Hannibal - Recap: Human Honeycomb
Hannibal continued tonight with an episode in which someone learned Lecter’s juicy secret. Meanwhile, a human honeycomb provided yet another deliciously grotesque crime scene.
To kick off the recap, I’ll handle the human beehive situation that was mostly worked on by Zeller (Aaron Abrams) and Price (Scott Thompson), Crawford’s scientific team members. The body of an elderly man was found nearly implanted in a tree deep in the woods. Inside, a swarm of bees navigated through the man’s skull and out his eye sockets via what was literally a beehive system through the brain. This can absolutely not be a natural occurrence. Meaning, someone planted him there specifically. Later, we watched this same woman, who turned out to be an acupuncturist, working on what we assumed was yet another victim. This other elderly man suffered with chronic arthritis and had trouble feeling anything at all other than this pain. At this point, we realized what was going on. The woman covertly implanted a rod through his eye before hammering and twisting away, effectively lobotomizing the man. Outside, a young girl discovered this freshly created eyeless zombie meandering through a nearby park.
Although the countless bee stings on both men, the living one and the corpse, initially covered up her acupuncture marks, it was quite simple to trace them back to the same acupuncturist. Inside, this wacky woman, who also worked with bee venom and created quite the honey collection, simply spoke the truth to Crawford and his team. These men were in pain, and in her own twisted and bizarre way, she felt she was doing them a favor in making that pain matter not at all. For example, the first man wasn’t looking to die in agony following awful ailment after ailment due to immune system failure. Instead, she “helped” him end his life in a state of “bliss” via the body beehive situation.
Mostly, I love that Hannibal Season 2 is so centrally focused on the Will Graham vs. Hannibal trial situation that it’s allowing us to have more fun with these grotesque crime scenes. I hope they continue to use Zeller and Price the way they did this week. At this point, they’re almost a bit of comic relief on this amazing, albeit very dark, series.
NBC "Hannibal"
While Crawford was a bit preoccupied with the crimes of the acupuncturist, his wife began visiting Hannibal Lecter for therapy regarding her terminal cancer. The chemotherapy requested by Jack had begun to ravage her life, leaving her incredibly weak and even more eager for death. Hannibal shared the tale of Socrates’ death, and his offering of a rooster to the gods as payment. Payment for what? Socrates saw death as a cure, not his enemy. Hannibal, for what it’s worth, has always viewed death as comforting. Doesn’t that make sense? Hannibal is constantly surrounded by death of his own volition, especially the deaths of those he deems irresponsible and unworthy of life. In living as the Chesapeake Ripper, Hannibal has effectively created a world in which he values every bit of his own life. After her talk with Hannibal, Bella’s decision to take her own life seemed inevitable. This was her way of choosing to be alive, not of being weak.
Bella and Jack also had a great moment during Episode 4 in which they used her medical marijuana to relax and share some of her last bit of time together. Jack will choose to remember her as she was at her strongest, not crying in agony over the pain of her devastating illness. Still, there was no convincing Bella to change her mind. Behind Jack’s back, she ventured back to Hannibal’s office and offered him a token of thanks, a commemorative coin, just as Socrates had offered a rooster to the gods in order to pay for his death. Of course, there is no greater compliment to Hannibal than comparing him to an ancient deity who’s somehow in control of the life and death of another. Bella overdosed on morphine in her chair in Lecter’s office, asking him to relay to Jack a message of her love. Hannibal flipped the gifted coin after bidding her farewell, then hurried to the cabinet, retrieved a serum, and injected it into Bella, effectively reviving her, much to her disappointment. At the hospital, Jack was incredibly thankful that she managed to survive this near-death experience. Bella, on the other hand, struck Hannibal hard across the face for failing to deliver on his promise to her. This was interesting because Hannibal had previously made a comment to Bella about how she took away Jack’s opportunity to say his goodbye in an effort to make her own painless. Perhaps the coin flip was over which goodbye was more deserved.
At the hospital for the criminally insane, Will met with that slimy Dr. Chilton (Raul Esparza) in order to cut yet another deal with an outsider. Remember, Chilton has been dying to get inside of Will’s brain with the standard tests offered by his hospital. Will, thus far, refused to undergo those examinations, but in an effort to win over yet another ally, he offered to take any and all psychological exams if it meant Chilton would refuse to continue to pass on any information to Hannibal or to allow Lecter to continue to see Will as a personal patient. Perhaps one of the most important scenes this week took place subsequently, in a moment where Chilton injected a confined Will with “truth serum” in an effort to drudge up the entire story during his first of many tests. During his time under the drug, Will consequentially recalled similar sessions that had gone on unbeknownst to him with Hannibal in which Lecter induced the seizures that plagued Will’s mind. Remember the situation with the warped clock drawing? That was all deliberately set up by Hannibal. We didn’t know of that specific manipulation until this moment.
Will filled Chilton in on his findings, which was probably his biggest mistake this week. Chilton, upon bumping into Hannibal for the first time during Episode 4, alerted Lecter to Will’s revelation, perhaps because he too had once been wrongly accused of “creating a psychopath.” If you recall, Chilton was held accountable for what happened to the murderer who took credit for Hannibal’s work last season, Dr. Gideon (Eddie Izzard). Funny enough, while it was not good at all that Hannibal now knew of Will’s latest discovery, Will later had another vision in which he recalled the whole truth about the night of Gideon’s death and how Hannibal left Will to a minor seizure in order to deal with this man who’d stolen credit for his life’s work.
NBC "Hannibal"
NBC "Hannibal"
Will’s greatest outside ally was Beverly Katz, who found herself delving deeper and deeper into Will’s theories, against Hannibal or otherwise. Unfortunately, as Will pointed out, she made the mistake of working too closely with Hannibal, enlisting him to help her uncover the murderer who’d previously stitched the human palette psycho into the center of his own work. We knew that this was Hannibal. Will knew that this was Hannibal. Beverly, however, did not. Thus, she didn’t think anything of taking Lecter’s advice when he suggested that she search “beneath the skin” for answers. Perhaps this advice seemed figurative at first, but upon realizing that the body of the “artist” contained a wound with stitches over stitches, Beverly managed to deduce that the man’s kidney had been removed.
At this point, Will began to solidify the concept of Hannibal Lecter as the Chesapeake Ripper in addition to the man who framed him. The Chesapeake Ripper, however, takes trophies, as Beverly noted. Where were Hannibal's trophies?He's eating them!He pleaded with Beverly to stay as far away as possible and to ignore Lecter’s advice as bait for a trap. Previously, we witnessed Will in one of his peaceful visions, fly fishing with Abigail Hobbs and sharing a conversation about the process of stalking as a hunter and luring as a fisherman. Also, wasn’t the “artist’s” leg removed as a perceived trophy? Shouldn’t an additional, newly discovered stolen kidney have been a total red flag?
Realizing that both Hannibal and Crawford were at the hospital, Beverly took it upon herself to investigate Hannibal’s home. In the fridge, she discovered exactly what she was looking for, a vacuum sealed organ; however, upon spilling a bit of liquid on the floor, she realized Hannibal’s home had a basement, the perfect area to perform his heinous crimes. We’re not sure exactly what it was that Beverly discovered… because Hannibal got to her first. Upon snapping the lights shut, we know Beverly only managed to get a few shots in before Episode 4 of Season 2 cut to black.
What did you think of Hannibal Season 2 Episode 4, “Takiawase”? Was that the sad end for Beverly Katz? Will this be used as another clue in Will’s quest to peg Hannibal as the murderer?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Hannibal Season 2 Episode 4, “Takiawase”!