When Will and Hannibal have dinner in Mizumono the dynamics have completely changed.

Hannibal has seated Will to his right. He is still in the position of most important guest at the table but Hannibal has forgone their equal seats at the table. The past few +

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times when Hannibal and Will have dined alone they have sat opposite each other. Not this time.

Hannibal now knows that Freddie is alive, Will didn’t kill her and the meat they ate wasn’t her flesh; it was human, but it was not the prize Will led him to believe it was. +

Hannibal is feeling betrayed. Will has lied to him, Hannibal opened himself up to Will and believed that Will was accepting his dark urges and was accepting Hannibal’s too.
Hannibal is hurt that Will has been deceiving him to such an extent and as a result he cannot sit +

opposite him at the table. Will has lost the privilege of being viewed as an equal and Hannibal is too hurt to even keep up the pretence of it.

And it’s not just the symbolism of equality, but Hannibal was beginning to view Will as his partner, which is also implied by sitting +

opposite each other at the table. Now, his view of Will has been tainted. Hannibal is a jilted lover. So not only can he no longer seat Will as his equal but he cannot bear to see Will sit opposite him as a partner either. In this scene Hannibal’s hurt and betrayal is shown +

with his decision to seat Will beside him, instead of opposite him.

Also, if Will had been seated opposite him then Hannibal would have felt compelled to have eye contact with Will, to avoid eye contact while opposite him would be impolite. But seating them like this, he +

doesn’t have to maintain eye contact with Will, who very clearly avoids it himself in this scene which is unusual for them at this stage. Hannibal cannot bear to look into Will’s eyes and see his betrayal; and for Will to look into his and see just how hurt he is by Will's +

actions and rejection.

Despite this Hannibal gives Will a chance to come clean, he offers him forgiveness. Hannibal is hurt by Will’s deception but he still loves him and he still wants them to leave so they can have a life together. He is willing to forgive Will and put +

this all behind them if Will leaves with him now. To Hannibal, Will choosing to leave with him in that moment would have absolved Will’s sins of betrayal. Hannibal doesn’t want to lose Will and in this moment he is the most vulnerable we have ever seen him, he is reaching out +

to the man he loves in an effort to convince him to leave.

Unfortunately Will turns him down, he is still so deep in the plan to catch Hannibal and he feels he has to go through with it. He is so conflicted, and his expression betrays that, he is so tempted by Hannibal’s offer +

of forgiveness; for them to leave, so they can escape both Jack and the looming shadow of the Chesapeake Ripper. But he has changed so much, he has killed someone and he feels that if he doesn’t carry out Jack’s plan then it would mean nothing. +

It would just make him a murderer.

This scene is so upsetting because you can see how conflicted Will is, he can't decide what he wants. Torn between his commitment to justice and his feelings for Hannibal.

But the most heartbreaking is Hannibal. He could not bear to +

sit opposite Will for this meal, he could not keep up eye contact with him and he is almost unbearably vulnerable.

This is the moment we realise just how heartbroken Hannibal is.

#HannibalDeservesMore #Hannibal