Ron Does Stuff

At the end of the previous episode, we saw Bedelia leave Will with a tantalizing message: she believes him. Now where will that take us in episode three? Let’s go and see!

Will in a suit. Will in…whatever it is you call the things that death row inmates have on when they’re on the electric chair. It’s a bunch of unsettling images right off the bat at the start of this episode before we finally see Will wake up from a nightmare. It’s time for him to go to court and because this show is made by a homosexual man we get to see both Will and Hannibal putting on suits while a song that could definitely pass as the wedding song of a hoity-toity gay couple plays in the background.

At the courthouse, Miranda Hobbes is convinced that Will did commit these murders, while Crawford is not. Miranda being Miranda, she doesn’t let Crawford off the hook, telling him that he’s only trying to mitigate his own guilt and his own incompetence. She reminds him that he should at least do this for the Bureau so of course, Crawford does the exact opposite. Miranda Hobbes is not amused and Carrie and the girls will definitely hear about this over brunch.

Before we get to the title credits, we get a little surprise: another human ear, this time sent to Will’s lawyer, right inside the courtroom. Fun!

From the courtroom, we go to Hannibal’s office, where Crawford is relishing what happened, because it can give him the chance to take Bella to Italy and have her die there instead of in America. Which, given what I know of American healthcare thanks to Hollywood and social media, is probably a good decision.

Over at the FBI, the team hasn’t found any prints or any evidence on the ear sent to Will’s lawyer, but Hannibal floats the possibility that the “real” killer sent it. So he sent it. It’s looking like Hannibal is trying to apologize to Will by getting him out of jail, and he even admits as much when he and Will have a discussion about it in Chilton’s hospital. Who said romance was dead?

Back to Will’s trial, Freddie Lounds arrives as the next witness for the prosecution and she looks cunt.

The ear, as it turns out, was from the bailiff, who unfortunately is turned into “Will Graham’s greatest hits” in Hannibal’s continued bid to get him declared not guilty in his trial. It’s so cute when he’s trying to apologize to his boyfriend.

The next witness on the stand is Chilton and props to Raul Esparza for bringing his own brand of sleaze and smarm to this character. He’s going to get his comeuppance at some point but I don’t think the show ever managed to get to that? One thing I do know about the third season is that it adapts Red Dragon and Chilton’s still alive there.

After Chilton’s testimony, Hannibal shows Will photos from the bailiff crime scene, and it must have given him a little thrill when Will called the photos as coming from his ~admirer~. Will recognizes the ruse, though, pointing out that the bailif was already dead when he was mutilated. Meanwhile, the mutilation in the murders being pinned on him were done when the victims were alive. Hannibal seems a little miffed that his apology isn’t being accepted, and then makes a love confession.

And would you look at that, Will isn’t letting that love go to waste! He abandons his unconsciousness defense and has Hannibal take the witness stand, Unfortunately, just like Will pointed out, the prosecution points out that this new murder was done by a “new” killer and now Will’s defense has crumbled. What’s Hannibal going to do now?

MURDER THE JUDGE OF COURSE. It’s a gory but beautiful tableau, with the judge strung up, the top of his head sawed off, and his brain on the scales of justice. I think there’s also a face on the scales but whose face is it? Anyway, gotta admire Hannibal for setting this up because it must have taken hours.

ETA: I THOUGHT THE EPISODE ENDED WITH THAT AND POSTED BUT THERE’S STILL STUFF THAT HAPPENS AFTER.

With the judge dead, the case is going to restart, essentially. I don’t know if Will is hiding his thoughts even from Alana, but does he really think that these new killings are from a different killer other than Hannibal?