Francis & BOB

All y’all old-school Peakies must have had the exact same deja vu I did and squealed with delight.

I’m not exaggerating… I had nightmares for weeks!  Anyway… there’s simply no way this could be an accident.  Check it out:

“Hannibal is one of the most unsettling, visually distinct shows to air on network television since Twin Peaks. If this wasn’t enough, series creator Bryan Fuller hasoutright said that he’s doing Thomas Harris by way of David Lynch: “When I sat down to the script, I was very consciously saying, ’What would David Lynch do with a Hannibal Lecter character? What sort of strange, unexpected places would he take this world?’ I’m a great admirer of his work and his aesthetic and his meticulous sound design. Those were all components that I felt very strongly needed to be part of our Hannibal Lecter story.”

Hannibal offers up messed up dreams that last longer (entire acts, even) than anything that ever plagued Special Agent Cooper. Will Graham’s mind palace feels like the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks more than it doesn’t, but in a more terrifying way; like it’s spilling out into the world around it, and the result is serial killers that operate in a hyper stylized Black Lodge logic where victims are turned into saber tooth tigers or totem poles. The nightmare stag visuals that constantly haunt Will are no different than the Killer Bob material of Peaks or diversions like following an owl or wormholing into something.

The opening of Twin Peaks that starts on the tiny holes of a ceiling panel is akin to Hannibal’s following a close up on a drip of wine and slowly pulling out. Or how the show’s haunted sound design is especially reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s for Peaks, and built to pull out tension. Hannibal is more preoccupied with the tone and style of Lynch’s series than the content. Fuller specifically has visionary directors on his staff (and even hides countless cinematic references throughout his episodes) like David Slade and Vincenzo Natali that assure that this is the closest looking series to Twin Peaks.

It will be interesting to see how future television shows will also heavily steep their programs in Twin Peaks’ ways, and how Bates Motel and Hannibal will continue to pay respect to their progenitor. And with the 25th anniversary here, and more episodes on the horizon, hopefully now the largest audience yet will understand what the humble, weird show that’s being referenced is.

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