Hannibal Series Starring Mads Mikkelsen Now Streaming Free on Pluto TV

When you think about horror and romance, it is easy to see them as two contrasting genres. But look at media like Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak to see how romance can add a frightening and melancholic element to a scary story. Both movies show how love can turn people into monsters, but another horror classic perfected the same metaphor and is free to stream on Pluto TV.

Why you should watch Hannibal

Hannibal premiered in 2013 on NBC. Drawing direct inspiration from Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter novels, the series was brought to life by Bryan Fuller, the mind behind Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me. It follows disturbed FBI profiler Will Graham, played by Hugh Dancy, who gets roped into helping the FBI solve unsolvable cases by the head of the Behavioral Science Unit, Jack Crawford, played by Laurence Fishburne. Will forms an unsettling bond with forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, played by Mads Mikkelsen.

Although Hannibal features characters from Harris’s novels, the first two seasons feel more like a loosely inspired crime procedural than a direct adaptation of the books. Will and Hannibal team up to uncover the identity of the Chesapeake Ripper, a cannibal who displays his victims in elaborate ways. Spoiler: Hannibal is that cannibal. The procedural format may not appeal to fans seeking a strict book adaptation, but it serves as a fantastic way to explore the early cat-and-mouse stage of the relationship between Will and Hannibal. By day, the two hunt killers together, and by night, they hunt each other.

What starts as two intelligent men pitting their wits against one another soon transforms into something intoxicating and compelling—a twisted sense of love. Hannibal has killed and dined on his victims for years while remaining relatively unnoticed by his circle of friends, Jack Crawford and Alana Bloom, played by Caroline Dhavernas. When Will turns up aloof and vulnerable, fearing he is as bad as the criminals he pursues, Hannibal sees a potential partner, even if that means breaking Will down mentally first.

It would be a mistake to assume Will remains a victim in Hannibal’s toxic love game. As Hannibal’s true self comes to light, Fuller’s direction frames the two men as mirrors of one another, revealing how deeply both Will and Hannibal are unable to separate despite how often they hurt each other. By the time the third and final season arrives, Will attempts to deny his complex bond with Hannibal. Will confesses to Jack Crawford in the season 3 episode “Aperitivo,” saying, “I wanted to run away with him.” This denial ultimately ends up hurting the people Will swore to protect, namely his wife, Molly, played by Nina Arianda, and her son.

What makes the relationship between Will and Hannibal compelling is that nothing comes easily to either of them. Hannibal wants Will close, so he gives himself up to the FBI to be near him. Will cannot bear that Hannibal is the first person to make him feel seen, so he runs away to a life that does not satisfy him. They are blinded by their connection, and the other characters around them call them out on it. Sensationalist journalist Freddie Lounds, played by Lara Jean Chorostecki, dubs them Murder Husbands, and Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, played by Gillian Anderson, confirms to Will that Hannibal is in love with him. Even the relationship between Margot Verger, played by Katherine Isabelle, and Alana Bloom reflects Will and Hannibal’s relationship, as seen in the kaleidoscope sex scene in season three.

The two men may not kiss, something Fuller admits he regrets leaving out of the finale, but there is nothing subtextual about their relationship. They are the heart of the show and one of the most daring gothic love stories in horror television.

Source: Polygon