Somebody put together the Top 5 (7actually but you can see the other two at
the site) Kills:
1. Flayed Guardian Angels
Season 1, Episode 5: “Coquilles”
These ones get top billing because they’re the only Hannibal kills so far to make me feel physically ill. I had to stop eating while watching this episode, man. That never happens. This deserves some sort of award.
Trivia tidbit: the scene pictured above originally had these murder victims bare butt naked (as angels are wont to do) but apparently, five seconds of ass would be too much for our poor virgin network-TV-watching eyes to handle. The solution? Fill the ass cracks with blood to cover up the nudity. So to recap: chunks of skin peeled off people’s backs OK, ass cracks not OK, ass cracks full of blood of the innocent somehow totally OK.
2. The Human Instrument
Season 1, Episode 8: “Fromage”
A lot of the serial killers on Hannibal tend to rely only on visuals to get their “deep” and “poetic” messages across. Tobias Budge went the extra mile by incorporating his love of music into his big kill… by shoving a cello neck down a trombonist’s throat in season 1. To add to the macabre vision, Will-as-Tobias is seen playing the “instrument” by applying a bow to the poor man’s vocal cords, as pictured above. It’s disgusting. I love it.
3. For SCIENCE
Season 2, Episode 5: “Mukozuke”
Beverly Katz’s death is memorable on two different levels. One, she was a beloved character, a key member of Team Sassy Science, capable and brilliant (her decision to go into a suspect’s murder dungeon without backup notwithstanding) and Will’s friend and confidant to the end. Two, Hannibal freaking put her frozen body through a meat slicer and then displayed them on glass slides like a demented science project.
Where did Hannibal get those giant slides from so readily? Did he already have them lying around his house like “heh, this would be a really cool thing to do one day” and if so, how pleased was he that he finally had the right circumstances to pull it off? How difficult must it have been to place each Beverly Slice perfectly centered on each slide? Did he get hungry at all during the process? Who cares, this shyt is tight. Objectively speaking (it’s been weeks since her death and I’m still leery of it – she was literally fridged) this is a pretty cool death.
Un-objectively speaking, I’m just gonna put out there that the circumstances leading up to Beverly’s death were out of character and her murder unnecessary. We already know Hannibal is a bad guy, Bryan Fuller, we didn’t need you killing off one of the few women of color in this series to “show” that to us – but that’s a conversation for another time.
4. Wound Man – Nurse Edition
Season 1, Episode 6: “Entrée”
There are a few different incarnations of the Wound Man in both seasons of Hannibal, but the best one has to be Abel Gideon’s creation in 1×06 “Entrée” where he impaled a Baltimore State Hospital nurse on various medical instruments. There’s something poetic to be said about instruments of healing being used to murder a healer.
Gideon’s Wound Man also stands out because, thanks to Will’s handy dandy empathy, we get to see the events leading up to the murder.
5. People Totem Pole
Season 1, Episode 9: “Trou Normand”
This one is striking due to the sheer amount of human bodies it took to make it. Also because no one saw him construct this thing? Seriously, no one? I understand it’s a private secluded beach or whatever, but come on. This thing is tall as shyt.
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My favorites are the human instrument and Bev's vivisection.
