Hannibal - Recap: Did You Just Smell Me?

Some of you might have missed tonight’s episode of Hannibal, while others might just be starving for more. In any case, I’m going to suggest you read this post surrounding the 4^th episode of the season, “Ceuf,” which was pulled from airing tonight due to material that might have been considered insensitive in the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks. Hopefully, that will clear up and confusion you might have had surrounding tonight’s episode, “Coquilles.” As the episodes pass by, I find myself growing more and more attached to the show’s titular star, Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), and more and more endeared to Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and his lifelong fight for emotional peace and freedom from mental anguish.

NBC "Hannibal"

The episode opened with Will’s first sleepwalking session. The monstrous elk of his wake-time nightmares followed behind as he walked the streets of his town after dark. After being picked up by the police, we started to become privy to the fact that Will’s dream world had also become infected by the devastation following the death of Garret Jacob Hobbs. Walking the roads at night was one thing, but later he'd find himself waking on his rooftop. Thank goodness for his barking canine friends!

This week's crime spree, which might have been the most visually grotesque yet, surrounded a maker of “angels.” We got our first glimpse of the murderer as he waited outside of his motel room, seemingly distraught. He came across a couple, his future targets, and for a moment we were let into his current twisted psyche. As he saw it, the two were burning, engulfed in flames. Before we knew it, Will and Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) were investigating the scene of the crime. The man had apparently created two works of “art” from his victims, skinning their backs to form angel wings and stringing them up using fishing line. Clearly, the man had slept with them “praying” over him, and vomit and sweat proved it to be quite an uncomfortable sleep. Why had he elevated his victims to angels? Why would he need someone to watch over him?

Meanwhile, Hannibal would continue to help Will work through his own personal demons. Will’s sleep time had always been his safe haven, a place where his mind wasn’t plagued with death and murder. Now, he was losing control of that as well. Hannibal also finally had his wish for a dinner date with both Jack and his wife, Bella (Gina Torres), granted this week. It was interesting to watch Jack become so vulnerable in the story of how he and his wife met in Italy, but even more interesting was watching Hannibal show his true culinary prowess. With a fantastic palate usually comes a sensational sense of smell. He could decode the woman’s perfume in a single whiff, impressing the couple. As he noted, he was even able to stiff out a former schoolteacher’s cancer. I enjoyed the talk surrounding the butchering of the meal’s “animal.” Hannibal, apparently, sees himself as a humane butcher. This murderer is not about torture or suffering.

NBC "Hannibal"

Analysis of the killer’s vomit proved positive for chemicals used in chemotherapy, revealing the man to have a brain tumor. Suddenly, another angle to the man’s motive became clear. There was no telling whether he was thinking sanely in any case. Soon after discovering the original angel crime scene, the crew discovered a security guard strung up in an alleyway. We’d seen the murderer envision that man in flames as well. Did he believe he was saving souls? He’d castrated himself at the scene of the crime, revealing that he was in the process of making himself into an angel, and preparing for his impending death. Angels had no genitals. Will noted the secular display of angels, as opposed to the visions depicted in scripture, which never contained winged guardians. This man wasn’t necessarily truly religious, but rather, alone in his dying. Through Hannibal’s guidance, Will would realize that he was not too unlike this angel. Mentally and emotionally detached from the human world, and desperate for a state of peace. Will claimed that the man was in for a rude awakening, prompting Hannibal to note that Will had a choice, while the man did not. This man had terminal cancer, while Will did not. Of course, I greatly appreciated the scene in which Hannibal smelled Will before criticizing his aftershave. If Will wanted to ditch his headaches, he should try something not so, say, cheap!

NBC "Hannibal"

I also appreciated Beverly’s (Hettienne Park) attempt to comfort Will, offering him a nonprofessional mind to vent to. Sometimes one needs a friend more than a psychiatrist, and Will hadn’t truly tried that route yet. What was growing increasingly clearer was that Crawford had little regard for Will’s mental state and emotional wellbeing. He also had no tolerance for Will's shortness with him. I have to admit, it does seem as though Will does just about everything that comes along with solving the crime, except the forensics work. Hannibal seemed to be pushing the two apart, but it also seemed to be the right move to make, at least to me.

Bella decided to become a patient of Dr. Lecter’s, admitting to having an affair apart from her husband, as the couple had grown increasingly distant. Still, Hannibal didn’t regard her as despicable or her actions deplorable. He understood her decision to cheat, as Crawford is a man who sees the worst in the world. She seemed to be harder on herself than Lecter was. In fact, he seemed to have excuses for any facet of her indiscretion. Even more interesting to consider was that Hannibal had smelled her cancer during their dinner together. She was dying, and she felt fine. Still, she kept her husband in the dark, preferring to go it alone.

It had been discovered that the killer’s victims weren’t innocent at all, but rather, criminals in their own right. He was targeting "demons," whether by coincidence, research, or a godly gift of special sight, we wouldn’t come to learn. After the murderer was traced using his medical records, Crawford and Graham would have the chance to speak with his wife. His wife admitted to leaving him alone following the degradation of his health. He became angry, even scaring her children. She left because he wanted to be all alone. Suddenly, the rift in his own relationship became incredibly apparent. Crawford realized his wife had cancer, and Fishburne’s performance during the scene was so on point that I don’t even remember hearing the closing of the woman’s explanation. I don’t even believe it was relevant.

The wife of the killer did note that he’d suffered a traumatic experience during his youth, surviving a fire thanks to a “guardian angel.” Crawford and Graham would journey to the very barn where this took place, and there, they discovered the culprit… his last victim was himself. He had chosen death; neither God nor man had decided it. Will admitted to having a toll taken on his mind, fearing what the future would do to further destroy his life. Crawford seemed to constrain him to the job, insinuating that Will wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t solve every crime he could. He made it seem as though Will could choose to have the blood of innocents on his hands, or to suffer the consequences of using his gift to catch killer after killer after killer. The final scene in the barn came between Will and a vision of the murderer. In that hallucination, the man saw Will in flames, as though he too was a demon to be elevated.

The episode closed with Jack Crawford confronting his wife in Lecter’s office, offering her his unconditional support down to the very end. Sadly, that didn’t comfort her, while she appreciated his intentions. He’d discovered her affair prior, but in truth, was more concerned with her working out her issues than with chastising her. It’s hard to say how something like terminal cancer renders one an island among men, but this show did a fantastic job of connecting this storyline with that of the murderer. In the end, it’s always just that… the end.

The final scene depicted Will showing his support, refusing to leave Crawford’s side until he talked. That, we wouldn’t get to see, but it was refreshing to see Will on the opposite end of conversation; offering an ear for listening rather than being prodded, probed and forced to open up.

What did you all think of Hannibal Season 1 Episode 5, “Coquilles”? Do you like the way the show is progressing in its character developments? I realize the pulled episode contained an arc surrounding child-on-child murder, but wasn’t the creation of “angels” extreme as well?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Hannibal Season 1 Episode 5, “Coquilles”!