Hannibal Season 3, Episode 5
"Contorno"
Original airdate: July 2, 2015
Writers: Tom de Ville, Bryan Fuller, Steve Lightfoot
Director: Guillermo Navarro
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Caroline Dhavernas, Gillian Anderson
The prologues are behind us now. All of the pieces have moved into place on Hannibal for the great pursuit we've been waiting for since the end of last season. Every key player in the battle to control Hannibal's destiny has chosen a side, a path, a means of getting to him from across the world. Now all that's left is to see how they fare when they arrive.
"Contorno" moves like a freight train. As if to prove that, the very first scene unfolds on an actual train, as Will and his new ally Chiyoh travel across Europe in search of Hannibal. Along the way, Chiyoh observes that some snails will be swallowed by birds only to survive the animal's digestive tract and come out the other side "having traveled the world."
Will, in a bemused mood as he learns more about Chiyoh's relationship with Hannibal, simply responds: "In the belly of the beast."
It's interesting to see Will's mood shift as he barrels toward Hannibal, because he's not alone. Everyone seems to be just a little bit lighter, buoyed by their purpose, in "Contorno." In Florence, Jack's spending some time getting to know Pazzi, trying to trace the detective's motives as they both try to close in on Hannibal and his position as Dr. Roman Fell while also taking some time to spread Bella's ashes in the river. On the train, Will and Chiyoh bond over their respective pasts with Hannibal. And in America, Alana reveals to Mason that she's uncovered a clue simply by knowing Hannibal's tastes: A speciality food store in Florence that sells the same bottles of wine and the same white truffles to a "blonde woman" every single week. It would seem Hannibal is snared again, but as anyone who's been following the show from the beginning knows, it's never that simple. All of these people are still, whether they know it or not, in the belly of the particular beast that is Hannibal Lecter, and while some of them might pass through alive, others won't make it.
Which brings us to Pazzi. After confiding to Jack that he's operating in Florence completely independently of his authority as a cop (his colleagues at the office consider him a laughingstock), Pazzi decides to meet "Dr. Fell" in situ, confirming with his own eyes that it's the same young man he remembers from the Botticelli galleries all those years ago. The issue, of course, is that Lecter remembers him as well, from the same moments, the same stolen glances, and therefore knows what he has to do. So while Pazzi is in communication with Mason and Alana, hoping to collect the hefty reward Mason's offered for Hannibal's capture, Hannibal's talking with Bedelia about how to solve this particular problem.
Meanwhile, Chiyoh reveals that she knows more of Hannibal's whereabouts than she perhaps previously let on, and though she's bonded with Will she's also quite happy to toss him out of the back of the train they're sharing across Europe, leaving Will stranded but with a sense of Hannibal's whereabouts.
Which brings us back to Pazzi. In Italian cuisine, a "contorno" is a side dish, often composed of vegetables. It's not the main course, and is traditionally served apart from meats. This is Pazzi's lot in the episode, as he returns to try to trick Hannibal into offering up a usable fingerprint. Hannibal's way ahead of him, though, and chloroforms Pazzi before he can get the upper hand. When our side dish awakens, he's strapped to a dolly, his mouth taped.
Hannibal's Italian sojourn in general, but specifically his time with Pazzi, is a direct adaptation of scenes from Hannibal, Thomas Harris's sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, and this particular scene lifts moments directly not just from the book, but from Ridley Scott's film adaptation of the same name. Like one of his ancestors who was hanged for allegedly betraying the Medici, Pazzi is noosed up, and Hannibal decides that he'll also hang with his bowels out, like certain depictions of Judas Iscariot. After answering a few questions for Hannibal in the hope that it'll save his life, Pazzi goes out the window, his entrails splattering into a courtyard below, his body swinging. The contorno is, if you'll permit me, absolutely cooked.
This is, for my money, one of the most dramatically interesting homages to previous Hannibal Lecter adaptations we get in the whole of the series, because director Guillermo Navarro both stages a lovely recreation and trains our eyes as fans to expect a certain kind of ending from this encounter. We've seen Hannibal find his way through these snares countless times, so of course he'll get the jump on Pazzi, of course he'll kill him, and of course he'll get away. Then, brilliantly, the tables turn. Jack, already suspecting that Pazzi will act extrajudicially, shows up in the courtyard just as the body begins to sway back and forth, and looks up to find Hannibal in the window. This is a complication, one that Hannibal views with his usual fascination, and again, we think we know the rhythm of what's about to happen, because we've been with these characters for nearly three years.
Inside, Jack walks through the exhibits Hannibal has curated, while Hannibal hides in the shadows and taunts him about Bella's death. Jack came here to save Will from himself, yes, but he also came here to scatter Bella's ashes, so this should be prime red meat to get him completely lost in rage. Jack, however single-minded he can be sometimes, has learned from past encounters, though, and he manages to surprise Hannibal instead of the other way around. For the next few minutes, we get to watch gleefully as Jack Crawford kicks Hannibal's ass up and down Florence, knocking him through glass display cases, beating his face pulpy, and just generally destroying Hannibal in a way that, you can tell, he's been dreaming about for a very long time.
And yet, even here, Hannibal manages to slip away. Jack kicks him out the same window Pazzi just went through, and Hannibal uses the body of his latest victim to shimmy down to safety instead of outright falling. He's wounded, hobbled, and shocked, but he still manages to get free, leaving Jack with bloody knuckles and not much to show for them. He fought well, and he got many licks in, but he's still passing through the belly of the beast.
This episode, more than any other this season, really underlines the contrasts at work in the visuals of this season, because for the first time in a while, we can see Jack and Will sort of, if not enjoying themselves, then at least appreciating certain things about what they're experiencing. Europe is beautiful, after all, and Florence especially so, but it can only ever be so beautiful while it's Hannibal's Europe, and Hannibal's Florence. Now, Hannibal's carefully curated new world is cracking, and more challengers await. Who will find him next, and what will they do when they close in? We seem to be nearing the end of something, but whose end?
Next Time: "Dolce"
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