Channel: DSTv
Hannibal Lector and Clarice Starling are two deities in the pantheon of crime and psychological fiction. In the television series, we are shown the time period immediately after Clarice Starling kills Jame Gumb. Chronologically, it is set between the events of Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.
What’s it about?
In Clarice, we follow Clarice Starling as a new FBI agent. She has achieved a level of fame due to her killing Jame Gumb (no, it’s not a typo. The characters Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs real name is Jame, not James) as well as her interaction with the escaped Dr Hannibal Lector is fodder for tabloid newspapers. In the FBI though, she is a victim of jealousy from her colleagues who seem eager to watch her star burn itself out.
When I heard about this show, I was excited to watch it. As a writer, I view the cannon of Thomas Harris as the pinnacle of dark, psychological crime fiction. I must say though, that I’ve been greatly disappointed by the series. It does not have the dark, gritty realism of the source subject, nor the mood and atmosphere of other adaptions of Harris’s work.
One of the greatest travesties of modern television was the cancellation of the television series Hannibal. Stylistically it took the Hannibal universe into new territory both narratively and cinematically. It was brave and it took risks, and they mostly paid off. Clarice though, could well be a spin off of CSI. For a lack of a better term, I find the subject matter to be diluted and weak. Perhaps it was done to appeal to a more mainstream audience, I’m not sure. And perhaps it does. Perhaps, because I’m such a fan of Thomas Harris and could practically write a Phd on Hannibal Lector universe that I’m being more critical….Perhaps… But should a census take try to test me on whether I would recommend this show, I’d give it a hard pass.
2/5