NBC’s hit show HANNIBAL returns tonight with a new episode. In “Naka-Choko,” Hannibal and Will form a bond as Will undergoes a dark transformation. Meanwhile, the team investigates a disturbing tableaux; Margot grows concerned over her brother’s violent nature; and Will agrees to be interviewed for Freddie’s book.
On last week’s episode the team investigated when a truck driver’s body was discovered, apparently torn apart by two different species of animals working together. Meanwhile, Will met Hannibal’s bizarre new patient and traded notes about Hannibal with her; Hannibal tested Will to determine Will’s true self. Did you watch last week’s episode? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode a disturbing partnership emerges as Hanibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) assists Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) through a dark transformation, while Jack (Laurence Fishburne) and the team investigate a disturbing tableaux – Michael Pitt guest stars as Mason Verger. The bond between Hannibal and Will grows after Will demonstrates his willingness to go to dark places, a shift that does not go unnoticed by Jack. Jack and the FBI team investigate a tableau made of Randal Tier (Mark O’Brien) and his animal exoskeleton, fully realized as the vicious hunter he yearned to be (episode 209). Hannibal advises Margot Verger (Katherine Isabelle) regarding her concerns over her brother Mason’s violent nature, a fear that intensifies when Mason demonstrates how he has trained pigs to consume human flesh. Will agrees to an interview with Freddie Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki) for her upcoming book, and learns that she is looking into his allegations of Hannibal’s possible guilt. Also starring Caroline Dhavernas and Aaron Abrams.
Tonight’s season 2 episode 10 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.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
Will’s dogs bark. He goes to the door and backs up with his gun in his hand. This is the scene from last episode when the creature came bursting in. He clicks off the lamp and waits. The killer comes through his window and knocks Will to the floor. He starts to shoot it and sees it’s the black elk thing – his Hannibal creature that he hallucinates. He throws his gun aside and lunges at him. It misses him with its antlers and he begins to pummel it with his fists.
He sees Hannibal’s face there and it changes back to the black creature again. Will snaps off an antler. Then he sees that it’s actually Randall that he’s beaten to death. Hannibal looks down at Randall’s dead body on his study table as Will tells them this makes them even. They each sent someone to kill the other – he says – Even Steven.
Hannibal says to consider it an act of reciprocity. Will says that’s not how polite society would see it. Hannibal says it’s the prospect of death that drives us to greatness and asks Will if he killed him with his hands. We see Will’s bloody knuckles and he says it was intimate. Hannibal looks at Will’s battered knuckles and then washes them and attends to the wounds respectfully.
Hannibal tells Will not to retreat – he says to stay with me and Will asks where else he would go. Hannibal says he can go anywhere. He tells Will he should be pleased and says he is. Will says of course you are. He asks if Will fantasized about killing him when he killed Randall. Will looks him in the eyes. Hannibal says most of what we do and believe is motivated by death.
Will says he’s never felt so alive as when he was killing Randall and Hannibal says then he owes Randall a debt and asks how he will repay him. Will looks at Randall’s body laid out in the other room.
In a museum, Jack comes to look at Randall’s body. His head has been placed on the head of a prehistoric bear’s massive skeleton and the cave bear’s teeth are jammed into his jaws.
In a fun twist, both Hannibal and Will are consulting at the crime scene at the Museum of Natural History. Jack says the killer chose to display the body instead of disposing of it. Hannibal says this is a final humiliation but Will says he thinks the killer has commemorated him. They agree that the killer had no guilt for what was done.
Will looks closer and then closes his eyes to get into the killer’s mind – this time, though, it’s his own. He sees Randall’s face on the animal skeleton and says – hello again. Randall’s dead head looks at him and speaks to him. They talk. He tells him he forced him to kill him and Randall says he didn’t force him to enjoy it. He tells him Will made him a monument to Will. Will says he gave him what he wanted and says what you feel finally matches the reality of what I see. Randall is standing behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
Will tells Jack that Randall knew his killer and it was someone who met and understood him, someone who was like him. Will says there is more envy than empathy because Randall came into his own easier than the killer. Hannibal says this is a fledgling killer who’s never killed this way before. Will says this is the nightmare that followed him out of his dreams.
Will comes to see Freddie Lounds. She tells him she has movie interest on her book now. She tells him she’ll be wealthy even though she’s now a pariah among journalists. She interviews him about the Chesapeake Ripper – Frederick Chilton. She says he was so certain that it was Hannibal that he tried to kill him. She asks why he’s under treatment again by Hannibal and he says he was wrong about him. She says maybe you were, maybe you weren’t.
Freddie says Chilton did not have the surgical skills necessary to make the Ripper kills. Will tells her his story with the Ripper already has an ending and she says her’s doesn’t. She tells him she doesn’t think Chilton killed Abigail. She says even if she lets the story go, she’ll never let that go. Will tells her he won’t either.
[10:41:55 PM] Rachel Rowan: Hannibal tells Margo she’ll have to kill her brother. She says she may have missed her opportunity. He asks if she knows why he fails and she says poor planning. He tells her that she still loves him and that she must allow herself to hate him. He tells her that she’ll always be begging Mason for something for the rest of her life.
She reminds him that their father’s will was very specific and that the Southern Baptist Convention would get their fortune. Hannibal says even in death, Mason would take everything from her. He asks her what legacy she would leave and she says she doesn’t have one but Hannibal tells her to make one.
Margo comes back from her horseback ride when her brother comes to find her. She asks what he wants and he says he wants to share something with her. Mason introduces a little pig to her and he says his name is Pavlov. He tells her he’s seen exotic pigs from all over the world and wonders what would happen if he brought them all there. He’s built a maze.
Mason tells her their father was a livestock pioneer and would be proud of him. He tells her that pig’s have an intelligence. A stable hand releases pigs into the maze. He tells her the maze is designed to antagonize the pigs. He tells her he’s figured out how to get them to eat a live person. Carlo – a guy working for him – is training them because he’s fed a man to pigs before.
She notices the dummy they are lowering in is wearing one of her suits. They packed it full of meat and are playing human screams to rile them up. They start the screams playing and the pigs get riled. He tells her this is all about family. He tells her he wants her to be proud of him. Carlo lowers the fake her into the pig pen as Mason tells her they are all each other has. The pigs make short work of the pseudo-Margo.
Hannibal teaches Alana how to play a theramin. He tells her it requires the gift of perfect pitch and demonstrates. There’s a knock at Will’s door. It’s Margo. She has a bottle of liquor and says she’s there to replenish what she drank last time. Hannibal tells Alana to feel the vibrations move through her and she says it feels like composing in thin air.
Margo asks what happened to his window and he says a stag got caught in the storm and came through. He says he scratched himself getting it out. She asks if he’s scarred and he says more than I know. She tells him she’ll show him her if he’ll show his. He says he doesn’t have the right parts for her proclivities. Hannibal and Alana continue flirting.
Margo unbuttons her blouse and then unbuttons Will’s shirt. Alana tells Hannibal that people are not instruments and he should be careful with what he’s playing. Will looks at Margo’s extensive scars and asks who did it. She tells him it was her brother. She asks who shot him and he says – a friend. They kiss. Hannibal has his hand around Alana’s neck and she leans back to enjoy it.
Will and Margo tumble into bed. He rolls her over and looks at her but is seeing Alana’s face. Hannibal kisses Alana and moves on top of her. We see Alan kiss Hannibal and then Will as if they are in the room together and then Will sees the black antlered creature by the fireplace. It stands up and mounts Alana. We see Alana roll over sleepily toward Hannibal as Will lies behind her reaching for her. Weird… Just weird and it’s hard to know what was really happening versus what Will was imagining.
[11:04:18 PM] Rachel Rowan: Freddie tries to catch Alana as she walks off a campus. Freddie tells her she admires teachers molding young minds. She asks Alana about Hannibal and if she was sleeping with him when she was a student or only now. Alana tells her that Will was right about Hannibal and she was right about Will. Alana says she won’t talk to her.
Freddie says that it’s odd that they’re back in therapy together and she rattles off all of the past patients of Hannibal’s that are now dead including Randall most recently. She tells her that Will has figured out if you can’t beat Hannibal, you join him.
Hannibal pulls up outside Mason’s sick pig testing facility. They introduce themselves to each other. Mason says he’s glad he responded to his invitation. Mason says since he’s paying for Margo’s therapy he wanted to meet him. Hannibal tells him the pigs are exceptional. Mason explains how pigs are opportunistic omnivores and Hannibal says just like men.
Hannibal says he does know pigs. Mason tells him that breeding was important to their father and that Margo pissed him off in that regard. He asks Hannibal if he has a sister and Hannibal says he did. Mason tells him that Margo is pathological and Hannibal says he can’t tell him what Margo told him and he says fortunately for Mason he can’t tell anyone.
Mason laughs evilly and Hannibal invites him to start up therapy with him saying everyone needs someone to talk to. Mason asks if he wants Carlo to slaughter a pig for him to take home and Hannibal immediately takes him up on the offer but says he wants to select the one to be killed. Hannibal says he always likes to choose.
That night at dinner, Hannibal wheels in the whole suckling pig roasted to serve to Will and Alana. Will looks askance. Hannibal says it was a gift from a friend and Will says it wasn’t a friend of the pig’s. Hannibal says livestock people love their animals but still kill them. Alana says you love what you kill and kill what you love. Hannibal agrees it’s a paradox.
Alana tells them that Freddie thinks the two of them are a paradox. She tells her that neither of them is the killer she’s writing about but together they are. Hannibal says she’s resorting to fiction for her book. Alana tells her that Freddie has no boundaries and Will says that makes her a psychopath or a journalist.
Alana tells them that there are others without boundaries and points to Hannibal and Will’s relationship. Hannibal says crossing boundaries is different from violating them. Alana says it’s hard to know where they are with each other and Will says they know and asks if that shouldn’t be enough. Hannibal says – better the devil you know.
Hannibal sits in his plastic kill suit waiting – looks like he’s at Freddie’s place. A car pulls up at Will’s and the dogs bark. It’s Freddie and she pounds on the door then checks to see if it’s locked. She looks inside and then heads around to the side of the house. She goes out to the barn in his backyard and picks the lock to get in. She opens the door and goes in, closing it behind her. She sees plastic sheeting hung up and pulls it aside. She sees what looks like Randall’s mechanical animal suit there and snaps photos of it.
She pokes around some more and finds a freezer. She picks that lock too and opens it. The icy fog clears and we see packets of meat. She pulls out one of a lower skull. Horrified, she slams the freezer shut and then sees Will standing there looking at her.
Freddie pulls out her gun as Will tells her there’s a good explanation for all this. He asks if she wants to hear it and he tells her he won’t let her go until he tells her what he has to say. He tells her he knows she’s scared but says she only has to be scared a moment longer. She takes a shot at him and he ducks. They struggle and she gets away and she runs for her car while she dials her phone. She puts her keys in but then Will is there and bashes her window with a crowbar and drags her out of her car while she screams.
Jack plays the message for Will and says Freddie left that message on his voice mail three hours ago. He says her phone has been turned off and the last cell tower she was close to was in Wolftrap Virginia. He says they have her on security cameras filling up six hours from his farm. He says she was supposed to interview him but never showed up.
Jack asks why he would give her an interview and Will says he owed her. Hannibal says that Freddie has more enemies than Will but Jack says not in Wolftrap. Will says he lives in the middle of nowhere and that area would be an excellent area to take her. Alana listens to all of this.
Will tells Hannibal he brought the ingredients and Hannibal can decide what to do with it. He asks Will what meat it is and he says to guess. Hannibal makes a couple of guesses and then Will says she was a slim and delicate pig. Hannibal tells him they can cook it together. Will pulls out a sharp knife with satisfaction. They sit down to dine on a beautifully cooked meal.
Will chews it thoughtfully while Hannibal watches. Then Hannibal takes a bite. He says the meat has an interesting flavor with notes of citrus and Will says his own palate isn’t as refined as Hannibal’s who tells him meat tastes better when it was stress free before slaughter. He tells Will this meat tastes frightened and acidic. Will tells him it’s bitter about being dead.
Hannibal tells him this meat is not pork. Will says it’s long pig. They continue to eat in silence. Will sniffs his wine then sips and tells Hannibal that he can’t reduce him to a set of influences. He says he’s given up good and evil for behaviorism. Hannibal says – then you can’t say I’m evil. Will says you’re destructive and that’s the same thing.
Hannibal reminds him that storms and tornadoes are destructive. He says you must call them acts of God. He asks Will if this meal is an act of God. Will takes another bite of meat and chews slowly. He closes his eyes.
The End.