It had to happen: a Grand Finale. The show can’t go on forever. Some were thrilled to see how it would happen, others were avoiding the end of their favourite show. I guess I can relate, I’ve been putting aside Netflix lately, not just due to the massive overload of work, but because I was afraid to draw the line to the show. I took my courage in both hands, turned on the TV, and played the conclusion of the series: episode 13, “The Wrath of the Lamb.” I closed my eyes, and pressed play. And I have no regrets about it.
If you have not watched the series, please do so before reading, because this blog will contain all the spoilers that will crush your dreams. You’ve been warned.
The tension is in the air. Will Graham is trying to catch a new serial killer, a complete psychopath, who murders typical American families. Meanwhile, Hannibal is well behind the bars of a mental asylum, drawing, reading and, of course, having fun manipulating police investigators. This time, nobody knows who the killer is, leaving no prints behind. No one excluding Hannibal Lecter, who was the psychiatrist of the killer, Francis Dolarhyde, who goes under the name of The Great Red Dragon. Therefore, after several tries of catching this psychopath, and after he intended to murder Will Graham’s wife and son, the FBI decide their only option is to pretend Hannibal is changing prison to catch the attention of the dragon. This plan works, and the killer leads Will and Hannibal off to a house near a cliff with a stunning view on the Atlantic (note: the cliff is about 60 feet high). While waiting for the killer to show up, Will and Hannibal enjoy a glass of wine. It feels like they know what is waiting for them: Hannibal getting killed by the dragon and Will being forced to watch. But all of a sudden, the Red Dragon appears, shooting Hannibal in the stomach and stabbing Will in the face, leaving both of them very badly injured. Then begins a very bloody, barbarian and rustic fight between the three of them, fighting for survival. In the end, Will and Hannibal slay the dragon dead. Exhausted and gravely injured, Hannibal tells Will: “See? This is all I ever wanted for you, Will. For both of us.” And Will answers: “It’s beautiful.” They hold on to each other, when finally, Will and Hannibal let go and fall down the cliff.
At first, this may seem as a frustrating ending. Some would say it is “cheesy” or “random,” but it is genius. Will has been struggling all his life with his power to see visions of how murders occurred. He had horrible visions of dead people hunting him constantly and he was living with the death of a man he killed in the very first episodes. The only time Will felt well and understood was when he was with Hannibal. And now that Hannibal was locked behind bars, there were no ways for both of them to have this close bond, this connection ever again. Living was no longer bearable for Will, who could not handle his past anymore.
Then, when they kill Francis Dolarhyde, the characters share the same “passion.” They both work together to take away a life, and this is all Hannibal ever wanted. At the end of this scene, Dr. Lecter is feeling accomplished. He knows he won’t be able to run away again, because he is too weak from his injuries. And he does not want to go back to his prison and be separated from Will.
Thus, the only option for both was to let go.
At the end of the episode, we are only shown the waves lightened by the moonlight, no traces of Will or Hannibal. There is no answer to whether they make it out alive, stranded on a beach nearby. In my opinion, the story ends once they jump. Although Hannibal is strong and filled with various capacities of survival, the odds of him making it out alive are low, rather impossible. Yet, I enjoy the idea of the characters dying together. I like that Will Graham finally accepts that he is at a point of no going back, and that Hannibal would rather die than have his freedom taken away. I would not interpret that Will and Hannibal were in love, but rather that their connection as killers brought them so close that they could not live without one another.
There is so much that could be said on the ending of this show. How it could have been a happy ending, just like in the books. What did you think about the ending? Would you have changed it? Let us know in the comments!
Jennifer
The Five Star Killers 