10 Reasons Hannibal Was The Best Show On TV

It also wouldn’t be hyperbole to suggest that Hannibal revels in some of the most sumptuous language and dialogue ever heard on a television set. Take this, from season two’s ninth episode, ‘Shiizakana’, in which Randall, an ex-patient of Lecter’s, describes the “ragged bits of scalp, trailing their tails of hair like comets” that get stuck in his teeth. This is just one example of Hannibal’s loquaciousness, and every episode has at least one line—one epitaph—that sticks in the mind. 

Such words aren’t restricted to lines of impactful poetry however, and Hannibal spends as much time concerning itself with descriptions of art, therapy and food as it does conversation between its characters. Even the episode titles, which take their names from foreign food delicacies (French, Japanese and Italian for seasons one, two and three respectively) have their own delights.

Hannibal has some esteemed contenders when it comes to television shows with truly great dialogue—Deadwood, with its iconic, original, effusive use of swearing; The Wire, with its tight, to-the-point tautologies—but it matches both, perhaps even surpassing them when you consider that it’s a network show with much less freedom in terms of what it can and can’t say.