New Show Recap: Hannibal, 2×04, “Takiawase”

I cannot put this show down. Every week, I go into it knowing I am about to have too many emotions, knowing that beauty is going to be mixed with ugly and I will love it. “Takiawase” continues the grimdark beauty trend of this season. 

The show opens with Will fly fishing again. He is not alone though; Abigail Hobbs is with him. Will discusses with Abigail that fishing is different from hunting, which leads to a discussion about Abigail’s father’s methods vs. Will’s methods. Its a very poignant way to start an episode. Abigail tries to tell Will that hunting and fishing are the same as animals both die. Will says this is not true: one you catch, the other you shoot.

“What are you trying to catch? The one that caught you.”

They are discussing catching the person who killed Abigail and messed up Will’s life. Will doesn’t say that it’s Hannibal, but he wants to.

The show cuts to Will standing in his cell. Beverly brings him the photos of the mural killer. Will examines them with a look of disdain on his face (his very cute face, that is). They discuss how the killer ended up in the mural. Will fingers Hannibal as the person who sewed James Gray into his own mural. Will says Hannibal Lecter did this, and wants Beverly to look for evidence that is not quite there, a very fine detail that is hidden. This is same sentiment he asked her about his own case.

I keep talking about how awesome the cinematography is. Not only do the cameras capture the beauty that Bryan Fuller writes, they can dictate emotion and feelings with just shots. James Hawkinson is the Director of Photography for this show, and I want to give him a big shout out.

The camera cuts to what we find out is a bee’s point of view. It wooshes through some forest until it opens up on a dead body covered in honeycomb with bees everywhere. This is obviously the kill of the week. On a show that deals with death, a human honeycomb is particularly squicky for me.

Dr. Chilton is meeting with Will. Will offers him the same deal he offered Beverly. Dr. Chilton tries to posit why he should take it.

“I am either a psychopath, delusional, or I am right about Hannibal Lecter.”

Will will let Chilton work with him as long as Hannibal is not involved or informed. Basically, Will is playing Chilton’s ego for his own advantage.

Bella and Hannibal are talking. Lazarus is brought up, as a picture of him being raised by Jesus is in Hannibal’s office. The set dressers do a great job of always painting Hannibal with a stroke of death. Bella informs Hannibal that she is upset that Jack talked her into chemo. She is tired and sick and loves Jack but cannot continue this road. “The cancer is an occupying force. I want to surrender while I still have my dignity.” She wants to die on her terms. Hannibal tells her a story about Socrates, how his death was not a defeat, but a cure.

The science team and Jack are examining the dead bee body. The body was specifically made into a hive. Somebody did this to the body. Squick.

Dr. Katz and Hannibal are examining James Gray, the mural killer. Dr. Katz needed someone to help since the rest of the team is still with the honeycomb body. Hannibal tells Beverly that she sounds like Will. She reveals her arrangement with Will, saying Will needs a champion more than ever. They discuss Will’s innocence. Hannibal still knows Will thinks he is the killer even with Beverly’s denial. Hannibal tells Dr. Katz she needs to dig beneath the skin to find the secrets.

Dr. Chilton and Will are meeting again. Dr. Chilton is using a form of truth serum and light therapy to induce thoughts. Will begins to rant about Hannibal again as he prepares to sign the forms and undergo the therapy.

“Sharing stories of the unorthodox.”

The lights begin to flicker as Will starts to enter a drug-induced haze. Will sees Hannibal where Dr. Chilton should be. Hannibal begins to question Will and tries to get Will to do things, like draw the clock. The cacophony of sounds and the lights really make you feel like you are too undergoing this radical, unorthodox therapy. Will then tells Dr. Chilton about what he sees. Hannibal was using strobe lights in his therapy to try inflict seizures, knowing that lights would activate the encephalitis.

Chilton and Hannibal meet. Chilton says he canceled his appointment with Hannibal. Chilton is now playing Hannibal, using Will as his pawn. There really are no really good people on this show.

“My opinion is evolving.”

Chilton accuses Hannibal of inducing some neurological conditions. Chilton flat-out accuses Hannibal of being a killer, or, at least, of inciting his patient to be a killer. Hannibal busts out Chilton’s first name in disdain. “We have to stick together.” Chilton wants to know Hannibal’s secrets just as much as he wants to know Will’s.

Bella and Jack are sitting in their apartment. Bella is lighting up a vaporizer full of “Purple Kush.” Jack even takes a hit. Bella waxes poetic about how her mother died from the same disease, so she knows what is happening to her. Bella does not want Jack to remember her how she remembers her mother. Bella definitely seems to be preparing for death.

The team conducts an autopsy on the dead body honeycomb. He had been dead for six months. He had an elevated white blood cell count, so what killed him was a massive infection or fever, most likely. The bees or the eye removal were not the cause of his death. The body apparently was lobotomized. They still need to figure out who put him there.

A man is being given acupuncture by a strange woman (guest star Amanda Plummer). She puts a giant needle into his eye. We now know how the first bee man’s eye was removed. As an aside, Amanda Plummer plays a great crazy woman.

The man is discovered, standing and still alive, by a child in a park. The science team begins to examine the man, or more apt, a walking corpse. He has no eyes now and he is most likely missing parts of his brain too. They discover that bee stings are hiding acupuncture needle marks. This triggers Dr. Katz to go examine James Grey again. She undoes some stitches and finds that his kidney is missing. All signs of the mural killer’s killer are pointing at the Chesapeake Ripper.

Will is sweating and delusional. He begins to float into his dream state, but it’s more of a nightmare. Will, Hannibal, and Abel Gideon are all at dinner together. Will begins to explore his lost memory as Hannibal talks to Gideon about his identity as the Chesapeake Ripper. Hannibal says Abel is not the Chesapeake Ripper.

“Terrible thing to have your identity taken from you.”

Beverly and Will meet. Beverly reveals that she found that the kidney is missing. Will is horrified to find out she had Hannibal assist with the autopsy, and says Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper, too, not just the copycat killer. Will warns that Beverly is being baited by Hannibal, much like Will was teaching Abigail how to fish at the beginning. Will wants Beverly to go to Jack and tell him everything, and to stay away from Hannibal.

“If Hannibal’s the Ripper, what’s he doing with the trophies?  – He is eating them.”

Honeycomb is being ground into honey by the acupuncture lady. Jack and the team begin to question her, and she starts admitting to the crimes. She quieted their pains. She sees herself as an angel of mercy, it seems. The theme of people wanting to die or have their pains quieted definitely comes out strong in this episode.

Bella is being escorted across the room to her seat by Hannibal. Bella seems ready to die.

“Death is not a defeat, but a cure.”

She took all of her morphine at once. She didn’t want to die at home because she didn’t want Jack to find her like that. Hannibal is upset at this. “You denied him his goodbye.” A painful goodbye, according to Bella. “Tell Jack I love him very much.” A death not necessarily physically orchestrated by Hannibal, but definitely his therapies pushed her in that direction. Hannibal leers at Bella’s body. He flips the coin she gave him. The choices must be interesting ones. His choice is to use an injection to wake her up. She is not too pleased.

Jack is by Bella’s side in the hospital. This is some weird motivation by Dr. Lecter. Bella gives him the death eyes when he says he couldn’t honor what she asked of him and slaps him.

Beverly breaks into Hannibal’s place. She looks all over, breaks into the butcher room off of his kitchen, and pulls out some meat. Gotcha! She knocks over a wine glass full of blood, and it drips into a basement. She does not know the “Don’t go in the basement” horror trope, apparently. She turns on the lights and sees Hannibal. Hannibal begins to go after her. The camera floats away as shots ring out.

I am kind of sad this might be the end of Beverly. She is a great character. At the same time, I want to know how this show can continue its crazy path. I look forward to the rest of the season.