Kaiseki

Kaiseki
Season 2, Episode 1
Air date	February 28, 2014
Written by	Bryan Fuller Steve Lightfoot
Directed by	Tim Hunter
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"Kaiseki" is the premiere episode of Season 2, and overall the fourteenth produced hour of Hannibal. It originally aired on February 28, 2014.

Plot

While Will continues to assert his innocence, Hannibal and Jack try to come to terms with the fact that he's in jail.

Synopsis

Hannibal is cutting up meat and preparing a dinner when Jack enters the room, and as he enters, a fight commences between the two. Jack is impaled in the hand by Hannibal's knife, Jack pulls out the knife and attempts to stab Hannibal with it, however Hannibal disarms him. Jack pushes Hannibal against the wall, and then they fight in hand-to-hand-combat until Hannibal manages to knock Jack down, then hitting him again by opening the fridge. Jack takes off his tie, and uses it to cover his injury on his hand, and afterwards, Hannibal tries to stab him again, but he couldn't. Jack hits Hannibal to the ground, and starts to punch him. Jack then tries to choke Hannibal, but once Jack sets him onto the ground, Hannibal takes a shard of glass from the floor and uses it to stab Jack in the neck. Jack runs into another room, Hannibal grabs a knife and tries to bang the door open. Hannibal is seen cutting again.

Twelve weeks earlier

Hannibal is preparing a dish as he has Jack over for dinner, the dish is called Kaiseki. Hannibal says that they're mourning a death, Will's. Jack says that Will's death is on him, but Hannibal disagrees, it's on the both of them. Jack can't believe that Will may be convicted of five murders, while he could only be convicted of one; Jack will be on trial - in the halls of the FBI, as will Hannibal. Jack informs Hannibal that Will is insisting that Hannibal is the one that committed all the crimes, not him. Hannibal believes that it's in their best interest for Jack to investigate him.

Will is envisioning himself fishing when he sees a deer. He finds himself back in reality, where Fredrick Chilton is talking to him, but he can't hear what Chilton's saying. Will tells Chilton that he feels like he's sitting in a dunk tank, and Chilton keeps missing the target, and can't make Will splash into the water. And according to Chilton, he fortunately has more time with Will, given he is his patient now. Will doesn't want to cooperate with Chilton however, he'd rather talk to Hannibal. Will closes his eyes, and it zones back to the water, where the stag submerges.

Jack and Alana are at a meeting with FBI authority, discussing a report Alana made on Jack, regarding Will, because she had initially cautioned him to not allow Will to enter the field. In her report, there were allegations of misconduct - a lapse in judgement by Jack. The authority says there will be an internal investigation, which Alana agrees there should be, and then tells Alana she has "wounded" Jack. She asks Alana to recant her report, and let the incident quietly fade, but Alana refuses to do so; because of Jack, Will's life has been destroyed, and there has to be record of that. It's going to get ugly, but Jack knows that already.

Two men are wading upstream in a river, they remark that someone must have busted a beaver dam, one of them begins to try and pull something from a deep part of the river when a body rises to the top and the two men are terrified to discover multiple bodies.

At a meeting with Bedelia, Hannibal informs her that he desires to visit Will, he is curious about the way Will thinks, regardless of the recent events that unfolded. Bedelia thinks because Will requested to see Hannibal, Will has intent to manipulate him. Bedelia thinks Hannibal is obsessed with Will, and if he goes to see him, it will ensure his intent to manipulate him, but Hannibal claims that he's just intrigued by Will. When Bedelia asks him why he thinks Will is his friend, Hannibal tells her he admires Will's honesty, maybe he sees some of that honesty in himself?

Hannibal goes against Bedelia's recommendations and visits Will at Baltimore State Hospital. Will informs Hannibal that he used to hear voices in his head of his own accent, as if he were speaking, but now it sounds as if Hannibal is speaking in his head; he can't get Hannibal out of his head. Hannibal says that's what friendship does sometimes, but Will informs him they're far off the spectrum of friendship. Hannibal tells Will it's probably easier to pin the blame for the murders on him, but he should accept his own responsibility. Will needs clarity, but believes he has clarity, about Hannibal, what he did to him is in his head, and the time will come when he remembers.

Beverly is taking a swabbing of Hannibal's mouth, as well as investigating his attire for evidence.

The crew are at the water where the two men found a body. Hannibal approaches Jack, who tells him he needs aid with a psychological profile. They've recovered four bodies in the water, with at least another on its way. The bodies rotted from the inside out; someone went through a lot of effort to preserve them, as if a recipe. Whoever did this hasn't figured out their methods yet; they're unprepared.

Hannibal is at another meeting with Bedelia, where he informs her that Will has made accusations. Hannibal felt as if he got to be Will Graham that day—he consulted at an FBI crime scene, stood in Will's shoes, and saw death. Bedelia tells him he maintains an air of transparency, and is putting her in a position of lying for him, again. Neither she, nor Jack are aware of what Hannibal is capable of, according to him.

Alana is with Will's dogs, entertaining them for Will while he's in confinement, and she is also visiting him. Will tells her he doesn't have any legal representation, but that's because he keeps firing his lawyers, as they all work for the FBI. She tells him she'll find a lawyer who isn't affiliated with the FBI. Will asks Alana if she thinks he has a chance, and she tells him he isn't conscious of his actions, and he can argue that. In his office, Frederick Chilton is eavesdropping on their conversation as Will tells Alana he can hear Hannibal's voice in his head; he can hear Hannibal saying things he's never said before. Alana uses a hypnotism method to get into Will's head and Will envisions himself at the head of Hannibal's dining table, which is covered with live animals and food, and at the opposite end is the deer, and on his plate is an ear - Abigail's ear.

Chilton is over at Hannibal's, having a meal, and Chilton informs Hannibal that Alana was at the hospital that day, visiting his patient, Will. Will was never Hannibal's patient, but he is Chilton's, however he refuses to speak to him. He tells Hannibal that Will is telling everyone that he is a monster, in which case he tells Chilton he is "dining with a psychopathic murderer."

A man commuting home on the subway is approached by an unseen man who grasps his hand and comments on his nice skin. Visibly uncomfortable, the commuter pulls his hand away. Later that night the same commuter checks on his car because the alarm is sounding. What looks like a clear plastic bag is hanging from the closed trunk. As he opens the trunk to investigate he's approached from behind by an unknown man. He's now unconscious on a table, stripped of his clothes. Someone prepares and injects him with what appears to be heroin, and then stitches two unknown body parts together. Still alive, but visibly affected by the heroin, the commuter is sprayed with water.

In the autopsy room, Jack, Beverly, Brian, and Jimmy are investigating the bodies found in the water. As they talk about the evidence and data they have so far, Jack issues an order to look for missing people in the bordering states. Beverly goes to visit Will at the hospital, who isn't sure how she feels about visiting him. Beverly informs him about a lot of people being missing, and shows him the file for the case with pictures. Will reorganizes the pictures of the possible victims, in which he notices a color palette. Will is in his cell and eating his food, and as he does he envisions Hannibal shoving a tube down his throat, and pushing Abigail's ear down it. And back in the cell, he coughs up his food.

Jack visits Will's house, and Alana shows up and enters the house, and they discuss Alana's report on him. Jack accepts it, she questioned his judgement for the good of Will. Hannibal's guilt has been cleared, and Alana doesn't think Will is guilty, but Jack needs proof to believe it.

Will is fishing at the pond again, as he envisions Jack on the side, Jack has come to visit him again. Jack still isn't convinced of Will's innocence, and he informs Will that they investigated his claims of Hannibal's guilt, but could find no evidence indicting him. Will still insists he isn't guilty, but Hannibal is, and Jack leaves.

The abducted commuter wakes up to find himself nude and unable to move, surrounded by nude, dead bodies, and screams.

Trivia

• The episode's title, Kaiseki (懐石), refers to a traditional Japanese multi-course dinner.
• In the script, the soundtrack for the buildup to the Hannibal-Jack fight is Hannibal’s heartbeat, which does not accelerate, referencing his steady EKG reading when he attacked the nurse as recounted in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs.
• The scenes of Will in the stream were reshot during the production of “Takiawase ” because, according to Bryan Fuller on the audio commentary, the original footage shot on the first day of season 2’s production showed Will up to nipple-level in a still, motionless stream.
• The conversation between Will and Hannibal is a reworking of a scene initially scripted as the final scene of season 1. After going through several drafts, Fuller finally decided to end season 1 on Hannibal and Will simply greeting one another through the bars, and to save this scene for later.

Book to Show

• Hannibal references Murasaki, his aunt who plays a key role in the novel Hannibal Rising. The loss he is referring to may be the death of his uncle Robert.
• Although Will was never accused of Hannibal's crimes (or any crimes) in the books, he was institutionalized (at Bethesda Naval Hospital) after he went into a deep depression following his shooting of Garret Jacob Hobbs, as related in the novel Red Dragon.
• Hannibal’s reference to Will viewing his mentality as “grotesque but useful, like a chair made of antlers” comes from narration in Red Dragon.
• Kade Prurnell is a pastiche of Paul Krendler, Clarice’s bureaucratic and misogynistic nemesis from The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. The original plan was for the character to be gender-flipped as Paula Krendler, similar to Alana Bloom and Freddie Lounds, but MGM holds the rights to the Krendler character since he first appeared in The Silence of the Lambs. Prurnell’s name is an anagram of “Paul Krendler.” According to Fuller, the use an anagram is in itself a playful reference to Hannibal's fondness for anagrams in the film adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs ("Miss Hester Mofet" and "Louis Friend" for "Miss the Rest of Me" and "Iron Sulfide," respectively).
• Chilton recording Alana and Will’s conversation references him doing the same to Clarice and Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs. Raúl Esparza intentionally imitated Anthony Heald’s pen-chewing from a scene in the film adaptation.
• Chilton’s reference to fumbling with Will’s head like a freshman with a panty girdle is an insult Hannibal says to Will regarding Chilton in Red Dragon.
• Hannibal’s signature is in the style of copperplate calligraphy, the style he uses in his letters to Clarice in both the novel and film Hannibal.
• Chilton's dialogue to Hannibal about Will ("so lucid, so perceptive...") is adapted from similar dialogue Chilton speaks to Will about Hannibal in Red Dragon.
• The episode's killer (credited only as "The Killer") calls to minds Jame Gumb, the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, in his fascination with skin. Patrick Garrow's portrayal also resembles actor Ted Levine's look and demeanor in the film adaptation of Silence. In "Takiawase," his name is revealed to be "James Gray," which also is phonetically similar to Gumb's name.
• Beverly consulting with Will while he is in custody at BSHCI parallels Will and Clarice consulting with an institutionalized Hannibal in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, respectively. Will asking for pictures of the crime scenes references Hannibal requesting the same from Will in Red Dragon. The dialogue when Will guesses that Beverly wants to know how the killer is "choosing them" is also taken from Hannibal and Will's exchange.

Cut Scenes

• The original planned theme for the discovery of the corpses was "human soup": they would be found in an indoor pool floating in liquified human remains. When the producers realized that the script contained almost entirely interior scenes, they moved the location to the dam in order to bring the episode outside for a few scenes.​​​​​​​
• The DVD and Blu Ray feature a deleted scene of Jack interviewing Bedelia about Hannibal’s relationship with Will.
• The script has a slightly more elaborate version of the scene where Beverly shows Will photos of the victims, in which the pendulum in Will's mind swings back and forth revealing the faces of the victims as he scrutinizes them. This was simplified for budgetary reasons.