Apéritif

That is how do an excellent precedural episode. We have a true mistery, a lot of blood, grey characters and a good final.

Okay right off the bat you have Hugh Darcy who really shines in this show, reenacting his own interpretation of a murder. His GIFT, allows him to see into the minds of killers.

+1 Star for the initial investigation

+1 Star for the whackiness of Graham's gift.

+1 Star for Fishburnes amazing presence

And then, we are finally introduced to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Played by the Incredible Mads Mikkelsen. This is undoubtedly what will be known as his signature performance throughout his career, much as Anthony Hopkins is known for the same character.

+1 Star for Mads thoroughly convincing introduction to a great character.

And +1 Star for a great line. 'Don't psychoanalyze me. You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed. Now I have to go! I have to give a lecture on psychoanalyzing. ' Haha, brilliant.

Will Graham also deduces that the killer, is 'eating them'.

And we have the brilliant beginning episode to a great series. :)

So I never really had an interest in watching this. Not because I don't find a backstory of Hannibal Lector interesting, definitely not that. But, regular network dramas just aren't good enough these days. But I've already heard from several people how great it was, so I gave it a chance. Definitely atmospheric, very well shot, very carefully edited and precisely paced, with the right balance in tone and both Dancy and Mikkelsen have been fantastic so far. Network dramas do tend to be more self-contained than cable dramas, so I kinda expected this to be. In a way it's a crime procedural, but definitely not like any other on TV. Episode 2, while not as strong as the pilot, still confirmed that this show is definitely to look out for.

Now, the problem is this- this is NBC, and this show doesn't seem like one that will stick with viewers from these regular networks. That's also been the problem with network TV the last several years. So many dramas get cancelled so soon, and because this definitely doesn't feel dumbed-down at all, I fear it won't find the right audience. I wish a cable network had picked it up. But so far, definitely really good.

Set before The Red Dragon. This is a strong and dark show for US network television.

The focus is on FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). A nervy academic who has been picked by Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) the head of Behavioural Sciences at the FBI.

Graham can empathise with serial killers and recreate the crime scenes in his mind. Crawford wants Graham to help him with a case where 8 young women have been abducted in 8 months.

Crawford also gets forensic psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to take an interest in Graham and help out with these abductions.

The stories are original with characters created by Thomas Harris. Dancy's Graham is far away from the burnt out agent played by William Petersen in Manhunter who was badly injured when he captured Lecter.

The first episode sets up the meeting of minds between Graham and Lecter with Graham as the potential prey but he does not yet know it.

Of course Lecter gets all the delicious lines and the gourmet food. Mikkelsen laps it up.

A very good first episode, of course the source material is very strong. You can relish the games these two characters will play.

This is a show that NBC showed a lot of hope for in the beginning. They hired a quality team to get it going and gave it a straight-to-series order after reading the pilot. However, then they forgot about it and gave it a late release date that resulted in skepticism from many potential viewers. However, the premiere was met with a high viewership and much praise from critics and fans of Thomas Harris' original novels, and it brought in a lot of new fans. And the premiere is everything that you could imagine and so much more in terms of style and insane creativity.

As an introduction to this universe, Bryan Fuller (the creator of the show and writer of this episode) does an excellent job of setting up the characters with all the details that we need to know about them. Will Graham is set up as the focus point of the show and quickly breaks free of the expectations that many fans had about him. He's such an interesting character right off the bat, with the opening scene showcasing a side of him that we've not been as thoroughly introduced to before. His ability to figuratively enter the minds of the killers he's investigating is shown in a literal way and you're immediately onboard due to the effect of it. At the same time, Fuller doesn't feel the need to wait with the introduction of our titular character's real persona. There's a scene in the film that shows Hannibal Lecter preparing a set of lungs that he proceeds to eat. This could have easily been a revelation set for a future episode, but Fuller knows that the audience is expecting this, so he doesn't wait. It sets the stage for such an interesting cat-and-mouse game between these two characters. And on the side, the show presents itself as a procedural drama, but it does it in a highly intelligent way, setting the mystery as a background for the character interactions. The development is first in line, and that's one of the main reasons as to why this show works, aside from the great performances from the cast.

"Apéritif" is in many ways the perfect premiere for a show as it gives us everything, we need to know without having to wait long. It introduces the characters and the issues, while using the procedural structure to support the character development and not as the main focus, which is how it should be done.