In the season finale, and what might turn out to be the series finale, Clarice packs episode 13, “Family is Freedom,” full of horrific images, ideas, and moments of satisfaction and/or clarity for almost every character on the show. Storylines are tied up, a main character is shot, and Clarice (Rebecca Breeds) gets some closure. Yet, there are some things still hanging out there that are left unexplained.
The show danced with the devil many times this season, in terms of talking about Hannibal without actually saying his name (as many now know, they could not due to legal issues). This week, the memory of Buffalo Bill is very prevalent and the horrific things that both he and Hannibal did in the past meet heavy competition, as more is revealed about the true depths of evil in Alastair CEO Nils Hagen (the wonderful Peter McRobbie).
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Nils’ son, Tyson Conway (Douglas Smith), has been bringing medical students to his father so he can try and breed a new son, and Clarice is kidnapped and taken to the facility where it all happens. This is the main setting of the episode, an abandoned animal testing site. It is truly a horrifically dark and depressing setting. Clarice is thrown into a cell, where the women are kept until they give birth, then killed and ground up in a massive machine to remove all the evidence.
Nils is essentially a mad scientist, and he comes from a long line of mad scientists, as his family line stretching back to experiments done in World War I. His casual discussion about the grinding machine, and how steam and bleach break down DNA at 400 degrees to remove all the evidence, is both chilling and cold, and something Hannibal would very much approve of.
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It takes Agent Esquivel’s (Lucca De Oliveira) strong-arm methods to get information on Clarice’s possible whereabouts, and ViCAP prepares to assault the building. However, as Krendler (Michael Cudlitz) calls for the go-ahead, he interrupts a great back and forth between Congressman Llewellyn Gant (Daniel Kash) and Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson) about if Ruth should step down. Her response is first to give the go-ahead to storm the building, and, later, hold a press conference to start an investigation into all of those who took funds for the Alastair corporation, i.e. Nils Hagen.
Storming the building, ViCAP takes down the bad guys and gets the remaining women still alive out, but not before Krendler is shot. Agent Mapp (Devyn A. Tyler) is with Krendler and helps save his life, fitting since she ignored Agent Herman’s (David Hewlett) warning about staying at her desk. Mapp has a follow-up later for Herman and it hits all the right notes, as seen by the look on Herman’s sad and confused face.
The face-off between Tyson, Nils, and Clarice is full of more horrible revelations about family, choices, and death. Nils is a cold, calculating manipulator, and while Tyson has been had, Clarice is not so easy a mark. She uses her vast psychiatric skills, weaponizes them, and lets loose on both men, turning the conversation into a battle of wills. Without lifting a finger she gets Tyson to shoot Nils dead and then kills himself, a fitting end for both men and the house of horrors they built.
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This is where the show leaves us hanging. Agent Esquivel files paperwork about what he’s done, which could possibly end his career. Krendler is recovering, and we don’t know if he’ll return. However, the big question mark is Clarice and her memories of her father, and what really happened back when she was young. What happened after the gang in the alley had a gun to her head while her father hung his head in shame? The repressed memories trigger emotions that pour out when she visits Catherine (Marnee Carpenter), but that’s all we get. Other than Clarice driving off to talk with her estranged mother.
With CBS declining to pick the show up, and Paramount+ and MGM negotiations at a stalemate, things don’t sound good for Clarice getting a second season. If that’s the case, it would be a shame as the second half of season one showed off some great potential. However, if it is to end, then this was as good an end as any.
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