Hannibal S2E8 - "Su-zakana" Recap

Jack and Will enjoy a quiet moment to go ice fishing for trout and metaphorically discuss their plans to catch Hannibal. The trout they catch end up in Hannibal's kitchen, where he prepares them for dinner which he serves to Will and Jack. They tell Hannibal that they are no longer suspicious of him and note how Chilton (being the Chesapeake Ripper) has caused problems to their relationships but will now work to mend them.

Meanwhile, at a stable, a veterinarian is called in to look at a horse that recently gave birth. He finds stitches across the deceased animal's abdomen, which makes little sense since no c-section had been performed. He slices through the stitches and then a dead woman fall out. As the FBI examine the scene, they find that the woman had been placed inside the horse post-mortem and that she had been strangled first. Hannibal says that it was intended to be a birth.

We then get a teasing glimpse of the show's next Big Bad. Mason Verger's face is not seen but we see him aggressively push his sister Margot's face against a table containing live fish and eels in it. He wrings out a tear from her to add to his martini. Following this, she meets with Hannibal with her arm in a sling to confess attempted murder and tiptoeing around implications that though she's not planning to murder her brother, she couldn't tell him even if she was.

Hannibal has another sexual encounter with Alana and she expresses concerns over his treating Will and putting himself in possible danger. Hannibal says Will was just trying to protect her. In the lab, the dead woman is being examined when the examiners begin to panic, saying they can feel a heart beat. Jack puts his hand over it and says they can feel "something" beating. They cut her open and a still-alive bird flies out.

Will is alone in the stables and works his magic of putting himself into the killer's mind. Afterwards, he tells Jack that the killer knew both Sarah (the victim) and the horse. The killer sees himself as a healer. Jack visits a man named Peter, who works on Black Briar Stables grounds with various exotic animals. Though he is rather shifty, much of this can be accounted to a severe head trauma and Will does not believe that he is the one responsible.

Will later has another session with Hannibal in which he admits to still fantasising about murdering him with his own hands but states that he doesn't actually want to kill him anymore since he finally finds him interesting.

15 more dead bodies are discovered and Will comes to examine the scene. He meets Will at the scene, who apologises for believing him to be the killer and Will is understanding, noting that the evidence was compelling.

Margot meets with Hannibal who assures her that she is not as weird as she thinks he is, he is much weirder than her, and has her consider finding someone who can stop the nightmare she is in. Will visits Peter to discuss the bird found in Sarah's heart. Will begins to think that there is someone, a shadow of sorts, taking advantage of Peter and making sure no one will believe him.

Mr. Ingram, Peter's social worker, is brought in for questioning and Alan begins testing the man's emotions. Jack, Will, and Hannibal watch from behind the glass as Ingram shows some signs of psychopathy and a lack of cooperation but there simply isn't enough to hold him. Peter finds that his animals have been released and cries over the dead horse that had kicked him in the head. Ingram holds the hammer in his hand and continues his manipulation of the emotional, damaged Peter.

Will and Hannibal arrive at the stable to find Peter stitching up the horse that had kicked him in the head. Will asks if Ingram is inside it and Peter answers yes. Will escorts Peter out to talk while Hannibal stays behind with the horse. Will is envious of Peter's hate which must make killing easier but then Peter says that Ingram isn't dead but merely being forced to experience empathy. Ingram forces his way out of the womb and grabs the hammer, ready to go on the rampage. He drops it when Will holds him at gunpoint but Will orders him to pick it up (so he'll be able to shoot him and claim self defence). Hannibal tells him that killing Ingram won't feel like killing him, the person whom he really wants to kill. Hannibal then puts his hand over the gun right as Will attempts to fire, thus preventing him from killing Ingram.

Hannibal airs on Fridays on NBC at 10PM.