So while the first few episodes of Hannibal’s final season were strictly about the shocking aftermath of Season 2 and further character development (to disappointing effect for some, me included), it seems like the series has gotten back into full-force of moving its twisted story lines forward at a rapid, blood-soaked pace with Episodes 6 and 7. So much has happened and both of these latest episodes play off each other so well that I decided to cover them in one write-up. So prepare yourself for shocking revelations and gory delicacies. SPOILERS follow!
“Had a rough night at the office, honey. Could you please run a bath and microwave some human remains?”
Appetizers: It goes to show just how much occurred in the past two episodes that the following plot developments seem small in retrospect. All three have to do with the women of the series. It turns out that Alana Bloom (Lecter’s former lover, Will’s former love-interest, and now Mason’s psychiatrist) actually has ulterior motives for helping Mason. Yup. That’s right. There’s something else she wants other than bloody revenge on Hannibal. She has the hots for Mason’s sister, Margo! *Gasp*
Does that mean that we get a torrid lesbian sex scene on network TV? Actually, we kind of do. It’s blurry, surreal, and artistic to the point where no T&A are shown. “Hannibal” apparently doesn’t just cross the line in insane violence in network programming (already a good thing), but also in the sexuality department. Props to them.
On the slightly less-desirable side of the female characters, it’s also explained that Dr. Maurier (the psychiatrist who ran away with Lecter and has been posing as his wife ever since) is actually attempting to brainwash herself into believing herself to be Lecter’s wife with a psychedelic compound (the same sort of thing that Lecter fed Mason Verger before having him cut off his face, so he could feed it to Will’s dogs in the previous season).
At least Lecter cares enough for his former psychiatrist to let her keep her looks. Chiyoh (the mysterious woman with links to Lecter’s past) is revealed to want to “cage” Lecter in order to protect him.
“I don’t want to seem cocky, but all of you people want to kill each other and I’m only looking for a pet.”
Think “The Most Dangerous Game” but instead of killing, she wants to keep him as a pet, which is a bit disturbing to say the least, but nowhere near as unsettling as what happens next.
Like a human pistachio nut.
Main Course: The events of “Dolce” (episode 6) are as follows: In Florence, Will meets with Jack and then reunites with Hannibal and tries to kill him. However, his plan backfires and Will winds up sitting at Hannibal’s table, high on morphine.
When Jack attempts to the save him, he also winds up as an unwilling dinner guest. In one of the series’ most disturbing scenes to date, Hannibal decides to pop open Will’s skull like a human pistachio nut in order to get to the tasty treat inside.
Luckily, before he can dig in and help himself to a side of Will Brain en flambé ,the Florence police bust in. However, instead of taking the cannibal to the station and setting Will and Jack free, the Italian cops decide to take Will and Hannibal to Muskrat Farm.
This property is owned by none other than Mason Verger, the man whom put out a bounty on both of their heads. We then cut to credits.
Do you see why I simply couldn’t do a write-up on Episode 6?
“Cordell, do you think we should start with some finger food? See what I did there, Cordell?”
With Digestivo (Episode 7), we have the completion of the Mason Verger’s story line. This is initially something I thought we wouldn’t get to see as this series has now been cancelled, so I was stoked out of my mind.
Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t disappoint.
This was glorious macabre insanity at its most depraved.
It turns out that not only does Mason want to eat Hannibal in daily doses with mini-operations to harvest body parts while keeping the cannibal alive as long as possible, he wants WILL’S FACE! Dun, dun dunnnn!
Who else to perform the operation but Mason’s own demented nurse, Cordell?
Fortunately, Alana Bloom (Will’s former love-interest) and Margo (Mason’s sister and also Will’s former lover) aren’t exactly thrilled when they find out about this demented second-step in Mason’s plan and decide that it’s time for Mason to be eliminated.
To stop an evil, they must set a greater evil loose.
“This is just like that movie FACE/OFF except with half the work…”
They cut the ropes that bind Hannibal, and he then proceeds to peel off Cordell’s face and stick it on the sleeping Mason (truly a stomach-churning image to behold). He then saves Will and they get the hell out of Dodge.
Ultimately, Mason meets his end at the hands of Alana and Margo. They shock his balls with a cattle prod to retrieve some baby-batter for a Verger heir, ensuring that Margo will keep his property and fortune, and then chuck him into his own aquarium, where an eel mistakes his gaping lipless mouth for a cave and swims on in.
Don’t worry, the former (ball-shocking) is kept off-screen, but we see enough of the end result for a WTF moment. The latter is seen in beautiful graphic detail.
So this prequel story line closes and the final chapter begins.
Dessert: With Mason dead and Will reluctant to become his “friend” again, Hannibal turns himself in to Jack (who’s safely made it out of Florence with Chiyoh’s aid), only to wind up behind the bars of Chilton’s asylum.
Thus, this feels like it would have made for a great season finale or even series closer unto itself, but now we get the moment that’s been anticipated since the casting of this season was announced.
Will is drawn in to investigate another serial killer (with some disturbing aid from Hannibal) as a great Red Dragon rises in the distance.
