Hannibal Season 2 Finale 'Mizumono' [Review + Recap]

Last night NBC's Hannibal aired its season 2 finale and boy, was it a shocker.

Directed by David Slade and written by Steven Lightfoot and Bryan Fuller, the episode was almost perfection. It answered a few of this season's most perplexing questions, but raised a few more. There will be spoilers, so do not read ahead if you have yet to watch the episode.

Hannibal is a show that is artfully done. The photography is carefully placed and significant, the season finale provided no exception. Initially, the show might seem focused on Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelson), his persona, and it is; however the narrative has always followed the theme of friendship. Throughout the two seasons, Hannibal's friendship with Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) has evolved, however it some ways it has never truly been severed. This finale, however, seems to ensure that there will be no phoenix rising from the ashes in terms of their friendship - this is the end. It was clear that there was no coming back once the last 10 minutes of this week's episode began to play. It will be interesting to see where the writers choose to go from here now that Hannibal has been renewed for a third season, but the finale secured that indeed no focal character can go back to their previous lives.

The episode opened with Hannibal writing an invitation to a dinner party to Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne). This dinner party had been planned and heavily mentioned in the previous episode. Hannibal would lure Jack to the house to 'tell him the truth' - i.e. to cut him up into little pieces and serve him as some sort of tasty, elaborate dish, probably. However, this party had been truly orchestrated by Will and Jack, who are trying to set Hannibal up to attempt to kill Jack, so they will have the proof they need that indeed Hannibal is a monster.

Hannibal begins burning all his patient documents, so that once he flees there will be nothing left behind. He talks about getting caught - something we rarely ever see Hannibal mention, he is usually so composed; in this scene though he does contemplate being apprehended, but says that he will flee to his 'mind palace'. Will asks if Hannibal could be happy there, Hannibal replies that 'All the palace chambers are not lovely...there are holes in the floor of the mind'. Will talks of what he does to calm himself; he tilts his head back, closes his eyes and 'wades into the calm of the stream'. Viewers do not know it yet, but this will hold significance in one of the final scenes of the episode, where the story reaches its climax.

We start to see glimpses of Will and Jack's plan going array; earlier in the day Will went to see the still alive and kicking Freddie Lounds, but this serves to aid Will's destruction because Hannibal later smells Freddie's hair on Will - but does not give away that he knows. Of course, if Freddie was the burnt corpse that Will claimed her to be, her scent should not be on his clothes.

Their plan stats to unravel even more when Kade Prurnell (Cynthia Nixon), who is an investigator for the Inspector General, puts Jack on 'compassionate leave' after a full investigation has been conducted because she disapproves of the ethical implications of trying to 'entrap' Hannibal Lecter.

So Jack and Will are off the case, they will have no back up and warrants have been issued for their arrest due to their improper conduct. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) tells Kade that Jack and Will won't stop. Kade says that's why she is going to arrest them. Alana then calls Will and tells him that they are coming for him and Will escapes through the back entrance of his house. Will then calls Hannibal and says that 'they know', Hannibal hangs up.

It's all getting very tense as Jack turns up at Hannibal's house early for the dinner party (realising he is running out of time); of course we all know what will happen next, it was foreshadowed in the first episode of season 2. Jack and Hannibal's intricate fight scene ensues. Jack gets a few good punches in, however he is ultimately dropped by a shard of glass to the neck. He flees to the pantry and shuts the door.

Then Alana turns up at the property. At this point in the programme, viewers might be likely screaming at the screen. Alana seems to be armed (she has a small gun) but we all know that Hannibal is resourceful and not easy to kill (of course Beverly Katz had a gun earlier in the season, but that did not help her). Alana enters the house and goes to the kitchen. She walks in on Hannibal who he trying to break down the door to finish Jack off. She asks him where Jack is, he replies 'in the pantry'. Looks are exchanged. It's all getting very tense. He says he will give her a chance to leave and if she does not, he will kill her. She shoots at him, but her gun has no bullets (!!) He explains that he took out the bullets from her gun earlier on - something which, really, you think she would have checked before walking into this death trap of a house (good going Alana). She then proceeds to run upstairs and locks herself in the upstairs room.

The writers then deliver a truly shocking moment. Alana turns around and from the corner of the room, emerges Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl). Abigail says to Alana that she is sorry and proceeds to push her out of the window. At this point, it's all becoming too much for us to watch, just as Will pulls up to the house in a taxi and finds Alana sprawled out on the front path looking severely injured, although she is conscious at this point.

Will rushes over to her and she tells him Jack is still inside and he promptly leaves Alana (thanks Will) and rushes to Jack. As Will enters the kitchen he sees Abigail in the corner. He looks as confused and traumatised as viewers are probably feeling at the moment. He asks Abigail where Hannibal is, she gives Will a look that makes everyone watching realise he's right behind you. Will turns around and of course, Hannibal is right there. At this point we know there's no going back. He knows. Will knows. Abigail knows.

Hannibal begins to embrace will, this is one of the most genuine moments throughout the whole season - we can see the pain in Hannibal's face, we all know what's coming - mid embrace, Hannibal stabs Will in the stomach. Will recoils, Abigail's crying, Hannibal looks disappointed. He says to Will that he let Will see all of him, and this how Will repays him. He knows Will orchestrated the whole thing and yes, he feels betrayed. He mentions that there might have been hope for them to go off, the three of them and that Abigail was his surprise for Will.

It's tense. Will is on the floor of the kitchen, bleeding out. Hannibal calls Abigail over to him, and in literally a second, he is slitting her throat right before Will's eyes and Will is distraught. She falls next to him and Will tries to stop her bleeding out, (whilst neglecting his own wound). It's really not looking good for anyone at this moment. Hannibal walks over to will and tells him to tilt his head back, close his eyes and wade into the calm of the stream. He exits the house, casually walking over Alana's body (is she dead?) as he leaves.
The composition is perfect.

The credits start to roll - we're feeling a bit fragile - but suddenly we cut to Hannibal on a plane, being asked if he'd like champagne. The camera pans right and just like that, the writers drop another bombshell, less than 30 seconds before the end of the programme. Sitting next to Hannibal on this (rather fancy looking) plane is Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), Dr Lecter's former psychiatrist. He looks over to her, she looks at him and they both smile. The screen fades to black.
We are left with so many questions. Are Alana and Jack dead? What is the fate of Will? (We're pretty sure Abigail is definitely dead at this point). Were Bedelia and Hannibal in it together all along? What are we missing? What will Season 3 hold?

The season finale was put together with such intricacy - Hannibal which had a slow mid season, managed to reach a truly thrilling, satisfying, yet agonising conclusion which makes us really anticipate season 3. This is definitely a triumph for Hannibal, and hopefully, if the show continues to be this good, there will be many more seasons yet.

4.5 stars