“This is not where I intended to say goodbye”.
It is impossible to hear a line like this when watching HANNIBAL lately without thinking of the horrible circumstances both we and the show find ourselves in. The news of HANNIBAL’s cancellation and its struggles to find a new home continue to permeate everything. Anyway, let’s not dwell on such futile negativity, this week’s sixth episode of season 3, entitled ‘Dolce’ was fantastic so let’s talk about that instead.
This week the show focused on the ramifications of Jack Vs Hannibal II and all that it means for the worlds of every character associated. Hannibal himself, looking quite the state (how rude of him), stumbles back to Bedelia, ready to depart the city before the police (Mason) close in on him. Bedelia, teasing Hannibal a little, knowing that he wants to eat her, decides that her best course of action is to stay behind and play ignorant to all that has happened, using a cocktail of drugs to make it seem like Hannibal had her without her wits for his entire rampage. However, it doesn’t work particularly well at all as everyone sees through her charade pretty quickly. “I DON’T believe you” Will tells her spitefully, a nice homage back to season two when Bedelia mentioned her belief in Will’s claims about her patient before running away.
“You and I have begun to blur”.
‘Dolce’ was about bringing people together. Jack and Will met for the first time in this seasons present timeline (or at least I think it’s the present), discussing Jacks close encounter and what is next for each of them. This week also saw (finally) the joyous coming together of Will and Hannibal. It was a pretty majestic, if somewhat quiet meeting. The two of them sitting together (with their mirror image scrapes and bruises) as Hannibal sketched like he were a younger man, smiling as they spoke to one another, and I couldn’t help but smile too. I was genuinely delighted at their happiness. The relationship they have is so special, so complex and so different from anything we have ever seen before. On one hand they are very much in love (let’s not beat around the bush here), both shimmer in each other’s presence. On the other hand Will is afraid — rightfully so — that he is becoming Lecter and therefore needs to kill him, and Hannibal himself can’t stand that he feels this way towards a person and thusly feels the desire to eat his friend. It really is quite the pickle.
“I wonder who will catch him first”.
This all leads to the episodes ending events, which are somewhat perplexing. After seeing more of Mason (who continues to steal every scene he is in) toying with the many ways he could eat Hannibal — “Peking duck him?” — and his plans with Alana to capture Hannibal, we see Will firstly shot by Chiyoh (don’t focus on that) and then taken prisoner by Hannibal. Tied to a chair and drugged to have the bare minimum of function Will, with Hannibal doing Hannibal things, is forced to wait for Jack to appear, who naturally is trying to save the day once again. Of course that doesn’t turn out well for the former FBI man, Hannibal (lurking under the table) captures Jack as well, with the intention to treat them all to a rather disturbing dinner party. The main course being Will’s brain. “We both have the opportunity to chew, quite literally, what we’ve only chewed figuratively” explains Hannibal. What a guy. We are then witness to Hannibal sawing open Will’s head before we are taken away from said scene and transported across the Atlantic to where Will and Hannibal are the captives of Mason Verger. Welcome to Muskrat farm indeed.
Did the previous scene not take place? Was it just another of this shows elaborate dreams or flashes, depicting what could of been? Or (as I have mentioned in previous reviews) are we seeing another example of the HANNIBAL multi-verse at play? Who knows. It was probably Bedelia telling the police off screen where they could find Hannibal and us being tricked by the shows creative’s, toying with our expectations as much as they can before they leave us forever.
Whatever happened at the end of ‘Dolce’, excitement for what is next and what is possible is at an all time high. Our two heroes (yes, two) are in a rather tight squeeze right now and Mason is not a man to be trifled with. How will it all play out? “All of our endings can be found in our beginnings” Bedelia tells Hannibal, tells us, in a truly fascinating line of dialogue. I wonder if there is anything to that sentiment. I wonder if we are being told something. Perhaps in order to figure out HANNIBAL’s end we have to first return to the beginning. A rather exciting prospect indeed. Now excuse me as I weep at the thought of there being only seven episodes left.
