Hannibal Episode 205
“Mukozuke”
Written By: Ayanna A. Floyd and Steve Lightfoot & Bryan Fuller
Directed By: Michael Rymer
Original Airdate: 28 March 2014
In This Episode…
Freddie responds to an anonymous tip, sending her to the observatory. She enters with a gun, but soon exchanges it for a camera. She snaps away before calling the authorities. When Jack arrives, she suggests someone else enter - it’s one of his own. (Yes, we all know where this is going.) Jack goes in and breaks down when he sees Beverly. Sliced into Beverly-sashimi, sealed between sheets of plexiglass like forensic slides. He and Alana deliver the news to Will, who looks numb upon hearing the news. “I want to see her.”
This is not just a typical field trip. Much like Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs, Will Graham is strapped into several straightjackets, with a plastic mask placed over his mouth so he can’t bite. Then he is loaded onto a dolly and wheeled into a van. At the scene, Jack instructs the investigators to leave them alone. He unstraps Will while holding a gun to him - but it’s not necessary. Will isn’t going anywhere. Jack leaves him alone and Will tries to do his “killer’s headspace” thing, but it doesn’t work. Beverly appears to him and reminds him to just “interpret the evidence.” So he does. The pieces of Beverly stack back together and Will floats around her, almost lovingly, before getting behind her and strangling her, looking her int he eye. “We know each other.” Will sees the killer freezing her, “preserving shape and form so I can more cleanly dismantle her.” She is dismantled piece by piece, like Beverly would do to a crime scene. Unable to see what the killer took from her, Will returns to the here and now. Jack is back, and Will half-blames him for not being in his office when he told Beverly to find him. “It’s the Chesapeake Ripper and the copycat,” Will asserts. “Same person, two masks.” She was looking for a connection between the two, and clearly she found something. He asserts that it was the Ripper she found last night. Jack asks who it is. Will knows, but won’t say. “Beverly made her connection to the Ripper; you have to make your own.” Frustrated, Jack blurts out, “Then why did I bring you here?” “To say goodbye,” Will says simply. Jack has clearly forgotten that Will is human. Back at the lab, with Beverly’s pieces spread out, Jimmy and Brian discover a major piece of evidence - or lack thereof. Beverly’s kidneys are missing, replaced with the kidneys of the Muralist. When they find her kidneys, they will find her murderer. Hannibal is, of course, cooking her kidneys and places them into a little tartlet that looks eerily enough like the mask that Will wore on his little excursion.
Will is upset that Chilton spoke to Hannibal about his treatment. He appeals to Chilton’s narcissistic side, suggesting that he could be the one who captures the Ripper. He wants to talk to Abel Gideon. Chilton agrees and transfers Gideon to this hospital, placing him in the “therapy” cell beside Will. Will wants Gideon to admit he knows who the Ripper is, and tells him it was Hannibal who sent Will to kill him. “He is the devil. He is smoke,” says Gideon. “If you never catch the Ripper he won’t be caught. If you want him, you will have to kill him.” Will’s only response: “Fair enough.” Hannibal is curious to know why Chilton would transfer the man who disemboweled him back to his prison. Chilton’s lame excuse is that he thought he would be “useful” in Will’s therapy. Since Chilton “vandalized” his patient, Hannibal wants to analyze Gideon. Gideon has never met Hannibal, but knows him by reputation. He is rather impressed with Dr. Lecter: Chilton wants to be like him; Will has a bone to pick with him. When Hannibal leaves the hospital, Freddie snaps pictures of him. He chastises her, but she is there at Will’s request. Freddie is not happy to meet with Will in the privacy room. She warms to him when she hears what he wants: to open a line of communication to the killer of the bailiff and judge. In return, she wants exclusive rights to Will’s story. They both agree.
Sure enough, the ploy works, and the orderly opens up to Will after reading his interview. (This is no surprise; it was revealed in the trailer.) “People don’t understand us, but we understand each other.” He admits that he killed the bailiff, but it was someone else entirely who killed the judge. Will needs a favor, one that the orderly is happy to fulfill: “Kill Hannibal Lecter.” Alana visits him later, surprised and concerned that he gave Freddie the interview. Will believes that Beverly died because of him, and Alana puts the pieces together. “What have you done?” “What I had to do.” As Alana leaves, she sees that Gideon is in the facility and goes to speak to him. Alana tells him that Will isn’t the Ripper, to which Gideon responds, “Not yet.”Alana is alarmed, and Gideon offers her a chance to save Will from himself. (Always riddles, this guy.) “When Will’s rage passes, he will either be a killer or not.” Gideon over heard Will’s lethal request, and Alana knows what is going on. She rushes to Jack, who puts a trace out on his cell phone.
Hannibal is swimming laps when the orderly shows up. He shoots Hannibal with a tranquilizer and he sinks to the bottom of the pool. The orderly doesn’t let him drown; instead he takes him into a back room, crucifies him, then balances him precariously atop a very wobbly bucket. A noose is around his neck, and he is bleeding profusely. Essentially this one position promises lots of ways for Hannibal to die. He can bleed to death slowly, or “kick the bucket” and get it over with. Hannibal defends Will, insists he is not a murderer. “He is now. By proxy.” Hannibal is surprised that Will asked him to do this. The orderly asks him point-blank if he is the Chesapeake Ripper. According to the dilation of Hannibal’s eyes, he is. The orderly starts to daydream about what the press will call him, but then thinks that, after Hannibal is dead, he will take credit for the kills, take credit for being the Ripper. Jack arrives and warns the orderly away from Hannibal. Hannibal yells, “He’s got a gun!” Jack shoots him, but it is not a kill shot. Before the orderly dies, he kicks the bucket out from beneath Will. Jack rushes forward and catches Hannibal before he can hang himself.
Dig It or Bury It?
I’m almost tired of heaping so much praise onto Hannibal. Tonight’s episode was another stand-out. Beverly’s death - or rather, display - was magnificent. I loved that the dripping as her body defrosted became a recurring theme throughout the episode, both visually and, more importantly, audibly. Will’s “ode” to Silence of the Lambs, with him in the straightjacket and the mask, was fun, but seemed a little unnecessary. Handcuffs weren’t enough?
I always thought that Gideon died last season. When he came back, I assumed it was just in Will’s mind. But then when other, assumably saner, people also started talking with him - and Alana’s mention of his non-critical injuries - cleared that up.
I also thought it was interesting that tonight was the only time we ever saw Hannibal as vulnerable and weak. And he was so easily overtaken, which is stranger. It brought a certain humanity to Hannibal, took him from a Freddy or Jason-level monster to just a human monster. And yet, even in his vulnerable state, he is crucified, suggesting he is more than just a man.
When will we find out what Beverly saw in Hannibal’s basement? My theory is that it was someone else, cut up and displayed in the same manner she was. Maybe Abigail Hobbs or her father?
Chef’s Specials
Appropriately enough, mukozuke is a course of sashimi.
Prophecies?
Hannibal is not happy that Will tried to have him killed. Jack finally starts to listen to Will and takes some food home from Hannibal’s dinner party to test! Also, there was a shot of Hannibal and Alana in bed together, which I have to assume is a paranoid delusion from Will’s brain.