This week’s episode opens in the silo, the young black captive pries his skin apart that has melded with the bodies around him, breaks apart the stitches holding his legs together and his hand to his face. His flesh is torn, he escapes from the silo as a car pulls up. It’s the psycho that captured him, with a rifle and flashlight in hand. The now free man runs into a corn field to escape, but the captor pursues, naked and afraid the man has to dive off of a cliff to escape. The killer shines his light down on the man, who did not escape death after all, his head hit against a rock as he hit the water. His body floats down stream.
In the next scene Will Graham sits inside the small caged box he has to receive visitors in, on the other side of the bars sits Hannibal and Dr. Alana Bloom. Alana tells Will that there are pieces of himself he cannot see, Will replies that he doesn’t know who he is anymore. Will says he felt so betrayed by Hannibal, by himself. Alana tells him neither himself or Hannibal is to blame. Hannibal offers to help him, Will breaking down in tears says, “I need your help.”
Back in his cell Will looks up towards the camera, but not at it, it becomes clear that the tears were an act.
In Hannibal’s office, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier enters. She tells Lector that she will no longer see him as a patient, that she can no longer see being of help to him. She is obviously nervous, she says that she will not reveal anything to Jack Crawford, that she would look as guilty as he would. He walks closer to her in a menacing manner, she backs up and admits she doesn’t know what he has specifically done, but she knows that he is dangerous. She walks to the door and says she will see herself out, as she reaches for the handle he tells her that he is resuming his work as Will’s Therapist. She asks to what end, but his own? He tells her that Will asked for his help. She replies, “Then maybe you deserve each other.” and walks out.
At the FBI Crime Lab Hannibal, Jack, Jimmy Price and Beverly Katz stand over an autopsy table with the body of the escaped victim. They reveal that his name was Roland Umber, and that he had the same profile as the other victims, except for having ripped skin from where he freed himself. They are unaware as of yet that he had all but escaped, believing that the current in the water knocked him around causing more injuries. Hannibal tells them that there could be clues in the cracks in the varnish on his skin. Beverly agrees that it’s possible. When Jack asks what the victims had in common, Beverly says that maybe it wasn’t what made them alike, but what made them different. She introduces Will’s idea of the victims being a color pallet, not letting on where the idea came from, though Jack looks suspicious. Hannibal suggests that color may be all the killer sees, and that’s why it is so easy for him to do what he does to them, Beverly tells them that there will likely be a lot more colors on his human palette.
Back in Jack’s office he interrogates Beverly, asking her, “How’s Will Graham?” and before she can answer, “Shut your mouth!” He is angry that she didn’t ask him before going to Will. He tells her that he is under investigation, and she tells him if he doesn’t want her to go back, she wont. Jack then tells her that their conversation never happened, so that she will go back to complete the job.
In the autopsy room Hannibal smells the body, he can smell the corn field and envisions himself there.
Hannibal visits Will Graham in jail again, they discuss the imbalance in power between doctor and patient. He asks Will about his memories, and tells Will that what ever he remembers, it will be a distortion of the truth. They then talk about the palette murders, when Lector asks why the killer does it, Will says that it’s because the killer is missing pieces too.
Beverly visits Will in his cell, he asks her to ignore all the evidence against him, she says that she can’t. She wants to know more about the killer. She says she will try to do what he asks if he looks at the file again with the new pictures, her hand shakes as she hands it to him through the bars. He tells her that he tore himself free, that he ran. Says that the victims are held on a farm or warehouse close to the water. He asks what Dr. Lector thought of the crime. She replies that he thought that the killer tore him down and dumped him like the others. Will says, that may be what he says, but is not necessarily what he thinks.
Next we find Hannibal outside the silo, he wears a plastic jumpsuit. Hannibal climbs to the top of the silo and looks in at the bodies, as he looks down the killer enters. Hannibal calls down to him, “Hello…” The killer looks startled, “I love your work.”
Later Beverly Katz leads Hannibal and Jack and a team of FBI to the silo. Hannibal asks how she found the place? Beverly says the information that Will and he gave led them there, that they make a good team.
Jack is under psychological evaluation, he tells the psychiatrist that he used Will as a means to an end. He feels that he failed, the world is now a darker place, and he feels like he sees only a monster when he looks at his friend.
Back at the crime lab Jack, Beverly and Jimmy investigate a body that doesn’t fit in with the palette, they are unable to identify him and wonder why the killer changed mid brush stroke. The body on the table is that of the killer himself, but they are unaware. They wonder why this victim is missing a leg….
In Hannibal’s kitchen classical music plays, and he prepares to cook. He unwraps a parcel of butcher paper, the leg is inside. Graphically, he prepares the leg for cooking. He prepares it with a recipe for veal.
Bedelia meets with Jack, telling him that this has to be the last conversation on the subject of Hannibal Lecter. He asks if she pleads the 5th, she says no, but she is no longer seeing him. That she must remove herself from the situation, that she feels vulnerable, and a doctor cannot feel that way with a patient. She tells Jack that she prefers the FBI do not contact her again before walking out.
Beverly and Hannibal meet with Will at the prison, handing him a photo of the silo with the arranged bodies and ask for his insight. In his head, Will picks out the body of the killer, he knows that it is not part of the killer’s design, it doesn’t belong. He imagines a sound, looks up and sees the elk man above him. He sees himself as the killer in the mural, and Hannibal sewing him in there. Snapping out of it, he tells them that the killer is there.
The scene flashes to Hannibal talking to the killer, preparing him for becoming a piece in his own mural. They discuss God, and Lector makes the killer feel at peace with being part of his own creation.
Katy Pernell (Cynthia Nixon) with FBI oversight visits Will. He asks if he is still considered an employee, or does that depend on the outcome of his trial? Pernell says the trial is not to determine whether he did it, only whether he knew what he was doing when he did it. Will replies, “Sounds like I’m unemployed.” She tells him that Dr. Bloom is working on his defense, that the FBI drove him to insanity. She says that they will convince the jury that he knew exactly what he was doing. She tries to convince him to plead guilty and forego a trial. He refuses.
The scene flashes to Will back in his cell, imagining that he is fly fishing again, it’s peaceful. Then bodies float past him in the water at his feet, flowing down stream.
Bedelia visits Will, she introduces herself, telling him that she wanted to meet him. She says that she believes that Hannibal did what he felt was best for him. He says that is no comfort. She then steps close to the bars, he moves close to her, leaning in. She whispers, “I believe you.” just before being escorted out by the guards.
Hannibal in his plastic suiting enters into Bedelia’s home. There are sheets over the furniture, it’s dark, she is not there. A bottle of perfume sits on a chair, he lifts it and smells the scent. Smirking, he hears Bedelia’s words echo in his head, “I believe you are dangerous…” Fade to black.
That ends this week’s episode.
I expected the palette murder story to go longer than 2 episodes, but it was an interesting way to end that story line. The situation grows tenser, and I wonder just how long Bedelia Du Maurier has left to live. I really like Jillian Anderson in this role, so hopefully for a while longer. The suspense is building nicely, can’t wait to see what happens next!
