Episode 7 continues to build on the relationships from previous episodes, but some new ones are introduced. We meet Franklyn, a patient of Hannibal’s that we met in a previous episode, but he seems to have developed an unhealthy obsession with becoming Hannibal’s friend. This is the first time we see that Hannibal is truly uncomfortable around someone else who has taken an unhealthy interest in him, while he does try to maintain a professional distance, Franklyn is pushy. In this episode, we are also introduced to Bedelia who is Hannibal’s therapist even though she is retired and Bedelia is played by Gillian Anderson who many will recognize from the X-Files. It seems that Hannibal might not be as put together as he seems, but I doubt at this point he has confessed any of his crimes to Bedelia because he wouldn’t be protected by patient/therapist confidentiality as she is retired but I have a feeling he may have spoken to her about his childhood.
Will and Jack are still trying to track down the Chesapeake Ripper as they are able to say for certain that it isn’t Abel Gideon, but these new killings aren’t as clean as the previous ones, which Will argues that it is a different person committing the crimes, although these ideas aren’t accepted at the time. When Will misses an appointment with Hannibal, he goes to find him. Hannibal finds Will in his classroom completely spaced out and through Will’s eyes, we can see he is dreaming. Will tells Hannibal that he isn’t sleeping, and he doesn’t want to as he is haunted by his nightmares from the cases he works, and the Ripper isn’t helping. As a friend, Will asks Hannibal what he sees in the crime scenes photos and his responses are very accurate, but Will doesn’t think anything of it.
Earlier in the episode, a body was found, and Will can see that the “killer” had tried to save the victims but couldn’t. This makes him believe that the killer is someone with medical knowledge but not as advanced as the real Ripper. Will suggests this is someone performing backstreet surgeries and poorly. They ultimately discover that someone is using a private ambulance and when they track it down they are told it shouldn’t have been seen that day as it was logged for repairs by a part-time paramedic and this ambulance is currently missing.
The F.B.I. manage to track it down but there is a man inside performing a surgery where a man’s life hangs in the balance. Jack knowing that Hannibal has a history of practicing medicine as him to intervene and save the man’s life where Hannibal comments that the man they are arresting was trying to remove the man’s kidney. During this moment, Will gets a look on his face as if seeing Hannibal perform a surgery makes some connection in his head he hasn’t quite figured out yet, so nothing comes of it. However, Hannibal isn’t just killing people for him to eat, he unknowingly feeds them to others as seen with the dinner party he throws.
During the preparations for the meal, we see Hannibal dissecting many organs and flashes of the murders and the people he took them from. Shortly before the dinner, Will arrives at his home and we have a slight scene like the one at the end of the episode where it seems like Will is making connections between the Chesapeake Ripper and Hannibal. The most interesting thing about these two scenes is Hannibal is aware that Will might be making these connections and he is in a position to manipulate Will’s thinking in his favour.
Episode 7 was a great one for me as we get hints that Will might be onto Hannibal and Hannibal is dealing with his own problems outside of work and helping the F.B.I. My favourite scene by far this episode was the dinner scene between Hannibal, Alana and Fredrick Chilton where Hannibal remarks that he might cut out Chilton’s fierce tongue, but what makes it amazing is when Hannibal says that it is nice to have old friends for dinner, and this is a huge call back to the ending of Silence of the Lambs when Chilton is trying to hide from Hannibal while Hannibal is following him to presumably kill as it is never shown on screen, but we know he is dead. I like how this series is giving some backstory on Hannibal’s relationship before his capture and imprisonment (if that happens at all in this series) and how he is a master manipulator and the only person who can keep up with him is Will (who is the person who figures out that Hannibal is a murder and the one response for him being caught).
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