Season 2, Episode 5:
Mukozuke
After getting too close to the truth, Beverly Katz is made an example of by the Chesapeake Ripper, and the FBI reels from the loss of their colleague. Realizing Hannibal is responsible, Will begins enacting a plan to bring down his former psychiatrist once and for all, but in his blind rage, he may damage his carefully-laid plans and become the very thing he's accused of...
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Matthew Brown. Despite being very intelligent and pragmatic, he's clearly insane.
- Badass in Distress: Hannibal.
- Batman Gambit: Will plays on Freddie Lounds' obsession with him and offers her an exclusive interview as part of his plan to discover his secret admirer. He then plays on his admirer's affections by convincing him to kill Hannibal.
- Body Horror: Par the course, but this time it's more emotional both in-universe and out because the body in question is Beverly, vivisected and put on slides like a science project, with her kidneys removed.
- The Bus Came Back: Abel Gideon, both in-universe and out.
- Call-Back: Last season Hannibal encouraged Gideon to kill Alana Bloom, then sent Will after Gideon to stop him. In this episode everything is nearly perfectly reversed: Gideon encouraged Will to arrange Hannibal's death, then sent Alana after Will's assassin for similarly questionable motives.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The man responsible for Will's 'gift' in Hassun? One of his caretakers at the hospital.
- Subverted with the judge's murder; turns out that was indeed Hannibal.
- Enemy Mine: This episode is packed with Will Graham turning to enemies and villains for help. He seeks Abel Gideon's counsel on how to deal with the Ripper, Freddie Lounds' help in drawing out his quote-unquote copycat, and Matthew Brown's murderous allegiance in his mission to stop Hannibal.
- Evil Versus Evil: Hannibal versus Matthew Brown.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Matthew Brown turns out to be very good at it.
- Killed Off for Real: Beverly Katz.
- Manipulative Bastard: Will continues to play everyone in his ongoing game of Xanatos Speed Chess with Hannibal, but he well and truly takes the cake this time by playing on his secret admirer's affection to convince him to kill Hannibal.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Will's reaction and hallucinations seem to imply he's feeling this way after he persuades Matthew Brown to try to murder Hannibal.
- Pet the Dog: Freddie warns Jack to not go into the crime scene she found because she knows he won't take it well.
- Scary Symbolic Shapeshifting: Will takes a dark turn when he exploits Matthew Brown's infatuation with him by sending him after Hannibal as a hitman. Soon after, Will briefly appears to begin sprouting antlers from his body in a nightmarish mimicry of the Wendigo, a sign of his moral decline.
- Status Quo Is God: Beverly Katz finds definitive proof that Hannibal is indeed a cannibal, and is killed for it. We know this will be subverted eventually, but for now the show goes on as before.
- Worf Had the Flu: Hannibal is kidnapped by Matthew Brown helped by the fact that Lecter is wearing next to nothing while doing laps in the pool, and Brown has a tranquilizer gun.
