Why Will doesn’t reconstruct the copycat/ripper crime scenes in S1
I originally posted this meta to reddit as a discussion and it was positively received so I am posting it here as well! I can’t remember where I read it, but someone pointed out that Will doesn’t reconstruct the copycat killer or ripper crime scenes, and it’s funny but I had never noticed that until I saw that, but I feel that is so significant!
In my opinion, Will doesn’t reconstruct the crimes scenes at all, as opposed to the show choosing not to show the reconstructions. This says to me he has sensed what Hannibal is from the beginning, even if he isn’t consciously aware of it or is repressing that awareness (“On some level you knew”), and that he has these same impressions at the copycat and ripper crime scenes and is unconsciously choosing not to reconstruct them.
In their first interaction Hannibal says, “Associations come quickly,” about Will. Then, at Cassie Boyle’s crime scene, Will profiles the copycat killer.
Will: You know, an intelligent psychopath, particularly a sadist, is very hard to catch. There’s no traceable motive, there’ll be no patterns. He may never kill this way again. Have Dr. Lector draw up a psychological profile. You seem very impressed with his opinion.
Right away Will makes an association between the copycat killer and Hannibal by bringing him up in the conversation—he’s thinking of them in the same space, even if he’s being a smartass to Jack in the moment. As they say in psychoanalysis, nothing is too trivial and, in fact, the trivial is central. So Will bringing up Hannibal right after profiling the copycat killer, and after it’s already been pointed out Will’s quick to make associations, speaks volumes to me. The very next Will scene strengthens this association, where he envisions the stag for the first time, the symbol for Hannibal and their connection. This is followed by a scene with both of them, alone this time, where Hannibal says how he sees Will, “The mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by.”
Rewatching Oeuf, this dialogue stands out to me as well:
Hannibal: You stood in the breathing silence of Garret Jacob Hobb’s home. The very spaces he moved through. Tell me, Will… did they speak to you?
Will: With noise and clarity.
Hannibal: You could sense his madness. Like a bloodhound.
Has Will sensed Hannibal’s madness from the beginning? (“Agent Crawford tells me you have a knack for the monsters.”) I think he has, on some level.
Even so, why wouldn’t Will reconstruct the copycat’s and/or Ripper’s crime scenes? I believe it’s because Will was seen by Hannibal, first with his analytical ambush at their first meeting (which the script highlights: “Hannibal has just described Will Graham to a letter”) and then at their second meeting with the mongoose comment (Hannibal acknowledging Will’s darker nature). This is Will’s very first and only experience of being seen and understood by another person (and in such a short amount of time of knowing each other too!) And even if Will is reluctant about it, or doesn’t even necessarily like it, it’s nice!
Bedelia: It’s nice when someone sees us, Hannibal. Or has the ability to see us.
Not only that, for the first time Will is feeling the stirrings of love. As the show shows and tells us, it’s that to see someone, to know and understand them, is to love them (to love is to see and to know). Similarly to what Mads said of Hannibal falling in love with Will at first sight, Will is having a similar experience. And as Hannibalized says in this post on Will, “The unconscious love for Hannibal had awakened his soul, but he would be a little late to realise it. Or in other words—love here is defined by awakening of the soul.”
The script mentions Will’s soul at Cassie Boyle’s crime scene, “Will has finally turned away to give his soul some relief.”
After a long time, Will finally turns away from Cassie Boyle’s corpse, not because it was traumatic (or, not only because), but because deep down his soul was moved, becoming awakened, and he needed relief from the feelings it stirred within him.
So if Will were to reconstruct Hannibal’s crime scenes, he’d be seeing Hannibal more clearly. And Will doesn’t want to see him, not yet, because he doesn’t want to be confronted with that awareness and knowledge and have to come to a decision about what to do with that knowledge and awareness, and because that would require him having to reconcile Hannibal and the Ripper, which would require him having to confront himself and his own feelings (which he’s not ready to do until the second half of season 2). And, in addition to seeing Hannibal/the ripper, the reconstructions would affect him much more deeply than the others, on a soul level! Because they are soulmates. How could he possibly recover? He’s not prepared to deal with the fallout of how he would feel reenacting this killer. Better to refrain, to keep a distance, to keep things from being too personal, professional (“Just keep it professional”). So, subconscious plausible deniability.
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