Hannibal S2E5 - "Mukozuke" Recap

Hannibal makes himself a gourmet breakfast while we see Will served a tray of subpar "food." Hannibal has breakfast with Jack and they discuss Bella's recent suicide attempt. Jack is grateful to Hannibal for saving her and Hannibal says he couldn't let her die, as a doctor.

Freddie heads inside the observatory and holds a gun. She takes photos of what we can assume will be a crime scene. When Jack arrives, Freddie advises him to not go in, saying, "She's one of yours." Jack ignores her and goes up, where he finds Beverly sliced vertically into at least six slices, with each slice being separated between plastic barriers. Jack reports back that Freddie called in after receiving an anonymous tip. He tells his staff about Beverly's murder and informs them that she will be honoured at FBI headquarters.

Alana and Jack visit Will to tell him what has happened and he briefly hallucinates seeing Beverly in the room with them. He tells them he wants to see her. He is strapped into a straitjacket and has a mask put on him before being loaded onto a truck. When he arrives at the death scene, Freddie snaps photos of him from afar. Once Will is brought up to where the pieces of Beverly are, Jack orders everyone to leave them alone. He unstraps Will from the board, pulls him up, removes the straitjacket and finally undoes the face mask, all while holding a gun in his hand. Jack leaves him alone and Will has a vision of Beverly, who tells him to interpret the evidence.

The pieces all move together until a fully-formed Beverly stands before Will. He reaches out to touch her and walks behind her where he begins to strangle her. He says that she knows the killer and the killer knows her, as they look into each other's eyes. she is rendered unconscious and then the body is frozen so she can be cleanly dismantled. The body cuts like stone. She is pulled apart, layer by layer and then the crime scene is established. No useable evidence is left behind, but Beverly found the killer. Whatever she found is gone. The killer has taken something from her.

Jack returns and says it's the Chesapeake River. Will tells him that the Ripper and the Copycat are the same killer. Beverly helped him see it. Will tells Jack that she was looking for a connection between the Ripper and Copycat and that she found something. He asks Jack where he was last night and he says he was the hospital. Will told Beverly to go to him and say what she knew but instead went looking for evidence and this was when she met the Ripper. She will be missing organs that were taken as trophies. Jack asks who he is and Will tells him that Beverly made her connection to the Ripper and now Jack must make his own. Jack asks why he brought Will and Will says it was to say good-bye.

Chilton asks Will if he'd like to talk about what happened and Will scolds him for discussing his therapy session, going against their agreement. Chilton says it was just a peek before he shut the curtain. Chilton asks about Beverly's last visit and Will thinks he just listened in. Will says they talked about the Ripper. Chilton says the Ripper is intelligent with surgical experience. They both think that Gideon knows who the Ripper is and Will comments that it would be interesting if Chilton was the one to catch him.

The examination of the body finds that the kidneys in Beverly were not her own. They actually belong to Gray, the mural killer. If they can find the person who has the kidneys, they will have found their killer. Hannibal has Beverly's kidney and puts it through a meat grinder before cooking it into a meal.

Will is put into a cage next to another that contains Gideon. Will wants to talk about the Chesapeake Ripper and that Gideon is merely pretending to be him. Will tells him he remembers the night he tried to kill him and that Hannibal tried to kill him. He asks why Gideon is trying to protect Hannibal. Gideon says that the Ripper is the devil, smoke, and can't be caught. He tells Will if he wants him, he will have to kill him. Will replies, "Fair enough."

Hannibal and Chilton meet and discuss Gideon. Hannibal reminds Chilton that Gideon disemboweled him. They both have to hide their misdeeds and if either exposed the other, they would both lose. Chilton brought Gideon back because he believed it would help Will's therapy. Chilton wants to rebuild Will's broken brain. Hannibal asks to interview Gideon, seeing as how Chilton is analysing Will, Hannibal's patient.

Hannibal meets the caged Gideon. Gideon tells Hannibal he has never seen his face before and Hannibal introduces himself as Will's psychiatrist. Chilton listens in on the conversation. Gideon tells Hannibal that Will has a bone to pick with him. Hannibal says he wants to help. Freddie snaps photos of Hannibal as he leaves the hospital. He tells her she's being rude and should seek therapy. He asks why she's there and she says Will has requested to be interviewed by her. She is brought in by an orderly and ordered not to pass him anything but soft paper and to not take anything from him.

Will tells Freddie he has an admirer who killed the bailiff and judge in his trial. She asks if this admirer is crazy and Will says he is different. Freddie asks if Will is trying to catch or contact him. Will says he would like to establish a line of communication using her website. She's willing to do so in exchange for exclusive rights to his story. Will agrees and she says that he must send an invitation and pulls out a recorder.

Hannibal listens to the recording on her website. She says that Will believes the man wants to help and killed people in his name. Now he wants to know why. An orderly approaches Will, who figures out that this is the one who killed the bailiff. He tells Will that someone else had killed the judge. He knows that Chilton listens in to everything and turned it off before initiating this contact. Chilton lets Will out of the cage and Will asks him why he's helping him. The orderly says that they are hawks and to imagine how it would be if the hawks started walking together. He chains Will's hands and escorts him back to his cell. He asks why Will wanted to talk to him and Will says he needs a favour. The orderly says he's happy to do a favour for a friend and Will tells him he wants him to kill Hannibal Lecter. The orderly nods and walks off, past Gideon in another cell, who appears to have overheard the conversation.

Will hallucinates horns sprouting from his back that grow into a pair of antlers. He's brought of it by Alan who is visiting to ask why he allowed Freddie to interview him. She's worried and he tells her not to worry about him. She knows he wants to do something about Beverly and that there's no solution. Grief just is. She asks what he has done and he says, "What I had to do." Alan begins to leave and sees Gideon on the security cameras. She encounters Chilton, who grants her permission to see Gideon.

She asks how he knew where she lived the night he came to kill her. She says that someone coordinated it and they are both expendable. She says that Will isn't the Chesapeake Ripper and Gideon says, "Not yet." He goes on to say that Will has changed and wants revenge. He tells her he could have someone killed by whispering in someone's ear and Alana asks who Will would want killed.

Hannibal is swimming laps in a pool and the orderly jumps in to swim in the lane next to him. The orderly gets out and shoots a tranquilliser dart into Hannibal's back. Hannibal tries and fails to get it out, sinking into the pool. Alana and Jack search for Hannibal at his office but he's not there. They get a call about a trace on his cell phone.

Will imagines blood dripping from the sink in his cell. Hannibal is shown to be struggling to keep his balance standing on a bucket, while his arms are taped to a pole and a noose is around his neck. The orderly tells him about the origin of the phrase "kick the bucket." Hannibal has the choice to have the bucket kicked, or he can continue to bleed out. Hannibal tells him Will isn't who he thinks he is. Hannibal says Will is not a murderer and the orderly tells him that he is now, by proxy. Hannibal asks if Will asked him to do this and he says that that's what friends are for. He has some questions, which Hannibal agrees to answer. He asks if Hannibal killed the judge but Hannibal doesn't answer. The orderly then decides to only ask yes or no questions, knowing that if his pupils dilate, the answer is a yes. He first asks if Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper and Hannibal's pupil dilates. He asks how many times he's seen someone hanging onto a life worth living and Hannibal says that life is precious.

Jack and Alan arrive at the pool and head down to the basement. The orderly asks what people will call him (like "Chesapeake Ripper"). He says the Iroquois used to eat their enemies to gain their strength and that perhaps he will become the Ripper. Hannibal replies, "Only if you eat me." Hannibal sees Jack approaching. Jack tells the orderly to put his hands up, which he does, but then Hannibal lies and shouts that he has a gun, leading Jack to shoot him. The orderly won't go down without one last move - kicking the bucket out from beneath Hannibal's feet. Jack rushes forward to hold Hannibal up and keep him from suffocating. Alana comes down and Jack tells her to call an ambulance. Will sits in his cell and imagines blood overflowing from his sink.

Hannibal airs on Fridays on NBC at 10PM.