Season 3, Episode 5:
Contorno
As Will Graham and Chiyoh travel to Florence, Jack Crawford is already there to pay final respects to his wife. Inspector Pazzi is tempted by the bounty on Hannibal. Alana Bloom helps Mason Verger to track down Hannibal.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Distillation: After flirting with the concept in earlier episodes, it's now made clear that the season is adapting the third Lecter novel Hannibal, moving its events to before Red Dragon (and thus allowing Crawford to intrude on a key scene from the book).
- Beneath the Mask: When thrown through the first cabinet, Hannibal's mask of civility slips and he looks at Jack with a look of animalistic hate.
- Break the Haughty: Jack delivers Hannibal such a beating that the latter ends up only able to crawl on the floor, no longer making jokes mocking Bella's death.
- The Bus Came Back: The Ravenstag finally appears alive and well.
- Composite Character: With Clarice Starling still
Exiled from Continuity, Alana takes over her role from this section of the novel Hannibal. Alana's collaboration with Verger also has some shades of both Cordell and Margot thrown in. - Curb-Stomp Battle: Jack dominates Hannibal in the show's most one-sided fight.
- Due to the Dead: Jack scatters Bella's ashes from the bridge where they first met.
- Kick the Dog: Hannibal reveals that he only spared Bella so that Jack would have to Mercy Kill her later.
- Ironic Death: Pazzi suffers the same death as his ancestor: hanged and disembowelled."It's hard to see, but here's where the Archbishop bit him. Eyes wild as he choked, the Archbishop locked his teeth into Pazzi's flesh. On a related subject I must confess, I've been giving very serious thought to doing the same."
- Mythology Gag: Jack takes off his shoes to sneak up and attack Hannibal, just as Hannibal did to Miriam Lass in "Entrée" (and to Will Graham in the novel "Red Dragon").
- Hannibal's line about planning to cannibalize Pazzi is similar to his Wham Line in the novel and film, where he mentions planning to eat Pazzi's wife.
- Alana takes Clarice Starling's place in calling Pazzi only for Hannibal to pick up, which was actually a scene invented for the film that doesn't appear in the book.
- Oh, Crap!: Hannibal's face when Pazzi introduces himself as an inspector.
- Alana's face when she calls Pazzi's cell phone to warn him off, and Hannibal answers it.
- Hannibal's face when he realises Jack is stalking him in the room. For the first time, we see that the good doctor is a little perturbed, as he knows Jack is a formidable opponent.
- Shout-Out:
- Chilton quotes Robert Oppenheimer's statement on optimists vs. pessimists.
- The rematch between Jack and Hannibal is soundtracked by Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, referencing the similar sequences of ultraviolence set to uptempo classical music found in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Villain trying to lecture and psychologically manipulate the protagonist? Check. Protagonist beating five shades of crap out of the villain? Check. The trope namer? Check. The only thing missing is an actual "shut up" from Jack.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Jack beating the crap out of Hannibal is scored with an upbeat waltz.
