Thread by @candyriot_, This thread is for @thefansoffandom because it became much too long and [...]

This thread is for @thefansoffandom because it became much too long and I made a Tumblr once and then lost the password.

Specifically, how, as some of you know, a specific piece of Franklyn meta changed my whole view on Hannibal.

Although everyone is welcome to critique it!

So, I saw you said "He is simply always in control everywhere he goes" and this caused me to realize we have not agreed or agreed to disagree on this point, for which I usually present a specific line of evidence.

Because I used to think this! Back when I was quite disinterested in Hannibal, as a character, and only interested in Will, because, I thought, why would I care about a guy who's got a handle on it all who only exists for Will to react to his actions?

And the first thing that was pointed out to me that shook me out of this was that all Hannibal's emotions are genuine, and I investigated this claim and found Mads and Bryan supported it. He's living his best life, he's rarely obfuscating, and

we can take his relationships at face value, too. He loves the people he loves. He's engaged with his environment in a very immediate way.

(These are some things I mostly didn't google specifically for this but one but are on my harddrive to move life along.)

So, what the heck does this have to do with Franklyn, right? Well, I presently think episodes 7 and 8 exist to talk to us about Hannibal and how he fits into his world and how he reacts to it. This meta lays it out.

(VITAL READING) https://www.reddit.com/r/HannibalTV/comments/ie799k/parallels_between_franklyn_and_hannibal/

Parallels between Franklyn and Hannibal

When I first watched the series I thought the parallel between Franklyn and Tobias’s relationship and Will and Hannibal’s relationship was fairly...

https://www.reddit.com/r/HannibalTV/comments/ie799k/parallels_between_franklyn_and_hannibal/

For every scene with Franklyn, there's one or two with Hannibal that parallel it. As well as what's mentioned in the meta, a bit of deleted dialogue it pushes it quite further, further clarifying that Hannibal is interpersonally inept.

Also, I was just rewatching for something else, clicking around and realized "I was listening to Michael Jackson last night and I burst into tears. My eyes are burning right now just thinking about it" calls to Hannibal crying at opera at the beginning of the episode and I

Anyway, I was confirming that when Hannibal asks "Do you desire Tobias sexually?" when Franklyn says "Not to be defensive" he waves his hand in that way that says "I have no problem with the fact you're homosexual" which deepens the insinuation that this part is just Hannibal.

WHICH BRINGS US TO EPISODE 8. And the point of episode 8 is, I think, that Hannibal is not in control of /shit/. Here I diverge from the linked meta, because I disagree why he kills Franklyn the way that he does.

In Episode 8, Hannibal is in the dining room squaring off with Tobias, who has secretly observed Hannibal subduing and mutilating someone without Hannibal's knowledge. In the middle of this already dicey situation, he answers the door to find Will Graham, who storms into his

house saying "i KiSsEd aLaNa BloOm" without allowing him to get a word in edgewise. Hannibal is annoyed, and gets snippy with him in the kitchen. This especially makes sense if, you know, he desires Will sexually and Will doesn't reciprocate.

He tells Will where to find Tobias to make Will deal with Tobias for interrupting his conversation with Tobias. I've seen people write on how maybe he had a plan, wanted to test his feelings for Will, wanted to feel extremes of emotion but my present reading is that Hannibal

is too spontaneous and lives too much in the moment for that. That is, he's saying, "Go fuck yourself." It's not like it matters, right? ...right?

Hannibal doesn't think so up until the moment he realizes, in his office, that Tobias has appeared to have just said he actually killed Will. Will is, in Hannibal's mind, dead.

And then Franklyn starts giving a speech. A speech that is absolutely meaningless to Tobias but

hammers DIRECTLY at every emotion Hannibal is currently experiencing. He made a mistake. He wishes he didn't. He's alone. Nothing will bring Will back. He can't handle it. He kills Franklyn.

As follows:

After Tobias' death we next see Hannibal upset in his office, disengaged from his surroundings. He looks up when Jack comes in, despairing because Jack enters alone. Enter Will.

Hannibal's expression collapses into one of relief. His eyes get watery. He looks at Will with

these big wibbly eyes like he's a sixteen year old with a crush. The fact that Hannibal was a petty dumbass has not erased Will from the earth and he's very glad for it.

And after watching this episode in this way, I started evaluating Hannibal's other actions. I think they generally show similar spontaneity.

There's lots of moving pieces, but we see, for example, that Hannibal in S2 has framed Will b/c Will got too close too fast in S1.

But he's also been staring at Will's chair in regret from the beginning and it's rather implied he spends every appointment without Will in meditation of the fact he's without Will.

He tries to use Matthew to free Will. Fails. Stares at the chair a lot. Chooses to kill the judge himself, managing to restrain the part of himself he can't repress (S1 convo with Bedelia) to only taking the bullet from him rather than something to eat.

Gets his shit together. Frames Chilton.

There's not one continuous plan that he's orchestrating. I don't think there ever is, or that control is one of his defining characteristics.

And, I am stopping here because. THIS IS A LOT OF CONTENT. And I am now opening it to critique!

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