New Show Recap: Hannibal, 2×03, “Hassun”

Following up last week’s episode was a hard task, but “Hassun” really keeps this ball of awesome rolling. The writing for this show might be the best drama writing on television. 

“Hassun” opens with Will in a suit looking lost at a clock ticking down the time. He begins to dream that he is seated in an electric chair that has been switched on. As the time counts down, Will watches himself die. He wakes up, full of anxiety as the orderly acknowledges that its time for Will to head to his trial.

The cinematography of this show is so awesome. They do a great job with the split shots and fade in and outs. The camera switches focus between Hannibal and Will getting ready. Both are shown mirroring the other, almost as if they were each others’ reflections.

Finally it’s Will’s day in court. The prosecutor explains the crimes against Will, making it known that Will couldn’t escape what he did as he became too wrapped up in Mr. Hobbs’ life and story. The accusations are horrid: Will killed four girls in the style of Jacob Hobbs and then ate Abigail Hobbs. She outlines how he killed people while working for the FBI because he thought he could outsmart them, too.

“The Smartest Person In the Room”

Hannibal is none too pleased at that statement from the prosecutor.

Jack paces back and forth. He is then approached by Kade who continues to push that Will is guilty and playing a game. Kade reminds Jack that he is on the witness list for the prosecution so he must think Will is guilty.

Jack is put on the stand and begins his testimony, confirming that Will didn’t pass the FBI screening procedures. Jack postulates that he is on the spectrum and that and his empathy disorder were the causes of him not being able to pass the screenings. The back and forth between Jack and the prosecutor plays out like a twisted episode of Law and Order.

“Will Graham enjoyed the cover the FBI gave him.”

Jack, now covering for Will, points out that Will hated the work and he only did it because Jack pushed him. Jack begins to confess how he pushed until Will broke. Kade, pissed off, gets up and leaves because Jack is going off script.

Will’s lawyer, Leonard Brauer, and Will are talking after a recess. The lawyer thinks that Jack is going to help Will get off. Will wants to prove his innocence, not just be found not guilty. The lawyer is playing the selling angle, that lawyering is a business, and that they are selling Will Graham’s story. A package is delivered to them and an ear drops out of the package.

“I think I opened your mail.”

 

Hannibal and Jack are having drinks, discussing the bomb that Jack laid in court today. Hannibal asks Jack if his testimony was a resignation letter. Jack waxes poetic about taking Bella to Italy and letting her die there in peace. Hannibal tells Jack that he isn’t the one who’s dying, and that he shouldn’t give up like he appears to be doing.

The science team is shown discussing something very in-depth as it’s in slow motion. The beautiful filming continues to shine as the hidden star of this show. The scene starts with the ear being discussed. First theory is that it was probably a copycat. The second theory brought up that it is the original killer and that Will could be saved. I love the science team so much. All three of the actors know their characters and they definitely play off one another very well.

Hannibal is meeting Will and discussing that the ear might be Will’s lifesaver. Hannibal thinks that there might be another killer. He tells Will that he knows Will still suspects him.

“I’m not insane.”

The killer wants to be seen, according to Hannibal, because he cares what happens to Will. Boom, truth bomb from Hannibal. He basically told Will that he was the killer. I cannot wait for the reveal when Will finally finds out that his theories are true.

Flashing to court once again, Freddie Lounds takes the stand looking all somber in a funeral getup. Ms. Lounds definitely is trying to play up the sympathy card with the judge and jury. My reaction to her saying she swears to tell the truth: “No, you don’t.” We all know how shitty Freddie has been to Will and the team last season. Freddie and Abigail were BFFs, apparently, and Abigail told her that Will wanted to eat her like her dad did to the other girls. Freddie of course has no financial gain or publicity to gain from this. She is just doing this out of the kindness of her heart. Will’s lawyer does bring up the fact that Freddie has settled six cases of libel to damage her “poor me” credentials a bit.

“I blame Will Graham.”

Dr. Bloom is revealed to be a defense witness. Will’s lawyer is grilling her in front of Will as they practice for the actual court room. He asks her about how she was in love with Will. No romance, just professional curiosity according to Dr. Bloom. Will stares forlornly into space. I am guessing he hates what’s happening to him.

The ear swirls around on screen as the science teams informs Jack that the ear matches Will’s knife. It resembles the cuts on Abigail Hobbs. The knife was checked out from the evidence room by the bailiff on Will’s case. This does not bode well for that bailiff.

Jack is shown sending in a group of agents to a house that turns out to be booby trapped by a fire bomb. The house is revealed to have a body impaled upon deer antlers just like the murders that Will supposedly committed. The bailiff is revealed as the dead body. All the evidence is gift wrapped to point away from Will. Jack remembers what Will said about one of his supposed victims. He called the dressing “field kabuki.” Will could tell that Cassie was not killed by Jacob Hobbs, just like Jack suspects that this person knows more than he is letting on through the killings.

Kade and Jack are seen arguing again. Kade keeps pointing out that Will’s lawyer is running an unconciousness defense. This defense entails that Will did the acts but didn’t remember it. Kade suspects that Jack is going to help Will’s team try a different defense, one of straight up innocence.

Will is in his fly fishing fugue during his trial as Dr. Chilton is going off on Will on the stand. He is pointing out that Will never has been diagnosed because he refuses to be tested. Dr. Chilton believes Will is a psycopath. Dr. Chilton believes Will as he presents himself in public, is not a true person.

“That man is a fiction.”

Hannibal again visits Will. Will has an admirer, according to Hannibal. Gee, I wonder who that is? Will is given the forensic report to peruse and begins his empathy state to see how the crime starts. Dream-Will shoots Andrew, the bailiff. He then impales Andrew on the deer antlers. Finally, Dream-Will Reservoir Dogs Andrew’s ear. This is the ear that is sent to the lawyer. Will postulates that this is not the same killer. Hannibal wants Will to believe the best in him. Even Jack is ready to believe now.

“This killer wrote you a poem, are you going to let that love go to waste?”

Dr. Bloom is upset that Will wants to abandon his defense strategy. Will sees the stag man as Hannibal takes the stand. “I was meant to be his stability.” Hannibal says he believes that the bailiff’s killer is the same person who committed the acts that Will is accused of. We all know he knows it’s the truth because Hannibal did it.

The prosecution is trying to torpedo the new defense. The prosecutor says because the cause of the death was different, it couldn’t be the same killer of the Will Graham crimes. The judge strikes Hannibal’s testimony as he rules Mr. Brauer’s new defense as inadmissable. The judge seems to agree with the prosecutor that the cases are too far apart to be considered a defense.

This show has a lot of forlorn staring. Jack is shown drinking and Hannibal stares at the empty patient chair where Will would sit. Will stares at the cell wall as he sits on his small cot. The emotional strings played by these quiet moments definitely help my love of the show.

A maintenance man is seen entering the court to buff the floors and he is shocked what he finds. The judge is strung up like the scales with his brain removed and his eyes covered. He is a perverted Lady Justice.

The team is examining the kill after being called in to work the case. The heart is found to have been removed as well. “He was heartless, mindless, and blind.” The team postulates that killer wanted a mistrial. It has something to do with saving Will Graham while also getting the correct recognition for the kills attributed to Will Graham. We all know how big psychopath’s egos are.

My advice to what Will sees in a dream? Don’t follow the stag, Will! Will and Dr. Bloom are discussing what happened. Will thinks the killer walked out of the courtroom with him. Will wants to say is that he knows it’s Hannibal.

“I want to save you.”

Another great episode is delivered here. I so cannot wait for next week. I am happy, though, that the gross, disgusting beauty was kept to a minimum this week. I could actually eat a bit during this week’s show. The preview for next week’s episode looks like it reveals that Hannibal is who we know he is.