Hannibal: "Sakizuki" Review
I will say it again, as I will mostly likely say it with every episode review of this season. Hannibal is one of the most well done television shows on the air currently. It is shot beautifully, written extremely well and the actors all have complete control over their characters and hit all the right notes. This episode picked up where the last episode left off where Will still hopes to bring a reckoning upon Hannibal. However, instead of constantly placing blame upon Hannibal, he is seemingly accepting the fact that it is his own fault that he is in the position that he finds himself in. This of course is simply Will's only card to play as now behind bars he is simply manipulating the people around him slowly suggesting certain things to make people look at Hannibal in the long run. The interesting thing about this is how if you look at the film Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal himself was a master manipulator behind bars, and now we are seeing Will do the same thing. This of course explains why Hannibal views Will as a friend but it is because of how similar their minds work. They are one in the same, but completely different all at once.
The show also has a tendency to not shy away from gore, but this week's episode had quite possibly the goriest sequence to date. We saw the man that was a part of this serial killer's artistic impression escape, but to escape he had to rip himself apart from the other people he was stitched to and glued to. It was gruesome seeing him tear himself away from the other dead bodies and then it was a very intense scene watching him try to get away from his capture. Of course, it did not end well but it was a thrilling scene to watch.
In the same light, it was nice seeing Will get back to what he does best this episode as he looked at the evidence and was able to see through the killer's eyes. Of course he sees something that is not of this killer's design making him instinctively know that Hannibal had already been there and killed the killer. This of course goes to show once again that the two of them have the same kind of mind as with next to nothing in terms of evidence they both were able to find out where the killer would be. However, Hannibal being a different kind of beast, he dealt with it in his own way. It was also a good scene seeing Hannibal admire the man's work and finishing it as he sees fit. The whole conversation between the two about whether or not God exists was also a nice touch.
The weak point of the episode was centered around Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) as she separated herself from being a part of Hannibal as she deemed him dangerous. It was a bit perplexing that she found him so dangerous, but it was perfectly okay for her to tell him that in person. You would think that someone so dangerous would not take the news to lightly and more then anything view Du Maurier as a loose end, so why couldn't she have just left him a letter saying all of that? The real truth of the matter is that her character was being written off of the show as she does have a starring role on a new NBC series and all of her scenes in this episodes felt a bit forced. Of course, the most impact she had was when she visited Will explaining to him that she believes him. This will help Will gain confidence in himself as he moves forward in trying to bring down Hannibal.
The show helped move along the plot of the season as the cross-hairs will slowly begin to focus on Hannibal. It will ultimately be his undoing continuously believing that he and Will Graham are indeed friends. This episode started Will's new plan of manipulating Alaina and Hannibal making them believe that it was his psychosis that makes him lose time just so that they would continue talking to him in a calm manner. It will be interesting to see how he continues to manipulate the two of them in the long run. I am also happy that the plot line of this new killer using skin tones as a color palette for his artistic impression, or whatever you would call it, came to an end in this episode. Not that it is a bad thing to have a killer of the week in this show but I was worried that this killer may go on for the whole season. Allowing more cases to come to the FBI will undoubtedly make those cross-hairs come into focus quicker on Hannibal. Having him work with them closely on multiple cases will make them wonder how a mere psychiatrist is just as good as Will as an FBI pro-filer.
