S02.E11: Ko No Mono

[thuganomics85]

I couldn't get to a TV this weekend, so I finally got around to seeing this episode.  Most have already discussed what I thought, but I do want to say that, as obvious as it was, I am very relieved that Freddie is alive and this is all a long con by Will and Jack.  As smug and unlikable as Freddie can be, Will killing her in cold blood would have just been too much for me.  And the con at least explains why Jack seems to be so aloof lately.  Of course, I'm curious to see how this all leads to that flash-forward fight scene in the premiere, but this does explain a lot, so yay!

 

Will basically pit Mason against Hannibal, does feel like a bit of a retread of the Jonathan Tucker orderly story-line in the first half, but I'm fine with it because I actually think that, unlike the orderly, Mason could actually do some freaking damage.  That guy is just all kinds of messed up. Michael Pitt is just doing a great job at making him so unhinged and a mixture of scary/funny at times.  Loved all of his interactions with Hannibal/Mads.  I know Margot isn't a nice person due to the manipulation and sperm-jacking, but that was still brutal what he did to her. Someone really needs to take Mason down hard.

 

Alana could be annoying in this episode at times, but I'm glad she's at least starting to realize that something is off about Hannibal.  And I'm about 99.9% sure that Will giving her that gun is totally going to come into play, in these final two episodes.

 

Besides that, I'm just glad to know we will already be getting another season of this awesome show.

[Snookums]

Quotes from across the way as per usual:

 

"In France the ortolan is considered a depraved delicacy." So in Hannibal terms, meatloaf night. You know he considers ortolans the equivalent of eating leftovers in front of COPS.


 

He likes to play God, does Hannibal. Each time he speaks of God you can tell he clearly believes if he isn't God--or a god--that his very existence makes him better than everyone around him and justifies him playing God, whether that's be killing or manipulating or both. His entire creation of Will as killer is his way of becoming god. How dare Will care for anyone else. Hannibal is a jealous 'god.' There can be no one but him in Will's life.

 

Oh, he believes in God, all right. What's the point of the performance that is his life if it's to an empty universe? He needs a God to be there; to watch over him, out for him, punish him, take the blame for Hannibal being what he is. He's trying to force God into his image of Him in order to bring meaning to his life, through Will, God's creature and innocent.

Quote

 

It throws me that she shies away so visibly from Will but not Hannibal who she suspects of being a psychopathic murderer.

 

She's shying away from the truth, the truth she tried so hard to deny she ended up in Hannibal's bed in order to force reality to conform to her needs (I am intelligent, a studier of the mind, I am sexually involved with this famous, fascinating man--that proves he can't be what Will says he is, what I know he is, what I won't know he is, I won't I won't I won't.) She can't face what she's done in order to try to prove to herself that the opposite of reality--Hannibal is a murderer--is the truth.

[lilmissprefect]

 

She's shying away from the truth, the truth she tried so hard to deny she ended up in Hannibal's bed in order to force reality to conform to her needs (I am intelligent, a studier of the mind, I am sexually involved with this famous, fascinating man--that proves he can't be what Will says he is, what I know he is, what I won't know he is, I won't I won't I won't.) She can't face what she's done in order to try to prove to herself that the opposite of reality--Hannibal is a murderer--is the truth.

 

Agreed. I think she's also shying away from the knowledge that she could be so wrong with regards to Will and his guilt. It was established in the first season that she tends to be right, and I think some of her denial is pride. If she could be so wrong about Will and Hannibal and their motivations, what else could she be wrong about? I hope that she lives, and that we get some of this fallout in season three. Honestly I really like Alana.

 

As for Will, I knew Freddie wasn't dead. It would have killed the character, for all it might have been more interesting. I have probably said this before, but Will Graham is a man who constantly looks into the darkness and contantly chooses not to fall into it - fights every desire to do so tooth and nail, because it is in his nature. I don't consider Hannibal dumb for believing that Will might finally give in to temptation - he spent an entire season trying to break him down, after all, and omnipontent as he sometimes seems (how does he get around town in his fancy murder onesie without anyone seeing him? I know that there are other things that stretch the ability to suspend disbelief, but that is the one that keeps bugging me, go figure. That and the lack of a cover up for the hair. Does the man not shed?), he doesn't have all the facts that the audience does, either. As far as he knows, Jack is done with the Ripper business, Will has been properly isolated from anyone who might believe him, and he has won. He might not fully believe it - I think that he'd learn to be cautious, considering what and who he is - but he wants to, because he still wants a friend, and he pegged poor Will for that position a long time ago. The two of them speak in half-truths constantly - Hannibal's mention of Mischa might have been as much a manipulation of Will as Will's speaking of liking to do bad things to bad people is of Hannibal. I think that if he does suspect something, we won't know until it is revealed, because despite the audience getting a glimpse into some of his machinations, we are kept partially in the dark as well. The only person that we have an almost full insight into is Will, and even then we don't know everything.

 

One last thing (because I've already gone on long enough, and probably not very coherently - lack of sleep is fun, kids): What Mason did to Margot this episode was revolting. I now firmly believe that

Mason's face is going to the pigs rather than the dogs

, and I for one couldn't be happier.

[Nutjob]

I exclaimed, "Oh, thank GOD" when Freddie popped up in front of Alana. I was truly ready to stop watching if Will really Went There, because what reason would I have to root for him if he's as cold-blooded as Hannibal? They had me doubting for a while, though, until she showed up, so nicely played on their part.

 

 

Agreed. I think she's also shying away from the knowledge that she could be so wrong with regards to Will and his guilt. It was established in the first season that she tends to be right, and I think some of her denial is pride. If she could be so wrong about Will and Hannibal and their motivations, what else could she be wrong about? I hope that she lives, and that we get some of this fallout in season three. Honestly I really like Alana.

Agreed. She is very well-respected and well-regarded in her field, and is used to being right. How could she ever trust her own intuition again if she's so woefully wrong about Will and Hannibal? I waffle on whether or not I like the character, but I do root for her to live and realize that you have to question yourself sometimes, because no one is always right.

[Anela]

 

One last thing (because I've already gone on long enough, and probably not very coherently - lack of sleep is fun, kids): What Mason did to Margot this episode was revolting. I now firmly believe that

Mason's face is going to the pigs rather than the dogs

, and I for one couldn't be happier.

 

Oh, that makes sense, given his teaching them to eat a human being alive. Good setup, anda good ending for him.

I've only read Silence of the Lambs, when I was fifteen, and avoided the movie Hannibal, because my mother told me that it was too much, and when I saw a scene as I flipped the channels - ugh. I was wanting to throw up. So, I don't know the back story to most of this, unless I google.

 

[Epeolatrix]

I've seen the original photos [in a homicide textbook] that inspired Mason's fate at Lecter's hands, and I really hope it's not so vivid when televised. Which is admittedly a silly concern, given what we've already seen, but it's just that little bit too real for me.