Naka-choko (Hannibal)

As Graham locks his house, Randall Tier (Mark O'Brien) breaks through his window. He drops his shotgun and fights with him, viewing him as the stag man and then as Lecter. He eventually overpowers him, killing him. He takes his body to Lecter's house, saying they are even now.

BAU investigates a murder found at the museum, where Tier's body has been mutilated and its part were displayed over a saber-tooth exhibition. Lecter and Graham analyze possible methods and motives, not revealing their role in his death. Graham meets Freddie Lounds, who still believes in his statement that Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper, even when Graham is now saying that Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raúl Esparza) was the Chesapeake Ripper. During therapy, Lecter tells Margot that she hasn't killed her brother Mason because she still loves him despite his abuse. She explains that her father disinherited her after she came out as a lesbian, and willed all his money to Mason and any future heir he might have; if Mason dies childless, she gets nothing. Lecter suggests that she could get revenge at Mason by getting pregnant.

Margot visits Mason at his estate. Mason takes her to the barn and shows her that he is working with specially bred pigs on a maze, hoping that the animals will eat people. He then tells her that he wants to have a "Verger baby", the implication being that he wants to father his own sister's child. Disgusted, Margot visits Graham and, after revealing the scars her brother inflicted upon her, has sex with him. The scene is intercut with a scene where Lecter and Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) have sex at Lecter's house, while Graham views Bloom instead of Margot, then envisioning the humanoid form of the Ravenstag that represents the relationship between Graham and Lecter as he climaxes.

Lounds approaches Bloom on the campus, noting that there is a pattern between Lecter's patients dying and even suggests that he and Graham are killing. Lecter decides to visit Mason at his barn, who is concerned about anything her sister could reveal about him. Lecter tells him not to worry about anything and even offers to take Mason as a patient. Mason accepts and gives one of the pigs to Lecter, who serves it that night while dining with Bloom and Graham. When Bloom reveals the theory that Lounds told her, Lecter puts on his plastic suit and waits at her apartment to kill her. However, Lounds is visiting Graham's house while he is not there. She sneaks into his barn, discovering Tier's mechanical beast suit. She also finds a freezer and is horrified to discover Tier's jawbone just as Graham appears.

Graham attempts to explain but Lounds shoots at him, prompting a fight. She escapes the barn and dials Crawford while she starts her car. However, Graham breaks the window and takes her. Crawford notifies Graham about the message, which only contain her unintelligible scream and whose signal was traced back to Graham's area. Graham excuses it as Lounds was going to interview him and never arrived. Crawford and Bloom are suspicious of the claim but cannot prove anything. That night, Graham visits Lecter to bring him a meat to learn how to cook it, suggested to be from Lounds. They eat it, with Lecter noting that it is not pork, to which Graham only says is "long pig". The episode ends with a debate between Lecter and Graham about good and evil, with Lecter refusing to describe himself as evil, and asking Graham if their meal was an act of God.

In April 2014, it was announced that the tenth episode of the season would be titled "Naka-choko" and that it would be written by executive producer Steve Lightfoot from a story by Lightfoot and Kai Yu Wu with Vincenzo Natali directing. This was Lightfoot's 10th writing credit, Wu's second writing credit, and Natali's second directing credit.^[1]

In January 2014, it was reported that the season would introduce Mason Verger, a character from the novel, Hannibal.^[2] Later, Michael Pitt joined the series to play Mason, "an unstable wealthy patient of Dr. Hannibal Lecter who begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the deadly serial killer."^[3] Fuller described the character, "He's kind of a pimp. He's styled within an inch of his life. When you meet him, he's in this white fur coat and he looks fantastic. He's got this shock of hair and he's with pigs. We know Mason Verger is a very charming guy. Even when he was terribly mauled in that wheelchair he's a purple character, so he has a tremendous amount of humor and with that goes the charm."^[4]