Hannibal: Season 2 Episode 5 - “Mukozuke”
March 28, 2014, 10:00 p.m. (EST), NBC
“Mukozuke” is all about sound. The sound of blood hitting linoleum, echoing as regret in the ears of those who cannot save a friend, or who cannot take back an action. The sound of drums, blaring incessantly, as Will Graham goes to war. Beverly Katz is discovered this week, though her fate was clear by the time the credits rolled on the last episode, and with her death, season two of Hannibal kicks into high gear. She is found in the place The Ripper leaves taunts to the Behavioral Science Unit: that observatory where Miriam Lass’ arm was found, and where the deranged Abel Gideon performed his surgery on Frederick Chilton. Now it is the site of another horror, as Beverly is splayed out like an exhibit at Body World, dissected the way she herself would have dissected a crime scene.
That the body turns up at the observatory makes it clear that the Chesapeake Ripper is involved in her death, because she, like Miriam before her got too close. And yet, the kidneys found at the scene are not Beverly’s. No, they belong to one James Gray, the muralist from earlier in the season, whose kidney Beverly likely recovered in Hannibal’s freezer last week. Why Hannibal would tie Gray’s death to the Ripper like this is a mystery (unless it is just rank arrogance, but I’d like to think our Dr. Lecter is better than that), but the pieces are beginning to align. The seeds of Hannibal’s undoing have been planted, and now his defeat can begin to grow.
“Mukozuke” ties Will and Hannibal together again, opening with the two eating very different breakfasts (and once again, if Hannibal’s cooking did not largely consist of people, I would want him to cook every meal for me) as they prepare for very different manipulations. Hannibal cozies up to Jack, coaxing him to admit that Lecter is a great friend, while Will butters up Freddie Lounds to lure out the copycat killer. By episode’s end, both are killers, or near enough. Will dispatches Matthew Brown (Jonathan Tucker) to kill Hannibal, and though Jack saves Lecter from being hung like Judas while tied like Christ, Will’s pawn is yet another piece of collateral damage in the battle between Will and Hannibal, the fallen angel and Lucifer himself.
Will is transforming in “Mukozuke”
Yet something is different in “Mukozuke.” Hannibal Lecter is not in control. He gets bested by Brown; exposed as the killer he is, literally bleeding out as Brown gloats about stealing his strength (Hannibal, ever helpful, suggests Brown would have to eat him to take his murders). Will Graham may not have won the battle tonight, but he certainly has points on the board now.
Meanwhile, Abel Gideon is back on the scene, pulled in by Chilton at Will’s request, in the hopes that Gideon will corroborate Will’s accusations about Hannibal Lecter. Eddie Izzard continues to be an absolute blast in the role, basically playing Gideon as the more traditional conception of Hannibal Lecter this show constantly eschews. He is a sneering, sarcastic psychopath, all hints and riddles, and Izzard mines every single line for all of its potential. Here, Gideon keeps Lecter’s identity to himself, but he reminds everyone just how dangerous Will Graham is supposed to be, including Will himself. Gideon is a formidable force in his own right, even if he is only a rook in the elaborate game of chess between Will and Hannibal, and his return to the board may complicate things more than Will initially imagined.
Will is transforming in “Mukozuke,” becoming the monster he feels he needs to be to fight Hannibal, but the process is uncomfortable. He imagines himself growing the stags’ horns that have come to symbolize Hannibal to him, and the dripping sound that began the episode, as water started to drip off Beverly’s frozen body becomes the dripping of blood. In Will’s mind, he has spilt blood, and his guilt comes flowing freely out of the sink in his cell. And from that blood, we cut, masterfully, to the blood freely flowing from Hannibal’s veins. From the blood Will imagines spilling to the reality he has conjured from within his cell. Will has had to enter the minds of numerous killers before in order to stop them. But he is truly becoming Hannibal Lecter at this point, pulling strings from behind bars, offering quid pro quos and asking serial killers for favors. Running the universe from within that cell, with only his mind (he won’t even take a book) as a weapon, only real humans as his playthings. Will’s games have cost lives now. He has blood on his hands. That’s likely to do little to stop him at this point though; instead, he will redouble his efforts. Will has the Devil in his sights, and if he has to damn himself in the process, he is going to take that shot.
The Roundup
- -I’d suggest a moment of silence for Beverly Katz (and for the departure of the amazing Hettienne Park, who will truly be missed as part of the ensemble), but “Mukozuke” has plenty of them, most notably Laurence Fishburne’s heartrending silent tears when he discovers her body.
- -“As a doctor I had no choice. As a philosopher, I have many.”
- -“Send someone else, Jack. She’s one of yours.”
- -“I strangled Beverly Katz. Looking in her eyes. She knows me. And I know her.”
- -“What you found in that observatory wasn’t all Beverly.”
- -“Mr. Graham. Always did look like the boy next door…”
- -“Am I your evidence? Oh, you’re in trouble, Mr. Graham.”
- -“He is the Devil, Mr. Graham. He is smoke. You’ll never catch The Ripper, Mr. Graham. He won’t be caught. If you want him, you’ll have to kill him.”
- -“Neither of us controls our stories well enough to benefit from exposing the other’s misdeeds.” “Here’s to that.”
- -“I’m Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I was Will Graham’s psychiatrist.” “Well he’s not a very good advertisement of your abilities.” “That remains to be seen.”
- -“We evolved the ability to communicate disappointment to teach others around us manners.”
- -“Would you like a book, Mr. Graham?” “I have my imagination.”
- -“You spend time in a mental hospital, you pick up the drill.”
- -“You and me? We are hawks, Master Graham.” “Hawks are solitary.” “And that’s their weakness. Enough of those smaller birds get together, and they drive the hawks away. Imagine if hawks started working together.”
- -“There’s no solution to grief, Will. It just is.”
- -“You are like catnip for killers.”
- -“All the things that make us who we are, what has to happen for those things to change? A lot has happened to Mr. Graham. He’s a changed man.”
- -“Judas had the shame to hang himself after his betrayal. I thought you could use the help.”
- -“How many times have you watched someone cling to a few extra seconds, wondering why they bother?” “I know why. Life is precious.”
