Hannibal “Sakizuki” 

I guess that’s the end of Gillian Anderson‘s Dr. Du Maurier – for now, at least. She’s recused herself from this situation, much to Jack Crawford’s confusion. Du Maurier has severed her relationship with Hannibal (more on that later) and withdrawn from social ties, but not before telling Will Graham she believes him. At least he’s got one person on his side, even if she’s going somewhere he (and hopefully Hannibal) can never find her.

A Glimpse Through the Stitching of Hannibal’s Person Suit

Du Maurier cannot wait until her next session with Hannibal to tell him that she will no longer be his therapist. She will not be referring him to anyone else either. I really liked the strong sense of foreboding in this scene. Du Maurier is clearly not feeling emotionally secure, as evidenced by her backing away from Hannibal as he keeps advancing on her. And even though Hannibal reminds her that she’d tried to sever their relationship before, Du Maurier stands firm. I’ve got to give her credit for “breaking up” with him in person. And also for getting the hell out of town before he could kill (and eat) her.

Will Graham is Delusional or a Psychopath

Dr. Bloom thinks the FBI made Will a killer. Cynthia Nixon‘s Kade Prurnell thinks it’s not so much a matter of if Will did it, but if he knew what he was doing when he did it. And Crawford is feeling guilty for the role he played in Will’s breakdown. What I do like is that Jack knows – and almost immediately – that Beverly’s been to see Will about this case. Of course, she didn’t run it by Jack first because she knew he’d say no. But we can see he’s glad Beverly did what she needed to do. And because they never had this conversion, she knows what she needs to do next.

In the meantime, Jack’s been ordered to have a psych evaluation to make sure he’s still competent enough to do his job. It’s an interesting session. Even though Jack was warned to back off, he kept pushing Will because he believed Will would find a way back to himself. But he failed and now all he sees when he looks at Will – at his friend – is a killer.

His Purpose is to Not Only Create Art, But to Become it

The killer is stitching these bodies together to make a human mural. Why does he do it? He’s missing pieces too. Hannibal says Roland Umber is another person discarded by the killer, but that’s not what Will sees. Will sees someone who survived what was done to him. Or rather, he survived it long enough to try to escape. Roland had a history of drug use so the fatal dose of heroine didn’t kill him like it did the others. He was able to rip himself (seriously, that scene was harrowing to watch) from the mural and make his escape. And I wanted him to escape. So badly. Even as Roland was looking over the cliff’s edge and probably thinking he couldn’t survive the fall, I wanted him to get away. And he did.

Hannibal uses his superior sense of smell to pinpoint the location of the farm where Roland was on display. How? He smelled the craquelure – the cracks in the masterpiece, or in this case the cracks in the material the killer used to preserve his victims. When Hannibal finds the mural, he tells the killer he loves his work. And then he helps the killer became part of his work. “The eye” looks beyond this world and sees a reflection of man himself. It’s the killer looking at God, according to Hannibal. In Will’s vision of the scene, Hannibal is stitching Will into the mural. He tells Will killing must feel good to God too, since he does it all the time. Interesting. At this point, I guess Hannibal would see himself as a God. He certainly feels invincible since he’s framed Will for murder and no one else (except his ex-therapist) is onto him.

Other tidbits

• Will asks Beverly to ignore all the evidence against him and try to clear her mind of everything she thinks she knows. If he’s guilty, she’ll find the evidence. If he’s not guilty, she might find that evidence as well. But can she really do that? She doesn’t even want to get close enough to Will – even though he’s locked in a cage – to hand him the files or the pictures for this case.

• Will knows no one believes him, but that’s still got to be hard to hear. Prurnell tells Will he’ll get the death penalty if he’s found guilty. Will tells her he’ll have to save his own life then.

• Does Hannibal admire Du Maurier for slipping through his grasp? I think he does.

Hannibal airs Fridays at 10/9c on NBC.