This episode focuses on how all the key players slowly pulled themselves together after Hannibal decimated them at the end of the second season. It is less focused on Will and more his interactions with everyone involved in the aftermath as well as him vocalizing the reasons for his actions that night. Script.
Chilton visits Will in the hospital after being disemboweled. Will confuses his appearance with someone else, but he is still able to maintain a conversation with the man while also hallucinating another person.
Chilton wants to enlist Will in capturing Hannibal, to get vegenance, but Will rebuffs him.
CHILTON: The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true. This is your best possible world, Will. You're not getting a better one.
Will envisions a dream of what he could have done: Jack, Will, and Hannibal are sat at the table, and Will holds Jack's arm while Hannibal slits his throat open. Jack is shocked by the betrayal.
Will works on the engine of a yacht with his dogs enjoying the outdoors when Jack visits him. Jack hoped Will would visit him first, but he admits he understands why Will did not.
JACK: I'm here to make sure you don't contradict the official narrative. We are FBI agents. Wounded in the course of heroic duty. WILL: Well now, that's not true for either of us.
JACK: Do you remember when you decided to call Hannibal? WILL: I wasn't decided when I called him. I just called him. I deliberated while the phone rang. I decided ... When I heard his voice. JACK: You told him we knew. WILL: I told him to leave. ... 'Cause I wanted him to run. JACK: Why? WILL: Because... Because he was my friend. And because I wanted to run away with him.
Alana visits Hannibal's home and finds Will seated in the kitchen where he was cut open. Will is hallucinating during the entire conversation, but he keeps pace with Alana. Alana questions if he wants to forget what happened, and Will replies that he doesn't.
WILL: I'm building rooms in my memory palace for all my friends. ALANA: Friendship with Hannibal is blackmail elevated to the level of love. WILL: A mutually unspoken pact to ignore the worst in one another in order to continue enjoying the best. ALANA: After everything he's done, can you still ignore the worst in him? WILL: I came here to be alone, Alana. If you wouldn't mind.
Jack retires from the FBI then eventually kills his wife while she is barely alive during the last stages of her lung cancer. Will arrives late to the funeral, waiting until everyone has gone, and Jack passes along a note he received from Hannibal regarding Bella's death and its circumstances.
JACK: She had to die on me. I knew it was coming, but it smarts. I know what's coming for you, Will. You don't have to die on me, too.
Will leaves the dogs in Alana's care as he sails across the Atlantic to locate Hannibal. She and Will discussed capturing Hannibal before he left, and she believes Will understands the need to catch and incarcerate Hannibal.
Important Points:
Will has a friend named Hannibal. Everyone, including Will, understands Hannibal is a bad person, but Will still has a great attachment to him. John will know that his stomach scar came from Hannibal as the wound pattern matches the circumstances. He did something and felt culpable enough to allow Hannibal to gut him; Hannibal decided to leave him alive for reasons both known and unknown.
Will was connected with the FBI in some capacity. He is under investigation regarding what happened with Hannibal and has lied, or at least omitted the truth, about his role in what happened. Jack also accepts some blame for the event, but he is unsure regarding Will and his connection with Hannibal.
Will is astoundingly practiced at creating hallucinations of what he wants to see and disassociates with reality in uncanny ways.
Will is by and large calm and at ease throughout the episode, even willing to discuss raw emotions in a measured, reasonable manner. This is starkly different from his nervous, unsure persona without memories. Will is capable, focused, and determined; John is not.
Will can sail a yacht across an ocean, fix its engine, and has a lot of dogs that he cares about a lot.
This episode focuses on a killer who created a totem pole out of the bodies of seventeen people in order to address the parenthood, creating a legacy, and what is done for and to the people we love. The other half of the plot is focused on Abigail being exposed as a killer and how Will reacts to that revelation. Script.
Jack has everyone clear out of the crime scene on the beach, so that Will can recreate the construction of the totem and murder of the man who became the totem head in his mind. The re-creation is vivid with sound, movement, and emotion, indiscernible from reality, but Will does not physically move or speak during it. He has control and power over this "hallucination".
At the end of the re-creation, Will finds himself in the waiting office of Hannibal. He is distraught at the loss of time, suddenly in Baltimore, Maryland when he was just at Grafton, West Virginia.
HANNIBAL: You’re disassociating, Will. It’s a desperate survival mechanism for a psyche that endures repeated abuse. WILL: I’m not abused. HANNIBAL: You have an empathy disorder. What you feel is overwhelming you. WILL: I know, I know, I know. HANNIBAL: Yet you choose to ignore it. That is the abuse I’m referring to. WILL: You want me to quit? HANNIBAL: Jack Crawford gave you a chance to quit and you didn’t take it. Why? WILL: I save lives. HANNIBAL: And that feels good. WILL: Generally speaking, yes. HANNIBAL: What about your life? I’m your friend, Will. I don’t care about the lives you save. I care about your life. And your life is separating from reality.
HANNIBAL: And faced with this killer’s achievements, your mind needed to escape and you lost time. WILL: Yes. HANNIBAL: I’m worried about you, Will. WILL: I’m worried about me, too. HANNIBAL: You empathize so completely with the killers Jack Crawford has your mind wrapped around that you lose yourself to them. What if you lose time and hurt yourself or someone else? I don’t want you to wake up and see a totem of your own making.
Will apologizes to Jack, carefully testing the ground to see how he appeared during the time that he lost. Jack is highly perceptive to Will being uncomfortable, hiding the truth, but Will ultimately denies that he has a problem. Afterwards, Will steels himself in order to continue the investigation in the forensics lab, able to provide the psychology behind the evidence they present.
Alana checks on Will as he is in the middle of an uncontrolled hallucination, giving a lecture on his current investigation. At the end of their talk, Will shares he does feel unstable, receiving a hug from Alana while frightened.
WILL: Come on in. I promise I won’t try to kiss you again. Unless you stopped taking your own advice. ALANA: A doctor who treats herself has a fool for a patient. I regretted leaving your house the other night. WILL: Regretted? Implying that you are no longer regretting? Or are you still in a state of regret? ALANA: I’m criss-crossing the state line. WILL: What side of the line you on now? ALANA: I’ve got a foot planted firmly on both sides. WILL: You telling me that to confuse me? ALANA: I’m telling you to be honest about how I feel. Don’t want to mislead you but I don’t want to lie either. WILL: I won’t lie if you won’t. ALANA: I have feelings for you, Will. But I don’t want to just have an affair with you. It would be reckless. WILL: Why? It’s not because you have a professional curiosity about me. ALANA: No, it’s because I think you’re unstable. And until that changes I can only be your friend. WILL: Thank you for not lying. ALANA: Do you feel unstable?
Hannibal and Will both come down harshly on Abigail's plan to write a book about her father with Freddie Lounds.
ABIGAIL: Yes, things change. For instance, you’re here. For a change. WILL: Things are changing for me, too. Doing some accounting for what’s important in my life and what isn’t. You’re important, Abigail. ABIGAIL: Now that I’m writing a book. HANNIBAL: Abigail. WILL: I can’t help feeling some responsibility for you. ABIGAIL: Just because you killed my dad doesn’t mean you get to be him.
While working on the investigation, Jack pulls Will aside in order to share with him, Hannibal, and Alana that Nicholas Boyle's body has been found. Jack suspects that Abigail murdered him while everyone else argues against it. Will wants to be present when Abigail faces the body, but he is denied by Jack, citing his lack of objectivity.
Will is able to deduce that the first victim married the woman who was loved by the killer, but the woman was pregnant with the killer's baby: He murdered his own son. Will stays back while Jack confronts him, but Will eventually caustically lays out the truth, disgusted by the elderly murderer.
After a dream about Abigail, Will recreates the death of Nicholas Boyle, realizing she had killed him. Enraged, Will confronts Hannibal.
WILL: Abigail Hobbs killed Nick Boyle. HANNIBAL: Yes, I know. WILL: Tell me why you know. HANNIBAL: I helped her dispose of the body. WILL: Evidently not well enough. HANNIBAL: Have you told Jack Crawford? WILL: No. HANNIBAL: Why not? WILL: I was hoping it wasn’t true. HANNIBAL: Now you know the truth. WILL: Do I? HANNIBAL: Everything you know about that night is true. Except the end. Nicholas Boyle attacked us. Abigail’s only crime was to defend herself and I lied about it. WILL: Why? HANNIBAL: You know why. Jack Crawford would hang her for what her father’s done. The world would burn Abigail in his place. That would be the story. That would be what Freddie Lounds writes. Abigail is no more a killer than you are for shooting her father or I am for the death of Tobias Budge. WILL: It’s not our place to decide. HANNIBAL: If not ours, then whose? Who knows Abigail better than you and I? Or the burden she bears? We are her fathers now. We have to serve her better than Garret Jacob Hobbs. HANNIBAL: If you go to Jack, then you murder Abigail’s future. If she is ever to have the life she deserves, then we have to tell no one. ... Do I need to call my lawyer? HANNIBAL: What we’re doing here is the right thing, Will. For Abigail. In time, this will be the only story any of us cares to tell.
While having dinner with Hannibal and Abigail, Will is petty and continuously verbally attacks Freddie. He is resentful of everyone present, but he cannot look at Abigail.
Important Points
The "symptoms" of Will's empathy disorder are becoming more disruptive. He mentions that he is hallucinating and sleep walking in addition to losing time. This response is new and frightening to Will, but he has also not pushed himself this hard before.
Somehow, likely in the line of duty, Will killed Abigail's father and then came to develop a deep attachment to her. He has been staying away from her, however.
Will is also in love with Alana, but he understands and accepts her reasoning for not involving herself with him. His mental stability is interfering with his ability to be around and connect with the people he cares about.
Jack appears again. His behavior towards Will and Hannibal indicate this is before whatever revealed Hannibal as a bad person and was serving as Will's boss.
Hannibal appears in person for the first time. There is a large gap between what was said about him in the previous memory and his behavior in this memory. However, the manipulation to get Will to not reveal Abigail's murder does give a clue how they got from Point A to Point B.
This episode focuses on a killer who creates a garden of mushrooms out of living humans as well as Will slowly coming around to sharing his true thoughts with Hannibal. Script.
In a dream, WIll is shooting a target. As the target comes towards him, it changes into the corpse of Garrett Jacob Hobbs. He immediately loads another clip in and fires at the body without stop.
After Jack wakes Will, he inspects Hobbs' hunting cabin. Jack questions if Abigail, his comatose daughter, may have been helping her father to hunt. Will denies Jack's theory, asserting that he killed alone.
Hobbs killed seven other young girls, but Will is certain that there is nothing left of them to find; they were eaten and otherwise by Hobbs.
Jack has an Evil Minds Museum. Will jokes Hobbs could be an installation in it.
Will returns to the classroom to give a lesson on Hobbs. He disassociates during the lecture to when he was trying to save Abigail's life, an internal and discrete process.
WILL: Hi. ALANA: How are you, Will? WILL: I have no idea. ALANA: That may change. I didn't want you to be ambushed— WILL: Is this an ambush? ALANA: Ambush is later. Immediately later, soon to now. When Jack arrives consider yourself ambushed. WILL: Here's Jack. JACK: How was class? WILL: They applauded, it was inappropriate. JACK: Review board begs to differ. You’re up for a commendation and they okay'd active return to the field. ALANA: Question is... Do you want to go back in the field? JACK: I want you to go back in the field, but I told the board I'm recommending a psych evaluation. WILL: Are we starting now? ALANA: Session wouldn't be with me. JACK: Hannibal Lecter might be a better fit. Your relationship's not as personal. But if you'd be more comfortable with Dr. Bloom— WILL: I'm not going to be comfortable with anybody inside my head. ALANA: You've never killed someone before, Will. It's a deadly force encounter. It's a lot to digest. WILL: I used to work homicide. I've got a good metabolism. JACK: Reason you currently "used to" work homicide is you couldn't stomach pulling the trigger. You just pulled the trigger ten times. WILL: So, psych eval's not a formality? JACK: It's so I can sleep. I asked you to get close to Hobbs and I need to know you didn't get too close. How many times have you spent the night in Abigail Hobbs' hospital room? WILL: Therapy doesn't work on me. JACK: 'Cause you won't let it. WILL: 'Cause I know all the tricks. JACK: Un-learn some tricks. ALANA: Why not have a conversation with Hannibal? He was there. He knows what you went through. JACK: I need my beauty sleep, Will!
Will paces on the second level of Hannibal's office while talking with him, staying as far from Hannibal as possible.
WILL: What's this? HANNIBAL: Your Psychological Evaluation. You're totally functional and more or less sane. Well done. WILL: Did you just rubber stamp me? HANNIBAL: Jack Crawford may lay his weary head to rest knowing he didn't break you and our conversation can proceed unobstructed by paperwork. WILL: Jack thinks I need therapy. HANNIBAL: I'm not sure therapy will work on you. Stealing into other minds has taught you how to fortify your own. WILL: That's what I said. HANNIBAL: What you need is a way out of dark places when Jack sends you there. WILL: Last time he sent me into a dark place I brought something back. HANNIBAL: A surrogate daughter? You saved Abigail Hobbs' life. You also orphaned her. It comes with certain emotional obligations, regardless of empathy disorders. WILL: You were there. You saved her life, too. Do you feel obligated? HANNIBAL: I feel a staggering amount of obligation. I feel responsibility. I've fantasized about scenarios where my actions may have allowed a different fate for Abigail Hobbs. WILL: Jack thinks Abigail Hobbs might've helped her dad kill those girls. HANNIBAL: How does that make you feel? WILL: How does it make you feel? HANNIBAL: I find it vulgar. WILL: Me, too. HANNIBAL: And entirely possible. WILL: It's not what happened. HANNIBAL: Jack will ask her when she wakes up or he'll have one of us ask her. WILL: Is this therapy or a support group? HANNIBAL: It's whatever you need it to be. Will, the mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself and not the worst of someone else.
Will is at the gun range, frustrated with his aim.
BEVERLY: I'm pretty sure firearm "accuracy" isn't a prerequisite for teaching. WILL: I've been in the field before. BEVERLY: Now you're back in the saddle. Ish. WILL: Ish, indeed. It took me ten shots to drop Hobbs. BEVERLY: Zeller wanted to give you the bullets he pulled out of Hobbs in an acrylic case, but I told him you wouldn't think it was funny. WILL: Probably not. BEVERLY: I suggested one of those clacking, swinging ball things. WILL: That would have been funny. BEVERLY: You're a Weaver? I took you for an isosceles guy. WILL: I have a rotator-cuff issue, so I have to use the Weaver stance. BEVERLY: You are tight. WILL: I got stabbed when I was a cop. BEVERLY: I got stabbed in the third grade. With a number 2 pencil. Thought I was going to get lead poisoning. WILL: Uh, no lead in a pencil. Graphite.
Beverly adjusts Will's stance.
BEVERLY: See if that helps with the recoil. WILL: Better. Jack sent you all the way down here to teach me how to shoot? BEVERLY: No, Jack sent me down here to find out what you know about gardening.
Jack comments that therapy may work on Will, but Will demures at the suggestion. "Therapy is an acquired taste I have yet to acquire but sure served your purpose. I'm back in the field."
They are at a crime scene deep in the forest where nine bodies have been buried in compost with intravenous lines and tubes have been set-up. The bodies are being used to promote the growth of mushrooms and fungi.
The scene is cleared so that Will can construct the scenario. His vision and narration remains internal, "I choose this man. I do not bind his arm or legs as I bury him in a shallow grave. He is alive but will never be conscious again. He won't know he's dying. I don't need him to. This is my design." As he goes through the process, he sees Hobbs in the graves and loses his hold of the vision. At that same moment, one of the bodies grabs onto him.
Later, Will discusses seeing Hobbs at the crime scene with Hannibal. He is on the same level as Hannibal, but he keeps moving around.
HANNIBAL: It's stress. Not worth reporting. The mechanism that distinguishes conscious perceptions from internal perceptions misfired. You displaced the victim of another killer's crime with what could arguably be considered your victim. WILL: I don't consider Hobbs my victim. HANNIBAL: What do you consider him? WILL: Dead. HANNIBAL: Is it harder imagining the thrill somebody else feels killing now that you've done it yourself?
Will is unable to answer but eventually nervously nods.
Quickly, Hannibal drops pushing Will and begins to discuss the case. Will finally comes closer, leaning on Hannibal's desk.
WILL: Maybe he admires their ability to connect the way human minds can't. HANNIBAL: Yours can. WILL: Haha, yeah, no. Not physically. HANNIBAL: Is that what your farmer is looking for? Some sort of connection.
Will talks with the forensics team about the case. He suddenly asserts the victims are all diabetic, and someone put them into a coma by switching their medication.
Jack pinpoints the chain and employee that is switching the medications. When Eldon is not present, Will asks about his car, knowing he would have the next victim already set aside. He breaks into Eldon's car and locates the next would-be victim.
Price comments that they found something on Eldon's work station terminal. A journalist for TattleCrime named Freddie Lounds has written an article on Will Graham saying the FBI is using someone insane to catch the insane. Beverly is upset and Jack is angry.
Will is sleeping in Abigail's room and dreams of the ravenstag. When she visits Alana pulls a blanket over Will, it causes his dream to darken. He eventually wakes up to Alana reading to Abigail.
WILL: What are you reading? ALANA: Flannery O'Connor. When I was Abigail's age I was obsessed. I even tried to raise peacocks because she raised peacocks, but they're really stupid birds. WILL: You could be reading to a killer. ALANA: Innocent until guilty and all that. I'm about to broach the subject of that "Takes One to Know One" article. WILL: Oh, that. Did Jack send you? ALANA: No, I sent me. WILL: I don't think we've ever been in a room alone together. ALANA: I haven't noticed. Have we? Not that we're necessarily alone now. WILL: Yeah, right. Back to Jack Crawford's crime gimp. ALANA: Certainly creates an image. I don't need to talk about it if you don't. WILL: No, no. We can talk about or not talk about whatever you want. Actually, I was just, I was just enjoying listening to you read. ALANA: Abigail Hobbs is a success for you. WILL: She doesn't look success. ALANA: Don't feel sorry for yourself because you saved this girl's life. WILL: I don't. I don't feel sorry for myself at all. I feel— I feel, uh, good.
After the suspect kills in front of Freddie Lounds, Jack calls Will to warn him. Eldon wants to bury Abigail in order to foster a connection between her and Will. Eventually, Will locates Eldon wheeling Abigail away and shoots to disable him, not kill.
WILL: What were you going to do with her? ELDON: We all evolved from mycelium. I'm simply reintroducing her to the concept. WILL: By burying her alive? ELDON: The journalist said you understood me. WILL: I don't. ELDON: Well, you would have. You would have! Walk into a field of mycelium, they know you're there. They know you are there! Their spores reach for you as you pass by. I know who you're reaching for. I know. Abigail Hobbs. You should have let me plant her. You would have found her in a field where she was finally able to reach back.
Will is standing away from Hannibal, distant and not looking at him. As the conversation proceeds, he eventually settles into a chair and Hannibal into a chair opposite him.
HANNIBAL: When you shot Eldon Stammets... Who was it that you saw? WILL: I didn't see Hobbs. HANNIBAL: Then, it's not Hobbs' ghost that's haunting you, is it? It's the inevitability of there being a man so bad that killing him felt good. WILL: Killing Hobbs felt just. HANNIBAL: Which is why you're here. To prove that sprig of zest you feel is from saving Abigail, not from killing her dad. WILL: I didn't feel a sprig of zest when I shot Eldon Stammets. HANNIBAL: You didn't kill Eldon Stammets. WILL: I thought about killing him. I'm still not entirely sure that wasn't my intention pulling the trigger. HANNIBAL: If your intention was to kill him, it's because you understand why he did the things he did. It's beautiful in it's own way. Giving voice to the unmentionable. WILL: I should have stuck to fixing boat motors in Louisiana. HANNIBAL: A boat engine is a machine. A predictable problem, easy to solve. You fail, there's a paddle. Where was your paddle with Hobbs? WILL: You're supposed to be my paddle. HANNIBAL: I am. It wasn't the act of killing Hobbs that got you down, was it? Did you really feel so bad because killing him felt so good?
Will struggles but finally speaks quietly, stammering.
WILL: ... I liked killing Hobbs. HANNIBAL: Killing must feel good to God, too. He does it all the time, and are we not created in his image? WILL: That depends on who you ask. HANNIBAL: God's terrific. He dropped a church roof on thirty-four of his worshipers last Wednesday night in Texas, while they sang a hymn. WILL: Did God feel good about that? HANNIBAL: He felt powerful.
This episode focuses on Will's release from the asylum, the changes in his relationships with those he's closes to, and eventually him coming to a decision about how to handle Hannibal. This is also the conclusion of the Miriam Lass plot line which serves as a parable and another driving force for Will. Script.
After changing into his own clothing, Will walks free out of his cell. Opening the cell door, walking around freely, and even wearing his glasses again is novel.
WILL: This is very sudden. CHILTON: The federal prosecutor has dropped all charges. Since you weren't convicted of killing anyone, the basis for your sentencing to this institution is null and void. The Chesapeake Ripper has set you free. Mazel tov. I would love nothing more than to see you trade places with Dr. Lecter. I have no intention of ending up on his menu. WILL: Well, then confess, Frederick. Might be the only thing saves your life. CHILTON: Confess to what? WILL: Confess to bonding with Hannibal Lecter over your mutual practice of unorthodox therapies. Dr. Lecter with me, you with Abel Gideon. CHILTON: Abel Gideon has been playing his own game. Was wheeled out of that hospital by the Chesapeake Ripper. Curious what bargain they struck. WILL: No, there's no bargaining with smoke. No, Gideon's dead. You're next. CHILTON: Unless I unburden myself? WILL: Confession's good for the soul. Shine a light on your relationship with Hannibal Lecter. He works in the shadows. Deny them to him. Tell Jack Crawford everything. CHILTON: Are you suggesting I kill my career before Hannibal can kill me? WILL: I'm suggesting you convince Jack Crawford however you can. Like your life depends on it. CHILTON: Why did Hannibal not just kill you? WILL: Because he wants to be my friend.
Jack is waiting for Will on an upper level of hospital. They have a difficult discussion about the situation, but Will is frustrated and gratified with Jack.
JACK: We found Miriam Lass. Alive. WILL: You catch the Ripper? Jack shakes his head; he hasn't. WILL: How is she? Miriam. JACK: Traumatized. Miriam thanked me after we found her. Thanked me for not giving up on her. But I had. I had given up on her. And I gave up on you, too. I thought she was dead. I thought you were crazy. And I gave up on trying to find you both. WILL: You didn't have to find me, Jack. You just had to listen to me. JACK: I put Miriam in a room with Hannibal Lecter. She stated definitively he is not the Chesapeake Ripper. WILL: That definitive enough for you? JACK: No. It wasn't.
Together, Will and Jack visit the location where Miriam was found. It is filled with devices, instruments, and the macabe. There are still jars of Beverly's blood sitting out from when she was drained of blood before being cut into pieces. Will sees pictures of the latest victim who was turned into a living tree. Jack thinks that they are close to catching the killer but Will demures. Will acquires the mentality of the scene but imagines the cultivation of the tree taking place in Hannibal's study. ("I sewed the seeds and watched them grow. I cultivated a long chain of events leading to this. This, all of this, has been my design.")
When he returns from his recreation, Will asserts that the crime scene and the victims are all theater. He believes the Ripper is trying to pointing Jack in the wrong direction. He also dismisses Miriam as a credible witness, "Two years is a long time to have Hannibal in your head. You can't trust her, Jack. You can't trust any of this to be what it seems."
Jack drops Will off at his home and the pack run out to greet him along with Alana. He thanks her for taking care of the dogs and notices a new one, Applesauce, who belongs to Alana. There is a very strong blend of emotions when discussing Hannibal with her; frustration, anger, guilt, love, pain, concern . . .
WILL: Picking up some of my bad habits? ALANA: Picking up your good habits. You challenged my whole framework of assumptions about the way you are. The way I think you are. WILL: Well, the way you think I am isn't always a reliable guide to who I am. ALANA: I was wrong about you. WILL: Because you didn't believe me? Or in me? Because you let me question my own sanity, my sense of reality? ALANA: Because you tried to kill Hannibal. You're wrong about him. WILL: No, you're wrong about him, Alana. You see the best in him. I don't. ALANA: What was done to you doesn't excuse what you did. Are you going to try to hurt Hannibal again? Is he safe? WILL: From me? Or for you? He's dangerous, Alana. I suggest you stay as far away from Hannibal Lecter as you can.
Will meets Miriam and introduces himself rather frankly to her; not an agent but a teacher and also recently incarcerated then freed from the asyulm by the Ripper. Jack has shared with her that he believes only Will understands the Ripper.
Will shares that he was able remember what was done to him with Miriam, "Not all of it. Pieces. I was under his influence. The Chesapeake Ripper used some kind of light to induce seizure responses in my brain. It created blackouts and lost time." Miriam admits to experiencing much of the same; they share a trauma.
Finally, Will asserts that they are both now free for a reason. They are part of his design. Miriam agrees, "Neither of us is really free. He's not done."
As Hannibal arrives home, Will comes out of the shadows to level a gun at him. At the end of their exchange, he cocks his gun and puts it to Hannibal's temple. Eventually, he calms down to see the situation for what it is and takes control of it, leaving Hannibal.
WILL: Our last kitchen conversation was interrupted by Jack Crawford. I'd like to pick up where we left off. If memory serves, you were asking me if it'd feel good to kill you. HANNIBAL: You've given that some thought. WILL: You wanted me to embrace my nature, doctor. I'm just following the urges I kept down for so long, cultivating them as the inspirations they are. HANNIBAL: You never answered my question. How would killing me make you feel? WILL: Righteous. HANNIBAL: Aren't you curious, Will? Why you? Why Miriam Lass? What does the Chesapeake Ripper want with you? WILL: No, you tell me. How did Miriam Lass find you? You made sure no one could find you that way again. HANNIBAL: If I'm not the Ripper, you murder an innocent man. You better than anyone know what it means to be wrongly accused. You were innocent, and no one saw it. WILL: No, I'm not innocent. You saw to that. HANNIBAL: If I am the Ripper and you kill me, who will answer your questions? Don't you want to know how this ends?
Out of the blue, Chilton turns up at Will's house, bloody, and explains that Hannibal placed Gideon's corpse and various meat processing devices in his house along with killing three FBI agents. Will tries to reason with Chilton about his situation, promising to prove Hannibal as the Ripper. When a car drives up to Will's house, Will explains that he called Jack and Chilton points a gun at him. Will is unfazed, knowing Chilton is not a killer, and walks off to get Jack.
Despite trying to calm Jack down, he still barges in while Chilton escapes into the wilderness. Chilton eventually pitifully surrenders after Jack fires a few shots at him.
WILL: Why did you come alone, Jack? JACK: Where is he? WILL: Why did you come alone? JACK: Is he in the house? WILL: I told you everything isn't what it seems. The Chesapeake Ripper is still playing with us. All of us. JACK: I'm not playing. WILL: You going to kill Chilton? Jack up the law and get underneath it? JACK: You wagging the same tongue that gave the order to kill Hannibal? WILL: Difference is, Chilton's not the Chesapeake Ripper. Hannibal is. JACK: The Chesapeake Ripper isn't playing all of us, Will. He's playing you. WILL: Jack. Wait. Let me bring him out. He's got a gun. JACK: Good.
When the apprehended Chilton is interviewed by Alana, Miriam is overcome and takes Jack's gun and shoots him in the head. Will is not present, but he hears about it from Jack.
Will knocks at the door of Hannibal's study. The two calmly talk and eventually take their seats, falling back into their old rhythm.
HANNIBAL: Hello, Will. WILL: May I come in? HANNIBAL: Do you intend to point a gun at me? WILL: Not tonight. Are you expecting someone? HANNIBAL: Only you. WILL: Kept my standing appointment open? HANNIBAL: And you're right on time. WILL: I have to deal with you. And my feelings about you. I think it's best if I do that directly. HANNIBAL: First you have to grieve for what is lost and what has changed. WILL: I've changed. You changed me. HANNIBAL: The friendship that we had is over. The Chesapeake Ripper is over. WILL: It had to be Miriam, didn't it? She was compelled to take his life so she could take her own back. HANNIBAL: How will you take your life back? WILL: I'd like to resume my therapy. HANNIBAL: Where shall we begin?
Edited 2019-06-14 21:48 (UTC)
Season 3 Episode 9: ... and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
This episode focuses on Will getting back into the field on the Tooth Fairy case and meeting a lot of old associates. The peace of his life for three years is imminently threatened by his psyche being strained once again. Script.
For the first time in three years, Will visits Hannibal, trying to pick up his psychology to help with a new case.
HANNIBAL: That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court. WILL: Hello, Dr. Lecter. HANNIBAL: Hello, Will. Did you get my note? WILL: I got it. Thank you. HANNIBAL: Did you read it before you destroyed it? Or did you simply toss it into the nearest fire? WILL: I read it. And then I burned it. HANNIBAL: And you came anyway. I'm glad you came. My other callers are all professional. Banal psychiatrists and grasping second-raters. Pencil-lickers. WILL: I want you to help me, Dr. Lecter. HANNIBAL: Yes, I thought so. Are we no longer on a first-name basis? WILL: I'm more comfortable the less personal we are. HANNIBAL: I smell dogs and pine and oil beneath that shaving lotion. It's something a child would select, isn't it? There a child in your life, Will? WILL: I'm here about Chicago and Buffalo. You've read about it, I'm sure. HANNIBAL: I've read the papers. I can't clip them. They won't let me have scissors, of course. You want to know how he's choosing them. WILL: Thought you would have some ideas. HANNIBAL: You just came here to look at me. Came to get the old scent again. Why don't you just smell yourself? WILL: I expected more of you, doctor. That routine is old hat. HANNIBAL: Whereas you are a new man. Are you a good father, Will? Let me have the file. An hour, and we can discuss it like old times. WILL: Thank you. HANNIBAL: Family values may have declined over the last century, but we still help our families when we can. You're family, Will.
While giving Hannibal time to review the case, Will talks with Alana, catching up with her.
ALANA: It's good to see you looking so well, Will. But I can't help wishing you weren't here. WILL: Wishing and hoping. ALANA: How did it feel to see him again? WILL: Like Hannibal was looking through to the back of my skull. Felt like a fly flitting around in there. I had the absurd feeling that he walked out with me. Had to stop outside the doors and look around, make sure I was alone. ALANA: I know that feeling. At least Jack Crawford's pleased. WILL: He showed me pictures of the families. I looked at Molly and Walter and couldn't say no. ALANA: And Jack was counting on it. WILL: Are you still with Margot? ALANA: Yes. We have a baby. A Verger baby. A son. WILL: Good for Margot. ALANA: Good for me. I carried him. He's my son. He's the Verger heir. WILL: Then what are you doing here? ALANA: There are only five doors between Hannibal and the outside. And I have the keys to every one of them. Hannibal has never been great with boundaries. "He who sups with the Devil needs a long spoon." WILL: I am not letting him in, Alana. Don't worry about me. ALANA: Last time, it didn't end with you.
When Will returns to talk with Hannibal, the conversation is steeped in recreations and recollections from Hannibal's study to the crime scene, all pictured in Will's mind.
HANNIBAL: The first small bond to the killer itches and stings like a leech. Like you, Will, he needs a family to escape what's inside him. You know a fair amount about how these families died. How they lived is how he chooses them. WILL: How is he choosing them? HANNIBAL: How did you choose yours? Ready-made wife and child to serve your needs. A stepson or daughter -- a stepson absolves you of any biological blame. You know better than to breed. Can't pass on those terrible traits you fear the most.
Zeller and Price discover a buried cat at the home of the victims. The murderer cases the location and family, kills the pet to keep them from detecting him, then kills the families. Will is at a loss to find a connection between the families besides them being happy.
When investigating the house again, Will runs into Freddie Lounds.
FREDDIE: Now are you just keeping America clean or is that evidence? WILL: You're trespassing, Freddie. FREDDIE: I was trespassing before the blood dried. When did they call you in? WILL: I'm not talking to you. FREDDIE: We're co-conspirators, Will. I died for you and your cause. WILL: You didn't die enough. You came into my hospital room while I was asleep. You flipped back the sheets and shot a picture of my temporary colostomy bag. FREDDIE: Covered your junk with a black box. A big black box. You're welcome. WILL: You called us "murder husbands". FREDDIE: You did run off to Europe together. How does the Tooth Fairy compare to Hannibal Lecter? Haven't seen anything like this since the Massacre at Muskrat Farm. Funny thing about that massacre. Not only did Dr. Bloom survive, she got rich. Lecter's living in the lap under her care. What kind of arrangement you suppose they have? WILL: A complicated one. FREDDIE: Couldn't be more complicated than your relationship with Hannibal. You paid him a visit? Before you lie, know that I know that you did. WILL: Good-bye, Freddie. FREDDIE: "Federal manhunters, stymied in their search for the Tooth Fairy, have turned to the most savage killer in captivity for help. 'It takes one to catch one,' a federal official told this reporter." WILL: "Takes one to catch one"? You referring to me or Hannibal Lecter? FREDDIE: I'll let my readers decide. If you're smart, you'd use me. All psychopaths are narcissists. They love to read about themselves.
In a quiet moment, Will calls Molly while at his motel. He recreates their bedroom as he talks with her.
MOLLY: Hello, hotshot. Doing some good? WILL: None you'd notice. I'm lonesome. MOLLY: Me, too. I'm feeling Randy. WILL: Me, too. MOLLY: Randy's our new dog. WILL: Oh, hell. MOLLY: Randy's got huge balls. WILL: Never mind about his balls. MOLLY: They almost drag on the ground. He has to retract them when he runs. Can you retract yours? WILL: I retracted them once when I was a kid. Had to clear a barbed-wire fence, carrying a stolen watermelon. MOLLY: A criminal mind even at that age. WILL: I don't have a criminal mind. MOLLY: Of course you don't. WILL: We have a new, new dog. MOLLY: Newer than Randy? WILL: Belonged to one of the families. There was no one left to claim her. So I claimed her. I'm not worrying about her, just taking care of her. MOLLY: You're a very sweet man. I love you and I miss you and you're doing the right thing. It's costing you, too, I know that. I'm here. I'll be here whenever you come home. WILL: Good night, Molly.
That night, Will dreams of Molly dead, posed just as the dead mothers were with mirror shards, and he is bathed in blood. When he wakes up, he is drenched in sweat and stumbles to the bathroom. His face cracks and falls apart like glass when he looks in the mirror.
This episode focuses on Will's further fall from reality as he experiences numerous hallucinations and becomes more uncertain about his mental stability. He also tries to grow close to Alana and is pushed away which makes him move closer to Hannibal. Script.
In his living room, Will is working on a boat engine with the dogs resting around him. He hears an animal crying out in pain and goes out to look for it. In the morning, he invites Alana over to search for it but is not optimistic about finding it alive.
ALANA: So, you invited me over to help you collect animal parts? WILL: I invited you over on the off chance we do find it alive. Hard to wrangle a wounded animal by myself. Did you think it was a date? ALANA: Honestly, it never crossed my mind. WILL: Oh, heh heh. Why not? ALANA: You just don’t seem like you date. WILL: Too broken to date? ALANA: You’re not broken. WILL: What’s your excuse? ALANA: For not dating? Why are you assuming I don’t date? WILL: Do you? ALANA: No. Seems like something for somebody else. I’m sure I’ll become that somebody some day but, right now, I think too much. WILL: So, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna try to think less, or are you just gonna wait until it happens naturally? ALANA: I haven't thought about it. ... Are you seeing anything? WILL: No, actually. I'm not even seeing any track. I mean, except for the ones we made.
Will arrives at the opera, a man is positioned in the center of the stage with a cello neck down his throat. Beverly and Jack are also on scene. JACK: Will, is it me, or is it getting easier for you to look? WILL: I tell myself it’s purely an intellectual exercise. JACK: In the narrow view of forensics, that’s exactly what it is. WILL: It’s not any easier, Jack. (taking some pills) I shake it off. Keep on locking. JACK: Good. You shake it off. Get to work. We'll come back in when you're ready for us.
While acquiring Tobias' mind, Will steps down from the stage to survey the work on the stage. He imagines the process of setting up the body and making it able to play music. After a note rings out, Will sees Garrett Jacob Hobbs clapping from the audience.
In the lab, the team discusses the body. Will is still lost in the killer's mind, "Had to open you up to get a decent sound out of you.", but eventually switches back to himself.
Will meets with Hannibal and discusses his newest case with him, sharing that he can still hear the killer's music when he closes his eyes. Together, they eventually land on the theory that the murderer is attempting to impress someone else by killing in a new way, showing how well he can play.
At home, Will is tying off fishing lures when he hears something scratching from inside his fireplace. He takes the fireplace apart, searching for the animal, but Alana interrupts when she stops by.
ALANA: What kind of animal was it? WILL: Might’ve been a raccoon. ALANA: Might’ve been? WILL: By the time I knocked a hole in the chimney, it crawled out the top. ALANA: At least it got out. WILL: What are you doing out? ALANA: Thought I’d come over, make some noise, shoo away any predators at your door, but looks like you were making plenty of noise all by yourself. WILL: You avoided being in a room alone with me, essentially, since I met you. I mean, you were smooth about it. ALANA: Evidently not smooth enough. WILL: Now you’re making house calls? ALANA: Just a drive-by on my way home. Since you’re not my patient. WILL: No. I’m not. Will closes in on Alana and kisses her. ALANA: I’m confused. WILL: You have to stop thinking so much. ALANA: I can stop the thinking if we’re not... But if we’re... WILL: Intimate. ALANA: The way I am in relationships... Not that this is a relationship. It’s just a kiss. A great kiss. But the way I am isn’t compatible with.... WILL: The way I am. ALANA: I wouldn’t be good for you. You wouldn’t be good for me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop analyzing, because I have this professional curiosity about you. Will kisses Alana again. WILL: I am not your patient. ALANA: If I were my patient, my advice to me would be, "Don’t do this". I have to follow my own advice. I’m gonna go ahead and go now. Good night.
Immediately, Will drives to Hannibal's house and tells him that he kissed Alana. Hannibal was having a dinner but the guest is gone, so Hannibal serves up dessert for him and Will.
HANNIBAL: Tell me, what was Alana’s reaction? WILL: She said she wouldn’t be good for me, and I wouldn’t be good for her. HANNIBAL: I don’t disagree. She would feel an obligation to her field of study to observe you. And you would resent her for it. WILL: I know. HANNIBAL: Wondering then why you kissed her and felt compelled to drive an hour in the snow to tell me about it. WILL: Ah, well, I wanted to kiss her since I met her. She's very kissable. HANNIBAL: You waited a long time, which suggests you were kissing her for a reason in addition to wanting to. WILL: I heard an animal trapped in my chimney. I broke through the wall to get it out. Didn’t find anything inside. Alana showed up. She looked at me, maybe her face changed, I don’t know. But she knew. HANNIBAL: What did she know, Will? WILL: There was no animal in my chimney. It was only in my head. I sleep walk. I get headaches. I am hearing things. I feel unstable. HANNIBAL: That’s why you kissed her. A clutch for balance. You said yourself what you do is not good for you. WILL: Unfortunately, I am good for it.
Hannibal hesitates but then discloses information from a patient that could be connected to the recent murder. Will is shaken to be pulled back into work.
Will arrives at Tobias' shop to interview him and catches that Tobias is aware of more about the case than was shared with the press. Suddenly, Will hears a dog getting suddenly hit by a car and runs out to check the street; there is no dog or trace of it. When he comes back, an officer is dead. After calling in the death, he searches for Tobias in the shop's basement and discovers the corpse of the other officer. There is a struggle between Tobias and Will, but Tobias manages to slip away.
Jack and Will are called to Hannibal's office after Tobias and Franklyn, the patient, have been killed. Hannibal is wounded from the new encounter, and Jack interrogates him about what happened. Once Jack is done, Will talks with Hannibal, "I feel like I've dragged you into my world." "I got here on my own. But I appreciate the company."
This episode presents a foil to Will in Peter, the impaired but capable ward of an untrustworthy guardian. Jack and Will collaborate in order to entrap Hannibal by using Will as bait. Script.
Will and Jack are fishing out on a frozen lake, passing a flask of whisky between them.
JACK: Thought trout were hunters. They should be chewing on my hook. WILL: In the cold, their metabolisms drop. They're not as hungry. JACK: That's the question. How do you catch a fish who isn't hungry? WILL: You have to change tactics. Use live bait that moves and excites them to action. Gotta make him bite even though he's not hungry. JACK: Make him act on instinct. He's always a predator. WILL: You have to create a reality where only you and the fish exist, where your lure becomes what he wants most, despite everything he knows. JACK: Wrong move and he swims away. WILL: I'm a good fisherman, Jack. JACK: You hook him, I'll land him.
Hannibal prepares the fish Jack and Will caught. They discuss the awkward situation before them: Jack and Will believing Hannibal was a cannibal; Will trying to have Hannibal killed; and Chilton, ultimately, being convicted of the crimes. Hannibal settles the matter, "Greatest crime now would be to walk away from what we've shared and suffered. In many ways, we need each other. We're the only ones who will know what this feels like." Will appears to struggle to balance the lies and emotions flowing in this conversation with his handler and his target.
Days afterwards, Will comes to a crime scene and reviews photos of a woman stitched into the womb of a horse.
WILL: I don't want you to see me. I don't want you to see what I do. I want to calm you, comfort you. There's so much comfort in darkness. But not for one of you. I took your life and then tried to give it back to you. I hope that the forces of death and biology will bring you rebirth.
Will reveals that the body was hidden away by someone who was grieving the victim's death.
Together, Jack and Will visit someone connected to the stable who fits the profile. Will instantly knows to ply him for information by speaking about animals, as they are at a rescue, and he can tell Peter has atypical neural responses from an accident. Later, he tells Jack that Peter knew the victim and the animals involved, and he can likely direct them to the true killer.
Will and Hannibal reunite in the study, resuming therapy. Will is openly hostile and confronts Hannibal, but his focus on reading and presenting correctly to Hannibal is impeccable.
HANNIBAL: How does it feel consulting again with Jack Crawford and the FBI? Last time it nearly destroyed you. WILL: Last time you nearly destroyed me. HANNIBAL: After everything that's happened, Will, you still believe— WILL: You can stop right there. You may have to pretend, but I don't. HANNIBAL: No, you don't. Not with me. WILL: I don't expect you to admit anything. You can't. But I prefer sins of omission to outright lies, Dr. Lecter. Don't lie to me. HANNIBAL: Will you return the courtesy? Why have you resumed your therapy? WILL: Can't just talk to any psychiatrist about what's kicking round my head. HANNIBAL: Do you fantasize about killing me? WILL: Yes. HANNIBAL: Tell me. How would you do it? WILL: With my hands. HANNIBAL: Then, we haven't moved past apologies and forgiveness. WILL: We've moved past a lot of things. I discovered a truth about myself when I tried to have you killed. HANNIBAL: That doing bad things to bad people makes you feel good? WILL: Yes. HANNIBAL: I need to know if you're going to try to kill me again, Will. WILL: I don't want to kill you anymore, Dr. Lecter, not now that I finally find you interesting.
Soil from the victim is traced to a particular location. Zeller apologizes to Will, who dismisses him at first, but Zeller explains that if he had believed Will like Beverly had, then she may still be alive. Will accepts that and shakes hands with Zeller.
Will brings the bird that was entombed in the victim's body to Peter. It is against protocol, but Will is "really not FBI" and wants to comfort Peter. Eventually, Peter admits that he hoped anyone who could find him could find the killer. He is convinced that the killer will make no one believe him which incenses Will who promises that they will.
Will, Hannibal, and Jack watch as Alana interviews Peter's social worker. They all agree that he shows some traits in common with psychopaths, but the social worker eventually asks to be let go which Jack approves of and Will immediately complains.
WILL: You're making a mistake, Jack. JACK: I've got nothing to hold him on. WILL: Peter Bernardone is psychologically disadvantaged. He's been manipulated. As his social worker, this man is in a position of trust. He betrayed that trust. ... I know what it's like to point at a killer and have no one listen. JACK: You pointed in the wrong direction.
This is a staged conversation, showing a growing wedge between Jack and Will for Hannibal to take advantage of.
Will and Hannibal are driving to the rescue to check on Peter.
HANNIBAL: You look like a man who has suffered an irrevocable loss. WILL: I'm trying to prevent one. HANNIBAL: Do you think if you save Peter Bernardone, you can save yourself? WILL: Save myself from what, Dr. Lecter? HANNIBAL: From who you perceive me to be. WILL: I'm afraid I need to be saved from who you perceive me to be. HANNIBAL: Many troublesome behaviors strike when you are uncertain of yourself. Peter Bernardone lies in the same darkness that holds you. WILL: No. I'm alone in that darkness. HANNIBAL: You're not alone, Will. I'm standing right beside you.
As they arrive at the rescue, they find Peter in front of the bloody corpse of a horse, finishing a last stitch. Will gently guides Peter away from the scene while Hannibal remains.
WILL: What was done to you was cruelty for cruelty's sake. PETER: I think... I hate him. WILL: I envy your hate. Makes it much easier when you know how to feel.
The murderer escapes from the horse. Behind Hannibal, Will already has a gun directed at the social worker.
CLARK: Officer, I'm the victim here. WILL: I'm not an officer. I'm Peter's friend. CLARK: Peter's confused.
Will drops his sight slightly, taken aback, before leveling the gun again.
WILL: I'm not. Pick up the hammer.
Hannibal starts to interject as Will grows more upset, switching to a single hand as he cocks the gun. The murderer begins to make his own plea but is silenced by Hannibal who is talking to Will as he keeps his gun focused on him.
HANNIBAL: It won't feel the same, Will. It won't feel like killing me. WILL: It doesn't have to. HANNIBAL: You did the best anyone could do for Peter. Don't do this for him. If you're going to do this, Will... You have to do it for yourself. ... This is not the reckoning you promised yourself.
Will pulls the trigger, but the gun does not fire as Hannibal has placed his thumb between the hammer and the chamber. In a haze, Will allows Hannibal to take the gun but is unable to focus on reality.
HANNIBAL: With all my knowledge and intrusion, I could never entirely predict you. I can feed the caterpillar, whisper through the chrysalis, but what hatches follows its own nature and is beyond me.
Will knew that Hannibal would not let him kill Clark, because too much had been invested in him, too much interest had been generated, but he still pulled the trigger and had to trust his and Hannibal's instincts.
Look, it's the finale where Abigail returns and then is killed. It's a bad time. Script.
Hannibal and Jack speak with Will about the coming collision between the two of them. In their own way, each asks if they can trust Will to kill the other when the time comes; Will promises he will to both.
Garrett sits on Will's porch, shushing the dogs. He rises with a gun that then moves to Will's hands. The house is perched in a tree, a bluff for hunting. He then chimes in, See?, urging Will on to shoot a target, the stag.
Will sits with Freddie in her hideaway. He tries his best to be civil with her, discussing resurrection and her career as a cancer journalist, when he asks for a favor of her.
WILL: We're all desperate for a little hope. I want to ask you to do something for me, Freddie. Or, rather, don't. Don't write about Abigail. You can write about me, you can write about Hannibal. But leave Abigail alone. FREDDIE: You really don't know if you're going to survive him, do you? WILL: Just let her rest in peace.
Hannibal is picking through his journals, burning them, to keep the FBI from investigating his patients, dismantling who he was in Baltimore to move to another.
HANNIBAL: When we've gone from this life, Jack Crawford and the FBI behind us, I will always have this place. WILL: In your "memory palace"? HANNIBAL: My palace is vast, even by medieval standards. The foyer is the Norman chapel in Palermo, severe and beautiful and timeless, with a single reminder of mortality: a skull graven in the floor. WILL: All I need is a stream. HANNIBAL: In those moments, when you can't overcome your surroundings, you can make it all go away. WILL: Put my head back, close my eyes, wade into the quiet of the stream. HANNIBAL: If I'm ever apprehended, my memory palace will serve as more than a mnemonic system, I will live there. WILL: Could you be happy there? HANNIBAL: All the palace chambers are not lovely, light and high. In the vaults of our hearts and brains, danger waits. There are holes in the floor of the mind.
Alana talks with Will, explaining how devastated she is from all the revelations lately but credits Will for realizing it. He tries to soothe her by commenting on what it took him to realize, the traumatic. Together, they understand that they are not yet done and over with this. Alana accurately pinpoints that Will is placing a trap for Hannibal then questions if Hannibal isn't doing the same thing. Knowingly, Will admits that he can't know if he is.
Hannibal and Will are having dinner together, discussing the change to come upon them. Hannibal suggests not killing Jack, instead escaping with Will, but Will hesitates at the thought.
HANNIBAL: It's also a term from the dead religion of psychoanalysis. An imago is an image of a loved one buried in the unconscious, carried with us all our lives. WILL: An ideal. HANNIBAL: The concept of an ideal. I have a concept of you, just as you have a concept of me. WILL: Neither of us ideal. HANNIBAL: Both of us are too curious about too many things for any ideals. —Is it ideal that Jack die? WILL: It's necessary. What happens to Jack has been preordained. HANNIBAL: We could disappear now. Tonight. Feed your dogs. Leave a note for Alana, and never see her or Jack again. Almost polite. WILL: This'd be our last supper. HANNIBAL: Of this life. I served lamb. WILL: Sacrificial? HANNIBAL: I don't need a sacrifice. Do you? WILL: I need him to know. If I confessed to Jack Crawford right now... HANNIBAL: I would forgive you. If Jack were to tell you all is forgiven, would you accept his forgiveness? WILL: Jack isn't offering forgiveness. He wants justice. He wants to see you. See who you are. See what I've become. He wants the truth. HANNIBAL: To the truth, then. And all its consequences.
Alana calls Will to warn him that he is going to be arrested for entrapment and the murder of Randall Tier as well as Jack. Will watches as the police cars drive up and says good-bye to Alana then hangs up in order to disappear. Later, in the woods and when safe, he calls Hannibal with an enigmatic warning, "They know."
Will arrives at Hannibal's home to find Alana stretched out, broken and bleeding, on the entrance landing. He covers her with his jacket then calls an ambulance for her. Alana warns him that Jack is inside, asking him to leave her. Will walks carefully into the kitchen, noting the blood seeping from under the pantry door, before he sees Abigail, crying and shivering.
WILL: Abigail...? ABIGAIL: I don't know what else to do. So, I did what he told me to. WILL: Where is he? HANNIBAL: Hello, Will. WILL: You were supposed to leave. HANNIBAL: We couldn't leave without you.
Hannibal caresses Will's face, somber, before driving a knife through his abdomen, splitting his stomach open from one side to the other. Abigail is in stunned silence. Hannibal drops the knife and pulls Will close into a hug before holding him up to look him in the eye.
HANNIBAL: Time has reversed. The teacup I've shattered has come together. A place has been made once more in the world for Abigail. A place was made for all of us. Together. I wanted to surprise you. And you... wanted to surprise me.
Will drops to the ground.
HANNIBAL: I let you know me. See me. I gave you a rare gift. But you didn't want it. WILL: Didn't I? HANNIBAL: You deny me my life. WILL: Not your life. HANNIBAL: My freedom, then. You'd take that from. Confine me to a cell. WILL: N-No... HANNIBAL: Do you believe you could change me the way I've changed you? WILL: I already did. HANNIBAL: Fate and circumstance has returned us to the moment where the teacup shatters. I forgive you, Will. Will you forgive me? WILL: Oh, don't... No... N-No... HANNIBAL: Abigail, come to me.
Hannibal holds his hand out to Abigail who takes it. He pulls her into a tight grip, setting the knife against her throat in a familiar way, before drawing it and cutting her open again. Hannibal leans down to look Will in the eye as Abigail bleeds out.
HANNIBAL: You can make it all go away. Put your head back. Close your eyes. Wade into the quiet of the stream.
Will feebly tries to cover Abigail's wound before losing strength and simply holding onto her jacket, bathed in her blood and his own. He looks to the side and sees the stag, beaten and gasping for life before it eventually goes quiet.
Cobalt arranged Hope, Peace, Nonconforming against Death, Violence, and Fear. Then, after help from Alana, Cobalt added "a sense of belonging, camaraderie, solidarity, or the ability to form meaningful human connections. I wish him a rich and happy life, surrounded by those who care about him, who he cares about in turn." Cobalt ran into Garrett and Abigail, panicking while also trying to help them.
Hope already existed in the set. Nonconforming and Peace were earlier constructs that had been set aside, but they will return; John may run counter to unit or group wishes, especially when going for ideals. Death, Violence, and Fear were also earlier constructs, but they are now something he has opposition to.
The wish was passed along just as it was stated.
Cobalt tried to help an alter of Will, so he is trusted to manage better with deeper issues. However, he is understood even better to have deep-seated issues that are more problematic than they appear.
Camellia impressed that most of LiliS would not be aware of those who came before them. It was also difficult for her to break away from Lavender. True Heart asked Camellia for company, and she provided.
The puzzle intent was confirmed: That people are not aware of LiliS, even within the unit. Her matter-of-fact understanding of the situation passes on to John; it is just how it is, and he will accept that.
Camellia misses Lavender, of course, but it shows meaningful connection with the unit as an example.
Camellia gains another level in being a trusted person.
Thorn and Wednesday followed the path, but they got uneasy around gore, choosing to follow another route which was not meant to be followed.
There is a sense that neither can be trusted with deeper, unsavory issues, and John is mildly annoyed at both of them without knowing why.
Kou followed Alana's suggestion, but he didn't listen to Abigail. Eventually, he ran into Eldon Stammets and was buried alive.
John is very annoyed at Kou, and he does increase John's sensitivity about sharing the more troubling parts of his mind.
Silver found his way to the Wild City room and was able to find John instantly with help. Silver remains firm that John does belong with Wild City, but also set that aside as a moot point. Afterwards, he came across Abigail and neatly solved that puzzle as well.
Silver resolves the Wild City issue with a different aspect: John does belong with Wild City, but there was a failure to empathize or compromise. Those aspects are boosted to help with LiliS, but John also is more willing to accept a less moral, more individually-based response to situations.
As Silver and Abigail occupy similar roles for John, the clash between them draws introspection on which is the 'right' way to interact with those kinds of people. It will also have him examining his relationship with Abigail.
Silver showed that he was perceptive, able to understand how John views connections, but the question of truthfulness was raised. Silver's faith runs counter to what John has shared thus far, so John will feel pushed to be more honest with Silver.
Pink talked deeply with Alana about how John behaves and his becoming involved in medicine. He also got to examine John's weird relationship with death by talking with Haruto.
John is seen by Pink, and Pink also showed concern for him. Being seen would normally up John faking around someone, but the concern pushes John to reduce it. This also gives a push to reconnect with Pink for John.
The concern about John practicing medicine is also noted. This is not something he has been able to share, but he may start putting into words.
Pink's lack of perception in the death room shows that John has not resolved or put his feelings together on violence and death in Imeeji. This will be something that he will try to more actively feel out, rather than running on instinct.
Nemesis solved the thread puzzle, but replied with, "I don't see how that's any less cold to think you're screwed 'cause you like people who like people who like people. I mean...I get it, it ain't wrong. But at the same time, if the web's big enough, then most of the tugs don't gotta be much more than annoyances...there's other people who can pick up the slack. You don't gotta avoid every connection, y'know?"
John was not resistant to liking people because they had connections, but he will still be less wary of that. Her intent that he should not avoid connecting with people still passes onto him.
Lucifel without his own intent was turned away.
John does not have to help everything or everyone that comes across his door.
Illya repeatedly attempted then solved both the LiliS and Wild City puzzles.
Illya affirmed that, at least, LiliS is up to the task of learning about itself, including past members. John is more likely to share information about who was in the unit and expect those in LiliS to have some awareness, rather than leaving them to figure it out on their own.
Illya hits the nail on the head by understanding John can't let go of Wild City without help and that it is also painful. John will more clearly understand this as well as being able to separate more clearly, and Illya gains a fair amount of trust.
Also known as resolving opposing effects and making a broad summary.
With few exceptions, everyone increased John's willingness to open up and care for others as well as letting others care for him. This came from Cobalt, Silver, Pink, Nemesis, and Illya in particular. John will be more aware and willing to engage with people caring about him. John also has a greater push to express his care for other people, possibly even using normal social conventions to.
This also lends to a mild, but not significant, minimazation in the fear of himself and his ability to read people as those are his two biggest hurdles with connection. Neither aspect was largely interacted with since they were both hidden, but everyone's intent connects with this.
The dings from Kou, Thorn, and Wednesday against this are smoothed out to him needing to be judicious about who he shares what with. John has already been aware of this, but it is a firm reminder.
John will be more introspective about his values, ideals, and relationships. He needs to take stock of what he is consciously and unconsciously doing in each of these areas as well as what he honestly wants from each of them.
John will also be more open to listening to others, relying more heavily on reading people. There will be a greater level of social-emotional fatigue since he tries to avoid this, but it will and can be offset by taking more nature breaks.
LiliS chalks up more points with John. He will be more honest with them as a group while interjecting himself more which matches with the trajectory he planned on before.
Since Illya and Silver had two different inputs on the situation with Wild City, the difference is split between them. Rather, both perspectives remain with the understanding that this comes from being someone who can connect with other people. Also, there really has to be some flexibility and self-awareness to make units/relationships work.
These write-ups occurred long before they were actually taken. Some key facts that were established from previous memories were:
Hannibal is a cannibal. It was stated definitively by Chilton, but there are other hints lingering around.
Will was wrongfully placed in an asylum due to something Hannibal did. John does not know what exactly got him put there.
Beverly was killed by Hannibal due to something that Will set her out on. John has not remembered any strong association with her, but his memories after her death have held strong feelings, especially when Zeller apologized to him.
Season 2 Episode 7 Yakimono, Season 1 Episode 8 Fromage, and Season 2 Episode 13 were taken off-screen without Silver. The key points from them are:
Hannibal kept Miriam imprisoned for two years, repeatedly brain washed her, and even sawed off her arm. Somehow, he was able to program her to shoot Chilton on sight. (Chilton is confirmed to have survived due to a later memory with him.)
Hannibal entered into a relationship with Alana while he was incarcerated. Alana did not believe Will when he tried to accuse Hannibal, and she even grew contemptuous of his seemingly erratic behavior.
Will is of interest to the psychological community, even Alana is accused of wanting to study him which is part of the reason why he never entered into a relationship with her.
Will made an attempted assassination on Hannibal while he was in the asylum.
Hannibal used lights and drugs to induce seizure and blackouts in Will. This was not the only issue with Will at the time, something John can recognize. However, Hannibal often tried to direct Will to blame the stress of his job as the reason for his mental imbalance which was not entirely the case.
Hannibal framed Chilton for his murders by placing Gideon's body with several limbs removed in his house. He also killed several agents in his house as well.
Gideon was commented on as being dead according to Will in an earlier memory. Still, John does not have any recollection of him aside from being someone who Chilton manipulated, like how Hannibal manipulated him, albeit on a much lesser scale.
Even with awareness that the conclusion between them was going to be worse than Will could predict, he still decided to push forward with it. It was a threshold that he wanted to cross to see who he and Hannibal were, even if it killed him.
Abigail was an unexpected (but, somehow, obvious in retrospect surprise) that Will will hold resentment towards Hannibal for, but he does also deep down know that he was part of her demise for playing with fire.
This episode is focused on finding the Mural Killer while Will begins to fight back against the allegations that he is a murderer. Script.
Will admits to being confused, "I've lost the plot. I'm the unreliable narrator of my own story," to Alana and Hannibal. He keeps hammering that he felt betrayed and that he trusted Hannibal, but he receives platitudes from the both of them. When he returns to his cell, he drops the trembling charade and is secure, confident in the bait that he has left.
Hannibal visits Will alone. Will tests him on multiple areas, seeing his response, before delving into the crime itself. On the current killer, Will mentions him having missing pieces too, insinuating Hannibal.
HANNIBAL: You said the light from friendship won't reach us for a million years, that's how far away we were. I hope our friendship feels closer today. WILL: Friends have a symmetrical relationship. Psychiatrist and patient, that's unbalanced. HANNIBAL: There is a power differential between psychiatrist and patient. One that I'm well aware of, particularly with my own therapist. WILL: But we're just having conversations. HANNIBAL: You threatened me with a reckoning. WILL: I did. I can't claim unconsciousness on that one. HANNIBAL: You were searching for something in your head to incriminate me. I can only assume you didn't find it. WILL: Not much in there I recognize. HANNIBAL: Whatever you remember, if you do remember, will be a distortion of reality. Not the truth of events. WILL: I'm realizing that.
Beverly visits Will. They strike a deal: She will re-examine all evidence from his case without presuming him as guilty, and he will help to profile killers for her. When Will recreates the BAU lab, Beverly is there. He speaks to her as well assuming the persona of the killer. After Will determines what became of this victim, he asks Beverly about what Hannibal thought of the victim, claiming what he said may not be what he think.
Beverly and Hannibal visit Will after they find the killer's masterpiece in order to figure out where they're looking at. Beverly mentions that this case is taking up her time to devote to other cases, Will's case, and Will begins to examine the artifacts. He does not narrate his experience, but he sees Hannibal in his recreation with him as the killer sealed into his own work. Will spends the rest of the exchange staring down Hannibal, the killer's friend.
Katy visits Will at BHSCI, pushing him to plead guilty to wipe away tarnish from the FBI, but Will refuses. If he is found guilty, he will be given the death sentence. Will is determined to save himself while making glib jokes.
Will imagines himself fly fishing in a river, a common pastime in incarteration, but he watches sealed and sculpted bodies flow past him. He has a visitor that breaks his reverie, Bedelia, a new face.
BEDELIA: I've heard so much about you, I almost feel as though I know you. WILL: You don't. BEDELIA: No, I don't, but I understand you better than I thought.
BEDELIA: It may be small comfort, but I am convinced Hannibal has done what he honestly believes is best for you. WILL: No, that isn't small comfort. That would be no comfort. BEDELIA: The traumatized are unpredictable because we know we can survive. You can survive this happening to you. WILL: Happening to me? BEDELIA moves closer, whispering: I believe you.
NOT MUCH HERE . . . Will was ready to risk his life on the certainty that he did not kill anyone. While he was find resources to protect himself, Bedelia rocked him to his core by believing in him which is all he really needed.
This episode shows the aftermath of the finale for Will and Abigail. By the end, Will is back in form to hunt down Hannibal. Script.
After reliving the finale of the past season, the image of a teacup shattering rings out, but it slowly begins to form again in the shape of Will. He wakes up in a hospital bed and is greeted by a doctor who says he has a visitor. Abigail slips in while the doctor slips out, and Will and Abigail discuss the state of affairs now. This conversation is overlapped with Will's conversation with Chilton from the fourth episode.
ABIGAIL: He wanted us to live. WILL: He left us to die. ABIGAIL: But we didn't. He was supposed to take me with him. We were all supposed to leave together. He made a place for us. WILL: Abigail... ABIGAIL: Why did you lie to him? WILL: The wrong thing being the right thing to do was too ugly a thought. ABIGAIL: He gave you a chance to take it all back, and you just kept lying. No one had to die. WILL: It's hard to grasp what would've happened, could've happened. In some other world... Did happen. ABIGAIL: Having a hard enough time dealing with this world. Hope some of the other worlds are easier on me. WILL: Everything that can happen happens. Has to end well, and it has to end badly. Has to end every way it can. This is the way it ended for us. ABIGAIL: We don't have an ending. He didn't give us one yet. He wants us to find him. WILL: After everything he's done, you would still go to him? ABIGAIL: If everything that can happen happens, you can't really do the wrong thing. You're just doing what you're supposed to do.
As Will feels antlers beginning to creep through his bandages, he relives his last moments with Hannibal. He finds the clue that he needs to follow, and he bides his time for eight months while he heals from his wound.
Will and Abigail take in the Norman Chapel in Palermo. While they consider the place that Hannibal cherishes, they discuss God and Hannibal.
ABIGAIL: Do you believe in God? WILL: What I believe is closer to science fiction than anything in the Bible. ABIGAIL: We all know, but no one ever says G-dash-D won't do a G-dash-D-damned thing to answer anybody's prayers. WILL: God can't save any of us because it's inelegant. Elegance is more important than suffering. That's His design. ABIGAIL: You talking about God or Hannibal? WILL: Hannibal's not God. Wouldn't have any fun being God. Defying God-- Now, that's his idea of a good time. Nothing would thrill Hannibal more than to see this roof collapse mid-Mass, packed pews, choir singing. He would just love it. And he thinks God would love it, too.
Will returns to the Norman Chapel, like he has many other days, but the police are swarmed around a macabre piece of art. Abigail questions if it is Hannibal while a priest identifies Will as a person of interest. Before and after his questioning by the police of Palermo, Will speaks with Rinaldo Pazzi, an inspector from Florence, who is familiar with Will and also with Hannibal from his youth. He identifies the connection between Will and Hannibal, seeking to use Will as a guide to capture Hannibal, il Mostro, where he failed before.
Upon returning to the scene and seeing photographs, Will is able to recreate the scene. As he becomes entrapped in his creation, about to succumb, Abigail pulls him from the recreation. WILL, laughing: I do feel closer to Hannibal here. God only knows where I would be without him. ABIGAIL: What did you see? WILL: He left us his broken heart. ABIGAIL: How did he know we were here? WILL: He didn't. But he knew we'd come. ABIGAIL: He misses us. WILL: Hannibal follows several trains of thought at once without distraction from any, and one of the trains is always for his own amusement. ABIGAIL: He's playing with us. WILL: Always. You still want to go with him? ABIGAIL: Yes. WILL: He gave you back to me. Then took you away. Lucy and the football. He just keeps pulling you away... What if no one died? What if we all left together? Like we were supposed to. After he served the lamb. Where would we have gone? ABIGAIL: In some other world? WILL: In some other world. ABIGAIL: He said he made a place for us. WILL: A place was made for you, Abigail, in this world. The only place I could make for you.
With that, Abigail's wound opens. Once more, she is dead to Will along with his sympathy for Hannibal. When Rinaldo returns to Will, he is keen to hunt down and lure Hannibal back. Will follows Hannibal into the catacombs of the chapel, chasing off Rinaldo who follows him then offering forgiveness to Hannibal.
Important Points:
John has had many of these discussions about blame already, but he never switched to wanting to kill Hannibal.
While he doesn't disagree with that course of action, John does question if he ever could arrive at that point. The relationship has been romanticized in absence.
There is exhaustion with being used by multiple different people to track Hannibal when they don't have any place with whatever goes on between the two of them. Get. Out.
Will arrives in Florence, wounded from falling from the train, and he finds Jack at the Palazzo where Hannibal had been working under a false identity, putting together an exhibit on torture. Jack and Will discuss the murder of Rinaldo by Hannibal after his body is taken away.
JACK: If Rinaldo Pazzi decided to do his job as an officer of the law, he would have determined very quickly that he was Hannibal Lecter. Would have taken less than thirty minutes to get a warrant. WILL: Those resources were denied to Pazzi. As soon as he decided to sell Hannibal, he became a bounty hunter. JACK: Outside the law and alone. Well, here we are: outside the law and alone. WILL: Have you told la polizia they're looking for Hannibal Lecter? JACK: They're motivated to find Dr. Fell inside the law. Knowing who he is, what he's worth, it will just coax them out of bounds. WILL: That'd be a free-for-all. JACK: Hannibal would slip away. Would you slip away with him? WILL: Part of me will always want to. JACK: You have to cut that part out. WILL: Oh, of course, you found him here. Not because of the exhibit, but because of the crowd it attracts. You had him, Jack. He was beaten. Why didn't you kill him? JACK: Maybe, I need you to.
Jack and Will visit Bedelia in order to find Hannibal. Bedelia protests that she is Lydia Fell and is being treated with medication by her husband because she gets 'confused'. While Jack is distracted with Bedelia, Will sneaks away to find Hannibal.
WILL: Oh, please. You need to get over yourself, whatever self that is, Bedelia. BEDELIA: My name is Lydia Fell. WILL: You expect us to believe that you somehow lost yourself in the hot darkness of Hannibal Lecter's mind? That Lydia Fell is some construct? JACK, showing a missing persons poster: It is you. Isn't it? BEDELIA: Well, now, I'm very confused. WILL: I - Don't - Believe - You. JACK: You... Are not confused... Bedelia. BEDELIA: That is not my name. WILL: Oh, you know who you are and what you've done, and you know exactly how you're going to wiggle out of it. What is this? Sedatives? Hypnotics? Ethanol? Scopolamine? Midazolam? JACK: Same cocktail Dr. Lecter served Miriam Lass. You've been freebasing your alibi. And I'm not even mad at you. To tell the truth, I'm fairly impressed. WILL: Mostly because you're still alive. When this fog of yours clears, I'd love to hear how you managed that. BEDELIA: You say my husband murdered a chief investigator. Where are the polizia? Shouldn't they be questioning me? JACK: Don't worry. They will. BEDELIA: They sure are taking their time. What could possibly be the delay? I have an idea. Do you? JACK: They're being bought by the same people that bought Rinaldo Pazzi. BEDELIA: Interest in my husband seems to be getting very competitive. JACK: Will? ... Will? BEDELIA: I wonder who will find him first.
Will heads to the Uffizi Gallery, and he finds a battered Hannibal seated in front of Boticelli's Primavera, sketching a pair in the painting with Will's and Bedelia's face replacing the ones in the painting. HANNIBAL: If I saw you every day forever, Will, I would remember this time. WILL: Strange seeing you here in front of me. Been staring at afterimages of you in places you haven't been in years. HANNIBAL: "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig." WILL: I wanted to understand you before I laid eyes on you again. I needed it to be clear... What I was seeing. HANNIBAL: Where does the difference between the past and the future come from? WILL: Mine? Before you and after you. Yours? It's all starting to blur. Mischa. Abigail. Chiyoh. HANNIBAL: How is Chiyoh? WILL: Oh, she pushed me off a train. HANNIBAL: Atta girl. WILL: You and I have begun to blur. HANNIBAL: Isn't that how you found me? WILL: Every crime of yours feels like one I am guilty of. Not just Abigail's murder, every murder stretching backward and forward in time. HANNIBAL: Freeing yourself from me and me freeing myself from you, they're the same. WILL: We're conjoined. I'm curious whether either of us can survive separation. HANNIBAL: Now is the hardest test: not letting rage and frustration, nor forgiveness, keep you from thinking. Shall we? WILL: After you.
As Will and Hannibal hobble across a square, Will starts to pull a knife from his pocket. Without warning, a bullet from a sniper rifle tears through Will's shoulder, exactly the side he was drawing his knife from. It was undeniably Chiyoh who pulled the trigger.
Hannibal brings Will to a secret location. After giving Will some water, he inspects the bullet wound.
HANNIBAL: The bullet is still inside you. This will hurt. Chiyoh's always been very protective of me. Did she kill her tenant or did you? WILL: She did. HANNIBAL: Excellent.
Hannibal places Will's knife in his hand.
HANNIBAL: You dropped your forgiveness, Will. You forgive how God forgives. Would you have done it quickly, or would you have stopped to gloat? WILL: Does God gloat? HANNIBAL: Often.
Hannibal then sedates Will despite his protest, causing the knife to fall from his hand, and everything fades out.
While drugged, Will relives or creates a scene from another time where he and Hannibal talk to one another.
WILL: I can almost taste the butter. HANNIBAL: Taste and smell are the oldest senses, and the closest to the center of the mind. WILL: Parts that precede pity and morality. HANNIBAL: They play in the dome of our skulls, like miracles illuminated on a church ceiling. The ceremonies and sights and exchanges of dinner can be far more engaging than theater. WILL: What's for dinner? HANNIBAL: Never ask. Spoils the surprise.
Hannibal feeds Will a parsley-and-thyme infusion while he waxes on about the regrets he has about leaving Italy, not being able to show Will Florence among them. Will, slow from drugs, complains about the soup and eventually notices another place setting, indicating the expectation for Jack appear.
Jack enters the room with a gun drawn, but Will warns him too late about Hannibal hiding under the table. Hannibal gets the drop on Jack and also straps him to a seat at the table, medicated for the dinner as well.
JACK: We were supposed to sit down together at your house in Baltimore... Just the three of us. HANNIBAL: You were to be the guest of honor. WILL: But the menu was all wrong. HANNIBAL: Yes, it was. Jack was the first to suggest getting inside your head. Now, we both have the opportunity to chew quite literally what we've only chewed figuratively.
Hannibal starts up a bone saw while Jack yells at him to stop. Will is quiet and motionless, save for the drum of the saw, and his vision begins to distort until it fades out to the sun bright in a cloud-filled sky.
Suddenly, Will and Hannibal are hanging upside down in the back of a truck. When the door is rolled up, a man with a disfigured face in a wheelchair, Mason Verger, welcomes them to Muskrat Farm.
Important Points
Fuck you, Jack.
Fuck you, Bedelia.
Fuck you, Hannibal.
Oh, god, who is this man and what did we do to his face?!
Will discusses the trip to Minnesota with Abigail, and he admits to feeling too close to Garret as well as guilty for Marissa's murder.
This episode focuses on runaway boys who kill their own families under the guidance of a mother figure around Christmas.
Hannibal takes care of Will's dogs while he is out working on a case.
Will discusses family dynamics with the BSCI team while examining the bodies. There is some jabs between Will and Brian.
Hannibal and Will discuss Will's family then Hannibal's. Hannibal says Will has collected a family which Will mistakes for the dogs, and Hannibal corrects him to say it was Abigail.
Jack dismisses Will's class, so he can take him along to another family murder scene. Everyone is shot except for a charred corpse in the fireplace.
Will disassociates while looking at case information. Bev talks to him for awhile before he comes back.
Will buys a magnifying glass and fly tying gear for Abigail after becoming upset about the case. He hates that the boys are killing something that he doesn't have.
After talking to Alana, Will identifies that there is a mother guiding the boys, because they are killing mothers last. That is, they love their mother most, so they kill her last in order to attach to a new one. (The desire for a mother mirrors Will as well.)
FBI raids the home of a suspected runaway, interrupting the potential murder of another family. Will chases after the runaway, putting down his weapon after the child pulls a gun on him.
Case finished and feelings on family resolved, Will goes to sleep after watching his sleeping family of dogs.
Season 3 Episode 12: The Number of the Beast is 666
Will has a therapy session with Bedelia, admitting that he can see himself killing Molly as the Great Red Dragon. Hannibal has managed to take Molly and Walter from Will by nearly killing them.
Bedelia knows that she is going to be eaten by Hannibal and feels safe while he is imprisoned.
"Is Hannibal ... In love with me?" "Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for you and find nourishment at the very sight of you? ... Yes. But do you ache for him?"
Jack decides to follow Will's suggestion to bait the Dragon by publishing an incendiary article about him with help from Freddie and Chilton.
Will as a lure invites Chilton to be in a picture for the article, subconsciously knowing it will make him a target for the Dragon.
Will discusses the scene being set-up where he is confronted by the Dragon, playing along by mentioning how he usually prefers headshots.
Chilton delivers the Dragon's threat to Will then has his lips bitten off and is set on fire. Will does not respond well to the impending threat, covering his ears to drown out the noise before disassociating.
Bedelia challenges Will on if he was aware of what he was doing when he involved Chilton. She confirms that Will acts under influence from Hannibal, giving him agency outside of prison.
Chilton is immolated the same way that Will pretended to set fire to Freddie. The Dragon was instructed by Hannibal to do so. He identifies Reba as a black, blind woman who was also present.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Season 3 Episode 4: Apertivo
WILL: Well now, that's not true for either of us.
WILL: I wasn't decided when I called him. I just called him. I deliberated while the phone rang. I decided ... When I heard his voice.
JACK: You told him we knew.
WILL: I told him to leave. ... 'Cause I wanted him to run.
JACK: Why?
WILL: Because... Because he was my friend. And because I wanted to run away with him.
ALANA: Friendship with Hannibal is blackmail elevated to the level of love.
WILL: A mutually unspoken pact to ignore the worst in one another in order to continue enjoying the best.
ALANA: After everything he's done, can you still ignore the worst in him?
WILL: I came here to be alone, Alana. If you wouldn't mind.
Important Points:
Season 1 Episode 9: Trou Normand
HANNIBAL: You’re disassociating, Will. It’s a desperate survival mechanism for a psyche that endures repeated abuse.
WILL: I’m not abused.
HANNIBAL: You have an empathy disorder. What you feel is overwhelming you.
WILL: I know, I know, I know.
HANNIBAL: Yet you choose to ignore it. That is the abuse I’m referring to.
WILL: You want me to quit?
HANNIBAL: Jack Crawford gave you a chance to quit and you didn’t take it. Why?
WILL: I save lives.
HANNIBAL: And that feels good.
WILL: Generally speaking, yes.
HANNIBAL: What about your life? I’m your friend, Will. I don’t care about the lives you save. I care about your life. And your life is separating from reality.
HANNIBAL: And faced with this killer’s achievements, your mind needed to escape and you lost time.
WILL: Yes.
HANNIBAL: I’m worried about you, Will.
WILL: I’m worried about me, too.
HANNIBAL: You empathize so completely with the killers Jack Crawford has your mind wrapped around that you lose yourself to them. What if you lose time and hurt yourself or someone else? I don’t want you to wake up and see a totem of your own making.
WILL: Come on in. I promise I won’t try to kiss you again. Unless you stopped taking your own advice.
ALANA: A doctor who treats herself has a fool for a patient. I regretted leaving your house the other night.
WILL: Regretted? Implying that you are no longer regretting? Or are you still in a state of regret?
ALANA: I’m criss-crossing the state line.
WILL: What side of the line you on now?
ALANA: I’ve got a foot planted firmly on both sides.
WILL: You telling me that to confuse me?
ALANA: I’m telling you to be honest about how I feel. Don’t want to mislead you but I don’t want to lie either.
WILL: I won’t lie if you won’t.
ALANA: I have feelings for you, Will. But I don’t want to just have an affair with you. It would be reckless.
WILL: Why? It’s not because you have a professional curiosity about me.
ALANA: No, it’s because I think you’re unstable. And until that changes I can only be your friend.
WILL: Thank you for not lying.
ALANA: Do you feel unstable?
ABIGAIL: Yes, things change. For instance, you’re here. For a change.
WILL: Things are changing for me, too. Doing some accounting for what’s important in my life and what isn’t. You’re important, Abigail.
ABIGAIL: Now that I’m writing a book.
HANNIBAL: Abigail.
WILL: I can’t help feeling some responsibility for you.
ABIGAIL: Just because you killed my dad doesn’t mean you get to be him.
WILL: Abigail Hobbs killed Nick Boyle.
HANNIBAL: Yes, I know.
WILL: Tell me why you know.
HANNIBAL: I helped her dispose of the body.
WILL: Evidently not well enough.
HANNIBAL: Have you told Jack Crawford?
WILL: No.
HANNIBAL: Why not?
WILL: I was hoping it wasn’t true.
HANNIBAL: Now you know the truth.
WILL: Do I?
HANNIBAL: Everything you know about that night is true. Except the end. Nicholas Boyle attacked us. Abigail’s only crime was to defend herself and I lied about it.
WILL: Why?
HANNIBAL: You know why. Jack Crawford would hang her for what her father’s done. The world would burn Abigail in his place. That would be the story. That would be what Freddie Lounds writes. Abigail is no more a killer than you are for shooting her father or I am for the death of Tobias Budge.
WILL: It’s not our place to decide.
HANNIBAL: If not ours, then whose? Who knows Abigail better than you and I? Or the burden she bears? We are her fathers now. We have to serve her better than Garret Jacob Hobbs.
HANNIBAL: If you go to Jack, then you murder Abigail’s future. If she is ever to have the life she deserves, then we have to tell no one. ... Do I need to call my lawyer?
HANNIBAL: What we’re doing here is the right thing, Will. For Abigail. In time, this will be the only story any of us cares to tell.
Important Points
Season 1 Episode 2: Amuse Bouche
ALANA: How are you, Will?
WILL: I have no idea.
ALANA: That may change. I didn't want you to be ambushed—
WILL: Is this an ambush?
ALANA: Ambush is later. Immediately later, soon to now. When Jack arrives consider yourself ambushed.
WILL: Here's Jack.
JACK: How was class?
WILL: They applauded, it was inappropriate.
JACK: Review board begs to differ. You’re up for a commendation and they okay'd active return to the field.
ALANA: Question is... Do you want to go back in the field?
JACK: I want you to go back in the field, but I told the board I'm recommending a psych evaluation.
WILL: Are we starting now?
ALANA: Session wouldn't be with me.
JACK: Hannibal Lecter might be a better fit. Your relationship's not as personal. But if you'd be more comfortable with Dr. Bloom—
WILL: I'm not going to be comfortable with anybody inside my head.
ALANA: You've never killed someone before, Will. It's a deadly force encounter. It's a lot to digest.
WILL: I used to work homicide. I've got a good metabolism.
JACK: Reason you currently "used to" work homicide is you couldn't stomach pulling the trigger. You just pulled the trigger ten times.
WILL: So, psych eval's not a formality?
JACK: It's so I can sleep. I asked you to get close to Hobbs and I need to know you didn't get too close. How many times have you spent the night in Abigail Hobbs' hospital room?
WILL: Therapy doesn't work on me.
JACK: 'Cause you won't let it.
WILL: 'Cause I know all the tricks.
JACK: Un-learn some tricks.
ALANA: Why not have a conversation with Hannibal? He was there. He knows what you went through.
JACK: I need my beauty sleep, Will!
WILL: What's this?
HANNIBAL: Your Psychological Evaluation. You're totally functional and more or less sane. Well done.
WILL: Did you just rubber stamp me?
HANNIBAL: Jack Crawford may lay his weary head to rest knowing he didn't break you and our conversation can proceed unobstructed by paperwork.
WILL: Jack thinks I need therapy.
HANNIBAL: I'm not sure therapy will work on you. Stealing into other minds has taught you how to fortify your own.
WILL: That's what I said.
HANNIBAL: What you need is a way out of dark places when Jack sends you there.
WILL: Last time he sent me into a dark place I brought something back.
HANNIBAL: A surrogate daughter? You saved Abigail Hobbs' life. You also orphaned her. It comes with certain emotional obligations, regardless of empathy disorders.
WILL: You were there. You saved her life, too. Do you feel obligated?
HANNIBAL: I feel a staggering amount of obligation. I feel responsibility. I've fantasized about scenarios where my actions may have allowed a different fate for Abigail Hobbs.
WILL: Jack thinks Abigail Hobbs might've helped her dad kill those girls.
HANNIBAL: How does that make you feel?
WILL: How does it make you feel?
HANNIBAL: I find it vulgar.
WILL: Me, too.
HANNIBAL: And entirely possible.
WILL: It's not what happened.
HANNIBAL: Jack will ask her when she wakes up or he'll have one of us ask her.
WILL: Is this therapy or a support group?
HANNIBAL: It's whatever you need it to be. Will, the mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself and not the worst of someone else.
BEVERLY: I'm pretty sure firearm "accuracy" isn't a prerequisite for teaching.
WILL: I've been in the field before.
BEVERLY: Now you're back in the saddle. Ish.
WILL: Ish, indeed. It took me ten shots to drop Hobbs.
BEVERLY: Zeller wanted to give you the bullets he pulled out of Hobbs in an acrylic case, but I told him you wouldn't think it was funny.
WILL: Probably not.
BEVERLY: I suggested one of those clacking, swinging ball things.
WILL: That would have been funny.
BEVERLY: You're a Weaver? I took you for an isosceles guy.
WILL: I have a rotator-cuff issue, so I have to use the Weaver stance.
BEVERLY: You are tight.
WILL: I got stabbed when I was a cop.
BEVERLY: I got stabbed in the third grade. With a number 2 pencil. Thought I was going to get lead poisoning.
WILL: Uh, no lead in a pencil. Graphite.
Beverly adjusts Will's stance.
BEVERLY: See if that helps with the recoil.
WILL: Better. Jack sent you all the way down here to teach me how to shoot?
BEVERLY: No, Jack sent me down here to find out what you know about gardening.
HANNIBAL: It's stress. Not worth reporting. The mechanism that distinguishes conscious perceptions from internal perceptions misfired. You displaced the victim of another killer's crime with what could arguably be considered your victim.
WILL: I don't consider Hobbs my victim.
HANNIBAL: What do you consider him?
WILL: Dead.
HANNIBAL: Is it harder imagining the thrill somebody else feels killing now that you've done it yourself?
Will is unable to answer but eventually nervously nods.
WILL: Maybe he admires their ability to connect the way human minds can't.
HANNIBAL: Yours can.
WILL: Haha, yeah, no. Not physically.
HANNIBAL: Is that what your farmer is looking for? Some sort of connection.
WILL: What are you reading?
ALANA: Flannery O'Connor. When I was Abigail's age I was obsessed. I even tried to raise peacocks because she raised peacocks, but they're really stupid birds.
WILL: You could be reading to a killer.
ALANA: Innocent until guilty and all that. I'm about to broach the subject of that "Takes One to Know One" article.
WILL: Oh, that. Did Jack send you?
ALANA: No, I sent me.
WILL: I don't think we've ever been in a room alone together.
ALANA: I haven't noticed. Have we? Not that we're necessarily alone now.
WILL: Yeah, right. Back to Jack Crawford's crime gimp.
ALANA: Certainly creates an image. I don't need to talk about it if you don't.
WILL: No, no. We can talk about or not talk about whatever you want. Actually, I was just, I was just enjoying listening to you read.
ALANA: Abigail Hobbs is a success for you.
WILL: She doesn't look success.
ALANA: Don't feel sorry for yourself because you saved this girl's life.
WILL: I don't. I don't feel sorry for myself at all. I feel— I feel, uh, good.
ELDON: We all evolved from mycelium. I'm simply reintroducing her to the concept.
WILL: By burying her alive?
ELDON: The journalist said you understood me.
WILL: I don't.
ELDON: Well, you would have. You would have! Walk into a field of mycelium, they know you're there. They know you are there! Their spores reach for you as you pass by. I know who you're reaching for. I know. Abigail Hobbs. You should have let me plant her. You would have found her in a field where she was finally able to reach back.
HANNIBAL: When you shot Eldon Stammets... Who was it that you saw?
WILL: I didn't see Hobbs.
HANNIBAL: Then, it's not Hobbs' ghost that's haunting you, is it? It's the inevitability of there being a man so bad that killing him felt good.
WILL: Killing Hobbs felt just.
HANNIBAL: Which is why you're here. To prove that sprig of zest you feel is from saving Abigail, not from killing her dad.
WILL: I didn't feel a sprig of zest when I shot Eldon Stammets.
HANNIBAL: You didn't kill Eldon Stammets.
WILL: I thought about killing him. I'm still not entirely sure that wasn't my intention pulling the trigger.
HANNIBAL: If your intention was to kill him, it's because you understand why he did the things he did. It's beautiful in it's own way. Giving voice to the unmentionable.
WILL: I should have stuck to fixing boat motors in Louisiana.
HANNIBAL: A boat engine is a machine. A predictable problem, easy to solve. You fail, there's a paddle. Where was your paddle with Hobbs?
WILL: You're supposed to be my paddle.
HANNIBAL: I am. It wasn't the act of killing Hobbs that got you down, was it? Did you really feel so bad because killing him felt so good?
Will struggles but finally speaks quietly, stammering.
WILL: ... I liked killing Hobbs.
HANNIBAL: Killing must feel good to God, too. He does it all the time, and are we not created in his image?
WILL: That depends on who you ask.
HANNIBAL: God's terrific. He dropped a church roof on thirty-four of his worshipers last Wednesday night in Texas, while they sang a hymn.
WILL: Did God feel good about that?
HANNIBAL: He felt powerful.
Season 2 Episode 7: Yakimono
WILL: This is very sudden.
CHILTON: The federal prosecutor has dropped all charges. Since you weren't convicted of killing anyone, the basis for your sentencing to this institution is null and void. The Chesapeake Ripper has set you free. Mazel tov. I would love nothing more than to see you trade places with Dr. Lecter. I have no intention of ending up on his menu.
WILL: Well, then confess, Frederick. Might be the only thing saves your life.
CHILTON: Confess to what?
WILL: Confess to bonding with Hannibal Lecter over your mutual practice of unorthodox therapies. Dr. Lecter with me, you with Abel Gideon.
CHILTON: Abel Gideon has been playing his own game. Was wheeled out of that hospital by the Chesapeake Ripper. Curious what bargain they struck.
WILL: No, there's no bargaining with smoke. No, Gideon's dead. You're next.
CHILTON: Unless I unburden myself?
WILL: Confession's good for the soul. Shine a light on your relationship with Hannibal Lecter. He works in the shadows. Deny them to him. Tell Jack Crawford everything.
CHILTON: Are you suggesting I kill my career before Hannibal can kill me?
WILL: I'm suggesting you convince Jack Crawford however you can. Like your life depends on it.
CHILTON: Why did Hannibal not just kill you?
WILL: Because he wants to be my friend.
JACK: We found Miriam Lass. Alive.
WILL: You catch the Ripper?
Jack shakes his head; he hasn't.
WILL: How is she? Miriam.
JACK: Traumatized. Miriam thanked me after we found her. Thanked me for not giving up on her. But I had. I had given up on her. And I gave up on you, too. I thought she was dead. I thought you were crazy. And I gave up on trying to find you both.
WILL: You didn't have to find me, Jack. You just had to listen to me.
JACK: I put Miriam in a room with Hannibal Lecter. She stated definitively he is not the Chesapeake Ripper.
WILL: That definitive enough for you?
JACK: No. It wasn't.
WILL: Picking up some of my bad habits?
ALANA: Picking up your good habits. You challenged my whole framework of assumptions about the way you are. The way I think you are.
WILL: Well, the way you think I am isn't always a reliable guide to who I am.
ALANA: I was wrong about you.
WILL: Because you didn't believe me? Or in me? Because you let me question my own sanity, my sense of reality?
ALANA: Because you tried to kill Hannibal. You're wrong about him.
WILL: No, you're wrong about him, Alana. You see the best in him. I don't.
ALANA: What was done to you doesn't excuse what you did. Are you going to try to hurt Hannibal again? Is he safe?
WILL: From me? Or for you? He's dangerous, Alana. I suggest you stay as far away from Hannibal Lecter as you can.
WILL: Our last kitchen conversation was interrupted by Jack Crawford. I'd like to pick up where we left off. If memory serves, you were asking me if it'd feel good to kill you.
HANNIBAL: You've given that some thought.
WILL: You wanted me to embrace my nature, doctor. I'm just following the urges I kept down for so long, cultivating them as the inspirations they are.
HANNIBAL: You never answered my question. How would killing me make you feel?
WILL: Righteous.
HANNIBAL: Aren't you curious, Will? Why you? Why Miriam Lass? What does the Chesapeake Ripper want with you?
WILL: No, you tell me. How did Miriam Lass find you? You made sure no one could find you that way again.
HANNIBAL: If I'm not the Ripper, you murder an innocent man. You better than anyone know what it means to be wrongly accused. You were innocent, and no one saw it.
WILL: No, I'm not innocent. You saw to that.
HANNIBAL: If I am the Ripper and you kill me, who will answer your questions? Don't you want to know how this ends?
WILL: Why did you come alone, Jack?
JACK: Where is he?
WILL: Why did you come alone?
JACK: Is he in the house?
WILL: I told you everything isn't what it seems. The Chesapeake Ripper is still playing with us. All of us.
JACK: I'm not playing.
WILL: You going to kill Chilton? Jack up the law and get underneath it?
JACK: You wagging the same tongue that gave the order to kill Hannibal?
WILL: Difference is, Chilton's not the Chesapeake Ripper. Hannibal is.
JACK: The Chesapeake Ripper isn't playing all of us, Will. He's playing you.
WILL: Jack. Wait. Let me bring him out. He's got a gun.
JACK: Good.
HANNIBAL: Hello, Will.
WILL: May I come in?
HANNIBAL: Do you intend to point a gun at me?
WILL: Not tonight. Are you expecting someone?
HANNIBAL: Only you.
WILL: Kept my standing appointment open?
HANNIBAL: And you're right on time.
WILL: I have to deal with you. And my feelings about you. I think it's best if I do that directly.
HANNIBAL: First you have to grieve for what is lost and what has changed.
WILL: I've changed. You changed me.
HANNIBAL: The friendship that we had is over. The Chesapeake Ripper is over.
WILL: It had to be Miriam, didn't it? She was compelled to take his life so she could take her own back.
HANNIBAL: How will you take your life back?
WILL: I'd like to resume my therapy.
HANNIBAL: Where shall we begin?
Season 3 Episode 9: ... and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
HANNIBAL: That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court.
WILL: Hello, Dr. Lecter.
HANNIBAL: Hello, Will. Did you get my note?
WILL: I got it. Thank you.
HANNIBAL: Did you read it before you destroyed it? Or did you simply toss it into the nearest fire?
WILL: I read it. And then I burned it.
HANNIBAL: And you came anyway. I'm glad you came. My other callers are all professional. Banal psychiatrists and grasping second-raters. Pencil-lickers.
WILL: I want you to help me, Dr. Lecter.
HANNIBAL: Yes, I thought so. Are we no longer on a first-name basis?
WILL: I'm more comfortable the less personal we are.
HANNIBAL: I smell dogs and pine and oil beneath that shaving lotion. It's something a child would select, isn't it? There a child in your life, Will?
WILL: I'm here about Chicago and Buffalo. You've read about it, I'm sure.
HANNIBAL: I've read the papers. I can't clip them. They won't let me have scissors, of course. You want to know how he's choosing them.
WILL: Thought you would have some ideas.
HANNIBAL: You just came here to look at me. Came to get the old scent again. Why don't you just smell yourself?
WILL: I expected more of you, doctor. That routine is old hat.
HANNIBAL: Whereas you are a new man. Are you a good father, Will? Let me have the file. An hour, and we can discuss it like old times.
WILL: Thank you.
HANNIBAL: Family values may have declined over the last century, but we still help our families when we can. You're family, Will.
ALANA: It's good to see you looking so well, Will. But I can't help wishing you weren't here.
WILL: Wishing and hoping.
ALANA: How did it feel to see him again?
WILL: Like Hannibal was looking through to the back of my skull. Felt like a fly flitting around in there. I had the absurd feeling that he walked out with me. Had to stop outside the doors and look around, make sure I was alone.
ALANA: I know that feeling. At least Jack Crawford's pleased.
WILL: He showed me pictures of the families. I looked at Molly and Walter and couldn't say no.
ALANA: And Jack was counting on it.
WILL: Are you still with Margot?
ALANA: Yes. We have a baby. A Verger baby. A son.
WILL: Good for Margot.
ALANA: Good for me. I carried him. He's my son. He's the Verger heir.
WILL: Then what are you doing here?
ALANA: There are only five doors between Hannibal and the outside. And I have the keys to every one of them. Hannibal has never been great with boundaries. "He who sups with the Devil needs a long spoon."
WILL: I am not letting him in, Alana. Don't worry about me.
ALANA: Last time, it didn't end with you.
HANNIBAL: The first small bond to the killer itches and stings like a leech. Like you, Will, he needs a family to escape what's inside him. You know a fair amount about how these families died. How they lived is how he chooses them.
WILL: How is he choosing them?
HANNIBAL: How did you choose yours? Ready-made wife and child to serve your needs. A stepson or daughter -- a stepson absolves you of any biological blame. You know better than to breed. Can't pass on those terrible traits you fear the most.
FREDDIE: Now are you just keeping America clean or is that evidence?
WILL: You're trespassing, Freddie.
FREDDIE: I was trespassing before the blood dried. When did they call you in?
WILL: I'm not talking to you.
FREDDIE: We're co-conspirators, Will. I died for you and your cause.
WILL: You didn't die enough. You came into my hospital room while I was asleep. You flipped back the sheets and shot a picture of my temporary colostomy bag.
FREDDIE: Covered your junk with a black box. A big black box. You're welcome.
WILL: You called us "murder husbands".
FREDDIE: You did run off to Europe together. How does the Tooth Fairy compare to Hannibal Lecter? Haven't seen anything like this since the Massacre at Muskrat Farm. Funny thing about that massacre. Not only did Dr. Bloom survive, she got rich. Lecter's living in the lap under her care. What kind of arrangement you suppose they have?
WILL: A complicated one.
FREDDIE: Couldn't be more complicated than your relationship with Hannibal. You paid him a visit? Before you lie, know that I know that you did.
WILL: Good-bye, Freddie.
FREDDIE: "Federal manhunters, stymied in their search for the Tooth Fairy, have turned to the most savage killer in captivity for help. 'It takes one to catch one,' a federal official told this reporter."
WILL: "Takes one to catch one"? You referring to me or Hannibal Lecter?
FREDDIE: I'll let my readers decide. If you're smart, you'd use me. All psychopaths are narcissists. They love to read about themselves.
MOLLY: Hello, hotshot. Doing some good?
WILL: None you'd notice. I'm lonesome.
MOLLY: Me, too. I'm feeling Randy.
WILL: Me, too.
MOLLY: Randy's our new dog.
WILL: Oh, hell.
MOLLY: Randy's got huge balls.
WILL: Never mind about his balls.
MOLLY: They almost drag on the ground. He has to retract them when he runs. Can you retract yours?
WILL: I retracted them once when I was a kid. Had to clear a barbed-wire fence, carrying a stolen watermelon.
MOLLY: A criminal mind even at that age.
WILL: I don't have a criminal mind.
MOLLY: Of course you don't.
WILL: We have a new, new dog.
MOLLY: Newer than Randy?
WILL: Belonged to one of the families. There was no one left to claim her. So I claimed her. I'm not worrying about her, just taking care of her.
MOLLY: You're a very sweet man. I love you and I miss you and you're doing the right thing. It's costing you, too, I know that. I'm here. I'll be here whenever you come home.
WILL: Good night, Molly.
Season 1 Episode 8: Fromage
ALANA: So, you invited me over to help you collect animal parts?
WILL: I invited you over on the off chance we do find it alive. Hard to wrangle a wounded animal by myself. Did you think it was a date?
ALANA: Honestly, it never crossed my mind.
WILL: Oh, heh heh. Why not?
ALANA: You just don’t seem like you date.
WILL: Too broken to date?
ALANA: You’re not broken.
WILL: What’s your excuse?
ALANA: For not dating? Why are you assuming I don’t date?
WILL: Do you?
ALANA: No. Seems like something for somebody else. I’m sure I’ll become that somebody some day but, right now, I think too much.
WILL: So, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna try to think less, or are you just gonna wait until it happens naturally?
ALANA: I haven't thought about it. ... Are you seeing anything?
WILL: No, actually. I'm not even seeing any track. I mean, except for the ones we made.
JACK: Will, is it me, or is it getting easier for you to look?
WILL: I tell myself it’s purely an intellectual exercise.
JACK: In the narrow view of forensics, that’s exactly what it is.
WILL: It’s not any easier, Jack. (taking some pills) I shake it off. Keep on locking.
JACK: Good. You shake it off. Get to work. We'll come back in when you're ready for us.
ALANA: What kind of animal was it?
WILL: Might’ve been a raccoon.
ALANA: Might’ve been?
WILL: By the time I knocked a hole in the chimney, it crawled out the top.
ALANA: At least it got out.
WILL: What are you doing out?
ALANA: Thought I’d come over, make some noise, shoo away any predators at your door, but looks like you were making plenty of noise all by yourself.
WILL: You avoided being in a room alone with me, essentially, since I met you. I mean, you were smooth about it.
ALANA: Evidently not smooth enough.
WILL: Now you’re making house calls?
ALANA: Just a drive-by on my way home. Since you’re not my patient.
WILL: No. I’m not.
Will closes in on Alana and kisses her.
ALANA: I’m confused.
WILL: You have to stop thinking so much.
ALANA: I can stop the thinking if we’re not... But if we’re...
WILL: Intimate.
ALANA: The way I am in relationships... Not that this is a relationship. It’s just a kiss. A great kiss. But the way I am isn’t compatible with....
WILL: The way I am.
ALANA: I wouldn’t be good for you. You wouldn’t be good for me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop analyzing, because I have this professional curiosity about you.
Will kisses Alana again.
WILL: I am not your patient.
ALANA: If I were my patient, my advice to me would be, "Don’t do this". I have to follow my own advice. I’m gonna go ahead and go now. Good night.
HANNIBAL: Tell me, what was Alana’s reaction?
WILL: She said she wouldn’t be good for me, and I wouldn’t be good for her.
HANNIBAL: I don’t disagree. She would feel an obligation to her field of study to observe you. And you would resent her for it.
WILL: I know.
HANNIBAL: Wondering then why you kissed her and felt compelled to drive an hour in the snow to tell me about it.
WILL: Ah, well, I wanted to kiss her since I met her. She's very kissable.
HANNIBAL: You waited a long time, which suggests you were kissing her for a reason in addition to wanting to.
WILL: I heard an animal trapped in my chimney. I broke through the wall to get it out. Didn’t find anything inside. Alana showed up. She looked at me, maybe her face changed, I don’t know. But she knew.
HANNIBAL: What did she know, Will?
WILL: There was no animal in my chimney. It was only in my head. I sleep walk. I get headaches. I am hearing things. I feel unstable.
HANNIBAL: That’s why you kissed her. A clutch for balance. You said yourself what you do is not good for you.
WILL: Unfortunately, I am good for it.
Season 2 Episode 8: Su-zakana
JACK: Thought trout were hunters. They should be chewing on my hook.
WILL: In the cold, their metabolisms drop. They're not as hungry.
JACK: That's the question. How do you catch a fish who isn't hungry?
WILL: You have to change tactics. Use live bait that moves and excites them to action. Gotta make him bite even though he's not hungry.
JACK: Make him act on instinct. He's always a predator.
WILL: You have to create a reality where only you and the fish exist, where your lure becomes what he wants most, despite everything he knows.
JACK: Wrong move and he swims away.
WILL: I'm a good fisherman, Jack.
JACK: You hook him, I'll land him.
WILL: I don't want you to see me. I don't want you to see what I do. I want to calm you, comfort you. There's so much comfort in darkness. But not for one of you. I took your life and then tried to give it back to you. I hope that the forces of death and biology will bring you rebirth.
Will reveals that the body was hidden away by someone who was grieving the victim's death.
HANNIBAL: How does it feel consulting again with Jack Crawford and the FBI? Last time it nearly destroyed you.
WILL: Last time you nearly destroyed me.
HANNIBAL: After everything that's happened, Will, you still believe—
WILL: You can stop right there. You may have to pretend, but I don't.
HANNIBAL: No, you don't. Not with me.
WILL: I don't expect you to admit anything. You can't. But I prefer sins of omission to outright lies, Dr. Lecter. Don't lie to me.
HANNIBAL: Will you return the courtesy? Why have you resumed your therapy?
WILL: Can't just talk to any psychiatrist about what's kicking round my head.
HANNIBAL: Do you fantasize about killing me?
WILL: Yes.
HANNIBAL: Tell me. How would you do it?
WILL: With my hands.
HANNIBAL: Then, we haven't moved past apologies and forgiveness.
WILL: We've moved past a lot of things. I discovered a truth about myself when I tried to have you killed.
HANNIBAL: That doing bad things to bad people makes you feel good?
WILL: Yes.
HANNIBAL: I need to know if you're going to try to kill me again, Will.
WILL: I don't want to kill you anymore, Dr. Lecter, not now that I finally find you interesting.
WILL: You're making a mistake, Jack.
JACK: I've got nothing to hold him on.
WILL: Peter Bernardone is psychologically disadvantaged. He's been manipulated. As his social worker, this man is in a position of trust. He betrayed that trust. ... I know what it's like to point at a killer and have no one listen.
JACK: You pointed in the wrong direction.
This is a staged conversation, showing a growing wedge between Jack and Will for Hannibal to take advantage of.
HANNIBAL: You look like a man who has suffered an irrevocable loss.
WILL: I'm trying to prevent one.
HANNIBAL: Do you think if you save Peter Bernardone, you can save yourself?
WILL: Save myself from what, Dr. Lecter?
HANNIBAL: From who you perceive me to be.
WILL: I'm afraid I need to be saved from who you perceive me to be.
HANNIBAL: Many troublesome behaviors strike when you are uncertain of yourself. Peter Bernardone lies in the same darkness that holds you.
WILL: No. I'm alone in that darkness.
HANNIBAL: You're not alone, Will. I'm standing right beside you.
WILL: What was done to you was cruelty for cruelty's sake.
PETER: I think... I hate him.
WILL: I envy your hate. Makes it much easier when you know how to feel.
CLARK: Officer, I'm the victim here.
WILL: I'm not an officer. I'm Peter's friend.
CLARK: Peter's confused.
Will drops his sight slightly, taken aback, before leveling the gun again.
WILL: I'm not. Pick up the hammer.
HANNIBAL: It won't feel the same, Will. It won't feel like killing me.
WILL: It doesn't have to.
HANNIBAL: You did the best anyone could do for Peter. Don't do this for him. If you're going to do this, Will... You have to do it for yourself. ... This is not the reckoning you promised yourself.
Will pulls the trigger, but the gun does not fire as Hannibal has placed his thumb between the hammer and the chamber. In a haze, Will allows Hannibal to take the gun but is unable to focus on reality.
HANNIBAL: With all my knowledge and intrusion, I could never entirely predict you. I can feed the caterpillar, whisper through the chrysalis, but what hatches follows its own nature and is beyond me.
Season 2 Episode 13: Mizumono
WILL: We're all desperate for a little hope. I want to ask you to do something for me, Freddie. Or, rather, don't. Don't write about Abigail. You can write about me, you can write about Hannibal. But leave Abigail alone.
FREDDIE: You really don't know if you're going to survive him, do you?
WILL: Just let her rest in peace.
HANNIBAL: When we've gone from this life, Jack Crawford and the FBI behind us, I will always have this place.
WILL: In your "memory palace"?
HANNIBAL: My palace is vast, even by medieval standards. The foyer is the Norman chapel in Palermo, severe and beautiful and timeless, with a single reminder of mortality: a skull graven in the floor.
WILL: All I need is a stream.
HANNIBAL: In those moments, when you can't overcome your surroundings, you can make it all go away.
WILL: Put my head back, close my eyes, wade into the quiet of the stream.
HANNIBAL: If I'm ever apprehended, my memory palace will serve as more than a mnemonic system, I will live there.
WILL: Could you be happy there?
HANNIBAL: All the palace chambers are not lovely, light and high. In the vaults of our hearts and brains, danger waits. There are holes in the floor of the mind.
HANNIBAL: It's also a term from the dead religion of psychoanalysis. An imago is an image of a loved one buried in the unconscious, carried with us all our lives.
WILL: An ideal.
HANNIBAL: The concept of an ideal. I have a concept of you, just as you have a concept of me.
WILL: Neither of us ideal.
HANNIBAL: Both of us are too curious about too many things for any ideals. —Is it ideal that Jack die?
WILL: It's necessary. What happens to Jack has been preordained.
HANNIBAL: We could disappear now. Tonight. Feed your dogs. Leave a note for Alana, and never see her or Jack again. Almost polite.
WILL: This'd be our last supper.
HANNIBAL: Of this life. I served lamb.
WILL: Sacrificial?
HANNIBAL: I don't need a sacrifice. Do you?
WILL: I need him to know. If I confessed to Jack Crawford right now...
HANNIBAL: I would forgive you. If Jack were to tell you all is forgiven, would you accept his forgiveness?
WILL: Jack isn't offering forgiveness. He wants justice. He wants to see you. See who you are. See what I've become. He wants the truth.
HANNIBAL: To the truth, then. And all its consequences.
WILL: Abigail...?
ABIGAIL: I don't know what else to do. So, I did what he told me to.
WILL: Where is he?
HANNIBAL: Hello, Will.
WILL: You were supposed to leave.
HANNIBAL: We couldn't leave without you.
Hannibal caresses Will's face, somber, before driving a knife through his abdomen, splitting his stomach open from one side to the other. Abigail is in stunned silence. Hannibal drops the knife and pulls Will close into a hug before holding him up to look him in the eye.
HANNIBAL: Time has reversed. The teacup I've shattered has come together. A place has been made once more in the world for Abigail. A place was made for all of us. Together. I wanted to surprise you. And you... wanted to surprise me.
Will drops to the ground.
HANNIBAL: I let you know me. See me. I gave you a rare gift. But you didn't want it.
WILL: Didn't I?
HANNIBAL: You deny me my life.
WILL: Not your life.
HANNIBAL: My freedom, then. You'd take that from. Confine me to a cell.
WILL: N-No...
HANNIBAL: Do you believe you could change me the way I've changed you?
WILL: I already did.
HANNIBAL: Fate and circumstance has returned us to the moment where the teacup shatters. I forgive you, Will. Will you forgive me?
WILL: Oh, don't... No... N-No...
HANNIBAL: Abigail, come to me.
Hannibal holds his hand out to Abigail who takes it. He pulls her into a tight grip, setting the knife against her throat in a familiar way, before drawing it and cutting her open again. Hannibal leans down to look Will in the eye as Abigail bleeds out.
HANNIBAL: You can make it all go away. Put your head back. Close your eyes. Wade into the quiet of the stream.
Will feebly tries to cover Abigail's wound before losing strength and simply holding onto her jacket, bathed in her blood and his own. He looks to the side and sees the stag, beaten and gasping for life before it eventually goes quiet.
Heart Game Write-up
Kou followed Alana's suggestion, but he didn't listen to Abigail. Eventually, he ran into Eldon Stammets and was buried alive.
Results
i'm tired . . .
Important Points
Season 2 Episode 7 Yakimono, Season 1 Episode 8 Fromage, and Season 2 Episode 13 were taken off-screen without Silver. The key points from them are:
Season 2 Episode 2: Sakizuki
HANNIBAL: You said the light from friendship won't reach us for a million years, that's how far away we were. I hope our friendship feels closer today.
WILL: Friends have a symmetrical relationship. Psychiatrist and patient, that's unbalanced.
HANNIBAL: There is a power differential between psychiatrist and patient. One that I'm well aware of, particularly with my own therapist.
WILL: But we're just having conversations.
HANNIBAL: You threatened me with a reckoning.
WILL: I did. I can't claim unconsciousness on that one.
HANNIBAL: You were searching for something in your head to incriminate me. I can only assume you didn't find it.
WILL: Not much in there I recognize.
HANNIBAL: Whatever you remember, if you do remember, will be a distortion of reality. Not the truth of events.
WILL: I'm realizing that.
BEDELIA: I've heard so much about you, I almost feel as though I know you.
WILL: You don't.
BEDELIA: No, I don't, but I understand you better than I thought.
BEDELIA: It may be small comfort, but I am convinced Hannibal has done what he honestly believes is best for you.
WILL: No, that isn't small comfort. That would be no comfort.
BEDELIA: The traumatized are unpredictable because we know we can survive. You can survive this happening to you.
WILL: Happening to me?
BEDELIA moves closer, whispering: I believe you.
NOT MUCH HERE . . . Will was ready to risk his life on the certainty that he did not kill anyone. While he was find resources to protect himself, Bedelia rocked him to his core by believing in him which is all he really needed.
Season 3 Episode 2: Primavera
ABIGAIL: He wanted us to live.
WILL: He left us to die.
ABIGAIL: But we didn't. He was supposed to take me with him. We were all supposed to leave together. He made a place for us.
WILL: Abigail...
ABIGAIL: Why did you lie to him?
WILL: The wrong thing being the right thing to do was too ugly a thought.
ABIGAIL: He gave you a chance to take it all back, and you just kept lying. No one had to die.
WILL: It's hard to grasp what would've happened, could've happened. In some other world... Did happen.
ABIGAIL: Having a hard enough time dealing with this world. Hope some of the other worlds are easier on me.
WILL: Everything that can happen happens. Has to end well, and it has to end badly. Has to end every way it can. This is the way it ended for us.
ABIGAIL: We don't have an ending. He didn't give us one yet. He wants us to find him.
WILL: After everything he's done, you would still go to him?
ABIGAIL: If everything that can happen happens, you can't really do the wrong thing. You're just doing what you're supposed to do.
ABIGAIL: Do you believe in God?
WILL: What I believe is closer to science fiction than anything in the Bible.
ABIGAIL: We all know, but no one ever says G-dash-D won't do a G-dash-D-damned thing to answer anybody's prayers.
WILL: God can't save any of us because it's inelegant. Elegance is more important than suffering. That's His design.
ABIGAIL: You talking about God or Hannibal?
WILL: Hannibal's not God. Wouldn't have any fun being God. Defying God-- Now, that's his idea of a good time. Nothing would thrill Hannibal more than to see this roof collapse mid-Mass, packed pews, choir singing. He would just love it. And he thinks God would love it, too.
WILL, laughing: I do feel closer to Hannibal here. God only knows where I would be without him.
ABIGAIL: What did you see?
WILL: He left us his broken heart.
ABIGAIL: How did he know we were here?
WILL: He didn't. But he knew we'd come.
ABIGAIL: He misses us.
WILL: Hannibal follows several trains of thought at once without distraction from any, and one of the trains is always for his own amusement.
ABIGAIL: He's playing with us.
WILL: Always. You still want to go with him?
ABIGAIL: Yes.
WILL: He gave you back to me. Then took you away. Lucy and the football. He just keeps pulling you away... What if no one died? What if we all left together? Like we were supposed to. After he served the lamb. Where would we have gone?
ABIGAIL: In some other world?
WILL: In some other world.
ABIGAIL: He said he made a place for us.
WILL: A place was made for you, Abigail, in this world. The only place I could make for you.
Important Points:
Season 3 Episode 6: Dolce
JACK: If Rinaldo Pazzi decided to do his job as an officer of the law, he would have determined very quickly that he was Hannibal Lecter. Would have taken less than thirty minutes to get a warrant.
WILL: Those resources were denied to Pazzi. As soon as he decided to sell Hannibal, he became a bounty hunter.
JACK: Outside the law and alone. Well, here we are: outside the law and alone.
WILL: Have you told la polizia they're looking for Hannibal Lecter?
JACK: They're motivated to find Dr. Fell inside the law. Knowing who he is, what he's worth, it will just coax them out of bounds.
WILL: That'd be a free-for-all.
JACK: Hannibal would slip away. Would you slip away with him?
WILL: Part of me will always want to.
JACK: You have to cut that part out.
WILL: Oh, of course, you found him here. Not because of the exhibit, but because of the crowd it attracts. You had him, Jack. He was beaten. Why didn't you kill him?
JACK: Maybe, I need you to.
WILL: Oh, please. You need to get over yourself, whatever self that is, Bedelia.
BEDELIA: My name is Lydia Fell.
WILL: You expect us to believe that you somehow lost yourself in the hot darkness of Hannibal Lecter's mind? That Lydia Fell is some construct?
JACK, showing a missing persons poster: It is you. Isn't it?
BEDELIA: Well, now, I'm very confused.
WILL: I - Don't - Believe - You.
JACK: You... Are not confused... Bedelia.
BEDELIA: That is not my name.
WILL: Oh, you know who you are and what you've done, and you know exactly how you're going to wiggle out of it. What is this? Sedatives? Hypnotics? Ethanol? Scopolamine? Midazolam?
JACK: Same cocktail Dr. Lecter served Miriam Lass. You've been freebasing your alibi. And I'm not even mad at you. To tell the truth, I'm fairly impressed.
WILL: Mostly because you're still alive. When this fog of yours clears, I'd love to hear how you managed that.
BEDELIA: You say my husband murdered a chief investigator. Where are the polizia? Shouldn't they be questioning me?
JACK: Don't worry. They will.
BEDELIA: They sure are taking their time. What could possibly be the delay? I have an idea. Do you?
JACK: They're being bought by the same people that bought Rinaldo Pazzi.
BEDELIA: Interest in my husband seems to be getting very competitive.
JACK: Will? ... Will?
BEDELIA: I wonder who will find him first.
HANNIBAL: If I saw you every day forever, Will, I would remember this time.
WILL: Strange seeing you here in front of me. Been staring at afterimages of you in places you haven't been in years.
HANNIBAL: "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig."
WILL: I wanted to understand you before I laid eyes on you again. I needed it to be clear... What I was seeing.
HANNIBAL: Where does the difference between the past and the future come from?
WILL: Mine? Before you and after you. Yours? It's all starting to blur. Mischa. Abigail. Chiyoh.
HANNIBAL: How is Chiyoh?
WILL: Oh, she pushed me off a train.
HANNIBAL: Atta girl.
WILL: You and I have begun to blur.
HANNIBAL: Isn't that how you found me?
WILL: Every crime of yours feels like one I am guilty of. Not just Abigail's murder, every murder stretching backward and forward in time.
HANNIBAL: Freeing yourself from me and me freeing myself from you, they're the same.
WILL: We're conjoined. I'm curious whether either of us can survive separation.
HANNIBAL: Now is the hardest test: not letting rage and frustration, nor forgiveness, keep you from thinking. Shall we?
WILL: After you.
HANNIBAL: The bullet is still inside you. This will hurt. Chiyoh's always been very protective of me. Did she kill her tenant or did you?
WILL: She did.
HANNIBAL: Excellent.
Hannibal places Will's knife in his hand.
HANNIBAL: You dropped your forgiveness, Will. You forgive how God forgives. Would you have done it quickly, or would you have stopped to gloat?
WILL: Does God gloat?
HANNIBAL: Often.
Hannibal then sedates Will despite his protest, causing the knife to fall from his hand, and everything fades out.
WILL: I can almost taste the butter.
HANNIBAL: Taste and smell are the oldest senses, and the closest to the center of the mind.
WILL: Parts that precede pity and morality.
HANNIBAL: They play in the dome of our skulls, like miracles illuminated on a church ceiling. The ceremonies and sights and exchanges of dinner can be far more engaging than theater.
WILL: What's for dinner?
HANNIBAL: Never ask. Spoils the surprise.
JACK: We were supposed to sit down together at your house in Baltimore... Just the three of us.
HANNIBAL: You were to be the guest of honor.
WILL: But the menu was all wrong.
HANNIBAL: Yes, it was. Jack was the first to suggest getting inside your head. Now, we both have the opportunity to chew quite literally what we've only chewed figuratively.
Hannibal starts up a bone saw while Jack yells at him to stop. Will is quiet and motionless, save for the drum of the saw, and his vision begins to distort until it fades out to the sun bright in a cloud-filled sky.
Important Points
Season 1 Episode 4: Oeuf
Season 3 Episode 12: The Number of the Beast is 666