It often negates our concern for practically anyone or anything else. The danger with this form of love, however, is that that egocentrism doesn’t exist just in relation to the object of one’s desire. To get a taste of that knowledge is dangerous because it is then so difficult to let go of, much as Hannibal found it impossible to release an intellect that he believed to be, finally, an adequate mate for his own. For someone who not only deeply understands everyone he meets but cannot avoid doing so, not knowing oneself must be an unimaginable frustration.
His own desire to explore that portion of him that all too easily empathized with serial killers may have been nudged awake by Lecter, but there can be little doubt that it was already there. Not that Graham is innocent in any of this, however. His easy murder of the young girl once it was clear that his lover had betrayed him made this quite clear. Hannibal may have tried to provide Will with the family that it was clear that Will wanted with Abigail, but the truth is that he only did this in order to try to create a situation that would want to make Graham stay with him. Neither party, for instance, has had, at any point really, a desire to make the other happy except for the most selfish of purposes, although there is a chance that this was rationalized, something also quite common to early romantic relationships. Had Wolper’s formula instead asked us to compare how often we thought about our own happiness and that of the other person, I think we’d be a lot closer to defining enduring love rather than the transitional (and wonderfully exciting) state of falling in love.īut yes, falling in love is essentially a fairly selfish experience, and that does describe what we have seen happening all this time between Hannibal and Will Graham. Loving someone, I would argue (and like all metaphysical reflections, all anyone has is opinion), is not about a desire for them but about a concern for their well-being. These aren’t really thoughts about the other person. But what we are thinking is: I want to see her. When we are falling in love, for instance, we tend to think of the other person quite a lot. He finds it funny Hannibal has a psychiatrist but before she leaves she whispers three words he's been longing to hear from anybody: " I believe you." With that, Will can at least hold on to the idea he's not crazy, which will certainly help with his impending trial.But the problem with Harry’s formula is that it fails to account for what kind of thoughts you are having about the other person. Bedelia again alludes to Hannibal's part in a patient's death and concludes he is "dangerous." Before she disappears, she visits Will in his cell.
Hannibal season 2 episode 2 also sees Bedelia drop Hannibal, cutting him off as a patient and asking Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) not to include her in the investigation if it can be helped. Will is later given photos of the crime scene and uses his gift to figure out the Muralist was sewn into the eye too and that Hannibal was responsible of course, he doesn't add the latter part. He kills the Muralist and sews him into the eye while taking a leg for himself as a trophy - and dinner. Hannibal deduces the location of the mural and convinces the killer himself to become part of it. Sadly, despite a valiant attempt to escape, he dies after diving into a river.
A victim sewn in the mural - which is a "painting" made up of dozens of dead bodies sewn together to resemble an eye - tears himself free from it, ripping off chunks of skin in the process. Speaking of Beverly's case, Hannibal season 2 episode 2 opens with one of the show's most disturbing sequences.