NBC’s hit show HANNIBAL returns tonight with a new episode. In “Shiizanka,” the team begins an investigation on a truck driver who’s found dead; apparently he was killed by two different animal. Will is also introduced to Hannibal’s new weird patient.
On last week’s episode when a young woman’s body was discovered inside of a horse, Hannibal suggested to Jack that Will be brought in to help crack this peculiar case. Will seemingly casted aside his suspicions of Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), resuming their doctor-patient relationship, but Alana (Caroline Dhavernas) remained skeptical regarding Will’s true intentions and worried that Hannibal may still be in danger. The FBI questions the man they suspected to be the killer in their case, but lack of evidence forced them to let him go. Will and Hannibal raced to guard the safety of a witness they believed was in jeopardy, but it might have been Will’s own judgment that is in peril. Also starred Aaron Abrams, Scott Thompson, Chris Diamantopoulos and Jeremy Davies. Did you watch last week’s episode? We did and we recapped it right here for you.
On tonight’s episode the team investigates when a truck driver’s body is discovered, apparently torn apart by two different species of animals working together. Meanwhile, Will meets Hannibal’s bizarre new patient and trades notes about Hannibal with her; Hannibal tests Will to determine Will’s true self.
Tonight’s season 2 episode 9 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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In black and white, we see Hannibal tied to a tree while Will tells him he wants a confession. Hannibal tells him there is a monster growing inside of Will and then Will gives a whistle and the ropes tighten around Hannibal. Will walks closer and whistles again. The elk pulls the ropes tighter and Will says he promised him a reckoning and here it is. Hannibal has turned into that beasty black antlered creature Will always sees him as in his visions. The ropes pull tighter and we see from the other side of the tree a gush of brilliant red blood as the ropes rip Hannibal apart. Will wakes from his dream gasping.
Hannibal is cooking what looks like liver and then scrambles up some eggs. He drops chunks of meat into it and makes an omelet. He serves Jack in the dining room. He tells him it’s an omelet with liver and sweetbreads. He says he learned it while traveling.
Jack eats and gives compliments to the gypsies Hannibal learned the recipe from. They talk about memory and Hannibal says it’s good to forget and asks Jack what he’s trying to forget. He says he wants to forget that he doubted Will. Hannibal says he can’t talk about Will because he’s his official patient now and Jack tells him he hopes the therapy works. They eat and drink.
A man walks away from a truck stop sipping coffee. He heads back to his semi and opens the door. He gets up into the cab and sips more coffee. He cranks his truck and we see something climbing on top. He stops and steps out with a flashlight to investigate. He walks around the truck and looks under it and then up top. He walks back around and starts to open the door but is then snatched up. We hear screams, see something shadowy and animalistic attack him and blood run down the windshield.
More black and white. Will is taking aim at the guy from last week’s episode that killed the horse girl. We see him begging Will not to shoot him. Back to now, at therapy, Will asks Hannibal if he has any regrets and Hannibal says not really because there are reasons he chooses not to do something but tells Will a life without regret is no life.
Will says he regrets what he did in the stable then Hannibal says Will is lucky he was there. Will says the mistake was allowing Hannibal to stop him. Hannibal clarifies that Will regrets not pulling the trigger effectively. Hannibal says Will needs to adapt his behavior. Will says adapt, evolve, become and Hannibal says yes.
He tells Will to close his eyes and imagine a version of the events he wouldn’t have regretted. We see the black and white scene again and Will shoots the man in the head. Hannibal asks what he saw and Will says a missed opportunity to feel like he did when he killed Garrett Hobbes and like he felt when he thought he killed Hannibal. He asks what that felt like and Will says it was a quiet sense of power. Hannibal says good and tells him to remember that feeling.
Will leaves Hannibal’s and a woman approaches him on her way into therapy. She says he looks familiar and that she might know him. He tells her he’s the guy that didn’t kill all those people. He walks off and she walks in. She sits in therapy with Hannibal. He tells Margo we have a gauge that twitches when we see people and asks what twitches when she sees her brother.
She says not humanity and he tells her it’s natural to see others as less human and she tells him her brother is less than human. She tells him she met Will. She says she appreciates his support of her killing her brother and asks what he supports Will to do. He tells her she knows what kind of psychiatrist he is and she says she’s beginning to.
The crime techs are at the semi truck murder scene snapping photos. The dead man lays on the roof mauled and with his throat ripped out. Will asks Jack since when did the FBI get involved in an animal attack and Jack says when a human is holding the leash. They speculate it could be a wolf or bear. Hannibal says rabid animals attack without eating them. Jimmy says there were some nearby livestock attacks and Jack thinks those may have been practice runs. Hannibal says the killer is evolving and Jack calls it a blood sport.
Will shows dentition photos to Peter Bernardone and asks him if it’s a wolf or a bear. Peter has a mouse in his pocket and tells Will his name is Kevin. He tucks him back in his pocket and looks at the photos and says bear-wolf. Will asks if they hunt together and Peter says you can train them to hunt and feed together. He says with enough time he could even train Will to do it.
Will says that kind of friendship can keep you on your toes. Peter says animals have friendships just like humans. He says we’re the same. Will says he’ll try to remember that and Peter says not to blame the animals because humans are the only animals that kill just to kill. Will leaves the mental institution where Peter is housed.
We see animal bones, claws and tools. Someone is assembling some sort of monstrous machine. The man tests the jaw strength of the creature and it bites through metal. He sits down to fine tune it. Two people in fancy dress clothes walk out in the snow. We see the man wearing the creature mask. He comes toward the couple and attacks the man brutally. The woman runs off and he comes after her. She trips in the snow. She turns around to the sound of footsteps and breathes out cold air. She sits up and sees it and then we see an explosion of blood.
Next day, the FBI is at the crime scene. Will takes a deep breath and immerses himself. He looks around at the carnage and walks forward. He sees the severed limbs gone, the blood gone and then looks into the trees. The scene behind him disappears. He sees the bonfire in the snow and the couple standing by it. He sees himself looking at them from the tree line. The giant elk is beside him and he says “kill”. The animal runs at the man and gores him then attacks him. He sees himself with antlers reveling in the woman’s blood.
Will looks down at the woman’s body and tells Jack it’s not an animal – it’s a man who wants to be an animal. Jack asks if that’s what the man believes and Will says it’s what he imagines and just wants to maul. He says it’s not personal, they’re just meat to him. Like prey. Jack says this kind of psychosis is major and would have been noticed along the way. Will says maybe not because he could have hidden it and worn it like a suit. He says the guy is an engineer or understands engineering and knows how to build because he built his beast. Will says the killer is a student of predators.
At Hannibal’s, Hannibal says no beast is more savage than man when possessed with rage. Will says it’s not rage because that’s an emotional response to provocation. Will says this is more like instinct and how he thinks an animals thinks. Will says the victims were torn apart and Hannibal asks if you can imagine tearing someone apart. He asks if he would prefer a gun.
Will says guns lack intimacy. Hannibal asks Will if killing him with his hands would be more satisfying than pulling a trigger and Will says yes. Hannibal asks when Will hired someone to kill him was he imagining doing through the guy vicariously or hiding. Will says he wasn’t hiding. Hannibal tells him he needs to be intimate with his instincts.
In the forensics lab, Brian tells Jack they examined the bite radius and it’s closest to cave bear but they are extinct and are vegetarians. Jimmy agrees. They theorize ratchets and pneumatics. Hannibal says animals are greatly like humans and vice versa and there is a small barrier between us. Jack says that barrier is too thin here. Hannibal calls this species dysphoria and says the killer could be covering up what kind of killer he is and could appear normal.
Hannibal says the killer is seeking transformation and Jack asks if he’s seen anything like this before. Hannibal pulls him aside and says years ago he treated a teenager with an identity disorder. He says the boy told him he was an animal born in the body of a man. He was a solitary kid and adopted animal behaviors. He says the boy didn’t think he would physically change but may have created a change himself. Hannibal says now grown, the man may indulge in savagery.
We see a man working on a skeleton at a museum. He hears someone come in and calls out that the museum is closed. It’s Hannibal and he greets the young man – Randall. He tells Randall he will always be ruled by his fascination with teeth. Randall says that’s what Hannibal said the first time they brought him to Hannibal’s office. He reminds him he was crying and dreading telling him what was wrong with him.
Hannibal says all therapists are partly curious and they wonder where the path will take patients that they send them on. He tells Randall he’s come a long way since then and says he’s there to talk to him about his progress. He tells Randall he’s seen what he’s done and he asks Hannibal what he’s done. Hannibal says the crying boy is gone and asks what clings to his teeth now.
Randall says ragged bits of scalp and hair. Hannibal says it’s beautiful and tells him that they are looking for him. Randall says he can’t stop and Hannibal says he doesn’t want him to but tells him they will find him. Hannibal says when they find you, it’s important you do exactly as I say.
Jack comes to see Randall at work at the museum. Will is with him. Jack asks Randall if he assembled the skeleton he’s looking at then asks him about another and Randall says it’s a cave bear. He explains he’s assembled and taken apart many of them because there are many fossils of them. Jack asks if he understands cave bear mechanics and Randall says he does.
Jack says a cave bear skull was used as a murder weapon and Will tells him the victims were torn apart. He asks Randall if he has a troubled past and Randall asks if they think he killed someone with a fossil. Randall says he had an identity disorder and says it felt like the skin he was wearing didn’t fit and Will says he understands. Randall says he’s normalized, takes his medication and socializes. He says he is proof that mental illness is treatable.
Will’s dogs bark as a car pulls up. It’s Margo. He asks how she found him and she says he’s famous and he says she’s not exactly nameless and calls her by name. She asks if he peeked at Hannibal’s calendar and he says he did. She asks to come in for a drink and he lets her in. He asks what she’s doing there and she says she came for a character reference.
She asks what he thinks of Hannibal’s therapy. He says it depends on what you’re in therapy for. Margo says she tried to kill her brother and Will says he assumes he had it coming. She says he really did. She asks Will what his damage is and he tells her that he tried to murder Hannibal. She asks if he had it coming and he asks what she thinks. She says she doesn’t know and he agrees. She tells him Hannibal told her to try again to kill her brother. Will sips his drink.
Next morning, Will asks Hannibal what would happen if his patients started comparing notes and what Randall would say to him. Hannibal asks him what Randall said and Will tells him that he said he was cured and is a success story. Hannibal asks what he thinks and Will says he thinks his therapy was successful because Hannibal can be very persuasive. Will asks how many have been like him and Randall.
Hannibal says every patient is unique. Will tells him his shrink – Bedelia – came to see him at the mental hospital before his trial and told him she believed Will. Will says she knew there were others like him and Hannibal says that’s fascinating. Will asks if he killed her and Hannibal says no. Will asks what he thinks about when he thinks about killing. Hannibal takes a deep breath and says he thinks about God.
Will says good and evil and Hannibal says good and evil have nothing to do with God. He tells him he tracks church collapses and asks if Will saw the recent one in Sicily. He says the facade fell on 65 grandmothers during mass and asks Will if that was evil or God and says God laughs if he is up there. He says typhoid and swans come from the same place. Will asks if Randall believes in God and Hannibal recommends he has a more intimate conversation with Randall to ask what he believes.
The man puts on his metal animal suit and pulls on his claw gloves. Hannibal tells him the solitude of what he does should be respected and says he’s only there to offer support. He tells Randall that he’s becoming and tells him to revel in what he is. They are in the woods outside Will’s house whose dogs are barking like crazy.
Will comes to see what the commotion is and opens the door. Buster runs out into the snow. Will goes back into his house and pulls out his gun. He puts on his jacket and heads out into the snow after his dog. He comes toward the woods where Randall waits in his suit. He goes into the trees. The dog lies on its side whining and Will checks on him. He hears a noise and looks around.
Will picks up the dog and gun and looks around nervously. He runs through the snow and back to his house and sees something coming in his wake. He gets back to the house and turns off all the lights and shuts the door. He backs away from the door slowly. He clicks off the last lamp and stands waiting. The window bursts as something comes through it. Hannibal walks into his office and sees Will standing there. Randall’s body is laid out on his conference table. Will says this makes them even. He says I sent someone to kill you, you sent someone to kill me. Even Steven.
THE END!
