Hannibal Finale

The final course has been cooked, set, and devoured; and 2 days later I’m not sure many fannibals are fully recovered from what we have witnessed. When a show gets cancelled it’s always going to be hard to give it a finale that does all its major players justice. Jack Crawford for one didn’t get much closure, but that fault isn’t with Bryan Fuller and the rest of the hive behind Hannibal; it’s just them dealing with being cancelled when I’m sure they had much more envisioned for this series. However, what we did get was something the fans have been clamoring for for a long time. That is, the murder husbands coming together to try and slay the great red dragon. Richard Armitage came in about at the halfway point this season to portray Francis Dolarhyde. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the source material so I can’t comment on how accurate his portrayal was to the books and previous film versions, but as a relative newcomer to this world I believe he did a great job with the character through his arch. He fully believed he was the Great Red Dragon in the paintings and became it. Then as we’ve come to expect from this series, they visually  brought out the dragon at key moments; wings and all. His story with Reba was wrapped up as well as could have been done. Francis’ plan to tricking her into his “death”, while expected, was still smartly done. Then Will and Jack wanted to use Hannibal to get to Francis, but it seems that Francis had his own plans to want to meet and consume Hannibal. On the Will/Hannibal side, it really led us into the final showdown and their fate. Each scene of them together had them come closer and closer until it culminated in their final bloody hug. Bedelia made a brief appearance before the events unfolded to try and convince Will otherwise, but he was merely there just to warn her about what could happen. Then Alana didn’t get any sort of real ending either, but last we saw of her she was heading off with Margot with their child to who knows where. As for Chilton, he was still recovering from his burns; which he was surprisingly alive from. This brings me back to Will and the Doctor. Their relationship through the past 3 years has always been an intimate one. The way it culminated in the finale would please most, if not all, fans. Will can be seen conflicted with how he wants to go about bringing down Hannibal, if he does at all. On the Doctor’s side he has a sense this could be the finality of things but he’s trying to enjoy his time left with Will in the free world. During his ‘escape’, Hannibal even appears to be enjoying the confusion in Will’s state. When they get to Hannibal’s cabin, which of course he has, they both have an agreement in their eyes that this is the end. Then the battle ensues with the Dragon and while it felt brief, it had a lot packed into it. Will getting stabbed in the face, Hannibal looking with vengeance in his eyes at Francis for doing that to Will, and then their final team up to kill the man. It was just beautifully played out and was a sentiment to the crew behind this great show. Everything about this episode was just an art piece. The cinematography throughout the series has been some of the best I’ve seen in television. Not to mention the editing, soundtrack, dialogue, and just every little detail was close to perfection every episode. Then there was that little credit scene! Whether it’s supposed to mean anything that Bedelia had her leg on the table or not, people will speculate that maybe the murder husbands did survive. This makes sense if Fuller wanted to leave just enough open in case the series gets picked up again. If enough people rewatch this series through legal channels, another network or streaming service may be inclined to pick it up; or there’s even talks about a movie coming out. But if this is the end of Bryan Fuller’s vision of Hannibal, then it was a glorious bloody end. Thank you to Bryan, Mads, Hugh and the rest of the cast and crew behind this brilliant series. We hope to sit at the dinner table once again.