In episode 4, Hannibal spends a lot of time wondering what the concept of a dignified, self-inflicted death really is and this is highlighted with the return of the terminally ill Bella. The killer featured in this episode seemed a little cheap to me, there was only one death and the killer rolls over very easily despite an exceptional actress portraying her. While I understood her motivations, the presentation of these killing seemed lacking in comparison to others we have seen, and this episode could have done without them as it distracts from the other storylines progressing in this episode.
The case of the beehive killer sheds light on more than Jack’s internal debate over whether he should accept his wife’s desire to die with dignity. It also gives us, by way of contrast, more insight into Hannibal, for whom the idea of killing for mercy is so alien as he decides whether to Bella die or save her on a coin toss, like a child’s game. The Bella storyline was one of the best in this episode as she had agreed to start chemo for her husband’s benefit, but as she tells Hannibal, the most treatment can do is manage her pain while she spends her days puking her guts out. A proud woman to begin with, Bella has how ugly the last days of lung cancer can be as she watched her own mother die in agony from the disease and doesn’t wish for Jack’s final memories of her to be the same as hers. It seems that Hannibal subtly endorses the idea of dying on her own terms despite his actions later on in the episode. As both a doctor and a killer, Hannibal loves the idea of playing God but in my opinion, the main reason he saves Bella isn’t to comfort Jack but to keep him on side. If Hannibal had let Bella die in his office after she has already spoken about killing herself, Jack wouldn’t have been able to forgive him after he expressed a desire to extend his wife’s life as long as possible. To Hannibal having Jack on his side is far more important than what Bella wants and when she strikes him in the hospital it is well deserved.
The killer in this episode is played by the wonderful Molly Shannon, who I recognise from the Hunger Games movies. She portrays an acupuncture therapist and beekeeper, she’s soft-spoken and sociable, deliberately portraying a different kind of killer that usually perpetrates Hannibal‘s brand of death-as-art-installation. When her patients lose their way, she finds it for them, both are lobotomized before they’re turned over to the bees, robbing them of any choice. Still, she’s so certain she’s doing the right thing that she calmly explains what she’s doing to Jack as if it’s nothing more than a slightly unorthodox treatment.
This conversation/confession brings the viewer’s thoughts back to Hannibal as Bedelia mentioned that he has convinced himself he has acted in Will’s best interest as well as his own by framing him. Hannibal in himself can only extend this level of empathy to people he sees as his equals, everyone else is just chaff to be done away with the moment it inconveniences him. The other, much less emotionally plotline centres on Will and Beverly’s search for the truth. Will comes up with the idea for him to be Chilton’s exclusive patient effectively cutting himself off from Hannibal, which unnerves the man a little. But thanks to Dr. Chilton’s dose of truth serum, Will finally figures out that his encephalitis was induced or at the very least encouraged by Hannibal, providing him with the perfectly unstable patsy for his killing spree. He even figures out Hannibal’s signature: not just taking trophies, but consuming them which leads him to ask Beverly to look further into this.
As she is mainly operating under Jack’s radar on re-examining the evidence, Beverly makes the choice to break into Hannibal’s home while he is visiting Will, seemingly unaware of the fact that Will has stopped Hannibal from visiting him. This is phenomenally stupid, and I suspect we’ve seen the last of Beverly as she finds the evidence she needs in Hannibal’s home only to have the man himself pop up from behind her. While we don’t see her die, we do see a gunshot coming through the floor from the basement, which indicates at the very least Hannibal has Beverly on her back. If we think back to the fight in episode 1, if Hannibal can go up against Jack without to much effort, then Beverly stands no chance. This is also damning for Will as Beverly was the only one he was able to convince to actually investigate Hannibal further than what was originally done. While this new season has had some action-packed moments, it doesn’t evoke the same excitement in me like season 1, however, it is a lot more emotionally delving deeper in the minds of the characters and their relationships with each other. I will give a shout out to Price and Zeller, in this episode and the series in general, they seem to be the unintended comic relief and I actually like that in a hard-hitting, heavy series like Hannibal.
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