“We know the ultimate end, but how we’re getting there is more uncertain than ever.” – Jonathan Raeder

“I want you to kill Hannibal Lector.”

Beverly Katz is dead, separated and sliced like an anatomy model and left for Freddie Lounds and Jack Crawford to find amidst a soundtrack of ominous mechanized percussion. Hannibal excels at submerging its characters in the process of dealing with death – just think of the endless ripples of the deaths of Garrett Jacob Hobbs and Abigail Hobbs – and “Mukozuke” is no exception. Will’s guilt, Jack’s sorrowful breakdown, Price and Zeller’s restrained grief are all expertly acted and gut-wrenchingly sad. The only person not seen suffering from her loss is – obviously – Hannibal.

Will Graham requests to see Beverly’s corpse and is wheeled to the spot – strapped and belted in to a strait jacket and the iconic, almost skeletal mask. As always, it’s unsettling to see Will as the killer in his own imaginations – and probably much more unsettling for him to be imagining it. “Mukozuke” provides numerous opportunities for Will to tell Jack and Alana – again – that Hannibal is the killer, but Beverly’s death has made him increasingly wary. What happens if Alana attempts to investigate Hannibal? Jack? Will is convinced that Hannibal will get rid of anyone who comes too close, so for now he’s left with no choice but to turn to Abel Gideon to serve as his evidence.

Too bad Gideon won’t reveal anything specific, other than ominously intoning that Hannibal is the devil. It’s unclear what his ultimate game is, but if there’s anything we can be sure about in Hannibal’s world, it’s that psychopaths love manipulation, moving the people around them like chess pieces for no other reason than the fact that they can. Gideon wants revenge on Will for shooting him and he’s chosen to do so by turning Will into the killer he’s only so far been falsely accused of being. He tells Will that Hannibal won’t be caught – he can only be killed.

Enraged by Beverly’s death and frustrated by his failure to convince anyone else of Hannibal’s evil, Will decides to make a move that may sacrifice his chances of ever being exonerated. He contacts Freddie Lounds and makes a connection with another killer hiding in plain sight – his admirer, the bailiff’s murderer. Even though it’s taken him one step closer to the antlered demon, Will asks his new friend to end this whole sad story by killing Hannibal Lector. The new killer wastes no time fulfilling Will’s request and tracks Hannibal down at a swimming pool. Despite our foreknowledge that Hannibal is not going to die here, it’s hard not to feel a little satisfaction at Hannibal being – seemingly – outsmarted. In a torturous combination of hanging and crucifixion, Hannibal inches closer to death until he’s saved at the last minute by Jack and Alana.

“Life is precious,” Hannibal gasps as he faces his own death – an ultimately ironic statement given his own violent nature. He’s come face to face with death at the hands of a killer like himself, unable to hide his own physiological responses and impulses. Despite Gideon’s announcement, Hannibal is not a supernatural being. He’s a human who wants to survive at all costs.

Who is this new killer who appeared so briefly only to die in his attempt at killing Hannibal? Obviously he was important as Will’s weapon and ultimately shows Hannibal that Will isn’t completely powerless, but his origins seem suspicious. Gideon’s brief appearance after the new killer put Will back in his cell suggests that he may be behind this. Is it possible that yet another incarcerated man wants to take down Hannibal? Perhaps Gideon manipulated the new killer into helping Will, all in an effort to transform Will into a monster?

Hannibal has yet to make any huge mistake in maintaining his façade, but he’s being caught off guard more and more frequently. He was forced to kill someone very close to the FBI team, arousing suspicion. His true identity is essentially known by at least three people: Will, Gideon, and quite possibly Dr. Chilton. He was even caught and almost horrifically killed by another serial killer. He’s racking up enemies – powerful, intelligent enemies. For the first time ever, he was outsmarted, he was attacked and he let the power slide over to Will, even if for only a brief moment. He’s going to have to rethink his relationship with Will, re-categorize him as someone with the potential to take him down and not just his own personal play-thing.

The fates of both Hannibal and Will continue to mutate in strange ways in “Mukozuke.” Hannibal’s innocence seems more likely to the FBI after he’s almost killed by Will, and later Jack calls him a good friend. However, his growing number of enemies and Will’s growing tenacity leaves him in a more dangerous spot than before. Will’s attempted murder is obviously not going to do him any favors in convincing the FBI of Hannibal’s true nature, but his own manipulations of Dr. Chilton could result in someone else learning the truth. We know the ultimate end, but how we’re getting there is more uncertain than ever.

Visually, “Mukozuke” is as stunning as we’ve come to expect from the series, offering highlights such as Will and Hannibal’s parallel breakfasts, the various pieces of Beverly sliding back together during Will’s re-creation of the murder, Will sprouting antlers from his back, Hannibal’s “crucifixion” and finally, the dripping sink filled with blood in Will’s cell. Blood spilled from Beverly’s corpse, from Hannibal’s arms, and from Will’s sink, all spinning down and down into the drain. They’ve all become corrupted by this battle between Will and Hannibal, and the bloodshed is just getting started. “Mukozuke” is a phenomenal episode – a somber reflection of the wound of Beverly’s death and a surprising role reversal between the two main characters.

Will’s set up the clues and offered all the suggestions he can. Now let’s see if Jack and Alana can put them together – even if they’re horrified by what they find.

Tidbits:

· Did Hannibal take anything else from Beverly other than her kidneys? Has he already eaten them, or is he going to feed them to anyone else? I’d imagine he couldn’t resist feeding them to Jack. That scene when they all find out they’ve been eating humans – eating Beverly maybe – will definitely be one of the most intense moments of the show.

· I apologize for last week’s review, in which I said that it may be possible Beverly was alive. Evidently we were supposed to assume she was dead, sparking an online debate over whether killing off one of the show’s few women of color was racist and sexist. Hettienne Park wrote a blog post defending her character’s death.

· As usual, amazing acting from everyone, but especially Caroline Dhavernas (Alana Bloom), whose fear for Hannibal’s life and Will’s mind was palpably evident.

· This good of an episode with eight more left to go? Season two has definitely lived up the hype already.

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