‘Hannibal’ Recap: Lecter Escapes Jack In ‘Contorno’

Hannibal episode “Contonrno” opens with Will and Chiyoh talking on their train ride to Florence while Hannibal prepares escargot for Bedelia.

Hannibal Recap

Chiyo (Tao Okamoto) talks to Will (Hugh Dancy) onboard the train about how she had been hired to work as Hannibal’s aunt’s attendant and to learn the trade. However, it was Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) from whom she learned the most. To this day, Chiyo says that she’s maintained control of herself, unlike Will, who had thought that they were a bit more alike. As night falls and the two take to their beds, they continue to discuss Hannibal, with Will still searching for similarities between them. Chiyo observes that Will fears that if he does not kill Hannibal that he will become him, which Will concedes is true. Further into the night, Will notices that Chiyo is missing and finds her outside the last train car. She informs him that she’s always known that Hannibal was in Florence, and pushes Will from the train car. Somehow, he survives.

In Florence, Hannibal waits with Bedelia (Gillian Anderson) for Will to come to him, knowing that once he arrives that he must kill his former friend, while Jack (Laaurence Fishburne) dines with Inspector Pazzi (Fortunato Cerlino) and his wife, learning that Pazzi is trying to find Hannibal on his own. Also on the hunt for Hannibal are Alana (Caroline Dhavernas) and Mason (Joe Anderson) back in Baltimore, who’ve uncovered Hannibal’s location from a frequently repeated grocery purchase at Florence’s Vera Dal 1926 that smells of his tastes.

Pazzi, ignoring Jack’s advice to stay away from Hannibal, confronts him at the Palazzo Capponi, but addresses him by his assumed identity of Dr. Fell. Not only does he ask him about Sogliato, but about his late predecessor as well.  Hannibal, of course, plays it cool, turning the tables by showing his knowledge of Pazzi’s lineage, which includes a man who was murdered after trying to assassinate someone. After leaving the Palazzo, Pazzi dials Mason up to talk about the bounty on Hannibal’s head. He’d rather the money than the credit, which Hannibal realizes and understands.

Pazzi learns from Mason and Alana that he’ll get paid $3 million for delivering Hannibal alive so that they can torture and then kill him. He agrees. What he doesn’t agree to is the fact that Hannibal is going to kill him. When Pazzi returns to the Palazzo with an heirloom to lure Hannibal, Hannibal has no intention of falling for the inspector’s tricks. He knocks him out with a chloroform-soaked cloth and ties him up. As Pazzi comes to, his phone starts to ring. Hannibal answers it and finds Alana on the phone. With the confirmation that Pazzi was working with her and Mason, Hannibal guts him and hangs him from the balcony.

With Pazzi hanging, Hannibal looks down after him and spots Jack. Jack races into the building. Hannibal looks as though he’s about to flee but then reconsiders. He unfolds the knife in his hand and tries to lure Jack out from wherever he’s hiding. Jack manages to sneak up on him and kick him through some glass. He then delivers punch after punch and kick after kick, and at one point, rams a hook into Hannibal’s leg, relishing the slow beating. Hannibal crawls over the the balcony, seemingly resigned to his imminent death. Jack pushes him out the window, but Hannibal, with fight in him yet, grabs on to Pazzi’s dangling body and manages to lower himself to the ground. Standing up, he looks up at Jack and hobbles off.