Trigger warning the first part of the episode talks about rape. We start off immediately with that and after that things become lighter. There is a lot of personal information as well. If you or someone you know needs help please contact: https://www.rainn.org/
Preface:
Welcome to the unplanned bonus episode of Just Another Review Cast. We apologize for the rushed episode earlier this week. We have a lot of episodes to get into and a lot of story happening and it was very late. This bonus episode we will be concentrating on a lot of the subtext that happens in the show Hannibal. But I will also be talking about some of the things that ended up being rushed over last episode that I personally believe need to be touched on.
Margot:
Another thing I wanted to talk about is the fact that when I was a child I was attacked. For decades I couldn’t have anyone touch me. I went through numerous psychiatrists most of whom told me to forgive. No one told me that it wasn’t my fault. The first time I heard this was from Hannibal, along with him telling Margot that it is okay to hate. This started me down a path of being able to hate the person who attacked me. Once I let myself hate them even for a moment, it felt like the world was lifted from my shoulders. I was able to move forward and actually have a healthy relationship with my husband. It also taught me that it is okay to be weird. I started becoming more open about my sexuality as well. This also helped me become closer to my husband and more accepting of myself. Thus, leading to a healthier relationship. It was just the beginning of my catharsis. More will come later.
Adapt, Evolve, Become. That phrase has been one that has helped me through the tough times. Whereas the meaning in Hannibal is much darker. To me it means to Adapt to your surroundings, Evolve to meet the challenges, and Become who you need to to survive. This is my design. To me it means this is who I am. I shouldn’t change myself to suit the needs of others. I tattooed both of these on my arm so I can always remember the breakthrough that I had, and something to look at in tough times.
Backstory:
Bryan Fuller originally intended for Will and Hannibal to develop a more brotherly type relationship. Once filming started the dynamic between Mads and Hugh was such that things changed quickly. By episode four they had decided to just see where things went. Fans quickly picked up on the dynamic and ran with it. By season two they decided to keep things in undertones.
Hannibal and Will are already well established characters and changing things to this level can be very controversial. In fact, only about half the fans were okay with it. Mostly, because it went against Canon. But, sometimes change is what is needed in my opinion. The original novels did not have much diversity, and were not kind to anyone who is LGBTQ+. One of the major themes in Harris’ book is transformation. So, to me changing things like this falls very much in line with keeping with the original feel of the novels. By season three subtext will become text. As Fuller put it. We needed to “shit, or get off the pot”. Bryan Fuller himself is gay, and so having someone who is LGBTQ+ making the decisions to keep things in the subtext for season two was a little more palatable then if it was someone who wasn’t.
Season 1:
Starting back at the beginning with season one. Hannibal was immediately fixated on Will. But, it was more an obsession with whether or not Will was smart enough to catch him. As he actually got to know him better he started to see Will as a friend. In the Red Dragon novel, Hannibal was able to figure out pretty quickly that Will was going to be his downfall. Before he was caught he had already destroyed most of his patients files to allow them privacy from the FBI. In the show, Hannibal kept Will close but also started developing a friendship with him. He noticed that Will had a darkness in him and was intrigued by the fact that he enjoyed killing Hobbs. He tries to plant into Will’s brain that their relationship is more intimate than Doctor/Patient because it is like they have a daughter together. When Hannibal had Abigail over for High-life Eggs, he was trying to plant the same idea into her head. The third place setting was not for Alana, but for Will. He wasn’t too happy with Alana for destroying his plan. Hannibal also was not very happy that Will was getting close to the Chesapeake Ripper. Normally, Hannibal would just kill someone who got too close, but he was already in an emotional place where he could not do that to Will so he set him up to take the fall, this allowed him time to come up with an alternative.
Now, for Will’s point of view. Will is someone who cannot even look people in the eyes when we meet him. He keeps people at arms length because he knows what lives inside his head. He doesn’t like Hannibal at first because Hannibal was able to figure him out immediately. When Hannibal brings him people sausage breakfast he starts to get on Will’s good side. Will starts to actually open up to Hannibal and starts to see actual friendship with him. Will’s does not have any living family members and doesn’t seem to have many friends outside of the FBI. So this friendship with Hannibal is something that would be on a deeper level. He opens up to Hannibal about Hobbs and finally finds someone he doesn’t need to hide a part of himself with. In Sorbet during the ambulance scene he watches Hannibal closely. We don’t know if he is connecting the dots between Hannibal and the Ripper or if there is something else happening there. It is purposely written that way. The next scene is Will dropping by Hannibal’s with a glass of wine accidentally crashing his dinner party. Will does try to romance Alana still, but like I had said it is just a crutch. In Fromage after Tobias Budge has attacked Hannibal, Will originally was supposed to intimately clean blood off of Hannibal’s forehead. That part was changed and probably was a bit too obvious too soon, and Jack was right there and would have picked up on that immediately. What did stay in, was them looking at each other as the script says with “uneasy camaraderie.” Will agrees to keep Hannibal and Abigail’s secret as well. When things start to get really back for Will, he is always running to Hannibal, not just because he is a psychiatrist, but a friend. Finding out that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper would be a major betrayal for Will.
Back in episode 4, you can actually start to see something playing out. Mads, actually using his micro-expressions, checks out Will’s ass at one point. He did that on purpose, just to see if anyone would catch it.
Season 2:
In season 2 we have Hannibal realizing that he is truly missing Will. His own therapist advises him to stay away for his own good, but he fails to listen. The script calls Hannibal sewing the Muralists into his own work, a valentine. Later, Will sends American Russell Tovey to try and kill Hannibal. Once Hannibal realizes that Will is willing to go to these lengths to try and kill, he is even more intrigued by him. Hannibal’s feelings for Will at this point probably have started to move from friendship to romantic. He kills Sheldon Islay and displays him in the image of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of martyrs, but also the patron saint of anyone who is queer. He also kills a security guard leaving all the evidence that Will is innocent. He is getting him out of the asylum. He has Chilton take the fall instead. When Will tries to kill Hannibal again he could easily have defended himself and even if he was caught, pleaded self defense. But he doesn’t. As Will starts to play the game Hannibal becomes even more in love with him. He allows Will to take his control.
Everything that Will talks about with Hannibal is the truth. He does enjoy the violence. But, another thing he enjoys. The fact that he is able to manipulate and almost control Hannibal. Someone, who is normally the one manipulating and controlling everyone else. Hannibal Will does not need to hold back who he is mentally. The power dynamics between the two is one of the most intriguing aspects of the show. Will definitely wants the Chesapeake Ripper dead or arrested. But, the freedom he has with Hannibal is also something he does not want to give up either. Season Two has the emotional/mental battle that Will has to go through to decide what it is he wants.
The linguistics of this is something that you have to pay close attention to. When they speak to each other in an almost ASMR like way and discuss the “intimacy” of killing this is subtext. Will is always telling Hannibal that he wants to kill him, and Hannibal is asking in a whispered way to have Will tell him how he would do it. Will respond back in the same way. It resembles a flirtatious conversation between a couple, or even foreplay. Whenever Will imagines killing Hannibal it is always with Hannibal being tied up or bound in some way. As Will kills Hannibal in this fantasy, Hannibal is never angry, in fact he is usually smiling with pleasure. Even when Will was beating up Randall Tier imagining Hannibal he has that “annoying” smirk. Will tries to hold onto the image of Alana when having sex with Margot, but his mind wonders to thinking about Hannibal and then he sees the Wendigo, which is the Ripper side of Hannibal. It is then that he has an orgasm. Camera, shaking and eyes rolling back. Hannibal tells Alana that they have gone so long in their friendship without ever touching. But, this is just a voice over as we are watching Will and Margot at the time. Hannibal has a habit as well of always talking about Will when he is in bed with Alana.
Outside of the two, there is another conversation that has subtext to it as well. When Margot Verger is talking to Hannibal about her family dynamics she says that they don’t like her because she is “weird”. Hannibal responds with “I am much weirder than you are, it’s okay to be weird.” This was Margot trying to figure out if Hannibal was someone who she could be safely open with. Hannibal responded beautifully. I caught this one almost immediately due to the fact that I have been in that same awkward situation with psychiatrists before. No one has ever responded that way and I usually have crawled back inside. There is a LGBTQ+ store that has a shirt with the Ravenstag on it, that says “It’s okay to be weird”. I want that shirt so much. The play of linguistics in this way is one of the ways to understand the subtext. I cannot translate every single one, if you want more information on this I highly recommend the book: Becomin: Genre, Queerness, and Transformation in NBC’s Hannibal.
I have mentioned fluidity in both characters and analogy before. Hannibal is not supposed to be Bisexual in this show, but Pansexual. Will is portrayed as straight but is falling for Hannibal. Hannibal has accepted these facts about himself and most likely has previous experience. Based on artwork of his, there are not only previous women, but also men. When Hannibal does artwork it is usually copies of famous art, but the bodies and faces are of people he has known physically. Remember this fact and pay close attention. Expressing sexuality and love through artwork is about as ancient as humans themselves. But, using it in this way to tell a story is also very much in keeping with 18-19th Century literature.
Just look at the Picture of Dorian Gray. They are always discussing artwork, not just Dorian Gray’s painting. Later, in season two there will be a scene in Hannibal that is very, very similar to the conversations that take place in Dorian Gray, the only thing missing was the use of the word Adonis, which might have been too much. As in too close to Dorian Gray.
The Gothic/Victorian age “monster” was an analogy to the “other”. Basically, someone who lived outside of normal society. Coming in and trying to bring other people to their ways, either by changing them into vampires, or in Dorian Gray’s case trying to “corrupt” people into his life of hedonism. With food, drugs, alcohol or sex. Both Hannibal and Will live on the outside of society. Hannibal is an social Anti-Social as his psychiatrist Bedelia puts it. Whereas Will is just Anti-social. Hannibal comes into Will’s life and uses gaslighting to try and convince him that he is just like Hannibal. Considering the fact that this is actually already kind of true it doesn’t take much. There is also the fact that Hannibal is actually a Count, with a Castle in Lithuania. Will is not the “damsel in distress” opposite Mina in Dracula. Which makes the power dynamics much more equal. But the feel and basic story is the same. It is the 21st Century after all.
Later, in Season Two there will be a conversation between Will and Hannibal. Hannibal is in his office with Will. Instead of in their normal place Hannibal sits by the fireplace sketching. Will standing beside. No other light is present in the room. Will checks out what Hannibal is sketching. It is Achilles mourning the death of his lover Patrocaleus. In this sketch he has his own face as Achilles and Will as Patrocleus. Patrocleus was known for his empathy, and Achilles wished all Greeks would die so they could conquer Troy alone. It is an ancient Greek Romeo and Juliet type love story. One that has been used numerous times when talking about Forbidden love. Usually, the forbidden love is a homosexual relationship. But, in this case an enemies to lovers situation. Will admires the artwork before coming back to his senses and informing Hannibal that they will be caught. At this point, Will no longer knows which side he is on anymore. He does not react either surprised or negatively to Hannibal’s artwork. Also, Hannibal is known for doing artwork (in this show at least) of people he has known, usually romantically. Places the faces of current, or former lovers into ancient and renaissance art.
Unintended:
Back in season 1 there was an accidental subtext that happened that I am sure not many people cued in on. This takes place after the patient-zoning scenes in Sorbet. When Hannibal asks Will whether they are friends or just having conversations. After the ambiguous answer Hannibal offers Will a Rosé. Will is a whiskey drinker in this show and is only seen drinking wine when he is with Hannibal. This is another 19th Century trope used when two men are about to start a relationship. Rosé is especially used in 19th century-1960’s France for this. Mads said that because he was trying to cover for a prop mistake, but as someone who had to research this decades ago, and knowing what was to come on Hannibal. If Will was a 19th Century French Gentlemen he would be asking if Hannibal was trying to hit on him. Yes, that is where that term comes from.
Ortolan:
One of the more obvious instances, and it is hardly subtext is the Ortolan Bunting scene. The Ortolan are supposed to be eaten with faces covered, but Hannibal does not shy away from God. Instead, it is very much symbolic of Fellatio. Close-ups on mouth taking in the Ortolan, then close-ups of the throats as they swallow the ortolan whole, bones and all. Then we do close-ups of eye rolls similar to Will’s during the orgasm. The first words spoken are from Hannibal about feeling euphoric after having his first ortolan. If this scene took place in a 18-19 Century novel, it would be a replacement scene for actual Fellatio. When eating an Ortolan the Armagnac and blood from the ortolan explodes in your mouth. The larger bones are spit out while the smaller ones are swallowed, but usually will poke the inside of your mouth. Your blood and the blood and armagnac from the ortolan are mixed together in a multitude of flavors. One of the ways I knew I was healing from my past, was the fact that this scene actually got to me, whereas nothing else in the world could.
There are food related scene in Dorian Gray that later were filmed in a 2008 movie as a sex scene. That is the intent of this graphic in the novels. Whereas Bryan Fuller, has left things open to interpretation or as he said “plausible deniability” to keep things safe. Reading that scene in a gothic/victorian way. Definitely implies something much further.
Friendly:
The show Hannibal is also considered one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly shows out there. It has complicated characters, who are queer and not portrayed in a steriotypical fashion. Other shows have attempted stuff like this since and I won’t mention which one. But, they have stated that the character will never be romantically involved. Or, like the storyline of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, it gets glossed over. Hannibal uses undertones because of already established characters, and they were already pushing boundaries as it was. But, they have all openly stated that Will and Hannibal are romantically together by the end. Season three we do see subtext become text. Even in the show it will become acknowledged. They actually go on to be called Murder Husbands both in and out of the show itself. Opposite to most other show they were not trying for Queer-baiting, it happened naturally and unintentionally. They just played with it a little bit, before taking the leap. One thing to keep a lookout for, Will and Hannibal are not the only ones to go down this path. We also have another couple that will become the Murder Wives. So, it isn’t aimed just at the men in the show. Since the other characters were established in the books as LGBTQ+ and were not main characters, it was much easier for their story to become much more prominent on screen.
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