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[theanglerfishmagazine]

Devouring 'Hannibal': "Tome-wan"

The manipulations continue and the drama is at a rolling boil in "Tome-wan". Read on for a quick reviewcap!

Hannibal and Will begin the episode in yet another therapy session, and Will baits Hannibal on, as Hannibal believes they are alike and that Will put a metaphorical snare around his neck. Mason becomes the topic of choice, as Hannibal knows that Will told Mason to kill him, and Hannibal's motive becomes Mason's discourteous nature. He's fearful that Mason might try to kill him during their next session, but Will suggests killing him first. Hannibal asks Will to imagine what he would like to happen in such a situation. Will imagines cutting Hannibal's throat and sending him back into the pig pit in a straitjacket.

During Hannibal and Mason's next session in Hannibal's smaller office, Mason disses some of Hannibal's drawings before bringing up Margot, as Hannibal interfered in family affairs - or subverted Mason. Hannibal turns the conversation onto suffering - like that of the underprivileged children at the Verger summer camp, Margot (and her happiness), and how God chooses to inflict suffering. After putting his feet up on Hannibal's desk, Mason walks behind Hannibal and pulls out his father's pocketknife before taking a seat across from Hannibal and stabbing into the leather arm of the chair a few times while trying to figure out what kind of game of chicken Hannibal and Will are playing, as he plays chicken with Margot but doesn't tell her.

At the hospital, Margot dresses as she looks at the scars on her back and the large hysterectomy scar on her abdomen. Hannibal and Will join her for support, and she reveals that Mason told the docs to leave a big scar when they performed the surgery instead of doing a laparoscopic surgery, as a way of signifying that it can never be undone. Despite her insistence that Mason has won once again, Will urges her to show Mason how strong she is by surviving him. Afterward, Will visits Jack to update him on how things are going with baiting Hannibal, but Jack's out far enough on a limb, as Hannibal hasn't been giving Will anything "actionable." He does, however, mention the Hannibal-Will-Mason manipulation/murder triangle, and is certain Hannibal has taken the bait so he and Jack can catch the Chesapeake Ripper in the act of killing Mason. And then Jack brings Will to the viewing side of the interrogation chamber mirror to reveal his trump card: Bedelia Du Maurier.

Will enters the chamber and thanks the hard-to-find Bedelia for the visit when he was in the hospital and the supporting words, and she wants total immunity to spill all the beans. That patient who attacked her? The patient was one of Hannibal's and she killed him in self-defense: specifically, he swallowed his (unattached) tongue. Needless to say, she was under Hannibal's influence, as he manufactures insight in his patients. And she suggests that the way to catch him is by getting him list in self-congratulation and "his own exquisite taste and cunning."

Will leaves for another chat with Hannibal over wine, and they discuss Will's waking to who he is and the co-dependence that Hannibal is fostering in their abusive relationship. Jack enters the interrogation chamber for a quick chat with Bedelia, who believes that Will knows more than he's letting on and that if Jack's close to catching Hannibal, it's because Hannibal wants him to think so. Jack then visits Hannibal for a dinner of kholodets, a Ukrainian dish of anchovies in a Jello-like mold. Doubts enter the dinner conversation, and Jack is still doubtful of his beliefs in others, namely Will and Hannibal. At Will's, he prepares ground chuck for his "family" before Mason's limo drives up and welcomes Will inside after a quick pat-down. Hannibal, meanwhile, is kidnapped by Carlo and two assistants, but not before Hannibal stabs one of the two assistants in the femoral artery and gets tased twice.

Hannibal comes to trussed up in the harnessed straitjacket by the pig pen as Carlo removes his shoes and socks. It's a personal matter now for Mason, who wants Will to provide the pigs with some incentive - namely Hannibal's cut throat. Instead, Will turns Hannibal around, cuts away the restraints, and is knocked out by one of the assistants in the ensuing chaos. He wakes to find blood streaks on the platform and Carlo's upper half in the harness. Hannibal, meanwhile, has taken Mason to his office (I would guess) to dose him with some aerosolized psychedelics. Mason proceeds to go nuts, and Hannibal suggests that Mason show him how his father tested the depth of pigs' fat ... on himself.

Will comes home to find Winston on the front porch and enters the house to find a silhouetted Mason sitting in one of his chairs with Will's pack clamoring around him. Why? He's feeding them strips of his face - his cheeks, namely. Hannibal shows up at Will's right shoulder and talks a bit about Mason's drug-induced state, even suggesting to the hungry Mason that he eat his own nose ... which he cuts off and eats, only to discover that he tastes like chicken gullet. Hannibal even leaves Mason's state up to Will, who suggests that Hannibal does what he thinks is best, as Mason is his patient. So Hannibal snaps Mason's neck, but only enough to paralyze, but not to kill.

Jack visits Mason in hospice the next day for a few quick questions, and Mason lies about the injuries (he took a tumble in the pig pen), knowing Will ("The man who didn't kill all those people?"), and Hannibal's beneficial treatment ("I hope to repay him one day."). Mason, however, can't leave, as he's paralyzed (but sitting up) in bed with a face-like mask covering the lower half of his face. Margot enters as Jack leaves and promises to take care of Mason just as he took care of her. In Hannibal's office, Will and Hannibal discuss Hannibal's sketch of Achilles lamenting the death of Patroclus before suggesting that Hannibal give Jack what he wants: The Chesapeake Ripper. And Hannibal agrees.

***

In tonight's season finale, "Mizumono", everything comes full circle.

(GIFs from nbchannibal + behnnie)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Devouring 'Hannibal': "Ko No Mono"

Everyone's holding their cards close as the tension continues to rise in 'Hannibal' and something new is metaphorically born - the Willdigo. Read on for the reviewcap of "Ko No Mono"!

In a snowy forest, the Wendigo watches as the stag collapses and the Willdigo crawls out of its body, mirroring Hannibal admiring Will's psychotic turn. In the real world, the two share a special dinner: Ortolan Buntings, or songbirds drowned in Armagnac and fire roasted before being eaten in one bite. Hannibal mentions that it's tradition to eat the birds while covering ones head with a shroud or towel as a way of hiding from God, but neither of the two do so before chomping down, bones and all. He brings up the euphoric nature of eating an Ortolan, and Will mentions a sense of euphoria when killing Freddie Lounds, which Hannibal takes as a sign of a capacity for violence, as Will had a low heartrate at the time. Hannibal also brings up the fact that acts of killing create new synapses and ways of thinking, which Will warily accepts.

And speaking of Freddie Lounds, a fiery corpse in a wheelchair speeds down into a parking garage and comes to a stop at Freddie's parking spot before an attendant puts out the fire. The corpse is brought to the BAU, and the orthodontics match Freddie's dental records. Further examination reveals that she died before the match was struck, and that the killer made an incision in her back and took a trophy - most likely a kidney from the location of the cut. Will mentions Freddie's longing to be noticed, as well as that her killer will rise from the ashes, and Jack laments her ability to not objectively cover crime stories.

Meanwhile, Margot takes a pregnancy test before her session with Hannibal and is feeling a little maternal as a result. Will is in the session for some reason, and Hannibal recognizes Will as her unwitting accomplice. She wants either nothing or as much as Will can give, especially because she wants none of Mason's influence, as he's not good with children. Speaking of which, an elementary school class finishes a tour of the Verger stables and Mason chats with Franklin, a foster kid and straggler from the group, but Mason gets him to cry at the thought that he'd be taken away for another martini infused with the tears of others.

Will wakes from a fever dream of Freddie on fire to find Alana and Applesauce at his front door. Her visit, however, isn't friendly, as she's worried that Will killed Freddie - Will's words, though. He's still hung up on the fact that people thought he cried wolf about Hannibal, and he thinks that people would think the same about Alana if she said Will was a killer. Instead, she wants him out of his destructive relationship with Hannibal, and he gives her his 9mm and some advice to practice at a firing range so she can face her fears. Speaking of facing fears, Mason makes his first visit to Hannibal's office for his first therapy session and he takes to the couch, spouting off about his father and camp. His father started a camp for disadvantaged youth as a way of performing charity work, and Mason helped out, but he got a little too close with some of the kiddies. Mason got a slap on the wrist, some court-ordered therapy (but the doc cut him some slack), and community service. Hannibal's only concerned about Mason being in the wrong piece of furniture.

Mason takes his seat and continues on about his father and how he was able to know a person by looking at them. Hannibal's not impressed, so he turns the conversation topic to Margot and how she's the only family Mason has left. Mason counters that Margot will be destitute unless she loves him. And Hannibal lets slip that Margot might have a way of her own to inherit the Verger fortune. Elsewhere, Alana watches Freddie's funeral in a cemetery from a few rows away before she's joined by Will, but he didn't come to dance on Freddie's grave, rather for the therapeutic nature (at Hannibal's insistence). Will continues this discussion of sorts during his next session with Hannibal, and the topic changes to how fathers also undergo biochemical changes, much like killers. This leads to parents connecting with their children, and Hannibal mentions how he was a father to Misha, his sister, before bringing up Abigail, who Will still dreams about. As a way of coping, Hannibal occasionally drops a teacup to let it shatter and is dissatisfied when it doesn't reassemble.

In the cemetery where Freddie was buried, the BAU team and Forensics shows up to find Freddie's corpse aboveground and desecrated to resemble Shiva. Jimmy and Zeller quip about beating Jesus to being resurrected before Jack, Hannibal, and Will try to connect the last two victims (Freddie and Randall Tier). This could also be a benefactor who admires the killer's work and paid homage using Freddie's corpse as a sick signpost - or maybe a sign of courtship. Seriously, the slash-relationships on this show ... Anyway, Mason visits Margot in the stables and jovially inquires about how the Verger family doesn't do much breeding, apart from pigs, but Margot just wants to survive this generation. Mason floats the suggestion of bring the sperm donor, which the radiant Margot rejects, even after he pulls her ponytail. Meanwhile, Will pays another visit to Hannibal and they talk about deities, which Hannibal isn't bothered by, even though he sacrificed Abigail despite caring about her. He even thinks that if time were to somehow reverse, Will would have a place for Abigail (or the Verger baby) in his family.

Mason returns to Hannibal's for another therapy session, and he once again talks about his father, namely that he would take Mason out of school to learn about pigs by visiting 4H show pigs at fairs and randomly stabbing their haunches to check how much fat the pigs had accrued. Hannibal brings up the happiness of the pigs and also inquires about Margot's happiness. Since the last session, Mason caught on about Margot's loophole and he's none too pleased, as if he died, Margot's unborn child would have a chance at inheriting the fortune. Later, Alana visits Hannibal and chats with him about beliefs, trust, and pressure from Will on the couch. Hannibal gets a whiff of gunpowder, as she's been to the range, and questions it, and she reminds him of her paranoia. At the Verger estate, Margot loads up her car and drives away, only to be rammed by a truck driven by Carlo, Mason's assistant. She wakes up on an operating table to find Mason standing over her in red scrubs, and he taunts her with the fact that he's having a medical team give her a hysterectomy but the medical record will state that something was wrong with her "ladyparts". He leaves to let the red-scrubbed medical team start their work, but not before taking a tear for another martini.

Alana pays a visit to Jack, and she's had it with the lying and deception: his, Will's, and Hannibal's. She demands to know what he believes, and he reveals that he doesn't believe that Will killed Freddie, but he doesn't give a straight answer about Chilton being or not being the Ripper. Defeated, Jack shows his hand and leads Alana to a side room where Freddie is waiting, and she inquires about how her funeral was. In an area hospital, Will waits at the foot of Margot's bed before leaving after Hannibal joins him. Will heads to the Verger estate, tackles Carlo, and heads inside to shut off whatever music Mason is listening to in the pig barn. Mason recognizes him as the baby daddy, and Will punches him in the face.

Will further escalates the situation by holding Mason over the pit before shoving him to the side and putting a gun to his head. He asks about whose idea it was to have an heir and whose idea it was to take said heir, reminding Mason that the only thing he and the two Vergers share is the same psychiatrist - Hannibal. And to further bring Hannibal into the situation, Will leaves Mason with a suggestion.

***

In tonight's "Tome-wan", things take a turn for the worse for Mason while Will and Jack's plan to catch Hannibal hits a roadblock.

(GIFs from madsmikkelsoned + queensmilitant + psychoanalyzeme + nbchannibal)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Crime-solving with 'Castle': "Veritas"

At long last, is Beckett's hunt for her mother's killer at an end? Read on for the reviewcap of "Veritas"!

Late at night, Beckett is on reconnaissance duty a la Veronica Mars. She's watching a shady guy in a suit, named Jason Marks, in a dark downtown alleyway. Jason gets into a town car and departs as Beckett gets off a few snaps before jotting down a few notes in a notebook with recent sightings of the man.

Castle calls the next morning and wakes Beckett, who's had a late night. The good news is that his book tour for the latest Derrick Storm and Nikki Heat works is finishing early in Chicago and the rest of the tour has been postponed until after the wedding. Castle, however, is concerned about Beckett's lone Nancy Drew work, but she brushes it off, as she's called to a crime scene, only to find that the victim is Jason Marks. Marks, who ran a political consulting firm, was in town and staying at a hotel for an unknown reason, and his time of death was between 12 AM and 2 AM. Beckett is perturbed, to say the least, but she suggests that Javi and Ryan expand the search radius from two blocks to five blocks from the alleyway where his body was found. She leaves a voicemail for Castle telling him to get to the precinct, which he does, and they discover through some contrast manipulation that Vulcan Simmons was driving the town car, thanks to surveillance footage that captured the town car driving by at 1:16 AM with Marks in the front passenger seat. Before Beckett can figure out why Marks ended up dead or a way to use Marks' death as leverage to get Vulcan to roll on Senator Bracken, Gates calls her into her office to take her off the case, as Beckett has personal ties. Javi and Ryan are forced to cut Vulcan loose, as his lawyer claims that Vulcan isn't in the photo and that there is no such vehicle registered in his name. Beckett takes it upon herself to continue the search and finds a truck repair shop in her surveillance photos, so she heads in alone and armed to find the town car with blood on the front passenger seat ... and Vulcan surprises her.

She controls herself and doesn't shoot, despite Vulcan's prodding, as Beckett doesn't have a warrant, and presses Vulcan for answers. In the loft, Castle is woken by a call from Javi to find that Beckett isn't in bed, but that she's back in the case, as Vulcan was found dead in the repair shop. Castle and Beckett arrive at the crime scene at the same time, and everyone looks over the town car and the body of Vulcan Simmons, who was shot five times over the course of half an hour, but the bullets were removed. However, Javi and Ryan mention that a witness noticed a good-looking woman leaving the garage earlier, and Beckett confines in Castle that she was at the garage and considered shooting Vulcan, but they only exchanged words. At the precinct, everyone's on edge as Captain Marcus Donovan, the head of Internal Affairs, shows up with two associates to meet with Captain Gates. What puts Beckett on high alert is a call from Lanie, who informs her that a .40 caliber bullet was lodged in Vulcan's spine - and the bullet matches Beckett's main gun, which is in her safe at home, rather than her backup, which she brought with her the night before. Donovan heads to the break room to follow his orders and take Beckett into custody after warning Gates, but finds only Castle waiting, who passes on Beckett's admission that she didn't kill Vulcan. He's not of use to the department presently, so Castle is sent on his way, but not before being taken aside by Javi and Ryan, who let him know that a witness at Marks' hotel said that Marks met with a man who matches the description of the dead Mr. Smith.

Castle and Beckett meet up at their usual swingset to update each other on their findings - namely that Smith faked his death to get away from Bracken. Since Bracken's in New York for campaigning purposes, Castle's got an idea to find Smith, which doesn't go so well. The doctor who signed the death certificate was connected to Smith through a yacht club the two were on the board of, but Castle and Beckett have to book it from the hospital when her Wanted picture shows up on a TV tuned to a local news station. In the hospital stairwell, Smith calls Castle's burner and requests a meeting in their usual location in 20 minutes, so Castle and Beckett rush to the shadowy parking garage. Beckett's concerned about Smith's reliability, but Smith shows up and admits that he went to great lengths to hide from Bracken. He does know of one thing that can take Bracken down - a recording made by a former associate in which Bracken admits to murder - but neither Smith nor Bracken know where it is. Marks was connected to Smith, in the hope that he could expose the corrupt campaign financing, but Marks was made and killed. Before Smith disappears into the shadows again, he warns the duo to disappear as well.

Back at the precinct, Javi and Ryan discreetly continue their investigation, and Gates approaches them and asks to be let in on their investigation, as she's sure Beckett's being set up, so they start her off with the murder of Joanna Beckett. Elsewhere in a cheap hotel, Beckett and Castle get a room to temporarily hide out and dye Beckett's hair before disappearing, but Castle heads out to get a car from a friend. Beckett heads into the bathroom but hears footsteps and comes out to find Bracken and two armed men waiting in the main part of the room. He's angry that Beckett didn't let it go, as they had a truce, and he dangles her accomplishments to date over her, as they're all because of him. She presses on, as he's got a dirty campaign with a trail of dead bodies, and goads him to kill her, but he's got his two associates to do it, since killing her himself would like him to the crime scene. He departs as the two men drug Beckett, tie her to a chair, and force her to drink whiskey before holding her gun to her head. She takes control of the situation and breaks free, shooting the men and spitting out the capsule before taking a whack on the head and stumbling out into the hallway and collapsing, only to be rescued by Castle.

While she's out, Beckett flashes back to a meeting with Montgomery in the archives, when he found her looking over her mother's case. She comes to as they're making their way through Vermont to Canada that Montgomery most likely had the cassette and gave it to Joanna, so they turn the car around. However, there's no chance they're getting into the precinct, but they've got some help from Javi and Ryan to get into her apartment by asking the two cops posted outside her apartment to take a break. Castle and Beckett fumble through some boxes and files, finding Joanna's coded appointment book, which nobody has been able to decipher. Castle finds the last entry (D Me w/ Family), which he believes meant Joanna was going to bring the cassette to her husband and Kate, but before they can make another move, Internal Affairs cops burst in and marches the group to the precinct.

Donovan wants to personally escort them to booking, but he first talks with a shocked Gates. Castle and Beckett console each other, as she thought they were going to make it. Beckett's eyes catch the elephants on her desk and she makes the connection that the elephants used to be Joanna's and they're like a family. She rushes over to break them open, and in the chaos when the IA cops leap forward to restrain Castle, Ryan, Javi, and Beckett, the elephants break open and the cassette falls out.

In a separate room, everyone assembles to listen to the tape, which turns out to have a conversation between ADA Bracken and a young Montgomery about a mafia extortion ring and blackmailing cops. Joanna even gets a mention ... along the lines of "If anyone gets too close like Joanna Beckett, I'll have them killed." Bracken's in the middle of a press junket when Beckett and several cops show up to take him into custody. He looks dumbfounded, as she's still alive, and he cuts the interview short before Beckett reads him his charges and perp-walks him out to Javi and Ryan, who load him into the squad car.

***

On tonight's season finale, "For Better or Worse", it's finally time for the Castle-Beckett wedding ... unless guest star Eddie McClintock has something to say about it.

(GIFs from castlelounge)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Devouring 'Hannibal': "Naka-Choko"

Will's heading down the path of the Ripper, but is it too late to save him? Read on for the reviewcap of "Naka-Choko"!

Flashing back to the break-in at Will's from the end of "Shiizakana", Randall breaks into a side window and attacks Will. Everything slows as Will tosses his shotgun aside and fights with Randall, who he views as the stag/the Wendigo/Hannibal, repeatedly punching his face and breaking his neck. Will comes to to find a dead Randall in the broken bone suit. He brings Randall's body to Hannibal's and presents it as an act of reciprocity. Hannibal sees to Will's bloodied knuckles, and admires the intimate nature of killing using ones hands. He presses Will to not mentally retreat, and he suggests that Will repay Randall's debt of sorts, which Will does ... only for Jack to find Randall's body in the Museum of Natural History. Well, it's Randall's body ... or parts of it attached to/incorporated into a sabertooth skeleton.

The BAU team, Will, Jack, and Hannibal examine the crime scene, and Will and Hannibal read the display as a humiliation and a commemoration of the killer (Randall), his acts, and his psychosis. Something irks Jack, and he casts a knowing stare of sorts at Will based on this initial read. Will further deconstructs the scene and talks to skele-Randall, who takes human form (apart from the skeletal tusks and lower jaw), about helping Randall achieve what he wanted. This deeper read allows Will to suggest that whoever killed Randall was like him and understood him; Jack surmises some potential empathy; Hannibal, meanwhile, considers that whoever killed Randall is a fledgling killer - all of this is VERY true.

During daylight hours, Will pays a visit to Freddie's apartment/live-in hotel room. She's upped the ante regarding his case, as there's movie interest, and she brings the conversation topic around to the Ripper and Chilton, namely the differences between the Ripper and Chilton (one had surgical skills, the other didn't). Will's insistent that she drop it, but she won't, even if she drops the story. At Hannibal's, Margot is in another therapy session, and Hannibal explains that she'll have to kill him, even if she loves him in some way, which resulted in her failed attempt. But if she kills him, she won't receive the inheritance, as the Southern Baptist Convention (or the next male heir) will be the beneficiary. After her session, she returns to the Verger estate and goes for a horseback ride, only to find Mason and Pavlov, a piglet, waiting for her in the stables. Mason takes her to a viewing platform overlooking a maze, and he explains that based on a Christmas epiphany, he brought the best of the best pigs together and is antagonizing them and training them to eat live meat. One such way is by playing looped recorded screams as a human-shaped and scented meat-person in one of Margot's pantsuits is lowered into the center of the maze.

That night, Hannibal and Alana fiddle with a theremin on the edge of Hannibal's bed as Margot shows up to Will's with another bottle of whiskey to replenish what she drank when she was last over. Hannibal compares playing the theremin to manipulating people, but Alana reminds him that people aren't instruments, conveniently forgetting the case from last season wherein a musician was found dead with an open throat and a cello neck stuck down said throat. Meanwhile, Margot and Will banter and start to show each other their assorted scars, even though Will mentions that he doesn't have the right parts for Margot's proclivities. Somehow, they end up in bed as Hannibal and Alana do, and the ensuing scene fluctuates, as Will flits between being in Hannibal's place, being with Alana instead of Margot, and seeing the Wendigo watching from a corner of the bedroom.

The next day, Freddie approaches Alana on a campus and presses her about Hannibal, correctly guessing that Alana recently began seeing and sleeping with Hannibal. She continues to warn Alana about Hannibal, as four patients died under his care, three died after leaving his care, and Will is back in therapy, even suggesting that Will was right about Hannibal being the Ripper and that Will has joined him because there's no beating the Ripper. In the meantime, Hannibal visits the Verger estate, as he was invited by Mason, who greets him on the viewing platform. Mason delivers the shpiel about the pigs before getting onto the topic of Margot and how certain things she did really annoyed their father. The two connect over people/pigs and feelings of sisterly protection, but Hannibal doesn't give up too much about what Margot's told him - doctor/patient confidentiality and all. Hannibal does suggest therapy to Mason, which intrigues him, and in return, he offers a hog to Hannibal.

That night, Hannibal serves a brined and roasted whole suckling pig to Will and Alana, who brings up her conversation with Freddie, which interests both Will and Hannibal. She touches on the psychopathic tendencies, the Ripper's killings, and boundaries. Hannibal's interest is piqued enough to stake out Freddie's apartment in his kill suit, but she doesn't show, as she has gone to Will's. Freddie finds the front door locked, but she picks the lock on the barn door and enters to find Randall's bone suit hanging behind some plastic sheeting. She takes some pictures and digs into a meat freezer, which contains the incriminating evidence of Randall's lower palate. As she slams the freezer shut in shock and disgust, she sees Will waiting on the other side of the sheeting. He closes the barn door and she pulls her pistol, despite his claims of a good explanation. Unfortunately, Freddie is now scared and probably won't listen to Will's explanation, so she fights her way out of the barn by macing Will and runs for her car to call Jack, but Will breaks open the driver's side window and drags Freddie out through it.

A few hours later, Jack, Hannibal, Alana, and Will meet in Jack's office, as Jack received the screaming voicemail from Freddie three hours prior, but her phone is dead and a gas station security camera placed her six miles from Will's farm. Nobody knows quite what to think. Later, Will brings some meat to Hannibal's for dinner - pig, he claims. They cook and dine together, and Hannibal deduces that it's pork, but from a frightened pig. He's close with the pig guess, as Will reveals it's long pig (a.k.a. people) and that he has given up concepts of good and evil.

***

In tonight's "Ko No Mono", Margot's plan to claim the Verger inheritance unfolds as Will presses Alana to engage in target practice and the truth about Freddie's disappearance is revealed!

(GIFs from nbchannibal + revnickie + behnnie)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Crime-solving with 'Castle': "Law & Boarder"

With the imminent season finale of 'Castle', there are only a few cases left for Castle, Beckett, and the team at the 12th Precinct to solve, starting with the shooting death of a skateboarder. Read on for a reviewcap of "Law & Boarder"!

At the Castle loft, we find that Castle stayed up all night trying to make a 9-point word using the letters HOVIL to beat Beckett in Scrabble, but he's out of luck. They're called to the crime scene to find that Logan Moore, a competitive skateboarder, was shot dead in the early morning hours by a helmeted motorcyclist. Logan's a California resident, but he has a key and an address to some place in the West Village on him. As Javi and Ryan head to the address, they kick off the B-plot of the episode: which of them will be Castle's Best Man?

Holly, a young woman who Logan was cute on when she was out west, answers the door and their questions - namely that she accepted a package he mailed ahead because he was coming to town for the New York Street Sports Festival near Chelsea Piers. It turns out that Logan was favored to win in the Street Skating category, but he's out of the running - obviously. Analysis of the tire treads at the crime scene reveals that the tires were off-road Michelin tires that are used mostly in motocross. Further investigation at the precinct turns up the possibility of Manny Castro, a fellow competitor who Logan showed up three times, as a suspect because someone captured video of a physical altercation between the two of them the day before, so Beckett and Castle head to the festival.

Manny, it turns out, won that day's Street Skating event. He is shocked, though, to hear that Logan died - even if he thought Logan was a loser - but his alibi during Logan's time of death checks out. He also mentions that he caught Logan ransacking the trailer office, so he verbally berated Logan, and Logan asked for a 24-hour grace period before reporting the incident, as it was a matter of life and death. Castle and Beckett meet up with Tom Fulton, the event organizer, in the office and they ask about Logan's death and the office ransacking. The only thing missing is a registered .45, possibly because when Logan was in to register during practice runs, he got a weird call from someone in his past that shook him up. Looking through Logan's phone records turns up a potential connection to the Albanian mob, as there were a dozen calls from a club that's a known hangout for Albanian mobsters. Ross De Koening, a trust-fund kid and another skater who Logan crashed with, suggests that path to Castle and Beckett.

The team looks into Logan's East Coast history and find out that his mom dated Enver Kotta, an Albanian and a regular at the aforementioned club with mob ties who was into coke and swore he'd get back at Logan for reporting him five years ago. Enver got five years in prison and was released on parole last month, while Logan's mom got seven years. Castle and Beckett meet with Enver, who reveals he met with Logan at a diner in the early morning to offer forgiveness and the opportunity to testify on behalf of Logan's mom, but Logan agreed to meet if Enver brought $3000. Enver agreed, and Logan came with a gun and left quickly, as he had to take care of something before it was too late. After leaving the diner, Logan returned to the loft, picked up a heavy black duffel bag, and left, presumably to meet his fate - but the bag disappeared in transit. The day winds down at the precinct as Javi tries to bribe Castle with his bikini pen and Ryan offers Jenny's secret family recipe for Shepherd's Pie, but Castle has other things in mind, like beating Beckett at Scrabble. However, she plays "quixotic" to beat him by two points.

The next morning, Javi and Ryan agree to decide about the Best Man business between themselves with a little One-Up-Man-ship, but a sullen Castle arrives with Beckett and they offer their sympathies. They do have good news, however; the key that Logan had fits a locker at a 24-hour gym, which Logan swiped in and out of between 3 and 3:30 to drop off the bag, which contains climbing gear, Fulton's .45, and assorted thievery tools, such as a glass cutter. It also contains a receipt to an electronics store where Logan bought a Hi-8 recorder. Security footage from outside the gym nets Carter Wexland, a motocross driver and competitor at the Festival, who admits that Logan loaned him the gym card. Logan also brought him on to help break into a fifteenth floor office, and Carter wanted a cut of the haul, but Logan was focused on making things right for a dead friend. Ryan (who offers wedding planning help to Castle) IDs the office as that of Brett Zaretsky, Esquire, but a visit to Zaretsky turns up nothing, as 1) a window is being replaced because a bird broke through; 2) Brett doesn't recognize Logan; and 3) Brett turns them away since they don't have a warrant. If that weirdness isn't enough, Castle has noticed that Javi and Ryan have been acting a little weird, so he puts two and two together and asks them to back off.

Castle and Beckett bring in Logan's mom from Taconic Correctional for some questions, and the only person she can think of is Jay Dixon, a younger neighborhood kid who made up part of the "Bronx skate crew" that Logan was a part of. Jay, however, was killed in some accident six years ago, and his unsolved death at a construction site hit Logan pretty hard. As luck would have it, the Hi-8 camcorder turns up near where Logan was shot and the cassette is missing - but there's a bit of tape (six seconds to be precise) stuck in the camcorder. The techie is able to digitize and clear it up a bit to find that a younger Tom threatens a younger Logan. Castle's theory is that Logan was a witness to the murder and Tom threatened him to keep it a secret. As for the tape, where was it kept? Brett's law office, as he represents Tommy and handles contracts for the Festival. Tom's alibi of doing promotions for the Festival at a club checks out, and he's even willing to explain what happened after viewing the snippet of footage in questioning, but Brett brings up attorney-client privilege. Tommy turns around and fires Brett before admitting that he, Logan, Jay, and DK used to make skateboard videos, but Jay showed up DK, who turned violent and attacked Jay, killing him in the process. They cut a $5 million deal for the tape, which stayed in lock-up until DK (really Ross DeKoening) had access to the money from his soon-to-mature trust fund. Castle and Beckett confront Ross at a party with the evidence, and he runs, but Javi and Ryan catch him and close the case.

Back at the precinct, Castle's ready to take Beckett on in another rematch, but first, he must deal with Javi and Ryan. They have a man-to-man with Castle and agree to be co-best men, but Castle tells them that Alexis is going to be his best man - they'll still get to be groomsmen, if it's any consolation. At the Castle loft, Castle has everything set up for another Scrabble rematch, but Beckett has a much better idea - poker ... strip poker.

***

The season finale of 'Castle' is nearing, and with it comes the return of Senator Bracken in tonight's "Veritas".

(GIFs from castlelounge)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Devouring 'Hannibal': "Shiizakana"

After last week's weird case, things take an even more animalistic turn while Will and Margot compare notes on Hannibal. Read on for the reviewcap of "Shiizakana"!

In some secluded snowy forest, Will has Hannibal tied up to a tree with ropes that are harnessed via a pulley to a stag. He presses Hannibal for an admission as the rope tightens, but Hannibal wants to see the beast inside. Denied an answer, Will's reckoning comes when the pull of the stag chokes out the Wendigo in a spray of blood. Pity it's all in Will's head. At Hannibal's, the chef du jour cooks up a sacromonte omelette (if you're feeling adventurous) as breakfast-for-dinner with Jack, adding some liver and sweetbreads - part of a recipe he got from a gypsy in Grenada (maybe not the gypsy's liver and sweetbreads, though). As Hannibal remembers his time in Grenada, Jack brings up his past fear of forgetting and how he hopes to forget his doubt about Will. Speaking of Will, Hannibal mentions that Will's back in therapy with him, and Jack hopes for the best. Remember what happened the last time they were in therapy?

Elsewhere, a trucker heads out of a gas station convenience store with a piping hot cup of java and walks back across to his rig, not quite noticing a shadowing skeletal something jumping up to the roof of the rig. However, something perturbs him enough to pull out a light stick and examine the undercarriage to find nothing. As he gets ready to climb back into the cab, the shadowy something yanks him up onto the roof and noms him to death under a crescent moon.

Therapy with Hannibal continues as regrets become the topic of conversation. Will's regret: not shooting Clark. He also views it as a mistake that he allowed Hannibal to stop him from pulling the trigger, which he does as he imagines a different chain of events. It's both a missed opportunity and a feeling of a quiet sense of power. As the session ends, Will leaves and runs into the arriving Margot outside Hannibal's, who recognizes Will before she heads inside for her session. The topic of choice is once again the unseen Mason, who is inhuman or less human to her. She also brings up Will to compare their respective treatments: Hannibal supports the idea for Margot to kill Mason, so what treatment did Hannibal prescribe for Will?

At the scene of the crime, the trucker's remains are found high and low. The group theorizes that it's an animal (most likely a bear or wolf) that isn't afraid of humans with a similar bite pattern/MO that matches local livestock mutilation, so this killer (or animal) is urbanizing and evolving his/her natural instincts. Because this case is animal-related, Will visits Peter in a mental health facility to get his opinion - one set of bite marks matches a bear, and the other matches a wolf. Peter also brings up the idea of animal friendship and training animals to hunt together, which shakes Will, as he's heading down that path with Hannibal.

That night, a man in a basement workshop assembles a machine of sorts with animal skeleton parts. Elsewhere, a nicely-dressed couple walks through a snow-covered field and stops near a fire before they're savagely attacked by a shadowy beast. The man is torn into first, and the woman runs, only to trip, fall, and sit up to be face to face with the creature. The next morning, Jack, Will, and the CSIs examine the crime scene, and Will deconstructs the scene, brutalizing the couple as the Stag before becoming an evolved Willdigo.

To Will, this signifies that the killer wants to be an animal and views his victims as prey. And how can the killer become like an animal? By building an skeletal suit, of course! So someone would have noticed this fascination as the killer grew up ... and the technical skills means the killer has engineering skills. This talk of killing comes up in Will and Hannibal's next therapy session, where Will mentions he'd prefer to kill Hannibal using his hands, as it's more satisfying and intimate than using a gun.

In the BAU lab, Zeller and Jimmy look over extinct animals skulls - namely a cave-bear. It couldn't have killed the three victims, and the bite force doesn't match the damage. Jack's sold on the animal skeleton suit idea, and Hannibal recalls a former teenage patient with identity disorder/species dysphoria who felt like an animal in the body of a boy, but those needs subsided as he gained confidence. As it so happens, that boy - Randall Tier - now works at the Museum of Natural History with animal skeletons. Hannibal pays him an after-hours visit to check in and is impressed at how far Randall has come. Randall knows he can't stop and that the FBI is looking for him, but Hannibal gives him a mission. The next day, Jack and Will visit Randall at the museum to ask about the animal skeletons and inquire about his mental history, but Randall says he's all better and that treatment works. That night, Margot pays Will a visit and invites herself in for whiskey and a chat.

Margot, it turns out, isn't the heir to the Verger Meat Packing dynasty - her brother Mason is; but that's not what she came to chat about. She decided to compare notes, patient to patient, on Hannibal and his therapy. The two patients share their private carnage (attempted fratricide versus attempted homicide) and advice Hannibal gave on murder ("If at first you don't succeed,"), and Will brings up the idea of patients comparing notes in his next session with Hannibal. He even brings up Randall as a success story, and they get into ideas of religion and good and evil when it comes to killing. Bedelia gets a mention, too, but Hannibal confirms he didn't kill her. As the session ends, Hannibal suggests that Will have a more personal conversation with Randall; meanwhile, Randall dons his bone suit for another hunt. Will returns home, but his pack is barking and pawing at the door because they sense Hannibal and Randall laying in wait and watching from afar.

Buster gets loose and runs out into the snow, so Will dons his jacket, grabs his rifle, and follows Buster in the snow, only to find the slightly wounded pooch. He picks up Buster, re-arms himself, and high-tails it back to his house before locking the front door and shutting off all the lights. In a surprise move, Randall bursts in through one of the front windows. Hannibal returns home to find Will waiting in the dining room - with a dead Randall on the dinner table. The two are now "Even Steven."

***

As 'Hannibal' continues deeper and deeper into the darkness of Will's psyche, Mason Verger (Michael Pitt) makes an appearance in tonight's "Naka-Choko".

(GIFs from nbchannibal + behnnie)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

'SHIELD' Files: "The Only Light in the Darkness"

Following the breakout from the Fridge in "Providence", Coulson and the gang are going to be busy for a little while ... particularly when an escapee obsessed with a certain cellist is on the loose! Read on for the reviewcap of "The Only Light in the Darkness"!

Marcus Daniels (Patrick Brennan), an escapee from the Fridge glimpsed in "Providence", makes landfall in a harbor on the West Coast and walks to shore as the nearby lights start shutting off. He comes across a fisherman packing up his truck and asks for a ride to Portland, but the man doesn't want to go 200 miles out of his way, so Daniels shuts off the truck, kills the man with a touch, and restarts the truck to drive to Portland as more lights shut off around him. With that kind of power, I'd want to stay far far away from him ...

Meanwhile, Simmons tends to Ward's assorted scrapes and injuries as Ward recounts to the SHIELDies what went down at the Fridge - including that he put two bullets in Garrett's skull (one for him and one for Trip) after taking a beating (a couple of cracked ribs and a hairline cheekbone fracture being the worst of it). He did manage to save the hard drive, though. Coulson is concerned, as the Fridge prisoners are no longer prisoners, so he puts Skye on threat assessment. Marcus Daniels turns up on the list, which is cross-referenced with recent criminal activity, so Coulson makes the decision to pull together a splinter team to head off Daniels. This could be a distraction on HYDRA's part, but Coulson is insistent on doing the right thing - until Eric reminds him of the security issues and brings up the mandatory orientation procedure: THE top-of-the-line wired-up-with-every-kind-of-sensor-imaginable Lie Detector that Fury designed. No word if Widow beat it or not.

Everyone goes through with it, starting with May, who is followed shortly by Fitz, Trip, Skye, and Simmons. May didn't know about Project Insight and only met with Pierce once, but Trip heard Garrett talk with Pierce via phone a few times. It's also revealed that Trip is a Legacy, since his grandfather was a Howling Commando. A deserted island question comes up, and Fitz would want Simmons to appear in his mystery box. As for Simmons ...

Ward's the last to go, and he manages to fool the sensors and Eric until the final follow-up questions ("Are you associated with HYDRA?" and "Why are you really here?" accompanied by a drawn pistol) because his answer and repeated answer to "Why are you here?" didn't satisfy Eric. He gives satisfactory answers ("We all are." and "Skye."), which pacify Eric and fool the system - thanks in part to a pin hidden in the nail bed of his left thumb - which earns him his lanyard. Ward runs into Fitz, who's on his way to a mission briefing, and suggests that he talk to Simmons before he misses the opportunity, as Fitz is still crushed about Simmons potentially having a thing for Trip.

Elsewhere in the base, Coulson briefs his crack team (FitzSimmons and Trip) on Daniels. He was an assistant at a lab trying to harness the electrical power and potential of darkforce (pure negative cosmic energy), but he was exposed to it and developed the ability to absorb conventional energy. The last time Coulson went toe-to-toe with him, he beat Daniels by overloading him with light, so FitzSimmons will need to engineer some way to stop him on the fly. Coulson leaves them to prep, only to be confronted by May, who isn't happy about not flying the mission, and Coulson gives her an ultimatum - follow his orders to leave. En route, Coulson gives Fitz a little more background on Daniels - namely that Daniels is obsessed with a woman he calls the only light in the darkness. And this woman happens to be Audrey Nathan (Amy Acker), a cellist and member of the PDX Philharmonic. Audrey's out for a late night jog, but Marcus slowly follows her and she runs, only to be rescued by Simmons and Trip in an SUV, who claim they're CIA. A separate car drives up as the SUV bolts, and Coulson and Fitz exit with some of Fitz's little drones, which light up Daniels. However, all the testing in the Fridge made Daniels stronger, so he blasts them with darkness and vanishes.

Meanwhile, things are going slowly in Providence, since there's no satellite access. In Eric's office, Skye discovers that the lanyards also double as tracking devices, as he's got an active map of the facility on his tablet. So she comes up with the brilliant idea to hack the NSA's satellites to keep an eye on the Fridge escapees and maybe find footage of the breakout, and she tries to get Ward to help convince Eric to "grab his shield". Ward suggests maybe uploading the hard drive to get weapons specs, but the only issue there is that the hard drive encryption is location-based. This impresses Eric enough to let Skye start hacking, as it'll take about an hour to get the footage into the system.

In Portland, Simmons and Trip continue with the CIA lie in a temporary safe house of sorts (all while Fitz and Coulson are listening from an adjacent bare apartment), but Audrey sees right through it and knows they're SHIELD. She trusts them and doesn't believe the negative reporting about SHIELD, as her reason to trust SHIELD is Phil. Before Daniels was captured, he started stalking her performances and her place of residence (even blacking out her entire block), and then Coulson showed up, stopped Daniels, and grew close to her. The two were prepping a trip up the West Coast until he was called out to New York - and then the dreaded call came in. Fitz suggests that Coulson pop over and say hi, but Coulson's content to let her be, as she's still healing and getting on with her life, and he doesn't want to emotionally hurt her again. He also has an idea to use Audrey as bait to catch and stop Daniels, but Coulson isn't too keen on it.

Back at Providence, May's getting ready to head out, but she runs into Ward and tells him that the range on the Bus is under 10,000 miles, since he asks. And she tells Coulson to tell him whatever he wants about her departure, as Coulson doesn't want her there. Ward makes his way to Eric's office to find that Skye got access to the satellite feeds, but the images are still clearing up. As a precaution, Ward quietly closes the door behind him with Eric still inside the office. Hopping back to Portland, Fitz and Coulson get the tech set up in the lighting booth - a device from the jet's power reserves will be able to modify the frequency and wavelength of individual stage lights, similar to gamma rays. However, there's an unlikely chance that Daniels will absorb the energy; I'll give you one guess who designed the tech.

While the set-up progresses there, Skye heads to Eric's office in the base to find no Eric and a cleared-up image feed. Ward enters, telling her that Eric's gone to send the images to NATO and that May left, so they finally share a drink and have a heart-to-heart about whether or not there's an "us". He admits that he still has skeletons and isn't always a good person, as his older brother made him beat up his younger brother when they were younger, among other things. Still convinced he's a good man, she kisses him, but pulls a hand back from his head to find blood, so he goes to clean it up. The ever-so-curious Skye pulls out Eric's tablet to track Eric and Ward, who cleans up and cleans off his garrote. He returns to find Skye gone, but she's tracked Eric's signal to a security/supply closet, and she notices a falling penny when she opens the door. Inside, she doesn't find Eric until some blood drips from a ceiling grate, and a distraught Skye locks herself in a nearby bathroom as Ward approaches.

The trap is ready for Daniels, who takes the bait as Audrey plays her cello and the SHIELDies lay in wait with their tricked-out stage lights. He approaches the stage, and FitzSimmons and Trip attempt to overload him with the lights, but he blasts them away and continues toward the stage. In a last-ditch effort, Coulson lights him up from the orchestra and gets some help from Trip, which causes Daniels to go to pieces and briefly knocks out Audrey. Coulson quickly checks her vitals, promises he's still with her, and gets out of the way in time for the team to surround her as she comes to.

Still on the hunt, Ward heads to the same security/supply closet and opens the door to catch the penny. Skye shows up behind him and lies that she got a little scared regarding the whole "us" discussion, but she's not scared anymore. Instead, she wants what they have and to stay in the base, but Ward's got word that Fitz and the team need their help outside the base. The Bus is fueled up, they've got the Okay from Eric, and they need to leave ASAP, which they do, and Skye gets to choose the coordinates once they're in the air.

En route back to Providence, Fitz checks on Coulson's emotional well-being, and he's coping, even though he lied to Audrey; he'll tell her the truth someday, in the hopes she'll understand. Coulson's even feeling well enough to make things up with May. He heads to the cockpit to check with Trip, and Simmons pops into the passenger area to talk about Trip with Fitz, who admits that he hates change instead of coming clean about his feelings. The quartet arrives back at the base to find no Bus and no team.

Further down in Canada, May's hoofing it along a highway in Ontario when an older Asian woman pulls over to give her a lift. Lo and behold, it's Mama May, who drive 500 miles out of her way to pick her up - and all because May trusts her mom. Since her agency hasn't fallen apart, Mama May managed to get some necessary paperwork for her daughter, who is looking for one person who isn't hard to find. Thankfully, Melinda doesn't want to take this person out - just to talk - and Mama May is pleased about this as they continue down the highway.

***

"The Only Light in the Darkness" felt a little on the light side, maybe because Marcus Daniels/Blackout wasn't as intimidating or as developed as other villains. His defeat wasn't drawn out, but it was too short, much like the boss battles in the first two 'Iron Man' movies. Maybe it's just me. It was finally nice to put a name and face to the title of The Cellist, though. 'Agents of SHIELD' returns tonight with "Nothing Personal", as Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) steps up to help Coulson and the team.

(GIFs from marvelshieldagents)

[theanglerfishmagazine]

Devouring 'Hannibal': "Su-zakana"

With Will out of the hospital, his reckoning is slowly coming to fruition in "Su-zakana". Read on for the reviewcap!

We find Will and Jack ice-fishing for trout and they talk about catching fish with live bait, alluding to a potential way to net the Chesapeake Ripper/Hannibal - even though Jack seems to be satisfied with Chilton (whose fate is still up in the air) as the Ripper. That night, Hannibal preps the trouts and serves them in an ouroboros fashion in broth, as it was Will's turn to provide the meat. The three men have come to terms with what has passed between them, and they hope to make things better - even though Hannibal framed Will, Will tried to have Hannibal killed, and Jack has doubted both. The next morning at Black Briar Stables, a stablehand leads a vet over to a dead horse that gave birth to a stillborn foal a few days prior. The vet notices that someone performed a C-section on the horse, so he cuts open the stitches and digs in to pull a dead woman out of the horse's womb.

Hannibal, Jack, Jimmy, and Zeller examine the crime scene and attempt to theorize what happened. One thinks a potential cult sacrifice, another considers the spiritual nature of rebirth, as the horse was sick and Sarah Craber, the dead woman, was strangled before being placed in the womb. They agree that the killer is beyond them and they need to find someone who doesn't think like anyone else to find the killer - perhaps Will? Elsewhere, Margot Verger (Katherine Isabelle) is abused by her sadistic brother Mason (Michael Pitt), and attends a therapy session with Hannibal, as she tried to kill Mason and suffered an arm injury. Hannibal prods her to potentially try again, as it would be therapeutic. Speaking of therapeutic, Hannibal and Alana share Hannibal's bed again, as it's Hannibal's way of avoiding where their conversation was going. Alana still finds it strange - even stranger than the case of the week - that Will is back in therapy with Hannibal. The autopsy of Sarah Craber, a horse groomer employed by the stables who was missing for a week, begins in the BAU morgue. Jimmy and Zeller find a clod of dirt stuck in her throat, which they remove, and they then realize there's a heartbeat, so they cut her open to be surprised by a starling that flies from her open chest cavity to settle in the rafters.

Meanwhile, Will visits the stables with the case file and mentally reinacts the crime scene, rationalizing the killer's staging as an act of grief and an attempt at rebirth. He realizes that the killer knew the horse and Sarah, and was also familiar with the stables but probably lacked veterinary knowledge. The roster of stable employees turns up Peter Bernardone (Jeremy Davies), who is concerned about the starling and keeps lots of animals in his barn, as he's named after the patron saint of animals. Peter, however, isn't mentally stable, as a horse kicked him in the head some months back, resulting in speech impediments and sight/touch issues. So if he's the killer, it wasn't intentional, and if he isn't, he might know who it is. Later, Hannibal and Will sit down for another therapy session, and Will begins to take control to bait Hannibal, egging him on by saying that he fantasizes about killing the good doctor with his hands and that he finally finds him interesting.

Afterwards, Will is called out to a new active crime scene - fifteen corpses and sixteen graves unearthed from beneath the snow; the dirt from Sarah's throat lead the BAU team there. Before examining the scene, Zeller offers an apology to Will near the crime scene tape line, and Will cordially declines to accept it, as Zeller doesn't owe him anything and the evidence against him was compelling. Back at Hannibal's. Margot is in for another therapy session, and they discuss being weird. Hannibal even suggests (most likely based on his experiences with Will) that Margot either wait to kill Mason until she can get away with it or find someone to kill him for her.

The next day, Will brings the caged starling to Peter as a show of good will, and the two bond over Sarah. Realizing that the killer is most likely a friend of Peter's, the team uncovers Clark Ingram (Chris Diamantopoulos), Peter's social worker. In questioning with Alana, it's revealed that Clark omitted some information in his case files on Peter, and he doesn't feel sorry for him. Everyone behind the glass is leaning towards Clark being a psychopath, as he doesn't care for physical contact or emotion. A little while later, Peter returns to his barn to see all of his cages open and toppled, so he rushes to the main stable to find another dead horse (the one that kicked Peter) in front of a hammer-wielding Clark, who elicits concern for Peter and his emotional well-being in an attempt to manipulate him into committing another heinous act. Meanwhile, Hannibal and Will drive out to Peter's barn in the snow, only to find it in the same state before rushing to the main stable to find a bloodied Peter sewing up the horse's stomach.

Will talks Peter down and comforts him by taking him back to Peter's barn, not realizing that Peter's fear of hurting anything is still a factor until Peter says that he wanted Clark to experience the suffocation and death he created. Hannibal stays behind to pet one of the sheep in the stables and turns to see a bloodied Clark crawl out of the horse and grab his discarded hammer. Hannibal smartly suggests that Clark crawl back inside the horse, as Will's waiting behind Hannibal with his gun drawn. Driven by his emotions, Will is intent on killing Clark as Peter's friend, not an extension of the FBI. Hannibal, however, stops Will from firing at the last second, and is astounded at how Will has hatched from his psychopathic cocoon.

***

Tonight's episode, "Shiizakana", introduces Will to Margot while an investigation of a serial killer wearing a man-made skeletal killing machine perplexes the BAU team.

(GIFs from nbchannibal + behnnie)