itâs no accident that hannibalâs first crime scene as the ânew will grahamâ are the bodies that came out of the water by the dam. recalling the experience to bedelia, hannibal says, appearing genuinely emotionally affected, âi stood in willâs shoes. i looked through his eyes and saw death how i imagined he would see it.â the bodies are ugly to look at. theyâre bloated and discolored and decaying. theyâre the discard pile. itâs senseless, meaningless death, a waste of human life. a literal physical manifestation of how will sees death in s1.Â
hannibal was not very gentle with will in s1. he manipulated the situation with gjh so that will would violently shoot him. nothing beautiful about that. he drugs him, invokes seizures, allows the encephalitis to worsen, etc. as s2 arrives, hannibal visibly and viscerally softens towards will. itâs almost painful to watch. i think that hannibal actually really looked at the crime scene and tried to imagine how will would see it with a level of empathy that changes how he treats will and his attempts at continuing to assist him in his becoming.Â
after will gets out of prison, hannibal sets himself up as a safe target for willâs violent desires so that will will feel comfortable expressing these desires to him and about him. this is a safety net that is entirely different than s1 in which he lied to him and manipulated him. willâs anger towards hannibal allows will to see his violence as righteous â the opposite of senseless. when hannibal does intervene again by sending randall after will, heâs so fucking gentle with him it makes me want to throw up. he bandages him, talks him through his dissociation, and encourages will to make something beautiful out of randallâs death. he frames the tableau of randall as âhonoringâ him. this is not a waste. this is not senseless or meaningless. this is the opposite of the bodies in the dam. itâs beautiful. Â
