American Gods

[frelling_tralk]

I'm really intrigued by American Gods, it looks absolutely fantastic in the trailer, and I was already thinking of checking it out anyway because Bryan Fuller is adapting it. (I'm a little bit surprised that it isn't going to be out until 2017 though, I always thought that they start working on it towards the end of 2015 after Hannibal finished, so I was expecting it out this year tbh)

Has anyone read the book, if so how did you find it, and do you think that it would it be worth catching up on before the tv show airs?

Comments

[silverusagi]

Sorry, are you talking about Red Dragon the film or the Red Dragon part of the TV show?

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

The tv show. I got curious and watched the film shortly before the third season of Hannibal, and then when I was watching the Red Dragon arc there were occasions where I wished I was coming into it with no idea of what was going to happen. I never felt like that with the bits that were adapted from the book Hannibal, they really did their own take on that source material, but the Red Dragon half of season 3 was a lot closer to the book. Obviously it was pretty radically different in where they went with Hannibal/Will lol, but the actual Dolarhyde story did more or less follow the same beats as I'd already seen with the film

[silverusagi]

Oh, okay, I see what you mean now. I thought the show mixed things up a bit, since I think in the book Molly killed Dolarhyde? So the confrontation at Molly and Will's went totally differently, and then after that it was anyone's guess. But yeah, besides that, it pretty much followed right along.

Whereas with the material from the Hannibal book, that got used up along, part in S2 and part in S3, and of course it got remixed by default because they didn't have the rights to Clarice. I think another reason they used up the book in the way they did was because they were never guaranteed another season so they wanted to use as much as the story as possible (and good thing too, lol) even if it chronologically came later in the books.

All that said, Red Dragon on the show was probably my least favorite part? lol. Besides the finale, of course, but the actual parts about Dolarhyde I didn't care about. And I feel weird saying this, because it's weird to say that I don't want them to follow the books, but I feel like the show had become almost such its own thing by that point that returning to the strict story line of the first book (which was in season 3 here, but which was the starting point in the books) was kind of a weird disconnect? Like you say, that story line was super popular one in fandom, but if you look back at my original S3 posts, I was kind of meh about a lot of it. And sorry, I really do not care about Francis at all. I know a huge part of the books is focusing on the two killers, but that was never what the show was.

All this kind of makes me a little apprehensive about any SotL story, because I would much rather the show continue to do its own thing than feel like it NOW has to adhere strictly to the source material. Most comments of Fuller's about a potential S4 has been about exploring Will and Hannibal's relationship deeper than ever before (Argentina-influenced, I'm hoping) but there were a few comments right after cancellation about just skipping ahead to SotL when Hannibal is in jail again and doing flashbacks, and that's just a massive DNW for me. That's the first time I've ever had DNW when any potential future story lines for this show were mentioned, but that's one. I just hope that the time in between cancellation and a potential S4 doesn't make Fuller change his mind about what was obviously his plan had S4 gone straight ahead. S4 needs to be about Hannibal and Will, and then S5 can be SotL. While we're on the topic, I'm also weirdly worried about SotL whenever it happens, because the show has been so focused on Hannibal and Will and now Hannibal/Will, so how do you bring Clarice into that? More to the point, how do you bring Clarice into that when most of her story has already been given to Will?

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay, I see what you mean now. I thought the show mixed things up a bit, since I think in the book Molly killed Dolarhyde? So the confrontation at Molly and Will's went totally differently, and then after that it was anyone's guess. But yeah, besides that, it pretty much followed right along.

Yeah they changed Molly's part in it a bit because obviously Will and Hannibal have a pretty different relationship in Bryan Fuller's canon lol, but it did feel like they were mostly interested in following the books as much as possible. I thought that they could have taken the opportunity to do more to develop Francis's character, maybe show flashbacks to his childhood or something, but instead yeah it was pretty much telling the same story as the film told in 2 hours. I mean idk I need to re-watch probably and decide what I think, because I have only seen season 3 once so far, but I definitely wasn't particularly grabbed by it. There are a few scenes from that arc that were really great and still stand out in my mind, but I can't say that the arc as a whole was a favourite of mine. It seemed like most viewers loved it though *shrugs*

And I've thought that for a while now lol, that fascination for Clarice just wouldn't work the same now that Hannibal is so hung up on Will. I would definitely prefer that Bryan Fuller do whatever he was planning with Hannibal and Will if he gets the chance to pick the story back up again, but I get the feeling that SOTL is something that Bryan Fuller might still be interested in exploring instead, he's always talking about his dream casting for Clarice etc. But again I feel like I would end up comparing it a lot to the film in my mind, like I don't know how they can do another, "Hello Clarice" moment say and have it feel original and different, whereas the interpretation of Hannibal and Will's characters have been so different from the films that you never really felt the need to make direct comparisons in the same way

[silverusagi]

I could see Hannibal somehow having a platonic fascination with Clarice, as show Hannibal does have sort of a Mischa complex, where he's sort of always looking for women to slot into that role, where he's a mentor figure to them in some way. I think of Chiyoh and Abigail in particular, and to a lesser extent Bedelia, before she went to Italy with him. I mean, in SotL, there is no romantic relationship between Hannibal and Clarice. You can read into it and expand on it, but in the text, it really is a platonic fascination. If the show did that, I could see that. I just certainly do not want Clarice to end up replacing Will, or (and I don't think this will happen and I have no basis for it, but it is my worst of worst fears) that at the end of S4 Will will end up dead somehow and then S5 is SotL. I kind of can't blame Fuller for wanting to SotL, it's kind of the 'epitome' Hannibal Lecter, but I just question how well it meshes with the story he's got going. Not to mention how Hannibal would end up getting caught again, and then what of Will? I've seen a lot of fic where it's 'murder husbands in jail together' but I don't really see that being how canon would go. And not sure I'd want to. But if SotL is done, Hannibal has to be back in jail somehow, so... what about Will? Does he try the whole murder husband thing and then realize it's too much for him and leave Hannibal? IDK, I kind of just prefer the ending as it is, lol. I'd rather get no S4 than a S4 that I dislike. And everyone in fandom has different ideas about what S4 would be, so you know it can't please everyone. I don't think it would be full out psychotic murder husbands, because I don't think Will would to that dark that quickly. But if we didn't see a considerable amount of darkness from Will, I'd also be disappointed. I want to see what he looks like when he embraces what's inside him, but I wouldn't expect him to just be a Hannibal clone.