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In Thomas Harris’ book “Red Dragon,” both FBI agent Will Graham and closet-cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter team up to hunt down the Tooth Fairy, a cannibal. In Bryan Fuller’s “Hannibal,” it’s the hunt and kill of the Minnesota Shrike that brings Lecter and Graham close. It’s a strangely co-dependent, parasitic relationship where Dr Lecter feeds on the Shrike’s crimes, Graham’s empathetic dreams and obsession with his daughter Abigail. While Graham finds a strange comfort in Dr Lecter’s straightforward psychoanalysis of his condition. They both begin to rely on each other’s inferences and soon the doctor-patient relationship turns into a crime-solving partnership.
Episode two ended with both Graham and Dr Lecter sitting by the bedside of Abigail who has been in a coma ever since her father tried to kill. Both the hunter and the cannibal sat beside their target waiting for her to awake so they can attack her. Potage is the episode of awakening. Abigail wakes up and is rallied to her home in Minnesota where she reveals and recreates her relationship with her cannibalistic father. She takes them all to the cabin, where Abigail and Hobbs (the cannibal) would bring back deer and carve, clean and cut her to “honour every part of her. Otherwise it’s just murder,” Abigail recounts.
All the characters in the episode lead the story to it’s chilling conclusion. Dr Jack Crawford is determined to confirm his hypothesis that Abigail assisted her father in his hunts. Tabloid journalist Freddie Lounds attempts to breach Abigail’s mind and probes her to tell her her story. In her endeavour, she leads the brother of the copycat’s victim to Abigail’s home where he threatens her and her friend. Soon enough, Abigail’s friend finds herself in a similar disposition as did the copycat’s victim when her body is propped up against the wall on antlers in Hobb’s hunting cabin. A series of most unfortunate events ultimately lead Abigail to realise that it was Dr Lecter who had called the Hobb’s residence to warn her father that the FBI was coming for him that led to the murder of her mother and the attempt on her life.
Both Abigaial and Dr Lecter share more than this secret when she forms an alliance with Dr Lecter over a killing. She turns murderer when the victim’s brother breaks into her house and attempts an altercation. She slits his skin from his stomach to his throat. Dr Lecter covers up the body and the crime scene.
Potage put Graham in the background and focused on Abigail and her growing comfort with Dr Lecter. This could lead to a deadly alliance or she could be setting herself up as bait. Either way, we are definitely more intrigued than ever.
Watch the promo of the fourth episode:
- The fourth episode of “Hannibal” will air on Friday, April 12, 2022 at 10 pm on AXN.
