Apéritif

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. :)

Nice EP good acting good effect lot of questions mark

Good start to the show

Hannibal is more of a "fill in the gaps" for the Hannibal series. We saw Will Graham in Manhunter and its remake Red Dragon. Whilst The Silence of The Lambs saw Hannibal's character on an all time high, and a rather degraded sequel as "Hannibal (2001)" and a prelude as "Hannibal Rising". So this series falls somewhere between "Hannibal Rising" and "Manhunter/Red Dragon". That means it isn't a 'messing with the plot' remake, but a gripping and excellent take on our favorite Cannibal.

Will Graham (not yet retired) finds himself investigating psychopath murders (to his dismay), and looks avoid those as much possible. His eccentric ability to empathize with the killers finds him recruited by a senior FBI Officer Jack Crawford, who is our very own Morpheus (A pleasant surprise to me!). Jack seeing Graham's discomfort for his work appoints Dr. Lector to team up with him to release some of his stress. But Hannibal the Cannibal has separate plans for his new found friend.

An Apéritif for a pilot is rather more about Will Graham than Hannibal or any crime investigation. It develops a little explored character into a gem. Coming to the performances, Dancy fits in a young Graham's shoes perfectly, where as I do miss Hopkins's intense and malicious glare. Don't take me wrong! I doesn't mean Mads was bad, he was extremely convincing. Now how can I explain this? Its like some one else playing Harry Potter, even if does play it better, he won't just fit in. Anyways I do hope we get to see Hopkins later in the series. Lawrence is average.

The only problem I saw was the pace. The story progressed way too fast than a healthy pace. But I have to hand it to the writer director for not sacrificing character development for pace. Only thing sacrificed was detailing. I think its understandable as the series is more of a psychological drama thriller than a crime investigation drama. ANd just the right amount of fear topped with thrill.

Direction: Great. Pretty surprising from Twilight's director.

Story/Screenplay: Refreshing, thrilling and gripping.

Acting: Dancy the best, Mads awesome. Lawrence Average.

Music: Engaging, ear friendly and fitting.

Overall a good start to an interesting series. I hope it lasts like this and doesn't lose content wise in times to come.

This was an artistic, delicious start to this show, which I always felt was underrated as not enough are watching it or talking about it!

The introduction to the characters were great, as well as the premise! There is a lot happening and a lot to take in at first, but it never feels to much! By the end, you know exactly what you need to know!

Hugh Dancy is great as Will, with abbilities that will make this show very interesting moving forward!

Mads Mikkelsen absolutely nails it as Hannibal! His Chemistry with Dancy is what carries the show for me! Hannibal is in control from the start and you never quite know what to expect from him when he serves you food..

I love the artistic style of the show! It is no stranger to gore and disturbing scenes, amd it is always presented in a hauntimg, yet captivating way!

Amazing direction and camera work! This show has its unique style that really makes you feel like you watch something by Brian Fuller, and not a studie!

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.