Su-zakana (Hannibal)

In January 2014, Bryan Fuller announced that the eighth episode of the season would be titled "Su-zakana".[1] NBC would confirm the title in March 2014, with co-executive producer Scott Nimerfro, Fuller, and executive producer Steve Lightfoot writing the episode and Vincenzo Natali directing. This was Fuller's 17th writing credit, Nimerfro's 6th writing credit, Lightfoot's 9th writing credit, and Natali's first directing credit.[2]

In January 2014, it was reported that the season would introduce Margot Verger, a character from the novel, Hannibal.[3] Later, Katharine Isabelle joined the series to play Margot, "a potential romantic interest for Will who also happens to be a patient of The Carnivorous One. [...] Margot has suffered years of abuse at the hands of her serial-killer twin brother."[4]

A few days later, Jeremy Davies and Chris Diamantopoulos were announced as guest stars. Davies played Peter Bernardone, "an animal rescue worker who becomes a suspect when a bizarre murder is discovered at a stable where he once worked"; Diamantopoulos played Clark Ingram, "Peter's longtime social worker who has perhaps been too influential in his client's life".[5]

The episode was watched by 2.80 million viewers, earning a 0.8/3 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.8 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 3 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.[6] This was a 24% increase from the previous episode, which was watched by 2.25 million viewers with a 0.7/2 in the 18-49 demographics.[7] With these ratings, Hannibal ranked third on its timeslot and ninth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Kitchen Nightmares, Unforgettable, a Blue Bloods rerun, The Neighbors, Dateline NBC, Last Man Standing, Shark Tank, and 20/20.

With DVR factored, the episode was watched with a 1.4 on the 18-49 demo.[8]

"Su-zakana" received very positive reviews from critics. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.8 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict: "After several episodes in a row of insanely building tension, Hannibal quieted down a bit this week. You know, just a quiet episode where people were sewn inside horses! The new/old dynamic of Will as Hannibal's patient has a fun new twist to it, with Will now likely trying to manipulate Hannibal as much as Hannibal's trying to manipulate him... and they both know it, which is what makes it oh-so sick and fun."[9]

Molly Eichel of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A-" and wrote, "'Su-zakana' is a return to the structure of Hannibal's first season: team unity, case-of-the-week, Hannibal and Will together again. The first eight episodes of the second season were so markedly different from the first season. Those two arcs were a bold and exciting avenues of exploration for Hannibal, which had, for the most part, introduced itself with cases of the week that largely tied into the themes of series. That the show is defaulting back to that position that it started in and it feels like the next step rather than a regression to a simpler structure is a testament to where this season has been and it is going."[10]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "After such an eventful, crazy, borderline apocalyptic stretch of episodes like we've had the last few weeks, it was inevitable and probably necessary that Bryan Fuller would have to ease back on the throttle a bit. The recent pace wasn't sustainable, even in a 13-episode series, unless the plan was for the show to end this year."[11] Mark Rozeman of Paste gave the episode a 9.1 out of 10 and wrote, "'Su-zakana' is exactly the type of episode Hannibal needs at the moment. As great as the last stretch of episodes has been, it's always good for a show to switch up the pacing lest it dry up a juicy storyline via simple overexposure."[12]

Gerri Mahn of Den of Geek gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "This week's episode is practically overflowing with layers and layered meaning; albeit the layers take one helluva interesting … shape."[13] Nick McHatton of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.8 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Like a phoenix rising from the ashes signifying rebirth (or a bird escaping a woman's corpse stuffed into a horse), so too does Will Graham rise from his own ashes to revive his quest against Hannibal. The game of cat and mouse between Hannibal and Will is largely over. As 'Su-zakana' demonstrates, it's all about mind games now."[14]