Hannibal 2x03: "Hassun" part two
PREVIOUSLY ON: TWO-PART RECAPS ARE OFFICIALLY A THING: Empath & Cannibal put on clothes and fandom made it rain; Will's trial is interrupted by a murderous attempt to establish his innocence that was, shockingly, not committed by Hannibal (no, really, this was confirmed); Jack throws the FBI under the bus during his testimony, Miss Freddie is immediately discredited during hers, and Alana is really not looking forward to her own. Where we left off: Jack's sending in a tactical team to apprehend the bailiff who checked Will's knife out of the evidence room. They bust in--trigger something just behind the door--sparks on accelerant--and then this happens:
(I'm pretty sure this is all CGI, given that the show shoots on an eight-day schedule and a tight budget, but framing the explosion as a reflection in Jack's car window is actually a really cool way to get around that. Necessity, invention, mother thereof, etc.)
Inside, Jack finds the owner of the ear: the bailiff himself, impaled on a stag head with his jaw sliced open à la Sutcliffe. And somehow, the burnedness doesn't really obscure the gruesomeness; it just kinda makes it worse. "They wanted to give us a warm welcome and make sure that we found something," he tells Hannibal a while later, leading him in to the crime scene. "An arresting piece of theater," says Hannibal, who looks genuinely taken aback. Which was extremely confusing at the time, given that we all thought he must have done it.
@neoprod: AN ARRESTING PIECE OF THEATER #Hannibal has competition for Will’s admiration
God bless Martha De Laurentiis; looking back at the livetweeting now, you can see how she was trying to shepherd us away from "Hannibal did it" the whole time. So, remember: this is not Hannibal being smug over his own handiwork. He has genuinely never seen any of this before.
"Our bailiff was mounted on a stag's head. Glasgow smile, killer lopped off his ear, and set him on fire," rattles off Brian, while Beverly scrapes away debris from Sykes' name tag and AH GAHHH NO NOT THE CLOSEUPS. "Will Graham's greatest hits."
@DireRavenstag: The depictions of violence to deer and deer-like creatures in this show is offensive to my delicate sensibilities.
"Could we have been that wrong?" wonders Jack. "About Will Graham, no. We could not," retorts Brian. "He practically takes selfies with his victims."
Like this?
(It was kind of a weird episode.)
Beverly's take: "The evidence we found was immediate and almost presentational--may as well have been gift-wrapped." "That's what will said about Cassie Boyle when we found her in that field," Crawford says suspiciously. " Field kabuki." (In fairness to us, the viewers, that really does make it sound like they're implying it's Hannibal.) "There was no evidence before Will was apprehended," Beverly insists, "and there hasn't been any since--" "HE ATE A GIRL'S EAR! IT WAS IN HIS STOMACH! God knows what else of her was in there!" shouts Brian, who is never ever gonna let this go. "We should've taken a stool sample," Jimmy says solemnly.
(raymukada.tumblr.com)
Livetweeting officially went off the rails at this point (a visual representation). I mean, consult the Storify post for more, but suffice it to say that it ran the gamut from "IF IT'S IN THE SHIT, YOU CAN'T ACQUIT" to "Does anyone have a screencap of #STOOLSAMPLE trending? I need it for my scrapbook."
"KNOCK IT OFF," says Jack.
"What impact could this have on Will's trial?" asks Hannibal, taking Jack aside--who answers with a "who fucking knows" shrug-face.
Let's find out, shall we? The next day, Jack and Prurnell are talking to the judge at the bench: "This murder raises serious doubts about the case against Will Graham." "Your team provided the evidence," the judge points out--"THE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE," Prurnell chimes in. Jack: "So you understand the significance of my questioning it." "Agent Crawford, we all heard your testimony," she counters. "Are you sure you're not just trying to assuage your own guilt?" "Andrew Sykes was mutilated in the exact same manner Will Graham allegedly mutilated his victims--ways that have not been made public," Jack insists. The judge is just sitting there watching them go back and forth--"Will Graham isn't saying he didn't kill those people! His lawyer is running an unconsciousness defense! In effect, he's admitting the acts, but just not the responsibility." "Will's maintained his innocence all along, in spite of memory gaps. Whatever Mr. Brauer's strategy is, this will offer a new line of defense"--until he sees his opening: "That's for Mr. Brauer to tell me, Agent Crawford, not you." Oh. Snap.
Meanwhile: beautiful day on the river today. Fishin', just gonna keep fishin'...
@cleolindajones: oh get the fuck out, Chilton
@aMoTPodcast: My hatred for these two is so rich you could drizzle it over waffles. #murderwaffles
With girl butter? "Will Graham manifests publicly as an introverted personality," Chilton smarms on the stand. "He would like us to believe he places on the spectrum somewhere near Asperger's and autism. Yet he also claims an empathy disorder," he drawls. Rather than wade into that uncertain territory, I will simply say--as a Certified Trope Namer, I'm gonna have to go with a diagnosis on the Fictional Super Power Spectrum, somewhere near "Blessed with Suck." Claims, Vega asks pointedly? "Will Graham has never been diagnosed," he says, eyeballing Will as he fondles the top of his walking stick, because Raúl Esparza is the best and everything is terrible. "He will not allow dumbasses anyone to test him. He has carefully constructed a persona to hide his real nature from the world. He wears it so well, even Jack Crawford could not see past it."
@MrAaronAbrams: Someone take Dr. Chilton's cane away from him before it charges him with sexual harassment.
Like even Prurnell out there in the audience looks uneasy. Do y'all understand now why I have been living for the day this character gets eaten?
"But you did?" prompts Vega. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM! Chilton is already gleaming with pomposity: "Mr. Graham and I had no personal relationship for him to manipulate because nobody likes me. I have objectively examined him, and the crimes of which he is accused." (Chilton turns to the judge. The judge judges him, judgily.) "These murders... were measured... and controlled. The confused man Will Graham presents to the world could not commit those crimes... because that man is a fiction."
And Will's just casting away in his Fishing Palace, smiling to himself, because he, unlike the rest of us, has a way to escape this unctuous fuckery.
"So you discount the encephalitis he was suffering as a cause?" smarms Vega (oh noooo, it's contagious), and Chilton replies, "He managed his illness with the help of his neurologist--whom he murdered for his trouble," glancing back and forth (and back and forth) over the gallery like this is some fantastic witticism, oh my God, the hatred in my soul. Look, you numbfuck, how does that even make sense? Why would you murder the guy keeping your brain fever under control? Because you just really wanted the full seizure meltdown experience? GET OUT. "Is Will Graham an intelligent psychopath?" asks Vega, using another phrase I propose we add to the drinking game immediately. Chilton: "There is not yet a name for whatever Will Graham is." (Please note that in the Silence of the Lambs movie, "They don't have a name for what [Hannibal Lecter] is" was preceded by "What is he, some kinda vampire?" Please also note that I HOPE HE EATS YOU.) "He kills methodically. And I believe would kill again, given the opportunity."
How does that make you feel, Will?
(wearyvoices.tumblr.com)
Ahhhhhhhhhh.
Even Brauer, approaching the stand, looks a little put off by having to deal with this jackass. "Dr. Chilton, Will Graham spent his time catching murderers for the FBI. You don't see a contradiction between that and your description of a coldblooded killer?" "No, I do not. Will Graham is driven by vanity and his own whims." EAT HIIIIIIM. "He has a very high opinion of his intelligence, ~ergo" (OH MY GOD) "he caught the other killers simply to prove... he was smarter than all of them, too." (Will seems a little more present now. I wonder if he's considering this idea--given that Chilton is obviously describing Hannibal; Chilton just doesn't know it yet, because he's a dumbass--in the context of the Muralist case, or maybe even the Tobias Budge "attack.") Chilton's coup de gross: "Saving lives is just as arousing as ending them. He likes to play God."
@MrAaronAbrams: The only thing worse than Chilton is Chilton with an audience oop nope it's Chilton with an audience & saying the word "arousing".
@neoprod: Oh Chilton. Watch out. You are PEACOCKING again
We'll come back to that in next week's "Takiawase" recap. In the meantime, I wonder if this is what Will was subconsciously realizing while he watched Hannibal stabilize the Organ Harvester's victim in " Sorbet."
(*DETERMINED FISHING*)
Later, at the dungeon visitation room, Hannibal brings the Sykes forensic report to Will. That's right: Hannibal Lecter wants to get help with a case file from a Brilliant Imprisoned Sociopath. He pushes forward a photograph of the crime scene, and it is heinously gnarly. Not the least bit righteous at all. Will, grimly: "My admirer?" Bear in mind: at this moment, Will may believe that Hannibal is showing him his own--Hannibal's--work. And no matter who did it, someone has died pretty horribly in the name of setting Will free.
"Yes," says Hannibal. "What do you see?"
Will skims over the forensics report, then returns to the photo (I COULD GO A THOUSAND YEARS WITHOUT SEEING THAT AGAIN, THANK YOU). And Hannibal's staring at him avidly, because of course--until the mind metronome wipes him away (drink!), and Will finds himself in the corner of the bailiff's dark living room. Sykes comes home from work in uniform, sees a stag head on the floor and Will standing the corner--
"I shoot Mr. Sykes once, collapsing lungs, tearing through his heart's aorta and pulmonary arteries," Will empaths, tossing the silenced gun away before Sykes can even fully register what just happened. "He will die believing we were friends. It is his last thought." Are there tears in Will's eyes? Sometimes Hugh Dancy does this amazing thing with his face and voice where we can see Will emerging through the killer he's empathing; I can't tell if this is Will having an emotional reaction to "we were friends," or if it's the killer who felt some kind of regret at the time.
And then holy shit Will flings Sykes by the shoulders onto the antlers. Whoever he's empathing would have to be really, really... muscular, huh...
cleolinda (Tumblr): If I’m right about who it is-there are (at least) two clues in last night’s episode that will make you slap yourself in the face once you see them. Because God knows I did.
Someone then asked what clues I was referring to, and what I ended up saying was, "The biggest one I spotted was when Will empathed the crime scene. If you feel a sense of déjà vu--pursue that, is all I’ll say. It’s in the case file recaps," because I couldn't help myself. And it is:
" I shoot Mr. Marlowe twice, severing jugulars and carotids with near-surgical precision. He will die watching me take what is his away from him. This is my design."
( x)
You know what else happened in Red Dragon?
(ladymanson.com)
That's about the point when I wanted to slap myself, yes.
"His death isn't personal," says Will, taking his own knife out of the evidence bag and SAWING AT THE GUY'S MOUTH IN CLOSEUP
@cleolindajones: ahhhhh nahhhhhh whyyyy nooooo
HOW IS THIS WORSE THAN SUTCLIFFE FFFFF WHAT IS THAT LIKE A POCKET KNIFE? DOES THAT HAVE A FUCKING CORKSCREW ON IT? I OPEN MY MAIL WITH A BIGGER KNIFE THAN THAT! WHAT KIND OF SADIST USES A KNIFE THAT SMALL WHY DON'T YOU JUST FILE THE GUY'S EAR OFF
@HettiennePark: Jesus, that was gross. #HANNIBAL #slice #freshearjerky
THE EAR IS SO FLOPPY.
(*cries*)
"He is merely the ink from which flows my poem," says Will, still sawing; then the pocketknife bounces onto the blood-soaked carpet. "My tribute. This is my design." PLEASE BRING ME A DRINK NOW.
"It's not the same killer," says Will, back in the visitors' room with Hannibal--not the same as you me the one who committed the copycat crimes. "He murdered his victim first, and then mutilated him. Cassie Boyle's lungs were removed when she was still breathing. Georgia Madchen was burned alive. What I--what-- what I found of Abigail was cut off while her heart was beating."
Hannibal looks down and away. (DAMN RIGHT, YOU WERE A BAD FANCY DAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.) "Then this... is blunt reproduction?"
"You knew that already," Will says accusingly--which is to say that Will realizes that Hannibal did not, in fact, do it himself? And that it also couldn't be someone who knew how the original copycat victims were killed--it's "blunt reproduction" only of what the public knows? I guess Will really had begun to hope that they'd found a third person who also killed all the copycat victims who wasn't either of them? God, I feel exhausted just thinking about all beliefs and suspicions Will has to sort through on a daily basis.
"Would've liked to have been wrong." (I'm still trying to parse this. Hannibal knew he didn't do it himself, and he knew he did everything else! He knows Will didn't do any of it! What was there to be wrong about?)
"Occam's broom?" says Will. (Man, what is with you and brooms, Will?) "You intentionally ignored facts that refute your argument hoping nobody'd notice?"
"You noticed," says Hannibal. A long pause. "I wanted to dispel your doubts once and for all."
Will, quietly but utterly confused: "My doubts about what?" DISPEL THEM HOW?
"Me. I want you to believe in the best of me, just as I believe in the best of you. This crime offered us both reasonable doubt." Awwwww. So on one hand, Hannibal's jealous of the Copycat Copycat Killer, but on the other, if he could have made Will believe that the Copycat Copycat Killer was also the Copycat Killer and everything was all that guy's fault (including the, uh, persistent planting of evidence to frame Will), maybe Will would want to be Hannibal's friend again? He is giving Will the puppy-dog eyes, y'all. Also, I love how "the best of you" can sound like "I know you're actually innocent" while probably really meaning "I know you'll come over to the dark side eventually, Will. I believe in you." Also-also, "I want you to believe in the best of me" is strangely vulnerable and touching. Hannibal Lecter is doing weird things to my feelings this season.
"Maybe this acolyte is giving you your path to freedom. Even Jack is ready to believe, Will," he urges.
So (and I swear I had this written out before "Takiawase" aired), I don't know that the show's actually implying that Dolarhyde himself did this. What if Dolarhyde has "acolytes"? Because a number of people pointed out back in " Coquilles" that there was really no way in reasonable hell the Angel Maker could have strung himself up, and he also talks about "the majesty of your becoming," which is pretty famously a Dolarhyde phrase. So even once we figure out who the "admirer" is (oh, like an Avid Fan? Here's the iTunes plot summary:
ALL THE PALMS FOR MY FACE),
Will may be empathing Dolarhyde's general technique as passed on to an apprentice killer, as it were. (Notice how the tone of voice and the precision shooting are similar, but the arm positions are very different. And--unless that really was Will's true self breaking in--it may be significant that there seemed to be some emotion re: "believing we were friends." Maybe the Admirer isn't as hardened a killer as the person who shot the Marlowes.) Either way, Dolarhyde and/or his acolyte(s) finding out that Hannibal really committed "Will's" crimes could cause him to shift his attentions, putting us back in line with the "Avid Fan [of Hannibal Lecter]" storyline. But hold on to that thought for now.
Back to Will processing the idea that they "prove" his own innocence: he sits back slowly, disturbed. "It would be a lie." Dude, everything in your life is a lie, the lies tell lies, the lies lie about lying. (The cake is not a lie. The cake is people.) Another long pause. "I don't want you to be here," says Hannibal. "I don't want me to be here either," retorts Will. "Then you have a choice," he says. "This killer wrote you a poem. Are you going to let his love go to waste?"
Oh my God, Hannibal. Well, love the one you're with, I guess.
@aMoTPodcast: For realsies, what game are these two playing? I'm gonna need a full attention re-watch to parse out the layers of subtext in this convo
@cleolindajones: So it's not just me? You can't figure out what the hell he's getting at either?
@aMoTPodcast: To be fair, the only time I ever understand what #Hannibal 's getting at is when he's cooking. And yes, that does worry me.
The thing is, I think we were understanding the conversation just fine. We just couldn't reconcile it with the idea that Hannibal must have done it.
Meanwhile,
@BryanFuller: #HANNIBAL AND HIS SNEAKERS [set pic]
@BryanFuller: OUR VERY FIRST MEETING WITH MADS MIKKELSEN @scribblejerk @neoprod [ speaking of selfies]
marthadelaurentiis: It was St. Patrick’s day - Mads and I drank beer for breakfast
Cognitive dissonance: the breakfast of champions.
After the break: ALANA STARING AT WILL IN DISBELIEF. "I'm confused." I feel you, Alana. "You're going to abandon your defense strategy... the entire case you've built, mid-trial." "Exciting, isn't it?" deadpans Brauer from the back of the visitors' room. "And this seems reasonable to you?" she asks him over her shoulder. "It's not only reasonable; it's fashionable," he says, sitting down next to her. "There's a killer on the loose, demonstrating all the hallmarks of Will Graham's alleged murders." He won't even let Will answer whether he really thinks the Admirer is the real Copycat Killer: "Don't answer that, not in front of me--it's inconsequential." "BUT IT IS TRUE?" "You're being awfully high and mighty, Dr. Bloom. Very ivory tower, very reductive, very FAR FROM THE POINT, which is the exoneration of your friend, Will Graham." (Said friend has just totally zoned out. I imagine he's caught a real nice bass by now.) "And the point you're trying to make is reasonable doubt." "That's a win, yes," says Brauer. Alana protests, "The best you can hope for is a mistrial," but Brauer retorts, "That's also a win." "You won't be able to plead unconsciousness again!" "Your fast, triumphant diagnosis of unconsciousness was the best play we had--now we have a better play. Needless to say, I won't be calling you to the witness stand."
"Who's taking the stand in my place?" demands Alana.
Turns out that Brauer's solution to the "starey, non-blinky" problem is... Hannibal Lecter.
*SLOW CLAP*
"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," says Hannibal, as he and Will stare at each other, "so help me God."
@cleolindajones: and then the Bible bursts into flame
And just for good measure, the Wendigo takes the oath as well.
(I like the bonus response here.)
Brauer's first question: "Please describe your relationship with Will Graham." Well, we adopted the daughter of this serial killer that I set Mr. Graham up to shoot the fuck out of, and then... "I was asked by Jack Crawford to monitor Will's emotional well-being while he worked on cases. I was never officially his psychiatrist," says Hannibal. "I was meant to be his stability. I failed him in that." YEAH YOU DID. "I was unable to determine if Will's condition was due to mental illness or stress from his work at the FBI. My mistake was never considering his innocence until the murder of a bailiff from this courthouse." (Out in the gallery, Kade Prurnell looks both surprised and Not Happy about this statement. Marion Vega just looks up eagerly, ready to rumble.) "And how did you know about that, Dr. Lecter?" "I have been asked to consult on the case by Jack Crawford. He wanted a profile of the bailiff's killer." (I can't tell if this means Hannibal is an expert witness on the subject, or if this is one hell of a conflict of interest, in an "apparently there are only five people working for the entire FBI" kind of way.) "So you believe the bailiff's murder was committed by the same person guilty of Will Graham's alleged crimes, yes?"
"Profiles aren't evidence, they're opinion. This is hearsay," Vega objects.
But for the moment, the judge will allow it. "I believe there are alarming similarities in the crimes, yes," says Hannibal.
@aMoTPodcast: For example, the perpetrator of each was shockingly handsome *winks@will*
"Will Graham accused you of the crimes for which he now stands trial, and yet... here you are, testifying on his behalf for the defense," says Brauer, anticipating the obvious question. Hannibal replies, "Will rightfully couldn't accept these actions to be his. A mind faced with the possibility of committing such deeds will find an alternative reality to believe in." "You don't blame him for that?" Prepare yourself: "No. Will Graham is, and will always be, my friend."
Good God, y'all.
(nbchannibal.tumblr.com)
#[Franklyn rolls desperately in his grave]
Vega gets right down to it: "Dr. Lecter, what was the cause of death in the bailiff's murder?" "A bullet. To the heart." (I'll spare you the Bon Jovi earworm I was just seized by.) "And in Will Graham's victims, or alleged victims, what was their cause of death?" Well, I mean, they were mutilated to death, but, what's a little mutilation between friends-- "That's very different from a bullet." "No two crimes of any killer are going to be exactly the same," says Hannibal (he is an expert witness on this subject). "The similari-" "Your Honor" (oh shit, she interrupted fancy cannibal) "the witness's personal beliefs and biases are driving his conclusions. There are clearly two different killers and two different cases."
And that's when the judge rules the defense inadmissible. My first thought was "LADY, HE GONNA EAT YOUUUU," but Hannibal actually hangs his head... then looks out at Will. Did the best I could, bb mongoose.
"All previous testimony on the matter will be stricken from the record."
BUT YOU CAN NEVER STRIKE THEIR FRIENDSHIP FROM HIS HEART
@spacemonkeyluvn: I think if Hannibal is serious about proving his friendship to Will, he should get him this BFF charm. [from a street vendor in San Francisco?]
BRING THIS UNTO ME. I WILL BUY IT FROM YOU.
@neoprod: SOLITARY THOUGHTS X 3 to the tune of CHOPIN Prelude No. 4
So Jack's at his desk, drinking and gazing at the gnarly photo; Hannibal is staring at Will's empty therapy chair, again, some more, alone, in the dark; Will sits on his bare dungeon mattress in his sad velcro shoes, knees up to his chest, waiting.
(stilinski-the-vampire-slayer.tumblr.com)
@aMoTPodcast: Alright Fannibals, let's see if we can make Sad Cannibal Mopin' at a Chair the new Woman Laughing with Salad
What happens next is discovered by the courthouse janitor, innocently buffing the floors early the next morning. I'll take this moment to point out that on the Hannibal (movie) DVD, there's a whole 11-minute montage of deleted subplot about a fictionalized version of Il Mostro, the Monster of Florence; they keep showing you the janitor at the lecture hall where Lecter gives his Please Hire Me, I Am Totally Not a Fugitive Cannibal presentation, and in the theatrical cut, it very weirdly doesn't go anywhere. But in the deleted subplot (cut either for time or pacing, I guess), it turns out that the uncaught Monster--the cause of Inspector Pazzi's disgrace--has been under everyone's nose the whole time, and Lecter keeps giving Pazzi nudges towards him, but ehhhh, if he doesn't figure it out, whatever. (We talk about this on the corresponding episode of A Matter of Taste.) So I don't know if the janitor here is an intentional nod towards the movie or not; my first thought when we got to this scene, though, was that it was going to turn out that he was the Admirer. Instead, he just discovers the Admirer's latest poem: the judge strung up with chains, posed like a statue of Justice, blindfolded and holding his own brain and heart on a pair of scales, with a sword in his other hand. (Here's a gif of concept illustrations.) It's actually one of the show's best murder tableaux. But somehow, the most grotesque/realistic touch is that the judge's skull was sawed open unevenly, with a dip in the front. Like, that really gets me, for some reason.
@BryanFuller: I LOVE THIS ADORABLE MAN @MrAaronAbrams [set pic/flower crown/murder selfie]
@MrAaronAbrams: I LOVE YOU BACK WITH MY BRAIN AND HEART IN EQUAL MEASURE!
"So it appears that the judge was murdered in his chambers," Jack says as Team Science works the scene, "and then he was hauled out here to be put on display." "Not only is justice blind," muses Hannibal, "it's mindless and heartless." I want to say I saw some confirmation that this is also the work of the Copycat Copycat Killer, but the way Hannibal says this, it really does sound like he did it and the emotional motivation for the killing was 1) to one-up the Admirer because 1b) Hannibal's really kicking himself for not thinking of that ear first, and 2) "I LOVE WILL AND YOU ARE SO MEAN." Why would the Admirer create such an emotionally-loaded display--because they already feel a similar way about Will? Because Hannibal publicly swore to his friendship with Will on a Bible--and they want to show that they care more? Or in some kind of weird show of support for both of them? I don't even know, y'all. It just really feels like something Hannibal would do. "How did the killer get so close?" Hannibal asks rhetorically. I don't know, YOU TELL ME.
"No sign of a struggle. Mutilation was post-mortem," says Beverly, and Brian points: "He was shot in the chest just like the bailiff. Can't see the entry wound because he removed the heart." (So--correctly incorrect, in terms of matching the bailiff's murder. Would this be anything like the time Hannibal pretended to be an organ harvester pretending to be a serial killer?) "But there is an exit wound," adds Jimmy--"no slug. Must have taken it with him." "A trophy," says Hannibal, and everyone gives him a look. (I think we should add "trophy" to the list of drinking game words.)
And then Jack pulls Hannibal aside: "With this judge's death, there will be no verdict. No ending. It'll start again, like the trial never happened. But why?" Uh, because Will's new defense was sucking wind? "Psychopathic violence is predominantly goal-oriented," Hannibal tells him, "a means to a very particular end," and so mistrial-by-murderation is "an elegant, if... rather unorthodox solution." (So Fancy Cannibal approves? I was going to say, "does he admire the work," and now I wonder if he's going to end up finding the Avid Acolyte himself and take him under his wing first. Orrrrrr he totally did it himself and is preening just a little bit.) "So he spares Will a guilty verdict--and his life--for the moment," says Jack. "The question is, is it the same killer? Is Will still on trial, in your mind?" Hannibal: "The use of a gun; death first, mutilation last. I feel like St. Peter ready to deny Will for the third time. I'm not sure this is the same killer, Jack." You mean the same killer as the killer who killed like the copycat killer, who you are copying, or the same killer who was the copycat killer, who was you? And if Will is Jesus, is that related to the whole thing where you think you're God? I need to lie down a while.
And there, approaching the doorway, is Kade Prurnell, who apparently has not yet been informed of this incident and kinda wants to barf. Jack's trying to tell her that "the killer exerted careful control of the environment, he left very little evidence behind," and she's just all "JEEZ, JACK!"
@BryanFuller: THAT "JEEZ, Jack" WAS ACTUALLY "JESUS, Jack" BUT WE DROPPED THE "US"
Yeah, Kade Prurnell doesn't really seem like the "oh jeez" type. On the other hand, pretty sure "CHRIST ALMIGHTY, Jack Crawford, WHAT THE FUCK" wasn't going to fly with Standards and Practices. "The trial was supposed to put an end to this. Instead, the circus has just added another ring." "And we're the clowns." "Who's we, Jack?" "I got off track." "You have to force yourself out of this train of thought. The trial was going wrong before this murder. The trial was going wrong because you wanted to believe Will Graham. Who is he to you that makes you want to risk everything for him?" (who is he and tell me what he meaaans to youuuuuuu) "A very cogent reminder of the pitfalls of having faith in one's fellow man, thank you," says Jack. But Prurnell insists, "Everyone at one point or another has to leave somebody behind. You've got to cut him loose. Otherwise, the someone being left behind, today or tomorrow... is gonna be you." And Prurnell stalks off to go hworf somewhere privately.
Back on his narrow dungeon bed, Will's restlessly dreaming: a strange clacking down the hall, and then his cell door opens by itself. Out in the corridor, the Ravenstag huffs at him.
@DireRavenstag: My feathers always did looks especially fetching in the dankest of dungeon light.
@BryanFuller: WATCH THE STAG FOR A CLUE ABOUT THIS WEEK'S MURDERER
@DireRavenstag: Up jump da booty to da bang bang booty to beat! RT @thellou: @DireRavenstag got da booty. Who knew?
Well, I knew.
Will follows the stag down the hall, but before he can get anywhere near freedom, he heard Hannibal say his name and turns back to find him gesturing back towards the cell. And then Will wakes up. I don't know what clues we're supposed to be seeing, except that the Ravenstag leads Will to... the guards/orderlies' room?
Is that sound supposed to be the rolling of the food cart? What--are they trying to hint at the Foodbringer? Second half of "Kaiseki":
Jonathan Tucker ("Matthew Brown") gets enough screentime wheeling meals down the hall that I'm wondering if he's going to be Will's Barney.
This goddamn show.
(FUTURE SPOILER: The preview at the end of "Takiawase" for "Mukozuke" revealed that the Admirer is, in fact, the orderly, and that they are taking a page from the Avid Fan storyline (perhaps literally). Who "Matthew Brown" really is and how he is or is not related to Francis Dolarhyde has not yet been revealed.)
One more visit: "I was hoping the verdict would have helped focus your mind to get better," Alana says quietly in the visitors' room. "Make what happened to you less terrifying and confusing. I can't exactly blame your lawyer." "Faith in any sort of legal justice has never been any more comforting than a nightlight," mutters Will. (God, could you imagine putting him and Rust Cohle in a room together?) Alana: "There are so many miscarriages of justice when it comes to identifying a psychopath... you could easily have been misdiagnosed." "I've already been misdiagnosed." "Not by the court." "No. Not yet," says Will. "I walked out of that courtroom, and I could hear my blood, like..." (Poor Alana gives him a look like, This is gonna turn into a metaphor, isn't it?) "...a hollow drumming of wings." (... Yeah.) "And I had the... absurd feeling that whoever this killer is... he walked out of that courtroom with me." Well, either way--if he's your Murder Therapist who just testified to his friend-love for you or the orderly who helps transport you to the courthouse, then yes, he literally walked out of there with you.
"He's gonna reach out to me," he adds.
"What does he want?"
You gotta see Will's face: "He wants to know me."
@cleolindajones: ... biblically?
And when Alana just continues to stare at him, he asks (suspiciously?), "What do you want?" Also to know you biblically? "I want to save you," she says.
He wouldn't let her take his hands before, but he takes hers now. You know, though, I'm waiting for the day someone says "I want to love you" or "I want to be with you as you are." Even Hannibal wanted to " solve" him last season. Not that Will doesn't desperately need help at this point, but it'd be nice to get to a place where he can connect with people--and where other people want to connect with him--without their priority being to change him in some way. Again, Will Graham gotta save his own damn self, I guess.
NEXT WEEK, BY WHICH I MEAN LAST FRIDAY: Amanda Plummer, bees, and "What is he doing with the trophies?" oh my Goooooood
@popshifter: Next week on #Hannibal: Hannibal hoists up a jambox while standing outside of Will's jail cell, but instead of a jambox it's a human leg.
@aMoTPodcast: Honestly? If it was a human leg prepared like that Osso Buco last week, I'd be up for it.
@DireRavenstag: And so, my fleshmeats, we begin anew. The circular flow of the world. My Will remains in his cage. Safe. Kept. Good night.
@DireRavenstag: BTW Wendigo In A Three-Piece Suit is the name of my new tuba-based skacore chamber orchestra disco band. I'M OUT!
(Continue: 2x04 "Takiawase")
(I'm pretty sure this is all CGI, given that the show shoots on an eight-day schedule and a tight budget, but framing the explosion as a reflection in Jack's car window is actually a really cool way to get around that. Necessity, invention, mother thereof, etc.)
Inside, Jack finds the owner of the ear: the bailiff himself, impaled on a stag head with his jaw sliced open à la Sutcliffe. And somehow, the burnedness doesn't really obscure the gruesomeness; it just kinda makes it worse. "They wanted to give us a warm welcome and make sure that we found something," he tells Hannibal a while later, leading him in to the crime scene. "An arresting piece of theater," says Hannibal, who looks genuinely taken aback. Which was extremely confusing at the time, given that we all thought he must have done it.
@neoprod: AN ARRESTING PIECE OF THEATER #Hannibal has competition for Will’s admiration
God bless Martha De Laurentiis; looking back at the livetweeting now, you can see how she was trying to shepherd us away from "Hannibal did it" the whole time. So, remember: this is not Hannibal being smug over his own handiwork. He has genuinely never seen any of this before.
"Our bailiff was mounted on a stag's head. Glasgow smile, killer lopped off his ear, and set him on fire," rattles off Brian, while Beverly scrapes away debris from Sykes' name tag and AH GAHHH NO NOT THE CLOSEUPS. "Will Graham's greatest hits."
@DireRavenstag: The depictions of violence to deer and deer-like creatures in this show is offensive to my delicate sensibilities.
"Could we have been that wrong?" wonders Jack. "About Will Graham, no. We could not," retorts Brian. "He practically takes selfies with his victims."
Like this?
(It was kind of a weird episode.)
Beverly's take: "The evidence we found was immediate and almost presentational--may as well have been gift-wrapped." "That's what will said about Cassie Boyle when we found her in that field," Crawford says suspiciously. " Field kabuki." (In fairness to us, the viewers, that really does make it sound like they're implying it's Hannibal.) "There was no evidence before Will was apprehended," Beverly insists, "and there hasn't been any since--" "HE ATE A GIRL'S EAR! IT WAS IN HIS STOMACH! God knows what else of her was in there!" shouts Brian, who is never ever gonna let this go. "We should've taken a stool sample," Jimmy says solemnly.
(raymukada.tumblr.com)
Livetweeting officially went off the rails at this point (a visual representation). I mean, consult the Storify post for more, but suffice it to say that it ran the gamut from "IF IT'S IN THE SHIT, YOU CAN'T ACQUIT" to "Does anyone have a screencap of #STOOLSAMPLE trending? I need it for my scrapbook."
"KNOCK IT OFF," says Jack.
"What impact could this have on Will's trial?" asks Hannibal, taking Jack aside--who answers with a "who fucking knows" shrug-face.
Let's find out, shall we? The next day, Jack and Prurnell are talking to the judge at the bench: "This murder raises serious doubts about the case against Will Graham." "Your team provided the evidence," the judge points out--"THE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE," Prurnell chimes in. Jack: "So you understand the significance of my questioning it." "Agent Crawford, we all heard your testimony," she counters. "Are you sure you're not just trying to assuage your own guilt?" "Andrew Sykes was mutilated in the exact same manner Will Graham allegedly mutilated his victims--ways that have not been made public," Jack insists. The judge is just sitting there watching them go back and forth--"Will Graham isn't saying he didn't kill those people! His lawyer is running an unconsciousness defense! In effect, he's admitting the acts, but just not the responsibility." "Will's maintained his innocence all along, in spite of memory gaps. Whatever Mr. Brauer's strategy is, this will offer a new line of defense"--until he sees his opening: "That's for Mr. Brauer to tell me, Agent Crawford, not you." Oh. Snap.
Meanwhile: beautiful day on the river today. Fishin', just gonna keep fishin'...
@cleolindajones: oh get the fuck out, Chilton
@aMoTPodcast: My hatred for these two is so rich you could drizzle it over waffles. #murderwaffles
With girl butter? "Will Graham manifests publicly as an introverted personality," Chilton smarms on the stand. "He would like us to believe he places on the spectrum somewhere near Asperger's and autism. Yet he also claims an empathy disorder," he drawls. Rather than wade into that uncertain territory, I will simply say--as a Certified Trope Namer, I'm gonna have to go with a diagnosis on the Fictional Super Power Spectrum, somewhere near "Blessed with Suck." Claims, Vega asks pointedly? "Will Graham has never been diagnosed," he says, eyeballing Will as he fondles the top of his walking stick, because Raúl Esparza is the best and everything is terrible. "He will not allow dumbasses anyone to test him. He has carefully constructed a persona to hide his real nature from the world. He wears it so well, even Jack Crawford could not see past it."
@MrAaronAbrams: Someone take Dr. Chilton's cane away from him before it charges him with sexual harassment.
Like even Prurnell out there in the audience looks uneasy. Do y'all understand now why I have been living for the day this character gets eaten?
"But you did?" prompts Vega. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM! Chilton is already gleaming with pomposity: "Mr. Graham and I had no personal relationship for him to manipulate because nobody likes me. I have objectively examined him, and the crimes of which he is accused." (Chilton turns to the judge. The judge judges him, judgily.) "These murders... were measured... and controlled. The confused man Will Graham presents to the world could not commit those crimes... because that man is a fiction."
And Will's just casting away in his Fishing Palace, smiling to himself, because he, unlike the rest of us, has a way to escape this unctuous fuckery.
"So you discount the encephalitis he was suffering as a cause?" smarms Vega (oh noooo, it's contagious), and Chilton replies, "He managed his illness with the help of his neurologist--whom he murdered for his trouble," glancing back and forth (and back and forth) over the gallery like this is some fantastic witticism, oh my God, the hatred in my soul. Look, you numbfuck, how does that even make sense? Why would you murder the guy keeping your brain fever under control? Because you just really wanted the full seizure meltdown experience? GET OUT. "Is Will Graham an intelligent psychopath?" asks Vega, using another phrase I propose we add to the drinking game immediately. Chilton: "There is not yet a name for whatever Will Graham is." (Please note that in the Silence of the Lambs movie, "They don't have a name for what [Hannibal Lecter] is" was preceded by "What is he, some kinda vampire?" Please also note that I HOPE HE EATS YOU.) "He kills methodically. And I believe would kill again, given the opportunity."
How does that make you feel, Will?
(wearyvoices.tumblr.com)
Ahhhhhhhhhh.
Even Brauer, approaching the stand, looks a little put off by having to deal with this jackass. "Dr. Chilton, Will Graham spent his time catching murderers for the FBI. You don't see a contradiction between that and your description of a coldblooded killer?" "No, I do not. Will Graham is driven by vanity and his own whims." EAT HIIIIIIM. "He has a very high opinion of his intelligence, ~ergo" (OH MY GOD) "he caught the other killers simply to prove... he was smarter than all of them, too." (Will seems a little more present now. I wonder if he's considering this idea--given that Chilton is obviously describing Hannibal; Chilton just doesn't know it yet, because he's a dumbass--in the context of the Muralist case, or maybe even the Tobias Budge "attack.") Chilton's coup de gross: "Saving lives is just as arousing as ending them. He likes to play God."
@MrAaronAbrams: The only thing worse than Chilton is Chilton with an audience oop nope it's Chilton with an audience & saying the word "arousing".
@neoprod: Oh Chilton. Watch out. You are PEACOCKING again
We'll come back to that in next week's "Takiawase" recap. In the meantime, I wonder if this is what Will was subconsciously realizing while he watched Hannibal stabilize the Organ Harvester's victim in " Sorbet."
(*DETERMINED FISHING*)
Later, at the dungeon visitation room, Hannibal brings the Sykes forensic report to Will. That's right: Hannibal Lecter wants to get help with a case file from a Brilliant Imprisoned Sociopath. He pushes forward a photograph of the crime scene, and it is heinously gnarly. Not the least bit righteous at all. Will, grimly: "My admirer?" Bear in mind: at this moment, Will may believe that Hannibal is showing him his own--Hannibal's--work. And no matter who did it, someone has died pretty horribly in the name of setting Will free.
"Yes," says Hannibal. "What do you see?"
Will skims over the forensics report, then returns to the photo (I COULD GO A THOUSAND YEARS WITHOUT SEEING THAT AGAIN, THANK YOU). And Hannibal's staring at him avidly, because of course--until the mind metronome wipes him away (drink!), and Will finds himself in the corner of the bailiff's dark living room. Sykes comes home from work in uniform, sees a stag head on the floor and Will standing the corner--
"I shoot Mr. Sykes once, collapsing lungs, tearing through his heart's aorta and pulmonary arteries," Will empaths, tossing the silenced gun away before Sykes can even fully register what just happened. "He will die believing we were friends. It is his last thought." Are there tears in Will's eyes? Sometimes Hugh Dancy does this amazing thing with his face and voice where we can see Will emerging through the killer he's empathing; I can't tell if this is Will having an emotional reaction to "we were friends," or if it's the killer who felt some kind of regret at the time.
And then holy shit Will flings Sykes by the shoulders onto the antlers. Whoever he's empathing would have to be really, really... muscular, huh...
cleolinda (Tumblr): If I’m right about who it is-there are (at least) two clues in last night’s episode that will make you slap yourself in the face once you see them. Because God knows I did.
Someone then asked what clues I was referring to, and what I ended up saying was, "The biggest one I spotted was when Will empathed the crime scene. If you feel a sense of déjà vu--pursue that, is all I’ll say. It’s in the case file recaps," because I couldn't help myself. And it is:
" I shoot Mr. Marlowe twice, severing jugulars and carotids with near-surgical precision. He will die watching me take what is his away from him. This is my design."
( x)
You know what else happened in Red Dragon?
(ladymanson.com)
That's about the point when I wanted to slap myself, yes.
"His death isn't personal," says Will, taking his own knife out of the evidence bag and SAWING AT THE GUY'S MOUTH IN CLOSEUP
@cleolindajones: ahhhhh nahhhhhh whyyyy nooooo
HOW IS THIS WORSE THAN SUTCLIFFE FFFFF WHAT IS THAT LIKE A POCKET KNIFE? DOES THAT HAVE A FUCKING CORKSCREW ON IT? I OPEN MY MAIL WITH A BIGGER KNIFE THAN THAT! WHAT KIND OF SADIST USES A KNIFE THAT SMALL WHY DON'T YOU JUST FILE THE GUY'S EAR OFF
@HettiennePark: Jesus, that was gross. #HANNIBAL #slice #freshearjerky
THE EAR IS SO FLOPPY.
(*cries*)
"He is merely the ink from which flows my poem," says Will, still sawing; then the pocketknife bounces onto the blood-soaked carpet. "My tribute. This is my design." PLEASE BRING ME A DRINK NOW.
"It's not the same killer," says Will, back in the visitors' room with Hannibal--not the same as you me the one who committed the copycat crimes. "He murdered his victim first, and then mutilated him. Cassie Boyle's lungs were removed when she was still breathing. Georgia Madchen was burned alive. What I--what-- what I found of Abigail was cut off while her heart was beating."
Hannibal looks down and away. (DAMN RIGHT, YOU WERE A BAD FANCY DAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.) "Then this... is blunt reproduction?"
"You knew that already," Will says accusingly--which is to say that Will realizes that Hannibal did not, in fact, do it himself? And that it also couldn't be someone who knew how the original copycat victims were killed--it's "blunt reproduction" only of what the public knows? I guess Will really had begun to hope that they'd found a third person who also killed all the copycat victims who wasn't either of them? God, I feel exhausted just thinking about all beliefs and suspicions Will has to sort through on a daily basis.
"Would've liked to have been wrong." (I'm still trying to parse this. Hannibal knew he didn't do it himself, and he knew he did everything else! He knows Will didn't do any of it! What was there to be wrong about?)
"Occam's broom?" says Will. (Man, what is with you and brooms, Will?) "You intentionally ignored facts that refute your argument hoping nobody'd notice?"
"You noticed," says Hannibal. A long pause. "I wanted to dispel your doubts once and for all."
Will, quietly but utterly confused: "My doubts about what?" DISPEL THEM HOW?
"Me. I want you to believe in the best of me, just as I believe in the best of you. This crime offered us both reasonable doubt." Awwwww. So on one hand, Hannibal's jealous of the Copycat Copycat Killer, but on the other, if he could have made Will believe that the Copycat Copycat Killer was also the Copycat Killer and everything was all that guy's fault (including the, uh, persistent planting of evidence to frame Will), maybe Will would want to be Hannibal's friend again? He is giving Will the puppy-dog eyes, y'all. Also, I love how "the best of you" can sound like "I know you're actually innocent" while probably really meaning "I know you'll come over to the dark side eventually, Will. I believe in you." Also-also, "I want you to believe in the best of me" is strangely vulnerable and touching. Hannibal Lecter is doing weird things to my feelings this season.
"Maybe this acolyte is giving you your path to freedom. Even Jack is ready to believe, Will," he urges.
So (and I swear I had this written out before "Takiawase" aired), I don't know that the show's actually implying that Dolarhyde himself did this. What if Dolarhyde has "acolytes"? Because a number of people pointed out back in " Coquilles" that there was really no way in reasonable hell the Angel Maker could have strung himself up, and he also talks about "the majesty of your becoming," which is pretty famously a Dolarhyde phrase. So even once we figure out who the "admirer" is (oh, like an Avid Fan? Here's the iTunes plot summary:
ALL THE PALMS FOR MY FACE),
Will may be empathing Dolarhyde's general technique as passed on to an apprentice killer, as it were. (Notice how the tone of voice and the precision shooting are similar, but the arm positions are very different. And--unless that really was Will's true self breaking in--it may be significant that there seemed to be some emotion re: "believing we were friends." Maybe the Admirer isn't as hardened a killer as the person who shot the Marlowes.) Either way, Dolarhyde and/or his acolyte(s) finding out that Hannibal really committed "Will's" crimes could cause him to shift his attentions, putting us back in line with the "Avid Fan [of Hannibal Lecter]" storyline. But hold on to that thought for now.
Back to Will processing the idea that they "prove" his own innocence: he sits back slowly, disturbed. "It would be a lie." Dude, everything in your life is a lie, the lies tell lies, the lies lie about lying. (The cake is not a lie. The cake is people.) Another long pause. "I don't want you to be here," says Hannibal. "I don't want me to be here either," retorts Will. "Then you have a choice," he says. "This killer wrote you a poem. Are you going to let his love go to waste?"
Oh my God, Hannibal. Well, love the one you're with, I guess.
@aMoTPodcast: For realsies, what game are these two playing? I'm gonna need a full attention re-watch to parse out the layers of subtext in this convo
@cleolindajones: So it's not just me? You can't figure out what the hell he's getting at either?
@aMoTPodcast: To be fair, the only time I ever understand what #Hannibal 's getting at is when he's cooking. And yes, that does worry me.
The thing is, I think we were understanding the conversation just fine. We just couldn't reconcile it with the idea that Hannibal must have done it.
Meanwhile,
@BryanFuller: #HANNIBAL AND HIS SNEAKERS [set pic]
@BryanFuller: OUR VERY FIRST MEETING WITH MADS MIKKELSEN @scribblejerk @neoprod [ speaking of selfies]
marthadelaurentiis: It was St. Patrick’s day - Mads and I drank beer for breakfast
Cognitive dissonance: the breakfast of champions.
After the break: ALANA STARING AT WILL IN DISBELIEF. "I'm confused." I feel you, Alana. "You're going to abandon your defense strategy... the entire case you've built, mid-trial." "Exciting, isn't it?" deadpans Brauer from the back of the visitors' room. "And this seems reasonable to you?" she asks him over her shoulder. "It's not only reasonable; it's fashionable," he says, sitting down next to her. "There's a killer on the loose, demonstrating all the hallmarks of Will Graham's alleged murders." He won't even let Will answer whether he really thinks the Admirer is the real Copycat Killer: "Don't answer that, not in front of me--it's inconsequential." "BUT IT IS TRUE?" "You're being awfully high and mighty, Dr. Bloom. Very ivory tower, very reductive, very FAR FROM THE POINT, which is the exoneration of your friend, Will Graham." (Said friend has just totally zoned out. I imagine he's caught a real nice bass by now.) "And the point you're trying to make is reasonable doubt." "That's a win, yes," says Brauer. Alana protests, "The best you can hope for is a mistrial," but Brauer retorts, "That's also a win." "You won't be able to plead unconsciousness again!" "Your fast, triumphant diagnosis of unconsciousness was the best play we had--now we have a better play. Needless to say, I won't be calling you to the witness stand."
"Who's taking the stand in my place?" demands Alana.
Turns out that Brauer's solution to the "starey, non-blinky" problem is... Hannibal Lecter.
*SLOW CLAP*
"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," says Hannibal, as he and Will stare at each other, "so help me God."
@cleolindajones: and then the Bible bursts into flame
And just for good measure, the Wendigo takes the oath as well.
(I like the bonus response here.)
Brauer's first question: "Please describe your relationship with Will Graham." Well, we adopted the daughter of this serial killer that I set Mr. Graham up to shoot the fuck out of, and then... "I was asked by Jack Crawford to monitor Will's emotional well-being while he worked on cases. I was never officially his psychiatrist," says Hannibal. "I was meant to be his stability. I failed him in that." YEAH YOU DID. "I was unable to determine if Will's condition was due to mental illness or stress from his work at the FBI. My mistake was never considering his innocence until the murder of a bailiff from this courthouse." (Out in the gallery, Kade Prurnell looks both surprised and Not Happy about this statement. Marion Vega just looks up eagerly, ready to rumble.) "And how did you know about that, Dr. Lecter?" "I have been asked to consult on the case by Jack Crawford. He wanted a profile of the bailiff's killer." (I can't tell if this means Hannibal is an expert witness on the subject, or if this is one hell of a conflict of interest, in an "apparently there are only five people working for the entire FBI" kind of way.) "So you believe the bailiff's murder was committed by the same person guilty of Will Graham's alleged crimes, yes?"
"Profiles aren't evidence, they're opinion. This is hearsay," Vega objects.
But for the moment, the judge will allow it. "I believe there are alarming similarities in the crimes, yes," says Hannibal.
@aMoTPodcast: For example, the perpetrator of each was shockingly handsome *winks@will*
"Will Graham accused you of the crimes for which he now stands trial, and yet... here you are, testifying on his behalf for the defense," says Brauer, anticipating the obvious question. Hannibal replies, "Will rightfully couldn't accept these actions to be his. A mind faced with the possibility of committing such deeds will find an alternative reality to believe in." "You don't blame him for that?" Prepare yourself: "No. Will Graham is, and will always be, my friend."
Good God, y'all.
(nbchannibal.tumblr.com)
#[Franklyn rolls desperately in his grave]
Vega gets right down to it: "Dr. Lecter, what was the cause of death in the bailiff's murder?" "A bullet. To the heart." (I'll spare you the Bon Jovi earworm I was just seized by.) "And in Will Graham's victims, or alleged victims, what was their cause of death?" Well, I mean, they were mutilated to death, but, what's a little mutilation between friends-- "That's very different from a bullet." "No two crimes of any killer are going to be exactly the same," says Hannibal (he is an expert witness on this subject). "The similari-" "Your Honor" (oh shit, she interrupted fancy cannibal) "the witness's personal beliefs and biases are driving his conclusions. There are clearly two different killers and two different cases."
And that's when the judge rules the defense inadmissible. My first thought was "LADY, HE GONNA EAT YOUUUU," but Hannibal actually hangs his head... then looks out at Will. Did the best I could, bb mongoose.
"All previous testimony on the matter will be stricken from the record."
BUT YOU CAN NEVER STRIKE THEIR FRIENDSHIP FROM HIS HEART
@spacemonkeyluvn: I think if Hannibal is serious about proving his friendship to Will, he should get him this BFF charm. [from a street vendor in San Francisco?]
BRING THIS UNTO ME. I WILL BUY IT FROM YOU.
@neoprod: SOLITARY THOUGHTS X 3 to the tune of CHOPIN Prelude No. 4
So Jack's at his desk, drinking and gazing at the gnarly photo; Hannibal is staring at Will's empty therapy chair, again, some more, alone, in the dark; Will sits on his bare dungeon mattress in his sad velcro shoes, knees up to his chest, waiting.
(stilinski-the-vampire-slayer.tumblr.com)
@aMoTPodcast: Alright Fannibals, let's see if we can make Sad Cannibal Mopin' at a Chair the new Woman Laughing with Salad
What happens next is discovered by the courthouse janitor, innocently buffing the floors early the next morning. I'll take this moment to point out that on the Hannibal (movie) DVD, there's a whole 11-minute montage of deleted subplot about a fictionalized version of Il Mostro, the Monster of Florence; they keep showing you the janitor at the lecture hall where Lecter gives his Please Hire Me, I Am Totally Not a Fugitive Cannibal presentation, and in the theatrical cut, it very weirdly doesn't go anywhere. But in the deleted subplot (cut either for time or pacing, I guess), it turns out that the uncaught Monster--the cause of Inspector Pazzi's disgrace--has been under everyone's nose the whole time, and Lecter keeps giving Pazzi nudges towards him, but ehhhh, if he doesn't figure it out, whatever. (We talk about this on the corresponding episode of A Matter of Taste.) So I don't know if the janitor here is an intentional nod towards the movie or not; my first thought when we got to this scene, though, was that it was going to turn out that he was the Admirer. Instead, he just discovers the Admirer's latest poem: the judge strung up with chains, posed like a statue of Justice, blindfolded and holding his own brain and heart on a pair of scales, with a sword in his other hand. (Here's a gif of concept illustrations.) It's actually one of the show's best murder tableaux. But somehow, the most grotesque/realistic touch is that the judge's skull was sawed open unevenly, with a dip in the front. Like, that really gets me, for some reason.
@BryanFuller: I LOVE THIS ADORABLE MAN @MrAaronAbrams [set pic/flower crown/murder selfie]
@MrAaronAbrams: I LOVE YOU BACK WITH MY BRAIN AND HEART IN EQUAL MEASURE!
"So it appears that the judge was murdered in his chambers," Jack says as Team Science works the scene, "and then he was hauled out here to be put on display." "Not only is justice blind," muses Hannibal, "it's mindless and heartless." I want to say I saw some confirmation that this is also the work of the Copycat Copycat Killer, but the way Hannibal says this, it really does sound like he did it and the emotional motivation for the killing was 1) to one-up the Admirer because 1b) Hannibal's really kicking himself for not thinking of that ear first, and 2) "I LOVE WILL AND YOU ARE SO MEAN." Why would the Admirer create such an emotionally-loaded display--because they already feel a similar way about Will? Because Hannibal publicly swore to his friendship with Will on a Bible--and they want to show that they care more? Or in some kind of weird show of support for both of them? I don't even know, y'all. It just really feels like something Hannibal would do. "How did the killer get so close?" Hannibal asks rhetorically. I don't know, YOU TELL ME.
"No sign of a struggle. Mutilation was post-mortem," says Beverly, and Brian points: "He was shot in the chest just like the bailiff. Can't see the entry wound because he removed the heart." (So--correctly incorrect, in terms of matching the bailiff's murder. Would this be anything like the time Hannibal pretended to be an organ harvester pretending to be a serial killer?) "But there is an exit wound," adds Jimmy--"no slug. Must have taken it with him." "A trophy," says Hannibal, and everyone gives him a look. (I think we should add "trophy" to the list of drinking game words.)
And then Jack pulls Hannibal aside: "With this judge's death, there will be no verdict. No ending. It'll start again, like the trial never happened. But why?" Uh, because Will's new defense was sucking wind? "Psychopathic violence is predominantly goal-oriented," Hannibal tells him, "a means to a very particular end," and so mistrial-by-murderation is "an elegant, if... rather unorthodox solution." (So Fancy Cannibal approves? I was going to say, "does he admire the work," and now I wonder if he's going to end up finding the Avid Acolyte himself and take him under his wing first. Orrrrrr he totally did it himself and is preening just a little bit.) "So he spares Will a guilty verdict--and his life--for the moment," says Jack. "The question is, is it the same killer? Is Will still on trial, in your mind?" Hannibal: "The use of a gun; death first, mutilation last. I feel like St. Peter ready to deny Will for the third time. I'm not sure this is the same killer, Jack." You mean the same killer as the killer who killed like the copycat killer, who you are copying, or the same killer who was the copycat killer, who was you? And if Will is Jesus, is that related to the whole thing where you think you're God? I need to lie down a while.
And there, approaching the doorway, is Kade Prurnell, who apparently has not yet been informed of this incident and kinda wants to barf. Jack's trying to tell her that "the killer exerted careful control of the environment, he left very little evidence behind," and she's just all "JEEZ, JACK!"
@BryanFuller: THAT "JEEZ, Jack" WAS ACTUALLY "JESUS, Jack" BUT WE DROPPED THE "US"
Yeah, Kade Prurnell doesn't really seem like the "oh jeez" type. On the other hand, pretty sure "CHRIST ALMIGHTY, Jack Crawford, WHAT THE FUCK" wasn't going to fly with Standards and Practices. "The trial was supposed to put an end to this. Instead, the circus has just added another ring." "And we're the clowns." "Who's we, Jack?" "I got off track." "You have to force yourself out of this train of thought. The trial was going wrong before this murder. The trial was going wrong because you wanted to believe Will Graham. Who is he to you that makes you want to risk everything for him?" (who is he and tell me what he meaaans to youuuuuuu) "A very cogent reminder of the pitfalls of having faith in one's fellow man, thank you," says Jack. But Prurnell insists, "Everyone at one point or another has to leave somebody behind. You've got to cut him loose. Otherwise, the someone being left behind, today or tomorrow... is gonna be you." And Prurnell stalks off to go hworf somewhere privately.
Back on his narrow dungeon bed, Will's restlessly dreaming: a strange clacking down the hall, and then his cell door opens by itself. Out in the corridor, the Ravenstag huffs at him.
@DireRavenstag: My feathers always did looks especially fetching in the dankest of dungeon light.
@BryanFuller: WATCH THE STAG FOR A CLUE ABOUT THIS WEEK'S MURDERER
@DireRavenstag: Up jump da booty to da bang bang booty to beat! RT @thellou: @DireRavenstag got da booty. Who knew?
Well, I knew.
Will follows the stag down the hall, but before he can get anywhere near freedom, he heard Hannibal say his name and turns back to find him gesturing back towards the cell. And then Will wakes up. I don't know what clues we're supposed to be seeing, except that the Ravenstag leads Will to... the guards/orderlies' room?
Is that sound supposed to be the rolling of the food cart? What--are they trying to hint at the Foodbringer? Second half of "Kaiseki":
Jonathan Tucker ("Matthew Brown") gets enough screentime wheeling meals down the hall that I'm wondering if he's going to be Will's Barney.
This goddamn show.
(FUTURE SPOILER: The preview at the end of "Takiawase" for "Mukozuke" revealed that the Admirer is, in fact, the orderly, and that they are taking a page from the Avid Fan storyline (perhaps literally). Who "Matthew Brown" really is and how he is or is not related to Francis Dolarhyde has not yet been revealed.)
One more visit: "I was hoping the verdict would have helped focus your mind to get better," Alana says quietly in the visitors' room. "Make what happened to you less terrifying and confusing. I can't exactly blame your lawyer." "Faith in any sort of legal justice has never been any more comforting than a nightlight," mutters Will. (God, could you imagine putting him and Rust Cohle in a room together?) Alana: "There are so many miscarriages of justice when it comes to identifying a psychopath... you could easily have been misdiagnosed." "I've already been misdiagnosed." "Not by the court." "No. Not yet," says Will. "I walked out of that courtroom, and I could hear my blood, like..." (Poor Alana gives him a look like, This is gonna turn into a metaphor, isn't it?) "...a hollow drumming of wings." (... Yeah.) "And I had the... absurd feeling that whoever this killer is... he walked out of that courtroom with me." Well, either way--if he's your Murder Therapist who just testified to his friend-love for you or the orderly who helps transport you to the courthouse, then yes, he literally walked out of there with you.
"He's gonna reach out to me," he adds.
"What does he want?"
You gotta see Will's face: "He wants to know me."
@cleolindajones: ... biblically?
And when Alana just continues to stare at him, he asks (suspiciously?), "What do you want?" Also to know you biblically? "I want to save you," she says.
He wouldn't let her take his hands before, but he takes hers now. You know, though, I'm waiting for the day someone says "I want to love you" or "I want to be with you as you are." Even Hannibal wanted to " solve" him last season. Not that Will doesn't desperately need help at this point, but it'd be nice to get to a place where he can connect with people--and where other people want to connect with him--without their priority being to change him in some way. Again, Will Graham gotta save his own damn self, I guess.
NEXT WEEK, BY WHICH I MEAN LAST FRIDAY: Amanda Plummer, bees, and "What is he doing with the trophies?" oh my Goooooood
@popshifter: Next week on #Hannibal: Hannibal hoists up a jambox while standing outside of Will's jail cell, but instead of a jambox it's a human leg.
@aMoTPodcast: Honestly? If it was a human leg prepared like that Osso Buco last week, I'd be up for it.
@DireRavenstag: And so, my fleshmeats, we begin anew. The circular flow of the world. My Will remains in his cage. Safe. Kept. Good night.
@DireRavenstag: BTW Wendigo In A Three-Piece Suit is the name of my new tuba-based skacore chamber orchestra disco band. I'M OUT!
(Continue: 2x04 "Takiawase")