S02.E06: S02.E06: Futamono

[lulee]

One thing struck me as out of the blue. Alana.  She is represented as a compassionate, caring doctor but what was the impetus to bed Hannibal?  I never saw Hannibal make any overt sexual overtures to her.  It just seemed to me that the encounter was odd.  I saw nothing in the scenes that would have led to sex.  Mads M is a sexy guy but Hannibal is too buttoned up, too asexual to invite closeness.  In fact, Hannibal is so aloof as to put most people off. It would seem to me the plot was served by this action more than this action was a natural occurance of the plot.

Hannibal and Alana did have a moment of flirtation during a fairly early Sseason 1 ep, saying that the reason that they hadn't previously had an affair (during their previous associations) was that he was already engaged in an affair with someone else at the time.

[lilmissprefect]

 

Man, poor Alana. "Wow, I had feelings for this guy who turned out to be a serial killer. Really dodged a bullet with that one, huh? Maybe my handsome, worldly mentor will console me in this time of need. I mean, there's no way he's a serial killer, right? ...Oh."

Ha! In the words of our dear Doctor himself, “[she] might be attracted to [psychopaths]”. Except, well, Mads Mikkelson is hot, y’all. Can you really blame a girl?

To be honest, I was nervous about the Hannibal/Alana angle. I honestly didn’t want it all to be about Will, and I am glad to see that it wasn’t. Good old Hannibal and his several reasons for sleeping with her that don’t involve Will Graham.

 

Dare I say Dr Chilton was kind of... awesome this episode? The faces he made at Hannibal's party amused me to no end. And it makes me laugh that he recalls Hannibal's little joke about eating his tongue so vividly, and it's one of the things that convinces him to believe Will.

I don’t like Chilton as a general rule, but he made me laugh several times this episode. Between his “it rhymes. How did we not notice that” (paraphrasing, of course), his creeped out looks at the party and his gratefulness Gideon’s impromptu surgery means that he can no longer eat Hannibal’s meatier dishes, he was pretty much all the comic relief.

 

I fully believe Will is as clever as Hannibal and as he gets more and more into Hannibal's mindset (I think that's the symbolism of the antlers) he will surpass him. The question is, he does he become just Will again?

I actually think that Will is cleverer than Hannibal, if only because he doesn’t have the drive to prove how much smarter he is than everyone else in the room. I think that after this is all over he is going to try to go back, but no, I don’t think it’s possible at this juncture. He’s already had to go too far into the mindset he tried so hard to avoid last season for him to be able to go back. I for one am so excited to see what happens.

I loved Will in season one, but this new insanely focused Will is amazing. All I want in life is for the next six episodes to be the two of them toying with each other. Jack can come in at the end and have the awesome fight that we saw in episode one, but until then more mind games, please. Now that Will is a full participant they’ll be much more fun to watch, I think.

 

I don't think Jack will be off the scent though, once you put a suggestion in someone's mind, it doesn't just go away like that.  Now Jack knows he can't trust Alana.

Plus if there is one thing that has been established about Jack, it’s that once he gets an idea, he’s very much like a dog with a bone. He doesn’t let go, and he doesn’t let the fact that there is no evidence stop him from pursuing his gut (see: Abigail Hobbs). Should be interesting to watch him pursue this. I do think that he will be distracted with Miriam for a while (which is totally the reason Hannibal led him to her, IMO), but eventually he's going to start digging again.

I'm with everyone who immediately wondered what they would do if they were put in the position to eat their own leg as a last meal. I'm a vegetarian myself, but I have to admit that I would probably try it, out of morbid curiousity if nothing else. I mean, I'd kind of have to, at that point. Just to know.

I honestly think that this might be my second favorite episode of the season so far. Great job all around and I am far too excited to see where this is going. I wouldn't mind at all if it went completely sideways from the books, mostly because I love this as a little AU/what could have been.

[annlaw78]

 

I literally sat here and said to myself, "Why am I watching this?! This is so beyond fucked up!" when we saw that Hannibal was serving Leg of Izzard.

Everyone I was watching the show with, myself included, started laughing hysterically at the absurdity of Hannibal's 1) cooking with clay, 2) lecturing Gideon on the merits of cooking with clay, 3) while Gideon is hooked up to an IV drip since Hannibal stole him from the hospital, and then, pan doooowwwwwwn, 4) we see Gideon's had a field (er, Hannibal's Basement Slaughterhouse) amputation of his leg.  That's just golden.  Bravo, Fuller, Bravo!

 

Once Hannibal is exposed as the Ripper, we should be in for at least two episodes of Alana in the fetal position muttering "I'm not spoiled! I'm a good little girl!"  Rending of garments (and her medical license) might also be appropriate.

We know Jack and Will continue in their careers with the FBI after all of this goes down, so I certainly don't think Alana needs to lose her medical license over this!  She slept with someone she didn't know was a murderer -- Jack and Will had lovely, intimate meals and chats with a murderer, and Jack clearly had a bit of a man-crush on Hannibal and all his trappings and pretensions.

 

This is my problem with Alana, she seems like the least capable of the therapists we have seen, Lector, Chilton, and Dr. Scully. With the exception of telling Jack that Will couldn't be pushed too hard, has she been right about anything? Let's not forget it was her who recommended Hannibal to Jack and Will in the first place.

Alana's not a therapist.  I'm not sure she has any sort of clinical practice.  She appears to be a professor/on faculty at Georgetown med school, conducts research, and also consults with law enforcement when they need forensic psychiatric profiles. 

 

 

I don’t like Chilton as a general rule, but he made me laugh several times this episode. Between his “it rhymes. How did we not notice that” (paraphrasing, of course), his creeped out looks at the party and his gratefulness Gideon’s impromptu surgery means that he can no longer eat Hannibal’s meatier dishes, he was pretty much all the comic relief.

I treasure Chilton for the look he gave the zombie-hand finger-food (very literal of you, Hannibal) Hannibal was serving.  I'm glad someone is finally cottoning on -- dude's weird. 

 

And Eisley had also been in water (waist high?) for a few days before discovery. So Hannibal has access to a pond or tank or something in which Sheldon could be partially submerged.

I think Eisley was soaked in one of Hannibal's proto-Buffalo Bill wells in his Farmhouse of Murder.  Which reminds me of an absolutely awesome blog Pamie of TWOP did in character as Buffalo Bill back in the mid-2000s.  It was disturbingly hilarious.  The last post was something about how Buffalo Bill was going house-hunting, and it's just so hard to find a house with a deep, defunct well in the basement.  I'm not doing it justice. 

Edited April 7, 2014 by annlaw78

[niven]

Why did Hannibal serve real food at his party?  Was he tipped off as to what Will said to Jack?  That was a surprise as well.  In the scheme of the story evolution it is too early for Jack to know for sure Hannibal is serving people to people. So I can well see why the real food was there for Jack to test.

I'm pretty sure that all the foods were normal meat. He knew Will has been telling everyone that he's the Chesapeake Ripper, and the fact that Beverly took the liver from his fridge means that Will already told her that he's a cannibal. He deliberately told Jack that he's throwing a dinner party while killing people as the Chesapeake Ripper and taking their organs. He knew Will is going to tell Jack to test his foods. His calm winks to Chilton pretty much confirmed this. He orchestrated everything, like how he composed his song. You go you Fancy Cannibal!

[Snookums]

 

I treasure Chilton for the look he gave the zombie-hand finger-food (very literal of you, Hannibal) Hannibal was serving.  I'm glad someone is finally cottoning on -- dude's weird.

I am absolutely loving what the show and Rene Esparza are doing with Chilton. In the books and movies he's the gassy ass who's such a conceited  idiot that he's only there for the audience to savor (heh) his defeats and demise. But this Chilton, while as puffed up as a little Bantam cock, and certainly behind the others in outside attentions, isn't stupid. 

He's deeply desirous of wanting the kind of respect in his field that he sees his peers having; someone less driven would not have attempted the psychic driving of Gideon, much less kept his job afterwards--he's clearly got all kinds of nasty secrets he's got no compunction about using if it means guarding his reputation and gloomy stone citadel of a hospital. But he wants even more--his needs and ambitions, if not his nerve, match Hannibal's. 

That's why he's the one who has absolutely no problem saying Yep, this fucker's weird with a capital Cannibal. It's because he has no problem imagining that level of drive and desire--hell, he envies it. He understands it the way a little kid would have no trouble understanding the impulse to run away with the circus or become a superhero.  He believes Hannibal is a cannibal because he wants to be that powerful (not to eat people, he doesn't have that kind of psychopathy, but Hannibal's levels of control and manipulation? You bet.) 

Edited April 7, 2014 by Snookums

[attica]

After yea many years watching Iron Chef, I immediately recognized the Wagyu beef (during the prep scenes) for what it was, and wondered what cut of human it was meant to play. Ha HA! It was playing itself! Psych!

Swell day job: working as an extra for one of Hannibal's parties. You gotta eat!

[MyrtleGroggins]

I am absolutely loving what the show and Rene Esparza are doing with Chilton.

Hee hee, is René Esparza Raúl Esparza's French cousin (and stunt double?). I kid, I kid (:

I, too, love what he's doing with the character of Chilton.  We can respect the ambition and drive that he has while acknowledging the fact that he's a cocky, amoral bastard at the same time.  Also, his comic relief is welcome amongst the sumptuous gore on display (without being over the top or out of character, in my opinion).  I like the humor he brings to complement the humor from the Dynamic Lab Duo (who are basically required to be snarky, as are all TV lab flunkies).

I'm so excited to see how the rest of the season plays out, and everyone's reactions as Hannibal's true identity and actions are revealed to the rest of the cast.  Drama ahoy!!

[Frisco]

I love this show!  It's so gross and disgusting but I cannot look away.  LOL  Making him eat his own leg, OMG.  Can't wait for next weeks episode.

[anniebell]

Making someone eat their own leg, for me is the most disgusting thing ever. *shudder* So now is Gideon locked up in Hannibal's basement, so he can slowly cut off a piece or two as Hannibal gets hungry?  Had to kick out Miriam to make room for Gideon? LOL

Hannibal is an attractive guy and for Alana there was that almost hook up years ago reference last season.  I see why she did it but man is she going to hate herself later.

I like a determined Will ready for revenge.  After a season of his slow breakdown this is a breath of fresh air.

[Snookums]

Sharing is caring! Here's my thoughts on the sex and Alana's hopeful take on things:

I think Hannibal is very sexual. He's got needs and drives just like anybody else, and at the same time like nobody else on earth.

The show has been very, very good in setting up the encounter between Lecter and Alana. It's been very carefully and explicitly shown that they are old friends and colleagues, with a lopsided power relationship (student/mentor) and flirtations in their past. Alana knows him well enough to help in his kitchen, have her own stash of his home brewed beer waiting for her, and know about his musical leanings. They are not strangers. She's said as much to Jack. She's got loyalties to him.

This long history is very important because of where Alana is emotionally and what she stands for in the battle between Hannibal and Will. While she is very attracted to Will, deeply invested in him and took in his pack of dogs, that's a connection that's much newer and sharper. Her feelings of disappointment and betrayal by Will in his attempt to kill Hannibal by proxy have really thrown her for a loop, and that's after all the loops she was doing when she found out about his supposed killing spree last season. She's as wobbly and off balance as Will was when he ended up in Chilton's smug little grip.

So, she turns to the connection that for her has always symbolized calm and focus--that of hers with Hannibal. And of course he knows it, it's what he does. If Will hadn't tried to kill him he may have just let it lie, but now, he's been handed a one-two-three punch: Alana is going to be seen by all their peers as "on his side", he's got an unshakable alibi, and Will's going to be furious and wretched when he finds out.

It's no accident that Alana has always been shot as somewhere between a nature goddess and fairy tale princess on this show (the scene where she's lying on her back in Hannibal's bed right before their pillow talk made her look like Snow White). In the battle between Hannibal and Will, she symbolizes goodness, naturalness, and purity. Ironically, she's being made into far less of a human being by them then when Beverly was splayed across slides to become an exhibit.

As for the sex itself, I loved when she was telling Hannibal "I was thinking of funerals and how they make us want sex" and he's all "Huh? Okay, even for me that was kinda...wow." The scene was purposely structured to show that Alana is not some foolish child dazzled by a demigod, but an adult woman who understands (or thinks she does) the nature of the encounter. When Hannibal's betrayal comes to light she's going to be horrified and outraged and ferocious, but not bewildered. It's important that she not be fumbling around all "why? why?" but "Oh, my God, this is why."

[Snookums]

 

Hannibal mentions a census taker.

Hee, forgot about this! I wonder how Alana feels about Chianti?

[Nutjob]

Hee, forgot about this! I wonder how Alana feels about Chianti?

The mention of the census taker was my favorite thing in the whole episode. The fava beans can't be far behind!

As disgusting as it was watching Gideon eat his own leg, it was a nice little shout-out to the book/movie Hannibal and Krendler. But still... so gross.

And I still wonder if Alana wasn't just a convenient alibi for Hannibal. Yes, there was tension there, but it was awfully convenient timing in light of Gideon's "accident" and Jack's morning visit.

[Cranberry]

Here's a photo of the tree. It looks like it's just sitting on the parking lot with broken asphalt scattered around, so a jackhammer wasn't necessary. We have to chalk Hannibal getting his human tree sculpture through the city with nobody noticing up to his Murder Wizard powers, though.

[Bec]

Or the power of a covered truck?

Maybe he rented a u-haul. (Under an assumed identity, of course)

[Yeldarbe]

I hope it’s okay that I type my thoughts as I watch the show and then post them when I’m done. Sometimes it veers into stream of consciousness territory!
Love the way this show is shot..that slow motion harpsichord playing in the beginning was beautiful. At first I thought it was one of Hannibal’s killer masterpieces.
Aw, the look on Will’s face when Jack said someone almost murdered Hannibal.
How is Hannibal just sitting there chopping up a heart with that girl?
“I need to get my appetite back”  Is this show intentionally campy or should I not be laughing?
And there’s the killer masterpiece.  I laughed out loud when they came back from commercial and the wide shot showed a stretcher sitting there. Ain’t gonna happen, folks.
Vericose Vines! The laughs keep coming.
I am at a disadvantage not having seen the first season of this show. The first episode of this season showed a huge fight between Jack and Hannibal. That gave me the impression that Jack knew about Hannibal and/or was in cahoots with him. I guess given the events since then that is not the case. At least not yet.  I assume we do not yet know why they are fighting and that was a flash forward of a future event. Or perhaps he’s been playing Will all along and they have been in cahoots the whole time and we (the audience) just don’t know it yet.
“If the Ripper is killing you can bet Hannibal Lector is hosting a dinner party!”
“I’m going to start by hosting a dinner party.”
Okay.  I’m convinced we are in Camp camp, now.
Just whose side is Frederick on, anyway? He was just telling Hannibal they needed to stick together and now he’s recording conversations, trying to get Jack to believe Will about Hannibal’s true nature. Because of my confusion I don’t really know what side anyone (except Will) is on and if anything anyone says is true or a lie (including Will). Looks like I’m not alone given Jack and Alana Bloom’s conversation in a later scene. Does she know about Hannibal? She was standing right there when he was butchering that heart. Again, probably things I should know from season 1. Now from reading the posts here, Hannibal has already gotten to Frederick and removed some of his organs and THAT is why he can’t digest animal protein anymore? This show…
Hannibal has a really cool floor in his ball room.
Okay all those party guests unknowingly feasting on People grossed me out…until we figured out it wasn’t People.
Ah ha! Gideon is kidnapped and the guard strung up with a nod to the opening scene. All the while Hannibal has an alibi since he was “busy” banging Dr. Bloom. He drugged her, right? Right. Smooth!
Oh man I totally thought that was Clay-Roasted-Gideon! Wait a minute. No words.
I am glad that the meat that Jack took from the party was animal meat. All part of setting up his alibi, I’m sure. Again I say: Smooth!
I think Jack will find Gideon in the random place with the specific tree bark. Nope. Who is Miriam??
Can’t wait for next week. Will is Free! And pissed!

[Snookums]

 

Now from reading the posts here, Hannibal has already gotten to Frederick and removed some of his organs and THAT is why he can’t digest animal protein anymore? This show…

That was actually Gideon who moved Chilton's insides to his outsides. Because Chilton used psychic driving to convince Gideon that he was the Chesapeake Ripper and Gideon resented that, quite a lot. So when Gideon was recaptured Chilton apparently had no problems moving him back to his hospital (at Will's request), nor did anyone apparently question him about Gideon's subsequent beating, backbreaking fall, and disappearance, let alone fire him or start an investigation or anything.

This show, indeed.

[haydensterling]

Has anyone checked if Miriam had both her ears?  I'm still not giving up hope for Abigail.

[ApathyMonger]

Has anyone checked if Miriam had both her ears?  I'm still not giving up hope for Abigail.

I don't think they can do this trick twice though. I wouldn't be surprised if Hannibal has Abigail's body, maybe still intact, in his freezer downstairs, and that's what Beverly saw just before Hannibal walked in.

[lulee]

Has anyone checked if Miriam had both her ears?  I'm still not giving up hope for Abigail.

I think there was a line in the S1 finale saying that they tested it and it was hers. With Price identifying bone fragments, I think,on one of the fishing lures as Abigail's, they must have a DNA profile for her. If Abigail's alive, she's at least missing an ear and a bit of bone if not much more.

[MisterGlass]

I've just had an opportunity to see this episode, and was alternately smirking at Chilton and cringing at the food.

This is my problem with Alana, she seems like the least capable of the therapists we have seen, Lector, Chilton, and Dr. Scully. With the exception of telling Jack that Will couldn't be pushed too hard, has she been right about anything? Let's not forget it was her who recommended Hannibal to Jack and Will in the first place.

Alana was right that Abigail was hiding something, that Gideon was not the Ripper and the Chilton was manipulating him, and that Will had viral encephalitis.  Alana is subtle, and tries to be non-confrontational, which makes her appear like a weaker character.  She just has a much more measured approach.

I think Snookums's post above gives a good summary of why Alana might become involved with Hannibal.  Will tried to start a relationship for Alana when he was grasping for stability, and really beginning to hallucinate. Alana may also be grasping for stability.  Hannibal seems to be one of the people she is closest to, and he was nearly killed.  She may have been pulled closer by the fear of losing him and the shock of Will's actions.

Hannibal didn't smack her for playing "Chopsticks" on his precious harpsichord?

He even started playing "Chopsticks" with her.  If we did not know what we know, it would have been a sweet and innocent moment.

The question is, he does he become just Will again? 

I think that after this is all over he is going to try to go back, but no, I don’t think it’s possible at this juncture. He’s already had to go too far into the mindset he tried so hard to avoid last season for him to be able to go back. I for one am so excited to see what happens.

He is the phoenix in this.  He rose from the ashes, but he is not and never will be the same.  I feel like Hannibal proved Will's innocence because Will has finally become what Hannibal wanted him to be.  There is no going back after attempting to kill Hannibal. 

The census taker reference was priceless, as was Chilton's "Hannibal the Cannibal".

[John Potts]

I'd worry for Jack Crawford, not because he's getting close to "The Real Hannibal" but because he was so gauche as to take food home with him, which is possibly worse (in Hannibal's eyes). At least he asked if Hannibal would mind first (and we know he makes it to the end of the Season). The food testers in the lab must be pretty good if they can recognise Kobe beef from regular beef (from its genetic markers?) - in Britain, we're lucky if they can tell cow from horse!

 

Charlesman Will's conversation with Jack at the beginning of the episode reminded me of the "What need does he fill? He covets."

 

I was expecting Will to add "That is in-cidental!" for the full on homage.

 

CheeseBurgh Giddeon was eating his own leg!

Well as Hannibal pointed out, "Waste not, want not" - it's not like Giddeon was using it any more. But I was unsure quite why Giddeon seemed to incite the confrontation with the guards (OK, maybe Hannibal would get to him anyway, but why cripple yourself unnecessarily?)