Hannibal Season 2 Episode 9

[Anna Ploof]

The series is based upon characters and elements appearing in the novels Red Dragon (1981), Hannibal (1999), and Hannibal Rising (2006) by Thomas Harris. The series focuses on the budding relationship between FBI Special Agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), a crime scene investigator who holds the ability to empathize with psychopaths and murderers, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), a forensic psychiatrist and secret cannibal destined to become Graham's most cunning enemy. The FBI staff that supports Graham is headed by Special Agent in Charge Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), who takes Graham from his teaching job to help investigate only the most gruesome and bizarre of murders, and includes a forensic team consisting of Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park), Brian Zeller (Aaron Abrams) and Jimmy Price (Scott Thompson). While Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) inadvertently slips deeper into Hannibal's world, clinical psychiatrist Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) does so purposefully, as does crime blogger Fredricka "Freddie" Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki), who frequently attempts to use Graham, Lecter, and their cases to make a name for herself.

Each episode of the first season is named after an element of French cuisine.[2] The season two titles are named after the different elements of Japanese haute cuisine.[3] The first seven of season three's episodes are named after different courses of Italian cuisine,[4] the subsequent five are named for William Blake's series of The Great Red Dragon Paintings,[5] and the finale's title is a phrase from Revelation 6:16.[6]

Note: Before I recap this episode, I have to acknowledge that Bryan Fuller's Hannibal was canceled earlier this week. I can't help but view this episode in a more melancholic vibe since at this point the future of this excellent show is uncertain. Fuller has said that there are options for the acclaimed drama but nothing has been set in stone. Hopefully other networks can step up to pick up this show, which is unlike anything else on television in terms of storytelling, but if anything I think we should be grateful that the show was even able to get this far. I've been watching Hannibal since the beginning, so if this is truly the last season then the journey was more than worth it and hopefully this means that new viewers can discover this excellent show.

More than any other episode, so far, this season, Hannibal's fourth episode is concerned with discovering what happened after last season's shocking events. Taking the structure of a heist film, the episode focused on Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raul Esparza) assembling the people that were hurt by Hannibal. After four episodes, we finally discover what happened to Dr. Alana Bloom (a superb Caroline Dhavernas), Jack and Will as well as the Vergers: Mason (Joe Anderson taking over Michael Pitt) and Margot (Katherine Isabelle).

One of the coolest aspects about this episode is that director Marc Jobst really focuses on the aftermath of last season's finale and even has the audacity to push the title character to the side. What is fascinating to see is that, in many ways, all of these people have been profoundly affected by the events; in other words they're emotionally broken by what happened. They all have motivation against Hannibal and therefore the stakes increase dramatically as a result.

Aside from pushing its title character out of the main narrative, this episode also boldly introduces new paths for the characters, including Alana. It's going to be interesting to see how this new alliance, between Alana and Mason, evolves over the course of the season. It's pretty clear that Alana is not the same (everything from her tone of voice to outlook on Hannibal) and I can't wait to see how the writers continue exploring this edgier version of her character throughout this season. They even managed to incorporate that edgier, deadpan humor (the theater line was particularly brilliant given how operatic this episode was) into her excellent conversations with Mason.

Besides Alana, we also got a glimpse into what happened to Jack before he arrives in Italy. This entire sequence, detailing Jack's survival and how it affects his life with his wife Bella (an absolutely heartbreaking Gina Torres), is absolutely emotionally gut wrenching. It's interesting to see that for a show known for pulling no punches in terms of graphic content, it's remarkable how the show handled this scene. It's handled with an almost lyrical level of fragility and grief. Both Fishburne and Torres are exceptional in this short sequence. Another standout was the funeral scene between Will and Jack (it was beautifully shot by James Hawkinson; I love the touch of Will being out of focus during the conversation) discussing Bella's fate and Will's mission. Another great recurring motif during this episode was the idea that characters are plagued by visions of loved ones that are dead. We saw this again with Will and Abigail (in a very haunting shot) but it appears that Jack also had a similar experience with Bella.

What this episode does great is that it finally reveals the aftermath of the Season 2 shocker. But it also effectively lays out the plan for what the characters will be up to this season. We know that Willa and Jack are in Italy but the Alana/Mason alliance is definitely one that sounds promising considering how changed Alana is as a character. Finally, it's interesting to see the fascination that the show has with eating someone. Last episode, Hannibal revealed that he needed to eat Will as a form of forgiveness and now Mason wants to eat Hannibal. His excuse is a little different and definitely verging on an almost ritualistic form of expression. Mason considers Hannibal a savior and to achieve his version of enlightenment he must eat him.

Earlier during the week, I had been in correspondence with a friend of mine who watches the show, and I said to her, "I'm half expecting Will to break Hannibal out of jail and run away together." I'm not taking any pleasure in being right. I wasn't really surprised by much, and that disappointed me.

Let's set aside for a moment the fact that this was a series finale, or even a season finale. On its own, this would have been a decent episode of Hannibal, but not a great one. Apart from the final few seconds with Bedelia, the whole episode was predictable, and not just because I knew the book.

I found myself wondering why characters were making certain choices. Why on earth would Jack and Alana trust that everything would have gone according to plan, especially after knowing how Will had 'inadvertently' set Chilton up? Knowing Will's history with Hannibal? How was there not a contingency plan?

When Will said goodbye, I knew he'd be back. They were practically seducing each other during the episode: Hannibal telling Will to think of him, Will saying please and telling Hannibal he needed him, Hannibal pulling over with a playful "Going my way?" after the breakout.

When Will put the plan in motion, I knew Hannibal would actually escape. When they looked romantically at the cliff as Hannibal reminisced about all the now-dead people he had brought there, I figured that cliff would be their end. Honestly, I just wanted to be surprised. I wanted to be at the edge of my seat.

More than that though, I wanted to believe that, somehow, we'd find out Will Graham was a better and stronger person than the creature of dependency that Hannibal molded him into. I wasn't expecting Will to be a big damn hero. I wasn't even expecting him to be able to go home.

However, after everything he'd been through at the hands of Hannibal, as a victim, I wanted to know that he at least had the strength to do something better. I had hoped that whatever small light he had, whatever tiny beacon that anchored him to do right, would have been triumphant over Hannibal's manipulation.

Will once said that killing someone was "the ugliest thing in the world." However, here he was, having a grand time, killing the hell out of Francis Dolarhyde with his murder husband Hannibal. Which, by the way, was an absolutely stunning scene, and one I will rewatch for a long time.

I suppose taking Hannibal over the cliff with him was Will's final act of righteousness. It also seems that the cliff dive was the only way Will knew to end both his dependency and Hannibal's cruelty. Those both make sense for who his character was, and I do really like the finality of this ending as well.

The only thing that surprised me was that she was left alive, and only lost a limb. Did Will talk his murder husband down from completely killing her to just amputating a leg? Was Hannibal planning on coming back to have that meal?

The Red Dragon scenes were all pretty fantastic, and Richard Armitage delivered as he always does. I quite enjoyed his pow-wow with Will and his last scenes with Reba. He convinced me every single time he was on screen. I could have used a little more Dragon.

Also, Lecter's speech to Alana was absolutely chilling. He made no light of the fact that he wanted to kill her and that he was going to do so. Part of me kind of wanted to see how he would have made that happen if he had gotten the chance to.

I also quite enjoyed Frederick Chilton's appearance. I liked that he called Alana out on her bad decisions and on her self-preservation, and I liked how bloodthirsty he was for Hannibal's death, wanting to wear his skin. All of Hannibal's disfigured victims literally want a piece of him.

One of the things that was spot on was the humor of the episode. This may have been one of the funniest episodes there was this season. The forensics team was hilarious (and I really wish we had gotten more of them this year), and Hannibal had some impressive one-liners.

This may seem like a harsh review, but it's really not. I do actually think it was a good episode. I like the finality of the ending, I liked the humor, stunning visuals as always. The story, though predictable, was told well.

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