I was talking to a friend about the colours in Hannibal (shoutout @classicpalladium ) and they pointed out how the colour red is present in virtually any scene of the show. Whether that be the red curtains in Hannibal's office, the blood at a crime scene or a red shirt a character is wearing - it is omnipresent.
Naturally, during my rewatch, I paid close attention to see if I could find a scene that didn't contain red, and I discovered another interesting parallel.
In 1x03 Potage, Hannibal and Will visit Abigail in the hospital and take her for a short walk to the greenhouse.
Try and see how much red you can find in these two shots. At first glance, there isn't any. Not in the characters clothing (Will's sweater is brown), not in the background. As a matter of fact, we are surrounded by green - the colour opposite red on the colour wheel, the colour that is used to neutralize red.
At second glance, though, we notice that there is some red.
A few flowers on the left and one plant on the right. There's also orange leaves on the glass roof - the seasons are changing.
This is also when Abigail asks Will "So killing somebody, even if you have to do it, it feels that bad?", and his reply is "It's the ugliest thing in the world."
I think that the lack, or maybe very targeted use of the colour red perfectly encapsulates Will's and Hannibal's relationship at this stage of the show. Will has barely stepped into Hannibal's world. He doesn't know him yet, he's still closed off. The green is still fighting the red. Killing is ugly. It's horrible. It haunts him.
And yet, there's little bits of red, of Hannibal, that are starting to push through, to bloom.
The complete opposite of this scene is, of course, the end of 3x13 The Wrath of the Lamb.
There is red everywhere, literally. It is inescapable. The blood is running and dripping. It almost feels like we as viewers are also tainted by it.
And yet, in a full circle moment, we get Will Graham's final line of the show:
Drenched in blood, in red, in Hannibal. Two becomes one. There is nothing else left. He can finally see it. His becoming is complete.
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