First of all, this is a retelling of the Red Dragon novel. It is by no means directly comparable to anything from the source. Don't look for motivations, key plot points, or absolutes from the books or movies. This is its own beast.

It is also not meant to be taken as a scientifically accurate or logically iron-clad procedural crime show. It is, by design, not supposed to be realistic in its depictions of elaborate post-mortem stagings, lax law enforcement and basic psychological musings. It is set in that world before hardcore forensics. A place that lacked surveillance cameras on every corner, and everyone and their relatives' DNA profile on the internet.

This show is part Grand Guignol, theater of the absurd, Greenaway, Alice Cooper and Twin Peaks. There are things that are irrational on purpose. That is the nature of things when making deranged and shocking works of art.

And like an hallucinatory fever dream, it moves how and where it wants. That is the joy in it.