Primavera ended with a stunning surprise, Will standing in the catacombs under the Norman Chapel and, upon sensing Hannibals presence, offering his forgiveness to Il Mostro. As shocking as this may have been for the audience, its far more keenly felt by Hannibal and the entirety of Secondo is spent exploring how this proclamation has affected both men. There is power in storytelling, the episode argues, in crafting a narrative for oneself to make even the most horrific experience bearable. But while the fairy tales we tell ourselves may be beautiful, they are also isolating, fragile things easily shattered by other players in the drama. We must choose between maintaining the fantasy or returning to society, where words as simple as, I forgive you can bring our carefully constructed walls tumbling down.
Hannibal spends the first episode of the season delighting in his power and freedom. Hes left Will and the rest of his life in Baltimore behind him, starting over as Dr. Fell and embracing his new history. In Mizumono, Hannibal claims he has forgiven Will, and though his actions instantly belie thishe forgives Will with one breath and with the next, summons Abigail to her deathHannibal is able to maintain this fiction until presented with Wills heartfelt closure. Whereas he has been the picture of confidence, or perhaps overconfidence, throughout Antipasto and Primavera, in Secondo he is sent spinning, acting out and making rash decisions. Unlike his calculated murder of the Fells or murder of necessity of Anthony, here Hannibal impatiently stabs Prof. Sogliato at the dinner table, petulantly invoking his previous comments on participation versus observation when Bedelia balks at his unwillingness to put Sogliato out of his misery. As if this werent enough of a risk, Hannibal then highlights Sogliatos absence to his colleagues, abandoning prudence in favor of a quick hit of the power and dominance he feels when feeding Sogliato to his ravenous, and unwitting, peers.
Antipasto and Primavera showed a powerful, in control Hannibal subsuming the will of Bedelia and Will with his own, beautifully visualized as Bedelia and Will sinking into the inky blackness, or bloody waters, of Hannibals influence. Here that is reversed: by forgiving Hannibal, and doing so sincerely, Will exerts his independence from Hannibal, regaining his power and throwing Hannibal for a loop. Rather than being trapped in his memories of the Red Dinner, mired in the blood-soaked depths of his trauma, letting go of his anger towards Hannibal frees Will and lets him rise to the surface, shown here when Will walks over red-tinged liquid, his footfalls dissipating first the color and eventually, as he moves confidently forward, the water entirely. He may have emerged changed, but Will is once again on dry land.
I really hope someone can save it. Fucking damnit.
