NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ season 1 finale review: Can season 2 just be here already?

Is Will really losing his mind, and did he kill Abigail? If there were two questions at the center of Thursday night’s season finale of “Hannibal” on NBC, these were them. By the end of the episode, however, what we ended up discovering was something else entirely.

Almost everyone at home knows the sort of man that Hannibal Lecter really is, but the joy of this series is seeing the emotional journey of Hugh Dancy’s character, as the path leads him to eventually realizing that Dr. Lecter is really the killer all along. While everyone else sees a genius, he starts to see a monster, and unfortunately, no one in his situation is inclined to believe him.

After the gunshot near the end of the final, it was looking almost as though there was no hope at all for the character to even survive, let alone by exonerated for everything that he was accused of. He of course survived, but he is hardly now in an enviable position. Hannibal clearly knows that their relationship is much more complicated than it was previously, and there is little Will can do from the inside of the jail cell. As they looked each other in the eye during that closing scene (and with that beautiful music in the background), they could each tell that something had changed, and the story is moving in a harrowing direction.

This finale marked a great end to a great season, and hopefully one that new viewers will start to search for and learn about over the months ahead. This series does have a very cable sort of feel to it, which is a good thing when it comes to how shows like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” fare. If you missed the start of the series, go back and watch it (or buy the DVD when it is released). It’s worth the money. Dancy was marvelous all season, but the performance tonight took it over the top as he had to not only battle his inner demons, but also the truth.

Was the “Hannibal” finale was everything that you hoped for and then some? We want to hear from you below! If you want to also see how the show continues to expertly stage its Emmy campaign, you can do so over here.

Photo: NBC