Shakespeare is the first writer known to use the phrase “With bated breath” [in The Merchant of Venice].
Three centuries later, Mark Twain uses the phrase in Tom Sawyer: “Every eye fixed itself upon him; with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale”. Today, I dare to use the phrase to describe how painful it has been to wait for Season 3 of Hannibal to start. I’ve impatiently been waiting with bated breath for Hannibal to start again. (Phrase definition: ‘Breathing that is subdued because of extreme emotion or emotional difficulty’).

There are hosts of reasons why I’ve been holding my breath in anticipation. Firstly, the season two finale was a breathtaking fiesta of the senses. Filled with subtle moments then ending with a crescendo the size of a meteor. Mortified by the prospect that Jack might be dead after he’s jabbed in the neck with a shard of glass. Simultaneously overwhelmed by Hannibal’s ‘guest,’ the mentally fragile Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl) pushing Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) out a two-story window – as we watched Alana paralyzed in pain, gasping for water filled breaths.

Hannibal season three gives us a new chapter to chew on. We begin with Lecter on the run in Europe, accompanied by his protégé psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson, The X-Files), sporting a new mission and a new identity. Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), Jack (Laurence Fishburne, The Matrix, CSI) and Alana (Caroline Dhavernas, Wonderfalls, The Pacific) don’t have a moment to recover from the events of the past season, finding themselves chasing the ghosts of their past.
Cont... Reading Below

THE PIT, S3 E8
★★★½

Week after week critics muddle over the ideal plot direction of Bates Motel.
Yes, we know the tragic ending.
Yes, we have an unwritten obligation to the source material.

However, do we?
Moreover, should we or can we?
I know I'm speaking as if I'm one of the writers… Respectfully, my point is clear.

Are the writers obligated to follow the beaten path?
Is it necessary to judge Bates Motel, based on its ability to reference the source material authentically?

I yell, no.

Hannibal successfully deviated from the franchise, while still keeping the essence of the characters grounded. Bates can achieve that too, if they stop listening to us (the audience).

Episode 8 followed some powerhouse episodes and was not a great episode itself. Simply because the writers could not decide where to place Caleb and Dylan within the storyline. The consensus is that Caleb must die for his sins. The most provocative question is when will he die, how will he die and by who will kill him?

I applauded his reconciliation with Norma.

My anticipation for next week’s episode is fueled by potentially seeing the raunchy chemistry between Romero and Norma unfold. In addition, there is excitement to witness the chemistry between the tragic Emma and her hero Dylan.

Norman, predictably always breaks my heart.

Author: Neathen Kills
@NeathenKills
Editor in Chief

Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic elements
 and brief strong language)
Genre: Drama
Directed By: Simon Curtis
In Theaters: Apr 1, 2015 Wide
Runtime: 1 hr. 50 min.

The Weinstein Company

PLOT
WOMAN IN GOLD is the remarkable true story of one woman's journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, an elderly Jewish woman, Maria Altmann (Mirren), starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt's famous painting 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I'. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), she embarks upon a major battle, which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court, and forces her to confront difficult truths about the past along the way.

(C) The Weinstein Company