“Stay away from Hannibal Lecter.” Will Graham warns Beverly Katz.
It would appear the shit is beginning to hit the proverbial fan for Hannibal Lecter, now that Doc Chilton, of all people, is assisting Will Graham. Chilton is a self-centred animal who does nothing for nothing, and has only agreed to help our hero if he allows an examination to be carried out. I’m beginning to think Chilton isn’t the fool he appears to be as he knows something isn’t quite right but just doesn’t know what. He accuses Will of being a manipulative psychopath and a “poor wounded bird for Jack Crawford and Doctor’s Lecter and Bloom,” but goes on to say, “I get the psychopath triumvirate. Charm, focus, ruthlessness… the charm being debatable, of course.”
Seeing Chilton tell Lecter he’s no longer treating him and that after performing a “narco analytic interview,” new vital information has come to light, was as expected, with Chilton practically accusing Lecter of strategically causing Will’s seizures, by using light stimulation. When Chilton performs a similar procedure on Will, it was interesting watching Will remember Lecter giving him instructions that brought about his blackouts, and Will now remembers the clock test which was performed, but now he sees it for what it was, making him more determined to prove Lecter’s guilt. This is what he explains to Beverly, that instead of proving his own innocence, he needs to prove Lecter’s guilt.
- Hannibal
- Created by
Bryan Fuller - Cast
Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Laurence Fishburne, Caroline Dhavernas - Episode Release Date
21 March 2014 - Ed’s Grade: A
Watching Beverly attempt to con information from Hannibal just showed how much she was out of her depth because Lecter is far too intelligent to be caught out by someone with her intellect, high though it may be. Hannibal toys with Beverly when she tries to question him about the Mural Killer, by telling her: “So often you open your mouth and Will Graham’s words come out.” He then gives her a clue that isn’t understood until later. “You have to get to the truth beneath the appearances.” It was clear even with Beverly carefully scrutinizing Lecter while they were examining the Mural Killer’s body, Lecter was simply playing with her for his own amusement.
Will Graham is upset with Beverly when she tells him about their conversation. Will knows exactly how dangerous Lecter is and warns her: “Stay away from Hannibal Lecter.” Will has also realized what’s happening with the trophies being taken from the victims, as Beverly figures out what Lecter’s clue meant and learns the Mural Killer had a kidney removed. This led to Will flashing on all the times Lecter had served food to them, and was this version’s way of showing us what was seen in Red Dragon, with Edward Norton’s Will Graham. Now Will Graham knows that Lecter’s name rhymes with ‘cannibal’ for a reason.
*****
Bella Crawford is a patient of Lecter’s and she tells the good doctor she just wants it to be over instead of suffering through her cancer with chemotherapy, which makes her ill. Jack wants her to continue to fight as he can’t stand the thought of losing her, but she’s ready to die. Bella discusses euthanasia with Hannibal in a roundabout way, and a sympathetic Lecter knows exactly what to tell her so that he can manipulate her into killing herself. I’m convinced Lecter knew what he was doing right from the start when he basically gives Bella the okay to take her own life, knowing he could then turn the entire scenario into a win by having Jack Crawford thrown off-balance by her death.
It was a bonus for Hannibal that Bella tried to overdose in his office, where a simple shot of naloxone could reverse the opiate she’d ingested, and by doing so, prolong Jack’s suffering as he watches his wife waste away and now also be burdened with the knowledge she tried to commit suicide. Jack will also be grateful to Hannibal for saving her life, making his position stronger in Crawford’s eyes, so, this is really a win, win for our favorite cannibal.
Perhaps it was someones deliberate sense-of-humor having Honey Bunny as the Honey Killer. You may remember Amanda Plummer famously played Honey Bunny in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but instead of robbing eating establishments, we find her lobotomizing and ultimately euthanizing her elderly patients who complain of aches and pains. She treats her patients with acupuncture then somehow causes them to become temporarily paralyzed, allowing her to use one of those pointed rods that were used many years ago, where she gently hammers the pointed end of the spike into the eye socket, then poke about the frontal lobe causing irreparable brain damage. She then removes the eyes which gives her bees somewhere nice to live.
Hannibal has always prided itself in being a show that comes up with highly original and gruesome deaths and this episode was another great example of just how strange and unusual it can be (no pun intended!). We ended with Beverly discovering Lecter’s hidden underground food/human being preparation room, but whatever it was that Beverly saw that freaked her out, I guess we’ll need to wait until next week to find out what it was. By then, of course, Hannibal may have added Katz to the menu. Next week’s trailer (see attached) sees Will Graham ask the latest murderer, the one responsible for the death of the judge last week, “I want you to kill Hannibal Lecter.”
TV Review by Lead Entertainment Writer, Ed Blackadder
