Nana-Choko has to be one of my favourite episodes so far as we get the return of the sex scenes but this one has far more purpose than the previous one. We get a dual scene where Will sleeps with Margot and Hannibal sleeps with Alana, although during this scene Margot transforms into Alana, telling the viewer that Will still has feelings for Alana, although she has none for him. Will also seems very bitter about the fact she is sleeping with Hannibal although he doesn’t show it to the doctor.
We have the tale of Margot and Mason Verger, in whose family drama Hannibal sees the opportunity for another protégé, however, from the original books and movies, we know that Hannibal ends up mutilating Mason which leads to a major vendetta between the pair. Will reaches several points of no return in this episode and the most obvious one is his encounters with both Alana and Margot. The relationship between Will and Hannibal takes over any other in the show no matter how intimate, but there is also an intimacy between Hannibal and Will as well. Naka-Choko also returns us to the bigger after focusing on smaller, individual issues or people for the past couple of episodes. Mostly, that’s because the killer of the week is Will Graham: after a flashback in which we learn Will opted to kill Randall with his bare hands. The decision to abandon his shotgun is an important one: Will is choosing violence beyond what’s absolutely necessary, turning what could have been a quick, almost bloodless mercy killing into an opportunity to let his personal demons come out to play.
Because of this, it isn’t a surprise when Hannibal smiled at Randall’s corpse, by Mads Mikkelsen standards, is the rough equivalent of a normal human being jumping up and down and clapping his hands. Hannibal disposes of Randall’s corpse by turning it into an elaborate display, one that immediately attracts the attention of the FBI. Jack obviously calls his two most trusted profilers to the scene, and there is an important shift here; Jack once abandoned Will for Hannibal, and then the reverse happened, now we see will abandoning Jack. Will loyalty isn’t completely gone in the grand scheme of things and we have no doubt that he has abandoned his loyalty while he is following his mission to take down Hannibal. But in the short term, he’s committed to that mission by dedicating himself fully to Hannibal’s side of the law.
The crime scene in the natural history museum, in which Will and Hannibal essentially debate Will’s motives while Jack looks on in ignorance, and this is the first of two incidents that underscore the triad’s new orientation. The other scene that really cemented Will’s new loyalty for me was when the trio discusses the disappearance of Freddie Lounds, playing a voicemail of Freddie screaming. We know that Will killed her and then presented her meat to Hannibal which the pair then ate. During this scene, Will and Hannibal sit, side by side, on the other side of Jack’s desk, covering for one another like two seasoned pros. Even Freddie’s murder reflects the newfound relationship between the two: Hannibal intends to do away with her, as his Murder Suit plainly indicates, but Will gets there first, depriving him of his kill but he is still impressed with this new Will.
Freddie is another parallel with Hannibal. Her break-in to Will’s barn and subsequent discovery of Randall’s bone-suit and remains, plays out just like Beverly’s raid on Hannibal’s in-house studio. Unlike with Beverly, however, we see Freddie’s death play out: we watch her discover an unmistakably human jaw, we see Will calmly explain he can’t let her go, and then we see him drag her out of the car with a face that clearly displays his intent. Before she meets her demise, though, Freddie manages to plant the seed Will failed to: Alana’s suspicion of Hannibal. It’s unclear why she’s so much more inclined to listen to Freddie than her former love interest, but Freddie’s theory about Hannibal and Will hits home. Alana and Jack are now on the lookout for suspicious activity, and while it’s not clear why it’s Hannibal and not Will in the blowout fight with Jack that’s coming up, the path to get there is now clearly set and I can’t wait to see it play out in the final 3 episodes of this season. In the final season, I am sure we are either going to see Hannibal taken down for good or he’s going to kill anyone and everyone that stands in his way, including Will, although I am hoping they might become a murder duo.
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