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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2020)
Greg Austin as seen in “Hunters” By Jessica Gosse “Hannibal” TV Media All three seasons of this incred- “Hunters” Al Pacino (“The Irishman,” 2019) returns to the small screen for the first time since 2003 in the pre- miere of this new series on Friday, Feb. 21. Pacino stars as Meyer Of- ferman, a Jewish man living in New York City in 1977. After years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, a now-free Offer- man discovers a group of Nazis in America, including high-ranking officials Travis Leich (Greg Austin, “Mr. Selfridge”) and Biff Simpson (Dylan Baker, “Homeland”), who are looking to create the Fourth Reich in New York. Seeking justice and revenge, Offerman creates a team of Nazi hunters with the help of a woman he knows from his time in the camps. But when his partner is murdered, he recruits her grandson, Jonah (Logan Lerman, “Indignation,” 2016), to the team, and suddenly Jonah is brought into a world of espionage. As they work with an impressive team comprising ace lock-picker Roxy (Tiffany Boone, “The Following”), a spy known as Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany “Secret City”), a master of disguise named Lonny (Josh Radnor, “How I Met Your Mother”), a soldier named Joe (Louis Ozawa Changchien, “Bosch”) and weap- ons experts Murray (Saul Rubinek, “Warehouse 13”) and Mindy (Carol Kane, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), their mission becomes even more dangerous and com- plex. ible (and sometimes nauseating) series are streaming now, and it’s intensity and suspense make it an excellent series to binge. Hugh Dancy (“The Path”) stars as FBI profiler Will Graham, who is recruited by the FBI’s head of Behavioral Science, Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne, “Black-ish”), to hunt down a suspected serial killer in Min- nesota. Will’s methods are unorthodox and very taxing, and the case begins to weigh on him heavily. To help lighten his burden, Crawford assigns Will to a forensic psychiatrist: Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Danish star Mads Mikkelsen (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” 2016) is spectacularly eerie as Dr. Lecter, who you should already know is the very serial killer the team is hunting. It’s a thrilling game of cat and mouse with the highest possible stakes, and while know- ing who the killer is would make many shows less compelling, this one is all the better for it. The cannibalistic killer works from Sir Patrick Stewart in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” within the FBI to manipulate the case, but he’s also genuinely fascinated by Will, who has the ability to empathize with even the most brutal killer. As their relationship develops, Dr. Lecter takes dangerous chances and risks his own anonymity in order to turn Will into his protégé. This psychological thriller is really one of a kind, and all three sea- sons are streaming now. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Mads Mikkelsen stars in “Hannibal” This classic sci-fi series follows the exploits of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart, “Lo- gan,” 2017) and his crew aboard the starship Enterprise-D in the mid-24th century — about 100 years after the original “Star Trek” series took place. As the crew encounters new planets and lifeforms, they grapple with myriad problems and moral crises, many of which reflect the social, political and personal is- sues of our own time. The series aired from 1987 to 1994, and won 18 Emmy Awards during its run, for everything from art direc- tion to acting. Under the guise of space travel and alien encounters, “TNG” teaches the importance of integrity, compassion, coop- eration, personal responsibility and many other positive values. The ever-valiant Picard is a good example of a strong, capable and compassionate leader, and as he and his multicultural (and multispecies) crew venture into the great unknown, they manage to learn something valuable from every encounter. If you’re a sci-fi fan, you’re likely already familiar with the series, but I’d argue it’s worth another watch, especially now that the beloved Captain Picard has returned to our screens in the CBS All-Access series aptly named “Picard.” A re-watch of this series will get you primed for the new one, and you can watch all seven season now. East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald | February 19, 2020 Screentime | 11
