"Hannibal" TV series Episode 2 "Amuse-bouche" review, no spoilers

Who thinks up these bizarre deaths - this week it's nine neatly arranged bodies encrusted in fungi, a crop of injected arms jutting out of the fertilised earth. Well, it was Jim Danger Gray ("Pushing Daisies") who wrote the episode. I bet he relished telling his schoolmates, "Danger is my middle name!" It sounds like a Maxwell Smart line, but I digress.

If you had missed the movies and Thomas Harris novels, if you didn't know who Lecter really was, you'd think he was merely a competent, albeit quirky, psychiatrist.
It is the old Hitchcock ticking bomb analogy - only the audience knows it's there, the suspense is when it is going to explode. This series is set out like a banquet - last week's title was "Aperitif', now it's "Amuse-bouche" (bite-size tasties), we get soup in two weeks. The main course (when Lecter gets down and dirty, I am guessing, will be much later in the season).
Don't you love Hannibal's sumptuous office set? So organised, yet stylish. The muted colours with a splash of red. Will's complex, haunted character make this a compelling series -  his surreal dreams, trances and forensic flashbacks. The first disconcerting scene in the firing range grabs the viewers attention. Another great scene was in Lecter's elegant dining room with the close-up of the loin of pork put red sauce - playing with the audience  - is that tabloid journo-white meat????
My wife is not a big fan of U.S. crime shows, preferring U.K.efforts like "Wire in the Blood" (similar themes and main character), but this show has kept our interest.
Bring on the next course, Mr Fuller.

"Hannibal" NBC TV series Episode 1 review

"Hannibal" has Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies") as the creator/writer. The first flashy scene establishing William Graham's (Hugh Dancy) credentials as a profiler grabs the viewer. William is a flawed, tortured  character, but that's the way we like 'em.
Ever see U.K.'s "Wire in the Blood" about a flawed, tortured profiler played by Robson Green. Well, perhaps other people in NBC have.
I never thought I'd hear "Willie Wonka's Golden Ticket" in the same breath as "serial killer"....well done NBC!
The connection with Dino De Laurentiniis brings back memories for this old fart (Martha, Dino's later wife), is executive producer - connection with "Hannibal" (2001) movie I guess. And wasn't that a  real shitty sequel?
Casting Mads Mikkelsen (Le Chiffre in "Casino Royale") was inspired. Bond villain=Serial killer/psycho?
Stylish art direction - the white and blood red Men's room scene. Some surreal dream sequences  involving antlers and bodies. There's not a lot of laughs in this first episode, but it's delicious to see profiler Graham and boss Laurence Fishburne in the same room as Hannibal Lector - on the same team!
An intriguing first ep. It blitzes "The Following" in many ways. Well done, Mr Fuller, sorry people didn't like "Mockingbird Lane". I did.
Bring on Ellen Greene and Gillian Armstrong in coming episodes.