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Hannibal Review: Collapse

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I’m not sure how Hannibal continues to top itself in regards to gore, yet "Roti" featured Dr. Gideon attaching still-wagging tongues to the necks of dead bodies and performing surgical art on those that wronged him.

What does it say about me that I’ve just come to accept goriness as part of Hannibal’s charm?

Will's Challenge

The dream Will has with the iceberg beginning to break was a good reference into his current state of mind. Will’s consciousness is collapsing into his subconscious and the empathy he uses to put himself into the minds of killers is beginning to take its toll on him. Those breakings to Will are like a metaphor for Freud’s ideas on consciousness. where the conscience part of his personality is sinking down into his id and superego drives.

Will feels himself going crazy, that he’s not in the right state of mind, but since his encephalitis is completely unknown to him he thinks everything is in his mind. Jack’s advice to Will is sound. He can’t allow himself to take it all in, otherwise it will consume him and compromise his health. He needs to find a way to let that pain go when it’s all over.

Whether Will wants to or not, he is in some instances throughout Hannibal Season 1 following his gut. It can even be argued that Will's way of solving cases is entirely gut based. A reader named TiffanyO in the “Fromage” comments brought up a great theory about the moose being Will’s subconscious to lead him to what he knows deep down.

Almost every week the moose makes an appearance. A strong, majestic, and self-confident animal that is ready and waiting for Will to take charge and lead, but Will hasn’t found those qualities in himself yet. He’s still relying on others to tell him what he has or doesn’t have.

Will bringing “Hobbs” to Lecter was a culmination of his encephalitis, subconscious and mental deterioration. I was hoping Gideon would begin to piece together Will’s encephalitis and let it slip to him. The two did develop an unlikely but calm and peaceful conversational friendship. Sadly, Will’s mild seizure pulled him out the conversation he already knows the answer to:

Gideon: Are you the ripper?
Lecter: Terrible thing, to have your identity taken from you. | permalink

Lecter is brilliant - and it’s not a difficult intuitional leap to see that he’s continuing to play Will and his condition into the scenarios he needs. He wanted to meet Dr. Gideon, most likely as another professional courtesy, but more importantly Lecter wants to systematically reduce Will’s support system.

By sending Gideon after Alana, it’s one less person in Will’s life and one less person in Lecter’s way. If Will begins to lose all the constants in his life, then very soon the only person he has to rely on is Lecter. It all plays into Lecter’s plans. If he can push Will far enough that the BAU team loses their faith in him and Alana can’t help him, then Lecter is nearly uncatchable.

The final few minutes of “Roti," meanwhile, are still turning about in my head with Lecter and his therapist:

Therapist: Oil is valuable. What value does Will Graham's madness have to you? | permalink

I still believe Lecter is completely manipulative and only focused on himself... yet he has somehow convinced himself that, on some level, he views Will as his friend. In Hannibal’s world, this can totally pass as friendship, but Will doesn’t stand chance because all of it is completely rigged. It’s completely perverse.


Editor Rating: 4.7 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.9 / 5.0 (37 Votes)


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    I thought the stag was actually Will's unconscious representation for Lecter; Hannibal has a bronze statue in his office, of the same animal (or so I think).

    On some level, Will already knows that Lecter is the killer, but it hasn't bubbled up, for whatever reason.

    I also keep wondering if Lecter's shrink isn't actually imprisoned in that house. I can't explain why exactly, but I think there's some background to that relationship.


    I had anti nmda and wasn't diagnosed for months. I was tested for every infectious disease before I fell into the hands of the #1 Doctor that founded this disorder. Will would be comatose and have no short term memory at this stage of his illness. It causes encephalitis but is actually an auto immune response.


    in his office because he wanted an excuse to bring up the fact that he was seeing a psychiatrist. He wanted Will to know about her because he wants to use her as an "alibi" or perhaps character witness would be a better thing to say.
    Hannibal doesn't need or want therapy for himself. He only wants to use her. But why her? Why has Hannibal been seeing her and why would he not change psychiatrists after she retired? She said that she was attacked. Maybe Hannibal was responsible for the attack against her and he wants to monitor her just like he monitors Hobbs and likely will monitor the girl in the pressure chamber. I believe that he has been monitoring her for years and now sees a way to use her to protect himself from any fallout that may occur with something happening with Will.


    I would like to start out by saying that I haven't read the books, but I love the show.
    I don't believe that Hannibal actually wants to be Will's friend. I think that is just something that he says to his psychiatrist in order to keep protecting himself. He wants to continue hiding his true self and saying that he wants to be Will's friend is sort of like creating an alibi for himself. If Jack questions Hannibal's intentions with Will then his psychiatrist can defend him by saying that Hannibal only wanted to be Will's friend. How will Jack know that Hannibal sees a psychiatrist? From Will of course! Do you remember when Will went to see Hannibal and Hannibal told him that he was having a glass of wine with his psychiatrist? Hannibal was in his psychiatrists office and NOT his own office! There should not be a reason for the glass of pink wine to be sitting in Hannibal's office when he was drinking the wine with his psychiatrist in HER office!!! I believe Hannibal lied about the wine



    Whoops! Thanks for helping me out. :D


    I was wondering the same thing when Jack said Will was in the hospital. They must have given him a battery of tests to find the source. Jack wants Will better so he can continuing doing his investigations. I'm willing to let it slide for now since every piece of writing on the show is never left hanging.


    It's a stag, not a moose! :)


    ...full well that Will would take them and go after Gideon. This was Hannibal's way of (a)getting rid of Gideon,(b) getting Will found sick without revealing that he knew what was going on with him, and (c) not getting Alana killed. Alana's not a threat to Lecter where Will's concerned, not yet anyway.

    Last point: at the end, Hannibal says to Jack that they still can't identify the source of his "infection". Here's the thing - the kind of encephalitis that Will has (anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis) is auto-immune, not infectious. So is Hannibal still the only one that knows what's going on with will and did NO ONE GIVE WILL A BRAIN SCAN when they brought him in unconscious, feverish and seizing? OR was that line just a screw up in the research/writing department of the show?


    Great review - and great episode. Watching Will crack was just painful. I just want him to be better!

    I love the way that Hannibal and Gideon are written. They're not one-dimensional kill-for-fun psychopaths; they're simultaneously repulsive and fascinating. Gideon's actions made it clear that he's not sure who he is - they tell him he's a narcissist and psychopath and he believes that and lives it, but he obviously doesn't have a complete disregard for others - apart from a possible good-natured person underneath all the madness, what reason would he have for actually taking Will Graham to his doctor and not leaving him for dead?

    One point in this review that I would argue against: I think that Hannibal's sending Gideon to Alana's house was all part of his manipulation, not an intention to get Alana killed. Every move Hannibal makes is calculated, purposeful and precise. He told Will that Alana was in danger, and then he left the gun AND the keys on the table knowing full well that Will would take it and go after Gideon.


    I don't think Hannibal has to convince himself of anything, he sees Will as his plaything, his property, an embodiment of the ultimate souvenir. If you also consider the little tidbits we garner about "The Ripper", aka Dr. Lecter, it provides further insight about his motives and actions. Whomever Hannibal decides to extensively associate with is all calculating, and I have this feeling his therapist is just another one of his victims, someone he is priming with his mind games.


    I feel so bad for Will. Hopefully now he will get medical help. But even with his brain infected he is still able to get the job done. I love the lab guys. They are funny and smart. I really enjoy this show.
