is far more equipped to deal with Hannibal. I would say the playing field has been leveled but this is never the case when facing off against Hannibal. Even when you kind of dress like him.
When Will is released from prison he doesn’t go straight to the mall or a seller of fine outerwear and scarves. Nor does he venture to a barber of procure contact lenses. First he must lend some clothes to Dr Chilton because Hannibal has framed yet another person for his various criminal misdeeds. Dr Chilton is on the receiving end of Hannibal’s framing gift and Chilton’s costuming has gone to greater lengths this season to mimic his benefactor. Chilton’s suits are bolder than Hannibal’s because he wants to stand out and it is why he continues to use a decadent cane he no longer really needs
Three-piece suits are Hannibal’s signature and Will doesn’t go for a mirror image of this style choice; instead he switches out his fly fishing vests and rumpled jackets for beautiful tailored wool coats and sweaters. I’m still sad there was no shopping montage – like this one – or at least a trip to Hannibal’s tailor.
His hair has been trimmed and while he is still a little stubbly, this is definitely a more polished version of Will. Gone are the glasses as his barrier to shield his eyes from others and this suggests his willingness to embrace whatever has to be done to stop Hannibal.
There are points where he looks more like the season 1 version of Will including this confrontation with Mason in “Ko No Mono” which also happens to be the same episode where we (and Alana) find out for sure that Will did not kill Freddie and this is all part of the grand Hannibal lure.
When Will comes to Hannibal to serve up some (not) Freddie he’s all fancy scarf/tailored wool coat and this is a look he maintains at the start of the next episode as he continues the ruse with a very pissed off Alana. He accidentally mirrors her look, but it’s cold so I’m not going to read too much into their scarf/coat choice of attire. Ah the polar vortex and spotting which shows shot in these conditions.
Speaking of the cold, I couldn’t do a best of Hannibal costuming post without mentioning this magical moment:
Back to Will and at this point last year we knew that prison overalls would be the predominant Will Graham look when we returned for the next season. The picture is unclear at this moment for what state he will be in when season 3 kicks off and even though time has passed that is one hell of a wound so hospital garb might be on the menu. In this brand new phase of the ongoing ensnaring Hannibal saga, this event is going to have a huge impact on everyone who was left bloody and broken including how they present themselves to the world.
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