TV Ate My Wardrobe

Switching up “Out of the Box” this week and moving away from the red carpet and magazine editorials with a Hannibal special using last Friday’s episode “Yakimono” to discuss some of the various looks this season and how costuming has been utilized to show a shift in character temperament. The repetition of a wide shot showing two characters sitting opposite each other is something of a Hannibal signature and this is presented in this episode with a slight shift that stops short of being a callback to the season 1 finale. Plus someone has had a makeover (sadly no montage).

There’s been a variation of this set up throughout Hannibal whether it is in a therapy session or as prisoner/friend. Hannibal has even sat opposite the empty chair revealing just how much he has been missing the friend he framed for murder. Even Hannibal, no matter how twisted the reasons for any of his deplorable actions has the capacity to miss someone. The chair is filled once again as Will is free and he wants to resume his sessions, the very sessions that were used to manipulate his brain that was already on fire (like a messed up Katniss). The framing of these scenes suggests some kind of equilibrium, which of course in the past was a lie as Will was very much at Hannibal’s mercy. The balance has shifted and while Hannibal is still in control, he’s now facing a previously unknown entity; a Will Graham with all of his facilities working and a desire to hook to Hannibal for good. The game has been upped and this simple, yet effective shot signals this new stage in the Hannibal vs. Will battle.

When Alana sat opposite Will in the season 1 finale in a room very similar to this one we saw them facing each other in a wide shot. Not so in this case with Alana and Chilton and this shows just how alienated Chilton is at this point. Alana is not here to be his confidant, though I suspect her personal involvement in the case makes her presence a tad messy. My fear for Alana, now she has slept with Hannibal is that for the rest of the season she will act primarily as a “Hannibal is innocent” mouthpiece and this character deserves more than the role of blind faith advocate. Costume wise this is the most unlike Chilton we have seen as he wears the orange of prison and Alana is very much in her signature wrap dress attire. Chilton gets shot in the face, but Bryan Fuller has hinted this doesn’t necessarily mean death for this character.

So how did Chilton end up going from pristine and flamboyant plaid to jumpsuit orange? Let me show you how and first of all I want to mention just how audacious Chilton’s costuming has been this season as it mimics the plaid of Hannibal. Chilton wanted to be like Hannibal and now he is, well in the crimes he is accused of. This shot also gives a good look at Chilton’s spacious home which is bathed in light as opposed to the dark decor of Hannibal’s home.

The moment of realization as Chilton lies at the feet of a plastic kill suit wearing Hannibal as he shows the perfect “Oh fuck” face, he can’t even bask in the glory of being right. At this point Chilton’s suit is still looking rather dapper even as he lies on the floor…

Cut to all the blood and there’s no way he’s getting those stains out.

Now this is the most Chilton has looked like Will as it’s a more subdued approach, Hannibal sure picked out a suave on the run outfit in the bags he helpfully packed. The red and black pea coat does lose cool points as Chilton scrabbles around in the snow covered wood. Hat tip to Raúl Esparza for the amazing and hilarious performance he has given this season, even in Chilton’s darkest moment he still got the funniest line of the episode “Abel Gideon was half eaten in my guest room, I have corpses on my property. You just threw up an ear.”

You know who always looks good? Yep, Hannibal once again shows how to make a plastic kill suit (which has to be bespoke) stand out, that’s right wear your regular suit (plus pocket square) underneath. No muss, no fuss.

Now we come to the before and after as Will shows off his post prison “I don’t really give a shit how I look” look. Bedraggled hair, untidy beard and the plaid of before, plus a nifty vest which could almost double for his fishing attire. To catch a fish the second time it means scrubbing up so please welcome the new, slightly less hairy Will Graham.

Will’s wearing a lighter, single color shirt as if he is free from the constraints he has been in both mentally and physically; there’s a renewed confidence we haven’t really seen before and this makes him an unknown entity to both Hannibal and us. Having a haircut and trimming his beard show that he isn’t going to slink away into the darkness and the power balance has shifted to an even playing field. One thing that is notably missing are Will’s glasses and this is something I chatted about with Noel Kirkpatrick on Twitter and he pointed out the lack of glasses makes sense as Will previously used them to mask his face, now he wants to “seduce” Hannibal so the glasses are no longer required.

The new more polished Will Graham look continues with tonight’s episode “Su-zakana” with this rather fancy looking wool coat and scarf combination. It’s like a halfway point between Jack and Hannibal; I really want to see what he has on under the coat (unintentionally pervy turn of phrase).

Tags: Alana Bloom, Bryan Fuller, Caroline Dhavernas, Frederick Chilton, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Jack Crawford, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, Raul Esparza, Will Graham