Tonight on NBC the dark and haunting series HANNIBAL returns tonight for another new episode. On tonight’s episode called, “Hassun,” The team investigates a soupy crime scene as valuable evidence comes to the fore. Meanwhile, Hannibal sniffs out clues on his own Will’s trial begins, as those closest to him take sides and Jack is pulled in conflicting directions. Meanwhile, a court bailiff is killed in what appears to be a slaying copied from the crimes Will is accused of committing. Did you watch last week’s episode? If you want to get caught up we have you covered with a full and detailed recap, right here.
On last week’s episode Will (Hugh Dancy) was determined to fight for his innocence as Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) and Jack (Laurence Fishburne) tried to wrap their heads around the fact he’s behind bars. Meanwhile, Alana (Caroline Dhavernas) faced a strained relationship with Will while Kade Purnell (Cynthia Nixon) with the FBI payed him a visit.
On tonight’s episode Will Graham’s (Hugh Dancy) trial begins and he must watch as those closest to him are forced to take sides. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne, already in hot water from Alana Bloom’s (Caroline Dhavernas) scathing report about his conduct with Will, is pulled in conflicting directions. He acknowledges that he may be partially to blame for pushing his star pupil over the edge. To add confusion to an already suspenseful trial, a court bailiff is killed in a Copycat-like manner and those closest to Will start to wonder if they were wrong about him. The outcome of the entire trial hangs in the balance as one last key victim is served up.Also starring Hettienne Park, Aaron Abrams, Scott Thompson and Raúl Esparza.
Tonight’s season 2 episode 3 looks like it is going to be amazing, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of NBC’s new series at 10:00 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know how excited you are about this new series so far.
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Will is in a suit in his cell and imagines himself in the gas chamber with a clock counting down to his demise. Time ticks down and the guard pulls the mask off his dead face. His dead body stares open eyed at Will who then flips the switch on an electric chair and watches himself fry. It’s a nightmare. An orderly wakes him and hands him his suit telling him “it’s time.” Will and Hannibal each dress in their own space and we see each button their shirt, tie their tie and tuck their shirt. They zip flies and don their jackets. Hannibal puts on a vest, Will gets handcuffs as an accessory.
The prosecutor discusses the Minnesota Shrike and how he killed and ate young women. She says that Will shot the man and saved his daughter Abigail but the profile work he did on the case overtook him and he committed murders in an unconscious state. She describes the four kills ending with Abigail’s death. She says Will killed Abigail and ate her. She says they only found her ear. She says that Will is insightful and the smartest person in the room. Hannibal smirks at that. She says he can profile murderers and even made one to be his own alibi.
Jack paces in the hallway. Kade approaches him there and tells him it’s the moment of truth. She tells him that he can’t be impartial about Will. She tells him Will is playing a game but they have evidence that he killed. She says she understands he’s upset about missing that he had a killer right in front of him (HA! That’s true since Hannibal is still there). She tells him not to feel guilty about being a prosecution witness.
Jack describes how he and Will met. He says Will was intelligent and arrogant but he didn’t qualify to be an agent because of the screening. She asks why he let him work in the field. She says he could think like a killer and Jack tells her that Will could think like anyone. She says he is a killer and that he enjoyed using the FBI as a cover. Jack contradicts her and says that is not true. He says Will hated working for the FBI and couldn’t fake it. He says he made Will carry on even when he asked to stop. Jack says he was warned that if he pushed Will he would break him and he ignored the warnings and here we are.
Kade walks out of the courtroom with a backward glare at Jack. Hannibal watches this all with a smirk. An envelope is delivered to Will’s defense attorney who tells him Jack did him a huge favor on the stand. He says they have to create a desire to find him not guilty. The lawyer open the envelope and crumbs of something red fall out and a severed ear as well. He tells Will he thinks he opened his mail! HA!
At Hannibal’s, he pours two snifters of brandy and takes one to Jack and tells him he did a good and brave thing for Will today. Jack says it may cost him his job but he hasn’t felt better in weeks. He toasts and Hannibal says clarity will do that. He asks Jack if his testimony meant to serve as a resignation and Jack admits the idea has appeal. He says he’ll let the chips fall. Hannibal says leaving all your burdens behind is tempting. Jack says he’s given his life to death and Hannibal says now it’s followed him home and lives in his house. He tells Hannibal that his wife, who is dying, has tried to keep all the signs of her impending demise out of sight – no medicine, no medical equipment. He tells Hannibal he’s thinking of taking his wife to Italy to die and Hannibal tells him not to go in the ground with her. Hannibal says he shouldn’t force being fired for the short-term emotional satisfaction.
Beverly and Jimmy study the ear and they know it’s fresh – within the last 48 hours – and there are no prints on the envelope. Jack says it was obviously choreographed and Hannibal calls it a gift to remind them that Will says someone else committed the murders. Jack reminds him that it was Hannibal he said killed the girls and he says that Will must have been half right.
At the hospital, Hannibal tells Will he has an admirer and Will asks why he thinks an ear would demonstrate that. Hannibal says outside the boundaries of normalcy this may be a gesture of help. Hannibal says he wouldn’t have sent him an ear but is grateful that someone dead. Hannibal says he has new thoughts about who Will is and says there may be another killer. Will says he wants that and Hannibal asks if he still suspects him. Will says he doesn’t know what anyone is capable of anymore and knows there is no evidence against Hannibal and that accusing him makes him look insane. He tells Hannibal he’s not insane anymore and Hannibal tells him he may not be guilty. Hannibal tells him the ear is an opportunity and that the real killer may finally want to be seen because he cares what happens to Will.
The prosecutor calls Freddy Lounds and the reporter takes the stand. She take the oath and sits. She looks at Will with wide eyes. The prosecutor asks her about her relationship with Abigail and she says they were close and said Abigail told her that Will wanted to kill and eat her like her father did. She’s asked if she blames herself and she says she blames Will. The defense asks her how many times she’s been sued for libel and she says six. He asks how many times she settled and she says six. He sits down on that note.
Alana is in front of Will’s cage practicing her testimony with the defense lawyer. He asks her about his illness and about their personal relationship. She wants to know why it’s relevant if they were involved. She doesn’t like practicing in front of Will but he says the first time she speaks shouldn’t be in court. He tells her any romance with Will will be on trial when she’s on the stand. He begins to tear her apart and says the prosecutor – Vega – will smell it on her. He asks again if they were involved and she says she has no romantic feelings for him only professional curiosity. The lawyer says he likes that because it sounds indifferent and he tells her not to look like she’s lying when she says it. Will stares at her in silence.
The ear is seen up close and they identified the severing cut as being from Will’s knife and matches Abigail’s cut. They say it was turned in as evidence but then went missing. Jack watches as a home in Maryland is raided. They break in but the house is booby trapped and erupts in flames as the FBI tries to raid it. After the flames die down, he heads in. We see Sikes – the bailiff who stole the knife (presumably) dead, burned and impaled on antlers. His ear is gone.
Beverly works on his body as Hannibal comes in and says it’s an impressive piece of theater. The kill scene matches the ones they’ve accused Will of. The coroner says it looks like Will Graham’s greatest hits. Beverly says the evidence is on display almost too clearly. The coroner reminds them that Will ate the ear and Jimmy says they should have done a stool sample to know if he had been actually eating people.
Hannibal pulls Jack aside and asks what impact this will have on Will’s trial. Jack and Kade go to the judge and Jack explains this new evidence. Kade pushes back and Jack tells her that Sikes was killed in a way that wasn’t made public. Kade says that Will is implicitly admitting guilt. The judge says that the defense can present the evidence but they are pressing on.
Will is mentally fly fishing again while Chilton testifies that Will seems to be an introvert who claims he may have Aspbergers and an empathy disorder. Vega asks about the word “claims” and Chilton says he won’t let anyone formally diagnose him. Chilton says Will fooled Jack but not him because he’s objective. He says the murders were measured and controlled and Will is playing to be not this way. He says that the encephalitis was a ploy and that’s why he killed his neurologist.
Vega asks if Will is an intelligent psychopath and he says there is not a name for what Will is. He says Will kills methodically and would kill again given the opportunity.
The defense asks Chilton about the contradiction between Will helping the FBI and the notion of him as a killer. He says Will caught the killers to burnish his ego and says Will likes to play God. Will continues to fly fish in his head.
Hannibal comes to see Will. They are in a private room together. Will is handcuffed to the table. Hannibal sits across from him and opens a file He shows him the photo of Sikes. He asks if that is his admirer. He shows him the crime scene report and asks what he sees. Will looks at it and flips through the pages. He lays it down and looks again at the photo. Hannibal watches closely. Will closes his eyes and goes to his special place. He’s in the death room looking around. He sees the antlers. He sees Sikes comes in and says he shoots him once through the heart – a kill shot. He says he will die believing we are friends and that is his last thought. Will throws him onto the antlers. He says his death is impersonal. He carves off the ear and says he is the ink from where my poem flows. He bags the ear and calls it a tribute. He says – this is my design.
Will tells Hannibal this is a different killer because he killed first and then mutilated. He says the girls were mutilated while their hearts were still beating. He tells Hannibal he already knew it was a reproduction. Will stares at Hannibal. He says he wanted to dispel Will’s doubt about him once and for all. Hannibal says he wants Will to believe the best of him just as he does for Will. He says the crime offers reasonable doubt and Will says it is only a distraction. Hannibal says it could be his route to freedom. Will says it would be a lie if this got him off. Hannibal says he doesn’t want him to be there and Will agrees. Hannibal says the killer wrote him a poem and asks if he’s going to let his love go to waste.
Alana meets with Will and his lawyer in the same room. She tells him she’s confused because ill has decided to change the course of their defense. The attorney tells her the killer on the loose that is behaving like Will is a perfect course to pursue. Alana asks Will if he believes that the guy is the real killer and the lawyer says not to answer that. He tells her all they need is reasonable doubt and Alana pleads to stick with the unconsciousness plea. He tells her he won’t be asking her to take the stand and she asks who will take the stand in her place. Hannibal, of course…
Hannibal is sworn in and takes his seat. Will looks at him and sees the antlered monster in his stead. The defense attorney asks about his relationship with Will and he clarifies that he wasn’t Will’s psychiatrist but more of a source of stability for Will but says he failed him in that regard. He says he didn’t determine if he had a mental illness or if it was work stress. He says he never considered his innocence until he worked the bailiff’s murder case. Vega objects but will says there are alarming similarities between the kills Will is accused of and the new murder. He asks about Will’s accusations that Hannibal committed the murders. Hannibal says he doesn’t blame him and will also consider Will a friend.
Vega asks about the cause of death in the bailiff’s murder. Hannibal says it was a bullet to the heart. She ask about COD in the others and he says it was mutilation and she says these are very different. Vega tries to testify that these are two different cases and the judge finally strikes the evidence about the bailiff’s death.
Jack drinks and looks at a photo. Hannibal sits in his office utterly still and creepy. He looks at the empty chair across from him. Is he missing Will? Will sits on his dirty mattress in the hospital cell with his knees drawn to his chest. A custodian buffs the floor in the courtroom and come into the one the case is being tried in. He see the judge dead and strung up, his head cut open, brain gone and holding the scale of justice with his brain on one side and his heart on the other.
Jack and crew investigate. Jack says he was killed in his chambers and strung up. Hannibal notes the blindfold and says that justice is not only blind, but it’s heartless and mindless as well. He asks how the killer got so close. He was shot in the chest like the bailiff. They didn’t find the slug and Hannibal guesses it was taken as a trophy. Jack tells Hannibal that the judge’s death will result in a complete reset on the trial. Hannibal says psychopathic violence is goal oriented and can be a means to an end. Jack guesses the killer wanted a mistrial to spare Will’s life for the moment.
Jack asks what he thinks about Will’s culpability. Hannibal says he’s not sure if it’s the same killer. Kade comes in and is floored and near vomitous. Jack tells her there is little evidence. She says the trial should have ended this but it’s becoming a circus. Kade tells him the trial was going wrong before the murder because he believed Will. She tells him that sometimes you have to cut people loose if he wants to save himself. She looks again at the body and walks away sickened.
Will lays on his bed. He hears a noise outside his cell. His cell door opens and he rises and walks to it. He looks out and sees the big elk (moose?) walk by at the end of the hall He make to follow it and sees Hannibal standing by an open door and gesturing to it.
Alana meets with Will and says she hoped the trial would offer him clarity. He tells her he never had faith in legal justice and Alana says there are many miscarriages of justice and he could have been misdiagnosed. He says he walked out of court and could hear his blood like a hollow drumming of wings and had the absurd feeling that the killer walked out of the courtroom with him. Will says the killer will reach out to him and she asks what he wants. Will smiles and says – he wants to know me. He asks what she wants. She says she wants to save him. He takes her hand. They sit quietly looking at each other.
THE END!
