Reviews

Hannibal: Su-zakana, Review

Peel off the layers of Hannibal's Su-zakana episode and you have trout dinner.

By Gerri Mahn | April 19, 2014 | | 0

Ah, the palate cleanser.

Now that Chilton has been offered as a sacrificial lamb, er scape goat, Hannibal is no longer suspected to be the Chesapeake Ripper. Not officially. Which means that he, Graham, and Crawford have all decided to play nice. Emphasis on the word ‘play’. Each character has a purpose, a motivation that must be buried behind the role he is forced to play when interacting with the other characters. One machination layered on top of the next, like a set of Matryoshka (Russian nesting) dolls.

Which means Hannibal is hosting dinner parties for Crawford and Graham again, is assisting the FBI on strange cases again, and is providing Graham with therapy again. Oh, and he continues to pursue sexy time with Bloom (woo-hoo!). It is also work noting that Margot Verger is introduced in this episode as one of Hannibal’s patients. Fans of the character will recognize her as the sister of Mason Verger (played by Gary Oldman in the 2001 film, Hannibal). Fans of Boardwalk Empire will be delighted to hear that Michael Pitt (Jimmy Darmody in BE) has been cast as the young Mason. Hot damn this show has a kickass cast!

Anywho. What were we contemplating? Ah yes, characters concealing their motivation. With one glaring exception: it appears (emphasis on ‘appears’) that Graham is continuing to play without any thought for the long game. He lays all his cards on the table during therapy: revealing that he knows exactly who and what Hannibal is.

This viewer no longer thinks that Graham is being cavalier; no it looks like he has changed his lure. Instead of flopping around helplessly (the tactic he tried while incarcerated) while man-crying his appeal for psychiatric help, this time, he appeals to Hannibal’s vanity. And his sense of isolation. Graham knows the good doctor is still hard-up for bromance, so he acknowledges the similarities in their inherent weirdness. If Hannibal won’t bite for a subordinate, maybe he will take the bait if he considers his adversary to be a peer.

This week’s episode is practically overflowing with layers and layered meaning; albeit the layers take one helluva interesting … shape. A woman’s corpse is found, sewn into the womb of a dead horse. Inside the body of the woman Crawford and the FBI lab nerds find a live bird. Plausible? Nope. Awesome? You betchya.

Graham and Crawford trace the bird back to a skinny, animal loving wackadoodle, who, like Graham, is burdened with a bromance who can be a real dick – and is also his social worker. Awfully convenient (and a little heavy handed) that their relationship mirrors that of Graham and Hannibal; albeit to a lesser extent.

Indeed, in an effort to punish the wackaddodle for turning him in as a killer, the social worker goes after his horse. With a hammer. Seriously though, who kills a horse with a hammer? What are the odds that the horse is going to stomp you into a bloody smear in the hay after you get the first whack in? This viewer thinks the odds are pretty damn good.

Idiot. You should also never underestimate a wackadoodle either. They might be skinny and sweaty but chances are they can be pushed over the edge pretty quickly.

SPOILER ALERT: the social worker ends up inside the horse; an outcome the wackadoodle found infinitely more gratifying than killing him outright. Graham, however, is not satiated, and tries to kill the social worker. In front of Hannibal. Unlike the social worker, Hannibal is aware that his bromance is capable of brutal and unpredictable behavior. In fact, he seems to relish it; to revel in Graham’s behavior.