Hannibal 1x13: "Savoureux," part two
Before we get started, pick your poison and go get a refill. Get a lot of refills.
PREVIOUSLY ON: PART ONE OF THE FINALE: Will hworfed up Abigail's severed ear, YES REALLY, and was arrested for murder after the Investigators Three also discovered the copycat victims' remains woven into his fishing lures. Alana took custody of All the Dogs, mostly so that we wouldn't lose our will to live, and a Dire Symbolic Wendigo started haunting Will. Then Will ESCAPED LIKE A BOSS--only for a fresh round of gaslighting at The Best Office Ever, leading to Will's ~brilliant idea~ to (sing it with me if you know the words) go back to Minnesota again. BTW FYI PSA: Hannibal Lecter is THE EARTHLY EMBODIMENT OF ABSOLUTE WORST.
So Lecter's driving through the rain while Will sleeps innocently in the passenger seat, which is just as well, because Lecter probably can't teleport them 1200 miles if Will's awake watching.
Over at Maison Du Maurier, Crawford (with Alana in tow) wants to know if Bedelia's heard from Lecter in the last 24 hours. "He didn't make his session this morning and he didn't call in, which he would consider rude," she says, which--I joked about the "Chesapeak Ripper" typos being Freddie's secret signal for help, but that is ACTUALLY WHAT LECTER HAS DONE HERE. "He was forgetful and inconsiderate?! CALL THE POLICE." Crawford himself is on his way to Minnesota, he explains, because that's where he thinks Will's taken Lecter--and, again, a spot of hilarity: the Nobody in Dracula Knows They're in Dracula irony of everyone scrambling to rescue Hannibal Lecter. "Will thinks he's being framed for these murders. He's slipping in and out of delusion," Alana adds worriedly: "He could kill Hannibal and not even know he's doing it." "If anyone could've helped Mr. Graham, it would've been Hannibal. In fact, he may still be trying," says Bedelia, whose waters run so deep that I can't tell if she's guessed what he's actually doing or not.
In his passenger dreams, Will empaths the morning that Abigail answered the phone in the Hobbs kitchen: "Hello? Just a second. Dad? It's for you. Caller ID said it was blocked." It's the exact same scene as in the first episode--except this time, it's Shaggy Dad she hands the phone to. And it's Lecter's voice on the other end saying, "Will? Will?" But because Will's hearing Lecter's voice trying to wake him up in reality, his epiphany levels are still too low.
So Will tears down the yellow police tape, and they break into the house in at that point in the night where it's so late that it's early; he remembers the scene in the third episode where Abigail said, Are we gonna re-enact the crime? You be my dad, and you be my mom, and you be the man on the phone, and he remembers the way Abigail stopped short and the strange look Lecter gave her. "Are we gonna re-enact the crime?" Will says flatly (epiphany levels... rising...). "If that would help you," says Lecter.
In the dark kitchen, there's a huge new bloodstain over the old one, trailing off in a disturbingly draggy sort of way. "It's as if Abigail was supposed to die in this kitchen," says Lecter, because stop. JUST STOP.
EPISODE 1, APÉRITIF
Nevertheless, [Lecter] holds on and keeps Hobbs' daughter alive until paramedics can get there while Will sits there, covered in blood, shaking.
EPISODE 9, TROU NORMAND
"And when [Nick] was trying to kill me, all I could think was that I was gonna die in that house after all. But I didn't. I SURVIVED," [Abigail] says, perhaps thinking about how Lecter told her she was a survivor, not a sociopath.
"Her throat was cut," Will says, his voice trembling--but he's interpreting the evidence, not remembering something he did. "She lost great gouts of blood. There's an unmistakable arterial spray." So, yes, Fancy Dad cut Abigail's throat after " Relevés" cut to black. And "arterial spray" means she had to have been alive when he did. I'd like to think that he strangled her unconscious first, à la Miriam--since that scene and The Hug are apparently intentional mirror images of each other. But who knows? A lot of struggling there, with your average strangling. You'd want her to hold still and get it over w...
EPISODE 3, POTAGE
"He was loving... right up until the second he wasn't. He kept telling me he was sorry, to just... hold still. He was gonna make it all go away."
EPISODE 12, RELEVÉS
"I'm so sorry, Abigail. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you in this life."
Just in case you weren't weeping on the floor yet.
"They haven't found her body," Lecter points out ("Just the one piece," says Will, augh), because "if you were in Garrett Jacob Hobbs' frame of mind when you killed her, they may never find her." "'Cause I 'honored every part of her'?" murmurs Will, referring to Hobbs' general predilection for cannibalism and human-based décor. "Perhaps you didn't come here looking for a killer. Perhaps you came here to find yourself," says Lecter, in a strangely persuasive (seductive?) tone. "You killed a man in this very room." "I stared at Hobbs," says Will, "and the space opposite me assumed the shape of a man filled with dark and swarming flies... then I scattered them." "At a time when other men fear their isolation, yours has become understandable to you," intones Lecter, pacing around Will to lean in over his shoulder (*FLAIL*). "You are alone... because you are unique." "I'm as alone as you are," replies Will (EPIPHANY LEVELS... RISING). And Lecter's gotten weirdly shiny and damp--given how carefully they seem to do the lighting and makeup, I have to think this is on purpose. Is it his turn to be feverish? Is he administering Will's final exam? "If you followed the urges you kept down for so long... cultivated them... as the inspirations they are... you would have become someone other than yourself." And that's the moment Lecter lays his cards on the table: cultivated them as inspirations. But you know what? No matter what fuckery you think of to inflict on this poor man, YOU BET WRONG, SIR, because Will slowly turns around and says, "I know who I am. I'm not so sure... I know who you are anymore. But I am certain... one of us killed Abigail."
"Whoever that was, killed the others," says Lecter.
AND THEN THINGS GET AMAZING:
I have various feelings about Will finally having his glorious epiphany and pulling a gun on Lecter. Some of them are:
1) It's hard to be all that concerned for Hannibal Lecter's wellbeing, given that HE IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST the show is named after him. He's not going anywhere.
2) We don't really want anything to happen to him. There's a reason the show's called Hannibal; he's the reason we're here. I mean, yes, they've done a wonderful job making Will a complex, dynamic protagonist instead of just a cardboard hero. But in the end... the show's not named after him. He functions more as the worthiest of opponents to our villain-hero, to the point where sometimes they both seem to be simultaneous protagonist-antagonists--we want Will to win, but if he wins, the game is over, and we don't want that. And in order for the game to continue with such a strong hero, the villain has to be the best you can get. So the show has--brilliantly--managed to invest you emotionally in that villain whether you like it or not... while still reminding you at every possible moment how terrible he is. It's just an amazing balancing act the show has managed, letting us see that Lecter has genuine emotional needs, while never letting us us forget that we sympathize with him at our own peril. As I mentioned in the comments last week, it reminds me of how, in Stoker's original, Mina Harker is utterly repulsed, revolted, horrified by Dracula--and yet, finds herself yielding, wants to yield, even as her mind is screaming not to, and that's almost the most horrific thing about the attack to her, that she could so desperately want to escape and yet watch herself yield to this monstrous seduction. And that's what we want. No matter how dapper or courteous they make this character--like the vampire, we want him to have his teeth.
3) SHOOT THE MOTHERFUCKER, WILL! SHOOT HIM ALL THE BULLETS IN HIS FACE
"Are you a killer, Will? You. Right now. This man standing in front of me. Is this who you really are?" Oh, now we're not so hot on the murderation thing, are we? (Would it be worth it to Lecter, I wonder, if his death was the only way to complete Will's corruption?) "I am who I've always been," says Will. "The scales have just fallen from my eyes. I can see you now." "What do you see?" "You called here that morning. Abigail knew. And you kept her secrets--until--until what? Until she found out some of yours?" "You said it felt good to kill Garrett Jacob Hobbs," says Lecter, still maneuvering. "Would it feel good to kill me now?" YES? "Oh, Garrett Jacob Hobbs was a murderer--are you a murderer, Dr. Lecter?" Oh, honey, you have no idea. And then, right as Lecter says, "What reason would I have?" (WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO START) --
NO NO NOT CRAWFORD NO
this is so bad, you guys
"You... you have no traceable motive... which is why you were so hard to see," says Will, shaking hard and bitterly mad and GET HIM, WILL, GET HIM. "You were just... curious what I would do." ( HE DOES SEE HIM!) "Someone like me... someone who thinks how I think. Wind him up... and watch him go. And apparently, Dr. Lecter... THIS IS HOW I GO."
"Will," says Crawford, reaching out towards him and NO, NO NO NO, NOT NOW noooooo. "EASY--"
And Lecter gives Will this really interesting look right then--curious? gloating? triumphant because Will might kill him, or because Will's not going to get to?--RIGHT AS WILL RAISES THE GUN TO SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD AND CRAWFORD SHOOTS THE FUCK OUT OF WILL'S SHOULDER AND BLOOD SPATTERS LECTER'S FACE AND EVERYTHING IS THE WORST EVER.
So Will's slumped in the exact same place where Hobbs died, staring up at the man who shot him. And in Lecter's place to the left of Crawford, Will sees the deathly skeletal wendigo. "See? You see?" This was his design.
*WAILING*
(... I want to throw shoes, but the whole scheme is so beautifully orchestrated that I can't really help but admire it?)
So. That was a thing that happened. Since things have pretty much bottomed out at this point, why don't we take Will back to A HOSPITAL, FINALLY. "The right hemisphere of his brain was inflamed. They have placed him in an induced sleep and they are treating him with antiviral and steroid therapies," Lecter tells Crawford, because here's how bad Will Graham's life sucks by this point: getting arrested, shot, and framed for cannibalistic serial murder means that at least he gets actual medical treatment now. "He's expected to make a substantial recovery." "Would you have gone to Minnesota with him if he didn't have a gun on you?" asks Crawford, because SIGH. "I would have wanted to," says Lecter. After a long pause: "I believe I've failed to satisfy my obligation to Will. More than I care to admit." (We'll get to what he feels that obligation is in a moment.) Crawford: "Well, he's not your victim, doctor." "Nor is he yours." And then I threw all my shoes at everybody, because why let them go to waste?
"You know, in my time, I've seen people broken by the world," says Crawford. "I've seen them broken in all kinds of hideous and offhanded ways but never like this. Never like this." "No one in this room will be the same," replies Lecter. And then I went and retrieved a boot just so I could throw it at him one more time.
And so they sit there, just as Lecter and Will were sitting at Abigail's bedside in the first episode, except that now their backs are symbolically turned to the camera, and it's Lecter on the right, in the light, and Crawford, defeated, the darkness over his shoulder, because fuck everything.
Then, we go to Maison Du Maurier, where THIS happens:
AW SHIT, Y'ALL
EVERYBODY HIT THE FLOOR
IT'S THE MOTHERFUCKING MURDER TIE
CLOCKWISE (lol "clockwise"): That Episode Where He Killed Miriam; That Episode Where He Hugged Abigail The Way He Killed Miriam; That Episode Where He Killed Will's Shady Doctor And Framed The Poor Zombie Girl For It; Right Now.
Also, Bedelia is wearing red, just as Abigail was when she realized what Lecter was feeding her. Also-also, she is a human side-eye. Bedelia is the living embodiment of side-eye. Bedelia Du Maurier is side-eye on legs. Her first comment on the tête de veau en sauce verte, for example, is a deadpan "Smells like a bonfire." Lecter explains, "I smoked the veal on a pyre of dry hay." (As you do.) "It imparts a unique smoldering flavor to the meat... and to the room."
@BryanFuller: TETE DE VEAU TRANSLATES TO HEAD OF CALF
@BryanFuller: TETE DE VEAU IS PEOPLE
We all know who it is, right?
YES, REALLY.
As consulting chef José Andrés explained to food stylist Janice Poon, it's "smoked with dry hay, like a funerary ritual where the dead are burned. The hay imparts a smokey flavor, the smell of death but also the smell of rebirth. You become something else by burning and becoming part of the cycle of life." Unlike the Ripper murders where Lecter took organs that his victims didn't "deserve," this is a way to "honor" Abigail so that her death is not "just murder," as her father taught her--and I would argue that it's an honor for Bedelia as well, that Lecter would choose her to help him do this. I mean, it's a lot of things, but that's one of them. BECAUSE ALSO: "I have a debate with the director about whether or not to have a skull on the platter of Tete de Veau. I think it needs the skull to indicate that the bud vases are actually bones. And I like the head/skull relationship. And also because I think Hannibal and Bedelia have this kind of pissing match about who’s cooler and who’s scarier."
"This is an... unexpected treat," says Bedelia, with a pleasant smile and an absolute bone-deep dread in her voice. "Thank you for indulging me," he replies. Bedelia: "You seemed like you needed to talk." So it sounds like Fancy Cannibal did call ahead, rather than just show up on her doorstep with Abiveal--although I'm not sure she knew that Chez Lecter delivers: "And since you refuse invitations to my dinner table, this is the only way I could cook for you," he says. (Because of her "cut that out, you're my patient" boundaries, or because... somehow, she already knew?) And I was typing out and I'll just climb right over your wall whether you like it or not, and then I remembered:
EPISODE 8, FROMAGE
"You spend a lot of time building walls, Hannibal. It's natural to want to see if someone is... clever enough to climb over them."
Bedelia's spent the entire season defending the walls she's put up to keep him out--not hoping he would scale them. But you might say that he's got a ladder, metaphorically speaking. My current theory about how he got the Attacker Patient to swallow his own tongue is that the attacker locked himself with Bedelia into her office... and Lecter talked him into it through the closed door. (How, I don't know, but we know he does it to someone else in the original series. Words are living things, after all, and he chooses them wisely.) Because why would you take precious time to do that if you could physically reach him? Why wouldn't you just rescue her in a way you could admit to the police? Even considering his "curiosity" and willingness to kill on a moment's notice, I still feel like the method was a last resort on Lecter's part. So Bedelia had to watch this attacker choke on his own tongue--and see exactly what her colleague-patient was capable of doing without even being in the room. No wonder she has a trapped look through this entire scene. And yet: " I like you." So it seems like we're moving towards him eventually getting over that wall. Jesus take the wheel.
"What's on your mind, Hannibal?" she asks (*DRINK*). "I'm going to see Will tomorrow," he says. As a patient or as a friend? "As a farewell... of sorts." I feel like this line was put in to cover the possibility that the show wouldn't be renewed--Will failed the final exam, if you will, but, as it turns out, Lecter doesn't intend on letting Will go at all. I'm going to go ahead and bring in some quotes from an interview TV Guide ran the day after the finale:
Can Will distance himself from Hannibal, or will he have access to him as his attending psychiatrist?
FULLER: Hannibal will always want to be close to Will. He sees a great potential in Will as this pure human being, and he's seduced by Will's purity. He's attracted to it, and he's also very eager to conquer it in some way.
EPISODE 10, BUFFET FROID
"We know you're fond of the rarified. What makes him so rare?" "Will has a remarkably vivid imagination... beautiful," he replies. "Pure empathy."
Is Hannibal's obsession with Will also an attempt to more fully understand himself?
FULLER: Hannibal's absolutely on a journey of self-exploration, and he's fascinated by his fascination with Will. He is curious about this change that's come over him. It's sort of like somebody who is falling in love for the first time and had never felt that was actually a possibility for them. That's a fresh, unexplored territory for Hannibal that is exciting to him and interesting to him. Maybe his ultimate downfall is his attraction and affection for Will Graham.
Moreover, here's Alan Sepinwall's interview with Fuller at HitFix:
Lecter insists to Jack, to Alana, to his own therapist, that he considers Will a friend. Yet he's been setting him up to be his patsy. Is Hannibal Lecter actually capable of feeling an emotional bond like friendship, or does he see all humans just as meat to be used or consumed?
BRYAN FULLER: In my mind, everything that he has done to Will - including setting him up to take the fall for the series of murders - is a radically unorthodox form of therapy, that Hannibal Lecter himself believes will allow Will Graham to get closer to his truer self. [...] But I do believe that Hannibal's feelings for Will are sincere, that he does care about Will, but it's an example of bad parenting, in a way. You can have a bad parent who thinks that something that's not good for you is good for you based on their philosophy of life. That's where Hannibal is coming from. Based on his philosophy of life, getting Will to accept the fact that he is a murderer and could take a life will actually help him become a purer human being, in a way.
EPISODE 2, AMUSE-BOUCHE
But "the mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself," Lecter tells him (dare I say gently?), "not the worst of someone else."
"Is it harder imagining the thrill somebody else feels killing, now that you've done it yourself?" asks Lecter.
"If your intention was to kill him, it's because you understand why he did the things he did. It's beautiful in its own way" (Will turns to look at him because what the fuck), "giving voice to the unmentionable. Did you really feel so bad because killing him felt so good?"
"Killing must feel good to God too," says Lecter. "He does it all the time. And are we not created in His image?"
Lecter started Will's "therapy" in earnest as soon as he'd gotten Will to shoot Garrett Jacob Hobbs. Subtle are the ways of the fancy cannibal, and deep are his designs.
"I thought Mr. Graham was finally going to be the patient who cost you your life," she says, looking down and pushing things around with her cutlery and basically doing anything, anything, but eat. She knows, you guys. She knows even before he even points his fork at her and says, "He didn't cost me my life. He cost Abigail hers. Your veal is getting cold." She's cornered. "Controversial dish," she says, "veal." Because she knows, even before he goes into some spiel about how people disapprove of veal because the calves are so young but they're older than many pigs going to slaughter (OH, I SEE). I think she knew the moment she saw him on the doorstep, but he's also watching her with that absorbed, avid look he always gives people when they eat his cooking--and she's watching him giving her that look, and she knows exactly what it means.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Oh my Goooood.
"Mmm," she says.
Ohhhhh my Goooood.
@beamish_girl: Which is, of course, why she followed up with "Hannibal, try some subtlety for a change."
"You have to be careful, Hannibal. They're starting to see your pattern." "What pattern would that be?" "You develop relationships with patients who are prone to violence," she says. "That pattern." (Oh, well, that.) "Under scrutiny, Jack Crawford's beliefs about you might start to unravel." "Tell me, Dr. Du Maurier," he says, leaning in from the shadows, "have your beliefs about me begun to unravel?"
Here is Bedelia's answer in its entirety:
I think she knows you better than you think she does, sir.
And, finally: The Baltimore State Hospital for Broken Ponies.
EPISODE 6, ENTRÉE
"I always feel a little nervous going into these places... afraid they won't let me out." "Don't worry. I won't leave you here," says Crawford. "Yeah," says Will. "Not today."
They're doing this. They're really doing this.
@winston_graham: i'd bail him out if i had money but sadly i am dog
@winston_graham: "@TheKingsHound: @winston_graham you can't bail people out of a mental hospital" any building that has chilton in it is a prison
(And it will have Chilton, it seems.)
So here's Lecter standing there as the barred door closes behind him, just as Clarice will stand there in the future, and there he goes walking through the shadows down the hall. And his suit is brown (a color they generally seem to have him wear as symbolic "lol, they don't knoooow" camouflage) over a very handsome shade of dark blue. Fucker. And there, in the last cell on the left, is Will in his Imprisoned Sociopath jumpsuit--if blue represents wrongdoing here, Lecter's is hidden and Will's been put in a head-to-foot blue he doesn't deserve. And it's exactly what we first see Lecter wearing in Silence of the Lambs. Because everything is terrible, and I hope they give you a cell made of thumbtacks.
Also? Opera is playing on the soundtrack--and it's the aria specifically written for the movie Hannibal that I mentioned back on the " Sorbet" recap: " Vide Cor Meum" (See my heart), used to highlight the dialogue, "Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her and find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight and ache for him?"
@aMoTPodcast: If you've never read the poem it's from Dante's La Vita Nuova and it's about eating someone's heart as a show of love.
You guys. They are using the Cannibal Love Aria. Leave me on the floor to die.
"Hello, Will."
"Hello, Dr. Lecter."
OH, THAT THOU CANST BE A FUCKER AND SMILE.
THE END.
@cafecliche: OH MY JESUS I NEED SOMEONE TO HOLD ME
@ohyoda: OH MY GOD. THE MUSIC. HIS FACE. SOMEONE HOLD ME. I WAS TOO SOBER FOR THIS SHIT
@beamish_girl: It was so good, I may never stop screaming. Seriously, my facebook right now is just OH GOD WHAT NO AAAAH (I'M COVERED IN BEES)
@mork_and: screamed so much dogs came over to see what was wrong. Short answer: everything
@KaceyKadoodles [Abigail]: Dear #FANNIBALS. ❤ http://wikihow.com/Stop-Crying-when-You-Are-Very-Upset
(#;alskjdf;alskjdfalsjkdf;asldjf #S:DLJKFS:DLKFJS:DLFKJS:DLFKJSD::LSDFJ:S)
I am pretty sure this show got renewed because the NBC executives were clinging to each other and weeping and promising Bryan Fuller anything he wanted if he would just take the feels away.
@NBCHannibal: ... #HELPWILLGRAHAM
(I'm saying.)
@princess_starr: @cleolinda Are you okay? Do we need to send emergency booze?
@cleolinda: I NEED MORE (it was wonderful) #emmyaldente
@cleolinda: Guys, that was so good. It had the narrative full-circle feel of a good novel. #Hannibal
@tamaro606: It was so satisfying that I'm not even upset that everything is terrible now.
@cleolinda: YES EXACTLY
So: what happens next? Hannibal Finale Postmortem: Creator Bryan Fuller Answers Our Burning Questions. I personally feel like this is "the natural logical extension of what you just saw generally," but you may want to jump to the next LJ-cut instead:
Jack conveniently comes in after Will accuses Hannibal of all the murders. Would Jack have been swayed if he had heard Will's thoughts?
FULLER: In Season 2, Jack will be investigating those accusations. I think after Will woke up from getting shot by Jack and before he was put into the institution, he shared his theories about Hannibal. Now it's up to those characters and Hannibal Lecter to either support or deny those accusations in a properly investigated way.
Do you intend to keep Will locked up for a while?
FULLER: He will be incarcerated, and we will be dealing with all of the threads of that. We need to see all of the things happen that would happen in that scenario. Will Graham needs to go on trial for the murders that he may or may not have committed. Jack has to be brought before a review board for his participation in what happened to Will, and Hannibal, as Will's psychiatrist, is going to continue to try to help Will see the truth that Hannibal wants him to see. The ball is up in the air in so many ways for Jack and Hannibal and Will. The fun of Season 2 will be spiking those balls.
@BryanFuller: EPISODE 1 OF #HANNIBAL SEASON 2 IS TITLED "KAISEKI"
I'm only vaguely aware of what happens in the Hannibal Rising prequel, but my understanding is that the uncle mentioned in episode 4 has a Japanese wife. Kaiseki is "a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals, and are analogous to Western haute cuisine." So you know what this means: UNCLE DAVID BOWIE! UNCLE DAVID BOWIE!
@winston_graham: well that was fun!
@winston_graham: i will try to tweet often during the #HeAteUs
(Yeah, that... that's what they're calling it. Forget it, Jake. It's Hannibal.)
@cleolinda: You have to tell us how things are going at Alana's house!
@DireRavenstag: Much more boring than at Will's, I'd imagine. No sleepwalking excursions. No sudden bouts of violence.
@cleolinda: I don't know... I imagine she'll have a rather fancy gentleman caller now and then.
We have one major question remaining, though: how did Will end up ingesting that ear? Even Bryan Fuller doesn't have a concrete answer in mind: "Hannibal is a wily guy. As a storyteller, I have to have an answer in reality. On one hand, I could see a version of Hannibal sneaking into Will's house with an ear on a stick and pushing it down his throat. On the other hand, as a lover of horror and sci-fi and quasi-supernatural storytelling, I love the explanation that Hannibal is a devil. But that was not Thomas Harris' intention. So, he has to have been physically able to accomplish that in some manner."
I feel like Will probably turned around at that Virginia aiport and flailed right back across the unfriendly skies to Minnesota to figure out what he might have done. And so when he got there... someone was waiting for him, the way Someone was waiting for Abigail. I'm guessing that whatever happened next happened with pharmaceutical help--a lot of it, given that Will's not even sure how he ended up back in bed at his house. You may remember that a dinner scene involving mind-altering drugs and cannibalism happened at the end of the Hannibal book. You know, the reason I freaked out so bad when the shrooms showed up in " Ceuf." And I was idly browsing the Fuck Yeah Hannibal archives Thursday morning when I came across this...
This seems to have been shot only as a very early promo. It's my headcanon until proven otherwise.
I'm going to post a follow-up entry tomorrow (yes, ANOTHER ONE) with various links and extra bits, but here's a really beautiful review from Todd VanDerWerff at the AV Club: Hannibal returns the fear of death to the TV crime drama. If you've wanted to try the show but worried that the violence was exploitative--this is the answer to your question.
(Also: here is willgrahamhasaniceday.tumblr.com. You're welcome.)
Meanwhile, I will be over here doing my victory lap because, so help me God, I finished a thing for once and saw the season all the way through to the end. The Hannibal recaps were 110% fun, but here by the end, I was starting to feel like it was a class I loved, but I was glad to finish the semester and run wild into the summer, as much as I wish we had more show right now. As Jane Austen once said, the perfect visit is one that feels much too short.
@DireRavenstag: @NBCHannibal @neoprod Thank you, most favored fleshmeats, for the beautiful creation you have wrought unto us. *majestic stag bow*
As I've said before, Silence of the Lambs has been my actual favorite movie since I was 14, so it means a lot to me that this show was so good but also so different, and that it was willing to do something so beautiful and new without disparaging the previous adaptations. I've trusted Fuller & Co. since the episode with Miriam and Gideon kicked my ass and made me love it, and they've entirely lived up to that trust with something just as good as my favorite adaptation, as far as I'm concerned. That's pretty much the greatest compliment I can think to give.
@DireRavenstag: So here we are, fleshmeats. My beloved Will like a precious jewel, so beautiful in his cage. The future is before us, and it is GRAND.
PREVIOUSLY ON: PART ONE OF THE FINALE: Will hworfed up Abigail's severed ear, YES REALLY, and was arrested for murder after the Investigators Three also discovered the copycat victims' remains woven into his fishing lures. Alana took custody of All the Dogs, mostly so that we wouldn't lose our will to live, and a Dire Symbolic Wendigo started haunting Will. Then Will ESCAPED LIKE A BOSS--only for a fresh round of gaslighting at The Best Office Ever, leading to Will's ~brilliant idea~ to (sing it with me if you know the words) go back to Minnesota again. BTW FYI PSA: Hannibal Lecter is THE EARTHLY EMBODIMENT OF ABSOLUTE WORST.
So Lecter's driving through the rain while Will sleeps innocently in the passenger seat, which is just as well, because Lecter probably can't teleport them 1200 miles if Will's awake watching.
Over at Maison Du Maurier, Crawford (with Alana in tow) wants to know if Bedelia's heard from Lecter in the last 24 hours. "He didn't make his session this morning and he didn't call in, which he would consider rude," she says, which--I joked about the "Chesapeak Ripper" typos being Freddie's secret signal for help, but that is ACTUALLY WHAT LECTER HAS DONE HERE. "He was forgetful and inconsiderate?! CALL THE POLICE." Crawford himself is on his way to Minnesota, he explains, because that's where he thinks Will's taken Lecter--and, again, a spot of hilarity: the Nobody in Dracula Knows They're in Dracula irony of everyone scrambling to rescue Hannibal Lecter. "Will thinks he's being framed for these murders. He's slipping in and out of delusion," Alana adds worriedly: "He could kill Hannibal and not even know he's doing it." "If anyone could've helped Mr. Graham, it would've been Hannibal. In fact, he may still be trying," says Bedelia, whose waters run so deep that I can't tell if she's guessed what he's actually doing or not.
In his passenger dreams, Will empaths the morning that Abigail answered the phone in the Hobbs kitchen: "Hello? Just a second. Dad? It's for you. Caller ID said it was blocked." It's the exact same scene as in the first episode--except this time, it's Shaggy Dad she hands the phone to. And it's Lecter's voice on the other end saying, "Will? Will?" But because Will's hearing Lecter's voice trying to wake him up in reality, his epiphany levels are still too low.
So Will tears down the yellow police tape, and they break into the house in at that point in the night where it's so late that it's early; he remembers the scene in the third episode where Abigail said, Are we gonna re-enact the crime? You be my dad, and you be my mom, and you be the man on the phone, and he remembers the way Abigail stopped short and the strange look Lecter gave her. "Are we gonna re-enact the crime?" Will says flatly (epiphany levels... rising...). "If that would help you," says Lecter.
In the dark kitchen, there's a huge new bloodstain over the old one, trailing off in a disturbingly draggy sort of way. "It's as if Abigail was supposed to die in this kitchen," says Lecter, because stop. JUST STOP.
EPISODE 1, APÉRITIF
Nevertheless, [Lecter] holds on and keeps Hobbs' daughter alive until paramedics can get there while Will sits there, covered in blood, shaking.
EPISODE 9, TROU NORMAND
"And when [Nick] was trying to kill me, all I could think was that I was gonna die in that house after all. But I didn't. I SURVIVED," [Abigail] says, perhaps thinking about how Lecter told her she was a survivor, not a sociopath.
"Her throat was cut," Will says, his voice trembling--but he's interpreting the evidence, not remembering something he did. "She lost great gouts of blood. There's an unmistakable arterial spray." So, yes, Fancy Dad cut Abigail's throat after " Relevés" cut to black. And "arterial spray" means she had to have been alive when he did. I'd like to think that he strangled her unconscious first, à la Miriam--since that scene and The Hug are apparently intentional mirror images of each other. But who knows? A lot of struggling there, with your average strangling. You'd want her to hold still and get it over w...
EPISODE 3, POTAGE
"He was loving... right up until the second he wasn't. He kept telling me he was sorry, to just... hold still. He was gonna make it all go away."
EPISODE 12, RELEVÉS
"I'm so sorry, Abigail. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you in this life."
Just in case you weren't weeping on the floor yet.
"They haven't found her body," Lecter points out ("Just the one piece," says Will, augh), because "if you were in Garrett Jacob Hobbs' frame of mind when you killed her, they may never find her." "'Cause I 'honored every part of her'?" murmurs Will, referring to Hobbs' general predilection for cannibalism and human-based décor. "Perhaps you didn't come here looking for a killer. Perhaps you came here to find yourself," says Lecter, in a strangely persuasive (seductive?) tone. "You killed a man in this very room." "I stared at Hobbs," says Will, "and the space opposite me assumed the shape of a man filled with dark and swarming flies... then I scattered them." "At a time when other men fear their isolation, yours has become understandable to you," intones Lecter, pacing around Will to lean in over his shoulder (*FLAIL*). "You are alone... because you are unique." "I'm as alone as you are," replies Will (EPIPHANY LEVELS... RISING). And Lecter's gotten weirdly shiny and damp--given how carefully they seem to do the lighting and makeup, I have to think this is on purpose. Is it his turn to be feverish? Is he administering Will's final exam? "If you followed the urges you kept down for so long... cultivated them... as the inspirations they are... you would have become someone other than yourself." And that's the moment Lecter lays his cards on the table: cultivated them as inspirations. But you know what? No matter what fuckery you think of to inflict on this poor man, YOU BET WRONG, SIR, because Will slowly turns around and says, "I know who I am. I'm not so sure... I know who you are anymore. But I am certain... one of us killed Abigail."
"Whoever that was, killed the others," says Lecter.
AND THEN THINGS GET AMAZING:
I have various feelings about Will finally having his glorious epiphany and pulling a gun on Lecter. Some of them are:
1) It's hard to be all that concerned for Hannibal Lecter's wellbeing, given that HE IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST the show is named after him. He's not going anywhere.
2) We don't really want anything to happen to him. There's a reason the show's called Hannibal; he's the reason we're here. I mean, yes, they've done a wonderful job making Will a complex, dynamic protagonist instead of just a cardboard hero. But in the end... the show's not named after him. He functions more as the worthiest of opponents to our villain-hero, to the point where sometimes they both seem to be simultaneous protagonist-antagonists--we want Will to win, but if he wins, the game is over, and we don't want that. And in order for the game to continue with such a strong hero, the villain has to be the best you can get. So the show has--brilliantly--managed to invest you emotionally in that villain whether you like it or not... while still reminding you at every possible moment how terrible he is. It's just an amazing balancing act the show has managed, letting us see that Lecter has genuine emotional needs, while never letting us us forget that we sympathize with him at our own peril. As I mentioned in the comments last week, it reminds me of how, in Stoker's original, Mina Harker is utterly repulsed, revolted, horrified by Dracula--and yet, finds herself yielding, wants to yield, even as her mind is screaming not to, and that's almost the most horrific thing about the attack to her, that she could so desperately want to escape and yet watch herself yield to this monstrous seduction. And that's what we want. No matter how dapper or courteous they make this character--like the vampire, we want him to have his teeth.
3) SHOOT THE MOTHERFUCKER, WILL! SHOOT HIM ALL THE BULLETS IN HIS FACE
"Are you a killer, Will? You. Right now. This man standing in front of me. Is this who you really are?" Oh, now we're not so hot on the murderation thing, are we? (Would it be worth it to Lecter, I wonder, if his death was the only way to complete Will's corruption?) "I am who I've always been," says Will. "The scales have just fallen from my eyes. I can see you now." "What do you see?" "You called here that morning. Abigail knew. And you kept her secrets--until--until what? Until she found out some of yours?" "You said it felt good to kill Garrett Jacob Hobbs," says Lecter, still maneuvering. "Would it feel good to kill me now?" YES? "Oh, Garrett Jacob Hobbs was a murderer--are you a murderer, Dr. Lecter?" Oh, honey, you have no idea. And then, right as Lecter says, "What reason would I have?" (WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO START) --
NO NO NOT CRAWFORD NO
this is so bad, you guys
"You... you have no traceable motive... which is why you were so hard to see," says Will, shaking hard and bitterly mad and GET HIM, WILL, GET HIM. "You were just... curious what I would do." ( HE DOES SEE HIM!) "Someone like me... someone who thinks how I think. Wind him up... and watch him go. And apparently, Dr. Lecter... THIS IS HOW I GO."
"Will," says Crawford, reaching out towards him and NO, NO NO NO, NOT NOW noooooo. "EASY--"
And Lecter gives Will this really interesting look right then--curious? gloating? triumphant because Will might kill him, or because Will's not going to get to?--RIGHT AS WILL RAISES THE GUN TO SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD AND CRAWFORD SHOOTS THE FUCK OUT OF WILL'S SHOULDER AND BLOOD SPATTERS LECTER'S FACE AND EVERYTHING IS THE WORST EVER.
So Will's slumped in the exact same place where Hobbs died, staring up at the man who shot him. And in Lecter's place to the left of Crawford, Will sees the deathly skeletal wendigo. "See? You see?" This was his design.
*WAILING*
(... I want to throw shoes, but the whole scheme is so beautifully orchestrated that I can't really help but admire it?)
So. That was a thing that happened. Since things have pretty much bottomed out at this point, why don't we take Will back to A HOSPITAL, FINALLY. "The right hemisphere of his brain was inflamed. They have placed him in an induced sleep and they are treating him with antiviral and steroid therapies," Lecter tells Crawford, because here's how bad Will Graham's life sucks by this point: getting arrested, shot, and framed for cannibalistic serial murder means that at least he gets actual medical treatment now. "He's expected to make a substantial recovery." "Would you have gone to Minnesota with him if he didn't have a gun on you?" asks Crawford, because SIGH. "I would have wanted to," says Lecter. After a long pause: "I believe I've failed to satisfy my obligation to Will. More than I care to admit." (We'll get to what he feels that obligation is in a moment.) Crawford: "Well, he's not your victim, doctor." "Nor is he yours." And then I threw all my shoes at everybody, because why let them go to waste?
"You know, in my time, I've seen people broken by the world," says Crawford. "I've seen them broken in all kinds of hideous and offhanded ways but never like this. Never like this." "No one in this room will be the same," replies Lecter. And then I went and retrieved a boot just so I could throw it at him one more time.
And so they sit there, just as Lecter and Will were sitting at Abigail's bedside in the first episode, except that now their backs are symbolically turned to the camera, and it's Lecter on the right, in the light, and Crawford, defeated, the darkness over his shoulder, because fuck everything.
Then, we go to Maison Du Maurier, where THIS happens:
AW SHIT, Y'ALL
EVERYBODY HIT THE FLOOR
IT'S THE MOTHERFUCKING MURDER TIE
CLOCKWISE (lol "clockwise"): That Episode Where He Killed Miriam; That Episode Where He Hugged Abigail The Way He Killed Miriam; That Episode Where He Killed Will's Shady Doctor And Framed The Poor Zombie Girl For It; Right Now.
Also, Bedelia is wearing red, just as Abigail was when she realized what Lecter was feeding her. Also-also, she is a human side-eye. Bedelia is the living embodiment of side-eye. Bedelia Du Maurier is side-eye on legs. Her first comment on the tête de veau en sauce verte, for example, is a deadpan "Smells like a bonfire." Lecter explains, "I smoked the veal on a pyre of dry hay." (As you do.) "It imparts a unique smoldering flavor to the meat... and to the room."
@BryanFuller: TETE DE VEAU TRANSLATES TO HEAD OF CALF
@BryanFuller: TETE DE VEAU IS PEOPLE
We all know who it is, right?
YES, REALLY.
As consulting chef José Andrés explained to food stylist Janice Poon, it's "smoked with dry hay, like a funerary ritual where the dead are burned. The hay imparts a smokey flavor, the smell of death but also the smell of rebirth. You become something else by burning and becoming part of the cycle of life." Unlike the Ripper murders where Lecter took organs that his victims didn't "deserve," this is a way to "honor" Abigail so that her death is not "just murder," as her father taught her--and I would argue that it's an honor for Bedelia as well, that Lecter would choose her to help him do this. I mean, it's a lot of things, but that's one of them. BECAUSE ALSO: "I have a debate with the director about whether or not to have a skull on the platter of Tete de Veau. I think it needs the skull to indicate that the bud vases are actually bones. And I like the head/skull relationship. And also because I think Hannibal and Bedelia have this kind of pissing match about who’s cooler and who’s scarier."
"This is an... unexpected treat," says Bedelia, with a pleasant smile and an absolute bone-deep dread in her voice. "Thank you for indulging me," he replies. Bedelia: "You seemed like you needed to talk." So it sounds like Fancy Cannibal did call ahead, rather than just show up on her doorstep with Abiveal--although I'm not sure she knew that Chez Lecter delivers: "And since you refuse invitations to my dinner table, this is the only way I could cook for you," he says. (Because of her "cut that out, you're my patient" boundaries, or because... somehow, she already knew?) And I was typing out and I'll just climb right over your wall whether you like it or not, and then I remembered:
EPISODE 8, FROMAGE
"You spend a lot of time building walls, Hannibal. It's natural to want to see if someone is... clever enough to climb over them."
Bedelia's spent the entire season defending the walls she's put up to keep him out--not hoping he would scale them. But you might say that he's got a ladder, metaphorically speaking. My current theory about how he got the Attacker Patient to swallow his own tongue is that the attacker locked himself with Bedelia into her office... and Lecter talked him into it through the closed door. (How, I don't know, but we know he does it to someone else in the original series. Words are living things, after all, and he chooses them wisely.) Because why would you take precious time to do that if you could physically reach him? Why wouldn't you just rescue her in a way you could admit to the police? Even considering his "curiosity" and willingness to kill on a moment's notice, I still feel like the method was a last resort on Lecter's part. So Bedelia had to watch this attacker choke on his own tongue--and see exactly what her colleague-patient was capable of doing without even being in the room. No wonder she has a trapped look through this entire scene. And yet: " I like you." So it seems like we're moving towards him eventually getting over that wall. Jesus take the wheel.
"What's on your mind, Hannibal?" she asks (*DRINK*). "I'm going to see Will tomorrow," he says. As a patient or as a friend? "As a farewell... of sorts." I feel like this line was put in to cover the possibility that the show wouldn't be renewed--Will failed the final exam, if you will, but, as it turns out, Lecter doesn't intend on letting Will go at all. I'm going to go ahead and bring in some quotes from an interview TV Guide ran the day after the finale:
Can Will distance himself from Hannibal, or will he have access to him as his attending psychiatrist?
FULLER: Hannibal will always want to be close to Will. He sees a great potential in Will as this pure human being, and he's seduced by Will's purity. He's attracted to it, and he's also very eager to conquer it in some way.
EPISODE 10, BUFFET FROID
"We know you're fond of the rarified. What makes him so rare?" "Will has a remarkably vivid imagination... beautiful," he replies. "Pure empathy."
Is Hannibal's obsession with Will also an attempt to more fully understand himself?
FULLER: Hannibal's absolutely on a journey of self-exploration, and he's fascinated by his fascination with Will. He is curious about this change that's come over him. It's sort of like somebody who is falling in love for the first time and had never felt that was actually a possibility for them. That's a fresh, unexplored territory for Hannibal that is exciting to him and interesting to him. Maybe his ultimate downfall is his attraction and affection for Will Graham.
Moreover, here's Alan Sepinwall's interview with Fuller at HitFix:
Lecter insists to Jack, to Alana, to his own therapist, that he considers Will a friend. Yet he's been setting him up to be his patsy. Is Hannibal Lecter actually capable of feeling an emotional bond like friendship, or does he see all humans just as meat to be used or consumed?
BRYAN FULLER: In my mind, everything that he has done to Will - including setting him up to take the fall for the series of murders - is a radically unorthodox form of therapy, that Hannibal Lecter himself believes will allow Will Graham to get closer to his truer self. [...] But I do believe that Hannibal's feelings for Will are sincere, that he does care about Will, but it's an example of bad parenting, in a way. You can have a bad parent who thinks that something that's not good for you is good for you based on their philosophy of life. That's where Hannibal is coming from. Based on his philosophy of life, getting Will to accept the fact that he is a murderer and could take a life will actually help him become a purer human being, in a way.
EPISODE 2, AMUSE-BOUCHE
But "the mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself," Lecter tells him (dare I say gently?), "not the worst of someone else."
"Is it harder imagining the thrill somebody else feels killing, now that you've done it yourself?" asks Lecter.
"If your intention was to kill him, it's because you understand why he did the things he did. It's beautiful in its own way" (Will turns to look at him because what the fuck), "giving voice to the unmentionable. Did you really feel so bad because killing him felt so good?"
"Killing must feel good to God too," says Lecter. "He does it all the time. And are we not created in His image?"
Lecter started Will's "therapy" in earnest as soon as he'd gotten Will to shoot Garrett Jacob Hobbs. Subtle are the ways of the fancy cannibal, and deep are his designs.
"I thought Mr. Graham was finally going to be the patient who cost you your life," she says, looking down and pushing things around with her cutlery and basically doing anything, anything, but eat. She knows, you guys. She knows even before he even points his fork at her and says, "He didn't cost me my life. He cost Abigail hers. Your veal is getting cold." She's cornered. "Controversial dish," she says, "veal." Because she knows, even before he goes into some spiel about how people disapprove of veal because the calves are so young but they're older than many pigs going to slaughter (OH, I SEE). I think she knew the moment she saw him on the doorstep, but he's also watching her with that absorbed, avid look he always gives people when they eat his cooking--and she's watching him giving her that look, and she knows exactly what it means.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Oh my Goooood.
"Mmm," she says.
Ohhhhh my Goooood.
@beamish_girl: Which is, of course, why she followed up with "Hannibal, try some subtlety for a change."
"You have to be careful, Hannibal. They're starting to see your pattern." "What pattern would that be?" "You develop relationships with patients who are prone to violence," she says. "That pattern." (Oh, well, that.) "Under scrutiny, Jack Crawford's beliefs about you might start to unravel." "Tell me, Dr. Du Maurier," he says, leaning in from the shadows, "have your beliefs about me begun to unravel?"
Here is Bedelia's answer in its entirety:
I think she knows you better than you think she does, sir.
And, finally: The Baltimore State Hospital for Broken Ponies.
EPISODE 6, ENTRÉE
"I always feel a little nervous going into these places... afraid they won't let me out." "Don't worry. I won't leave you here," says Crawford. "Yeah," says Will. "Not today."
They're doing this. They're really doing this.
@winston_graham: i'd bail him out if i had money but sadly i am dog
@winston_graham: "@TheKingsHound: @winston_graham you can't bail people out of a mental hospital" any building that has chilton in it is a prison
(And it will have Chilton, it seems.)
So here's Lecter standing there as the barred door closes behind him, just as Clarice will stand there in the future, and there he goes walking through the shadows down the hall. And his suit is brown (a color they generally seem to have him wear as symbolic "lol, they don't knoooow" camouflage) over a very handsome shade of dark blue. Fucker. And there, in the last cell on the left, is Will in his Imprisoned Sociopath jumpsuit--if blue represents wrongdoing here, Lecter's is hidden and Will's been put in a head-to-foot blue he doesn't deserve. And it's exactly what we first see Lecter wearing in Silence of the Lambs. Because everything is terrible, and I hope they give you a cell made of thumbtacks.
Also? Opera is playing on the soundtrack--and it's the aria specifically written for the movie Hannibal that I mentioned back on the " Sorbet" recap: " Vide Cor Meum" (See my heart), used to highlight the dialogue, "Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her and find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight and ache for him?"
@aMoTPodcast: If you've never read the poem it's from Dante's La Vita Nuova and it's about eating someone's heart as a show of love.
You guys. They are using the Cannibal Love Aria. Leave me on the floor to die.
"Hello, Will."
"Hello, Dr. Lecter."
OH, THAT THOU CANST BE A FUCKER AND SMILE.
THE END.
@cafecliche: OH MY JESUS I NEED SOMEONE TO HOLD ME
@ohyoda: OH MY GOD. THE MUSIC. HIS FACE. SOMEONE HOLD ME. I WAS TOO SOBER FOR THIS SHIT
@beamish_girl: It was so good, I may never stop screaming. Seriously, my facebook right now is just OH GOD WHAT NO AAAAH (I'M COVERED IN BEES)
@mork_and: screamed so much dogs came over to see what was wrong. Short answer: everything
@KaceyKadoodles [Abigail]: Dear #FANNIBALS. ❤ http://wikihow.com/Stop-Crying-when-You-Are-Very-Upset
(#;alskjdf;alskjdfalsjkdf;asldjf #S:DLJKFS:DLKFJS:DLFKJS:DLFKJSD::LSDFJ:S)
I am pretty sure this show got renewed because the NBC executives were clinging to each other and weeping and promising Bryan Fuller anything he wanted if he would just take the feels away.
@NBCHannibal: ... #HELPWILLGRAHAM
(I'm saying.)
@princess_starr: @cleolinda Are you okay? Do we need to send emergency booze?
@cleolinda: I NEED MORE (it was wonderful) #emmyaldente
@cleolinda: Guys, that was so good. It had the narrative full-circle feel of a good novel. #Hannibal
@tamaro606: It was so satisfying that I'm not even upset that everything is terrible now.
@cleolinda: YES EXACTLY
So: what happens next? Hannibal Finale Postmortem: Creator Bryan Fuller Answers Our Burning Questions. I personally feel like this is "the natural logical extension of what you just saw generally," but you may want to jump to the next LJ-cut instead:
Jack conveniently comes in after Will accuses Hannibal of all the murders. Would Jack have been swayed if he had heard Will's thoughts?
FULLER: In Season 2, Jack will be investigating those accusations. I think after Will woke up from getting shot by Jack and before he was put into the institution, he shared his theories about Hannibal. Now it's up to those characters and Hannibal Lecter to either support or deny those accusations in a properly investigated way.
Do you intend to keep Will locked up for a while?
FULLER: He will be incarcerated, and we will be dealing with all of the threads of that. We need to see all of the things happen that would happen in that scenario. Will Graham needs to go on trial for the murders that he may or may not have committed. Jack has to be brought before a review board for his participation in what happened to Will, and Hannibal, as Will's psychiatrist, is going to continue to try to help Will see the truth that Hannibal wants him to see. The ball is up in the air in so many ways for Jack and Hannibal and Will. The fun of Season 2 will be spiking those balls.
@BryanFuller: EPISODE 1 OF #HANNIBAL SEASON 2 IS TITLED "KAISEKI"
I'm only vaguely aware of what happens in the Hannibal Rising prequel, but my understanding is that the uncle mentioned in episode 4 has a Japanese wife. Kaiseki is "a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals, and are analogous to Western haute cuisine." So you know what this means: UNCLE DAVID BOWIE! UNCLE DAVID BOWIE!
@winston_graham: well that was fun!
@winston_graham: i will try to tweet often during the #HeAteUs
(Yeah, that... that's what they're calling it. Forget it, Jake. It's Hannibal.)
@cleolinda: You have to tell us how things are going at Alana's house!
@DireRavenstag: Much more boring than at Will's, I'd imagine. No sleepwalking excursions. No sudden bouts of violence.
@cleolinda: I don't know... I imagine she'll have a rather fancy gentleman caller now and then.
We have one major question remaining, though: how did Will end up ingesting that ear? Even Bryan Fuller doesn't have a concrete answer in mind: "Hannibal is a wily guy. As a storyteller, I have to have an answer in reality. On one hand, I could see a version of Hannibal sneaking into Will's house with an ear on a stick and pushing it down his throat. On the other hand, as a lover of horror and sci-fi and quasi-supernatural storytelling, I love the explanation that Hannibal is a devil. But that was not Thomas Harris' intention. So, he has to have been physically able to accomplish that in some manner."
I feel like Will probably turned around at that Virginia aiport and flailed right back across the unfriendly skies to Minnesota to figure out what he might have done. And so when he got there... someone was waiting for him, the way Someone was waiting for Abigail. I'm guessing that whatever happened next happened with pharmaceutical help--a lot of it, given that Will's not even sure how he ended up back in bed at his house. You may remember that a dinner scene involving mind-altering drugs and cannibalism happened at the end of the Hannibal book. You know, the reason I freaked out so bad when the shrooms showed up in " Ceuf." And I was idly browsing the Fuck Yeah Hannibal archives Thursday morning when I came across this...
This seems to have been shot only as a very early promo. It's my headcanon until proven otherwise.
I'm going to post a follow-up entry tomorrow (yes, ANOTHER ONE) with various links and extra bits, but here's a really beautiful review from Todd VanDerWerff at the AV Club: Hannibal returns the fear of death to the TV crime drama. If you've wanted to try the show but worried that the violence was exploitative--this is the answer to your question.
(Also: here is willgrahamhasaniceday.tumblr.com. You're welcome.)
Meanwhile, I will be over here doing my victory lap because, so help me God, I finished a thing for once and saw the season all the way through to the end. The Hannibal recaps were 110% fun, but here by the end, I was starting to feel like it was a class I loved, but I was glad to finish the semester and run wild into the summer, as much as I wish we had more show right now. As Jane Austen once said, the perfect visit is one that feels much too short.
@DireRavenstag: @NBCHannibal @neoprod Thank you, most favored fleshmeats, for the beautiful creation you have wrought unto us. *majestic stag bow*
As I've said before, Silence of the Lambs has been my actual favorite movie since I was 14, so it means a lot to me that this show was so good but also so different, and that it was willing to do something so beautiful and new without disparaging the previous adaptations. I've trusted Fuller & Co. since the episode with Miriam and Gideon kicked my ass and made me love it, and they've entirely lived up to that trust with something just as good as my favorite adaptation, as far as I'm concerned. That's pretty much the greatest compliment I can think to give.
@DireRavenstag: So here we are, fleshmeats. My beloved Will like a precious jewel, so beautiful in his cage. The future is before us, and it is GRAND.