Does He Spell The End Of Hannibal?

The time is coming. As we were shown in the second season premiere of Hannibal, Jack Crawford and Hannibal have quite the showdown which can only happen if Jack finds out that Hannibal is in fact The Chesapeake Ripper. Why else would he come at Hannibal with so much force? Now I've come up with a few ideas in the past about how Jack will come to this realization and the most obvious reason looks to be that Will, having found out last week that he is NOT becoming a serial murderer, is probably the one who will provide Jack with the necessary evidence against Hannibal.

However, there is one possibility I've mentioned in passing that bears repeating and warrants deeper analyzing. Perhaps Mason Verger will lead to the Hannibal discovery.

I know, this may sounds strange. But just hear me out. As you may have already known from the books— and from our previous Mason-related stories— the heir to the Verger fortune is seduced into flaying his own face of by Hannibal in the Thomas Harris novels upon which this wonderful dark show is based. Then Hannibal proceeds to break his neck. Miraculously he survives and later plots his revenge upon Hannibal with a death that involves his prized hogs. And even later than that, he is murdered by his sister in the most twisted, yet somehow still fulfilling, revenge fantasy.

But what if something strange happens instead? Since I'm almost positive that Hannibal creator and, in my opinion, TV-genius Bryan Fuller will take a knife to Mason, perhaps he'll also have Jack discover Hannibal's murderous hobby while he is trying to finish off the horrible heir to the Verger fortune? In the promo for tonight's episode, we see Hannibal grabbing a scalpel, getting attacked by hooded hitmen and getting hoisted up by a noose around his neck, something we've already seen him deal with earlier this season when Will tried to have him killed.

So here's my theory: After Hannibal found out about Margot's botched pregnancy at the hands of her brother, Hannibal gets his revenge at his and Mason's next therapy session by pumping him full of drugs and seducing him to full face flaying.

After Mason regains consciousness, he sends a few hitmen after Hannibal, one of whom Hannibal easily overcomes and kills. But perhaps he does in fact get attacked by the other hitman, gets kidnapped and is finally tied to a noose where he is about to be dropped over the dreaded man-eating pigs' sty.

Just in time to save the murderer— Hannibal, not Mason— Will could come in and cut Hannibal loose and they come after Mason again together in an effort by Will to catch Hannibal in the act of murder. Or so that Will can try and kill the man who murdered his future baby and pin it on Hannibal.

At any of these points, Jack could find out about Hannibal's secret. Or I could be absolutely and completely wrong. I have been many times before. And when it comes to this show, other people have been wrong before as well. But that's the point of theories, right? All I know is that I cannot wait for that Hannibal and Jack fight to come back on my screen. And even more than that, I cannot wait for the aftermath.

Images: NBC/Brooke Palmer; Tumblr/buckyxbarnes; Tumblr/likeaneonlight