In the third episode of the second season of Hannibal, Will’s trial begins and is almost immediately complicated by the arrival of a copycat killer. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Hannibal.
I felt like “Hassun” was perhaps the slowest entry in the show and for a good reason: it’s an unsettling look at the need for truth, at Hannibal’s desperation and failure, and at the desire to believe the best of those you care about. LET’S DISCUSS.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of violence/gore.
- I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that what we witness here is part of the machinations of Hannibal Lecter, but the show casts enough doubt on this that we’re left wondering if our own interpretation is possible. (Which is brilliant in and of itself because this entire episode deals with doubt, too.) Lecter has already demonstrated (albeit quietly) that he misses having Will Graham around, and so what I think is happening is that Lecter is acting out his perversion of friendship with Will. As Will’s trial gets underway, it begins with a complication: an ear. But not just any ear. The ear was severed with the exact same knife that was used to sever Abigail Hobbs’ ear. So… Lecter, right? IT HAS TO BE LECTER WHO DID THIS.
- But why? Why send Will’s lawyer an ear?
- To confuse! And even if Will’s lawyer is the recipient, the ear has far-reaching implications. Jack Crawford begins to doubt that Will was actually guilty, and then Beverly and Jimmy both start to question what they know of the case. Of course, it’s yet another frustrating development for the audience because we know who was responsible for all the crimes Will’s being charged with. So is there really another killer out there who admires Will?
- Meanwhile, the trial itself continued to make me desire a Monty Python-style deus ex machina for Will Graham. I just wanted a cartoon hand to pluck him out of that room and drop him into a field of puppies. The writers construct this episode so that we continually doubt that Will will get a not guilty verdict, and it’s awful to watch. It’s awful to watch the prosecutor be so wrong. It’s awful to know that despite some successful work done by the defense attorney, the mountain of evidence in this trial points directly at Will. I don’t understand how this is going to be resolved in a positive manner for him!
- Then there was some hope: the knife used to sever the ear was found to be checked out of the evidence room by the bailiff in the trial, Andrew Sykes. Yes! GO GO GO THIS IS GREAT.
- OH NO EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE
- Literally, not metaphorically. I mean this whole show is like that one scene on Community where Troy walks in on fire and destruction, so let’s define ourselves here. EVERYTHING IS LITERALLY ON FIRE.
- And Andrew Sykes is dead.
- OF EVERY SINGLE THING WILL IS ACCUSED OF DOING.
- It has to be Lecter I don’t want to be so publicly wrong again. I’VE BEEN WRONG SO MUCH LATELY.
- I’m fairly positive that it’s Lecter, though. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m completely unsure of everything. I think the point of what we’re witnessing here is that Lecter actually wants Will to be exonerated (OF THE CRIMES HE COMMITTED HIMSELF AND FRAMED WILL FOR) out of some sick desire to have Will by his side. It makes me wonder if he’s believing Will’s manipulation or if he’s even aware that he’s being manipulated. I don’t think that Lecter is entirely capable of being fooled, but in the battle against Will’s mind, Will might have the advantage here. Again, though, so much of what’s happening between these two characters in unsaid, and without any sort of internal monologue, all I can infer is from dialogue and these two actors doing way too many unfair things with their faces.
- Sykes’s murder initially provides an opportunity for Jack to question Will’s guilt, and it also provides a new defense for Will’s lawyer to try, one that might very well be more lucrative than Alana’s “unconscious” defense. If it’s possible to shed enough doubt on the fact that Will committed all the murders, then there might be a chance to get a not guilty verdict. And so Lecter takes the stand and attempts to manipulate AN ENTIRE COURT. It’s a risky, bold move, one that at first appears to work, until the prosecutor gets the entire defense and the accompanying evidence thrown out. OH MY GOD LOOK AT LECTER’S FACE DURING THAT MOMENT. He knows he gambled with these murders, and he failed. It didn’t work. IT DIDN’T WORK.
- Oh my god, that scene where Lecter visits Will to discuss the case and then offer up a lie for Will to tell… THIS IS TOO MUCH. I know I’ve said this before, but the way in which dialogue acts as layered storytelling on Hannibal is unreal to me. In nearly every scene Hannibal is in, you can find a secondary or tertiary meaning behind his words. Of course, sometimes that is because he is openly making cannibal jokes. (I CAN’T GET OVER THIS, I THOUGHT IT WAS A TUMBLR JOKE.) But his conversations with Will are charged with the energy of his deceit, and we’re left to sift through all the possibilities of what he might mean. How much does Will recognize as deceit and manipulation now? I’m of the mind that due to the frequent appearances of the black stag head that Will can see through everything Hannibal is doing. So when Hannibal urges him to lie in order to save himself, I think he also recognizes that Hannibal was the one who offered up the “poem” to save him.
- Which is why it’s important that there’s a scene near the end of this episode where Alana vocalizes her desire to save him. It’s tonally so different from his conversation with Hannibal because Alana’s intention is pure. There’s no double meaning to what she says; she really does want to save him. (BREAK HIM OUT AND GO ON A WACKY ROAD TRIP. I’D WATCH THAT SITCOM.)
- Given all of this, the act that saves Will (but only for the time being) is the judge’s murder. (Which also felt like yet another visual nod towards The Silence of the Lambs. There’s been a lot of those lately! There’s that scene with Will in the mask at the beginning of the episode during the electric chair sequence that looked a lot like Silence‘s Lecter mask.) There has to be a mistrial now, but it’s only going to delay the next round of the “circus,” as Prurnell points out. Jack’s still going to have to decide to cut Will loose or lose his career over him. Will’s still going to have to fight all the evidence against him. And Hannibal Lecter is going to have to find another way TO STOP THE VERY MANIPULATION HE STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
- Lecter is the Literal Worst Ever, oh my god.
The video for “Hassun” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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