Hannibal - Recap: Don't Look Under the Bed!

“Buffet Froid” had me scratching my head at times, but Episode 10 of Hannibal ended up being one of my favorites by its closing seconds. Boom, the credits rolled, and I was left entirely satisfied. As a creative critical writer, I enjoy reeling with suspense and the occasional, you know, skin of someone’s arm sliding off like an elegant glove of flesh without any semblance of pain to be had. What? I’m crazy, obviously. Why do you think my reviews of a show about psychopaths are so great? Kidding. In truth, one can only dream of being as slick as Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), whom I found myself doubting here and there during this week’s show. Luckily, its ending left me all but entirely relieved. This show never fails to remind us of just how complex it is, constantly revealing new layers to its flesh. Here is this hack’s take on Episode 10 of Hannibal.

The episode opened with a murder sequence that played incredibly close to a grade-A slasher flick. We’re used to gore and grotesque displays of corpses by now. This time, the suspense of it all, coupled with the classic urban legend of something lurking under the bed, gave us a new kind of experience. Beth found herself awoken by a dripping ceiling. Upon patching up a hole in her attic roof, she returned to her bedroom to find herself distraught. Icy footprints lead her way, and before she could put two and two together, she found herself dragged under the bed to meet her bloody doom. That's right, we have a Boogeyman Boogeywoman situation.

This week’s investigation by Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) also played out different. Normally, we’re introduced to the crime scene, briefed by Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), etc. This week, a clip of Will gutting a bloody fish became intertwined with his panic-stricken self defiling the crime scene. Will had crossed a line that had yet to be crossed, in that he had yet to physically contaminate a space while accessing that special area of his brain before Episode 10. Everything from the murder weapon to the corpse had been touched. Normally, Will is just an observer. This week, he actually found himself halfway recreating the crime. Needless to say, Jack Crawford became “officially” concerned, aggravating Will more than anything.

A trip to visit Hannibal helped, or should have helped, Will to decode the situation. Lecter had Will perform an exercise in which he drew the face of a clock with the current time displayed while reciting, along with said time, his name and the location. Will’s clock sketch looked fine to him, but Hannibal saw what looked like a clock drawn by a toddler. Honestly, it was worse! Hannibal remained convinced that Will was suffering from some sort of mental illness, much to Will's chagrin, and eventually had him visit an old colleague of his, Dr. Sutcliffe (John Benjamin Hickey). An appearance by John Benjamin Hickey was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise. Sutcliffe opted to run a brain scan to determine whether or not something physical was affecting Will’s brain; for example, a tumor or clot.

NBC "Hannibal"

The scanning process was a great opportunity for the show to further delve into Will’s ailment, as we watched him snap straight back into the crime scene, this time from the perspective of the killer hiding underneath the bed, glaring at the corpse. Hannibal admitted something to his old friend. He’d literally smelled out Will’s ailment, a physical dysfunction that saw the entire right side of Will’s brain inflamed. However, Hannibal insisted that Dr. Sutcliffe keep the discovery under wraps, puzzling us as viewers who’ve grown to love the budding friendship between Lecter and Graham. If Sutcliffe did so, he could covertly perform research on a rare ailment. There was nothing that Will wanted to hear less that the fact that his brain was physically functioning perfectly well; the validation that he’d gone insane.

Will would journey back to the scene of the crime that had driven him over the edge alone and under the cover of night. There, he was nearly attacked by the killer, who’d remained lurking on the bed. Before she could get away, Will attempted to grab her by the arm, removing any skin from the underlying tissue with a simple and effortless pull and slide. The girl ran away seemingly unfazed. Will, however, blanked in his confusion, zapping to another piece of the wooded area outside of the home crime scene. Will had attempted to make a last ditch effort to remind that girl that she was alive, which seems like a simple fact to deduce. In truth, Will had uncovered that the woman, who’d attempted to remove her victims face as a mask, could not recognize faces. Later on, Hannibal suggested a very rare mental condition that rendered its victims unable to recognize whether they were even alive. I believe the disease was called Cotard Delusion. (Thank reader @Wendy1029 for asking via twitter!) The symptoms matched up, but the deranged killer was still on the loose.

NBC "Hannibal"

I appreciated that Will made the decision to call Beverly (Hettienne Park) to the scene of the crime that evening. She’d made the effort to befriend Will during episodes prior, and he trusted her with candid conversation surrounding what had gone down in his confrontation with the murderer. He needed someone who wouldn’t judge lapses in his sanity. One other thing I appreciated this week was Jack Crawford stepping up to the plate and letting Will know that he feels a sense of responsibility for him, as he once did for his fallen protégé Miriam. We’d yet to fully understand Crawford’s callous ways surrounding Will and his clearly deteriorating mental state, but this episode we were clued in. Jack feels that working gives Will a sense of stability necessary to function. Remember, Will was never a social butterfly. When we met him as viewers, he was but a lost collector of strays. In truth, the tasks themselves aren’t what build Will’s foundation, but instead, Crawford’s steady and unwavering ways as a leader and as someone who believes in him.

NBC "Hannibal"

Hannibal and Dr. Sutcliffe dined together while discussing Will Graham’s condition. Sutcliffe wondered why Hannibal, as Will’s friend, would want his ailment to go uncared for. As Lecter put it, Will has an incredible gift of pure empathy, and the time to extinguish the flames burning through his brain was not yet upon them. In truth, we knew there had to be more to the story. Hannibal was not merely fattening Will like a prized pig for slaughtering. Still, questions went unanswered at this point.

Unfortunately for Will, the murderer took a particular liking to him following their brief encounter. We caught an eerie glimpse of the woman watching Will sleep from outside his home window, Jaundice-ridden with two murky eyes. I mean, I don’t want to see anyone lurking outside of my bedroom window, but that sight would have sent me into a catatonic state. Will would eventually journey back to Sutcliffe’s office for another brain scan. This time, we didn’t catch any glimpses of the first murder. Instead, Will flashed back to reality instantaneously. He found himself in a dim chamber, the computer systems were powered down, and it seemed as though the office itself was closed. Will would discover Dr. Sutcliffe’s corpse, face opened entirely, sitting in his desk chair. After a quick analysis of the crime scene by Crawford’s team, Will made the link. He was the only connection between Beth’s murder and Dr. Sutcliffe’s.

Eventually, medical records matched with diseased skin samples at both scenes led Crawford to the mother of the murderer, a girl named Georgia who’d begun exhibiting the symptoms of the disease Lecter suggested since the age of nine. Beth was her longtime best friend, until Georgia was deemed unsafe to be around. Georgia’s mother recalled what she’d learned from watching her daughter undergo extensive mental treatment and several diagnoses; it’s not so much about curing a mentally ill individual, but rather, managing their expectations.

This talk hit way too close to home for Will, who awoke that evening to a room full of snarling dogs. His pets, or better yet, his brothers, were growling at something… under his bed. And there she was, our Boogeywoman troubled woman, looking slightly terrifying but mostly terrified. She wasn't so scary after all, just completely lost and entirely confused. Will leapt from his bed and to the floor, confronting her immediately and pleading with her to remember, using the same tactics Hannibal had taught him to keep track of his mind.

Georgia, having trusted Will, was taken into medical care immediately. Hannibal and Crawford discussed what would become of the girl. If she survived the physical damage she’d acquired, her deteriorating mental state would most likely be cured completely. How much she remembered, though, would be a mystery until then…

Except for us. The episode closed with a flashback from the mind of Georgia, who recalled seeing none other than Hannibal murdering and preparing Dr. Sutcliffe’s body as though she’d killed him. Having noticed the deranged woman staring, Hannibal handed her the scissors he’d used to murder the man before leaving. How did I interpret this? Hannibal was looking to pin the murder on Will, who’d begun transforming far too much into the killers he’d help to capture. Only a murder at his own hands would cut Will loose from his work with Crawford, the man Hannibal holds responsible for Will’s current state. I truly believe that Hannibal had his friend’s best interest in mind, recognizing that the detrimental damage Will’s gift/ curse had begun to do to cripple his brain was far worse than a physical inflammation, an excuse Will would have used in order to keep plowing through his insanity. Of course, Hannibal also has something to hide, a secret that would benefit from an insane Will Graham. That's what we love about Hannibal. We never truly know which side is making the calls.

What did you think of Hannibal Season 1 Episode 10, "Buffet Froid"? Are you happy to hear the show has been renewed for Season 2 (Surprise)! Do you think Hannibal's intentions are pure? What will become of Will's mind by the season's close? Do you like the budding friendship between Will and Beverly as well?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Hannibal Season 1 Episode 10, "Buffet Froid"! Hit the comments below or tweet my your reactions to the episode, @JoeTranch!