Hannibal/The Wrath of the Lamb

The Wrath of the Lamb
Season 3, Episode 13
Airdate	August 29, 2015
Written by	Bryan Fuller & Steve Lightfoot & Nick Antosca
Directed by	Michael Rymer
← 3x12 The Number of the Beast is 666	— N/A
Hannibal — Season Three

The Wrath of the Lamb is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Hannibal, and the thirty-ninth episode overall.

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen (Dr. Hannibal Lecter), Hugh Dancy (Will Graham), Caroline Dhavernas (Dr. Alana Bloom), Gillian Anderson (Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier)

and Laurence Fishburne (Jack Crawford)

Also Starring: Aaron Abrams (Brian Zeller), Scott Thompson (Jimmy Price)

Guest Starring: Richard Armitage (Francis Dolarhyde), Rutina Wesley (Reba McClane), Raúl Esparza (Dr. Frederick Chilton), Katharine Isabelle (Margot Verger)

Co-Starring: Alana Bridgewater (Orderly)

Plot Overview

Aware that Dolarhyde wants to meet Hannibal, Will devices a plan to use him as bait. To everyone's horror, it involves staging Hannibal's escape.

Notes

Locations

• St. Louis, Missouri

• Baltimore, Maryland

• Quantico, Virginia

Music

• Siouxsie Sioux - "Love Crime"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Hannibal's escape is staged, but is freed thanks to Dolarhyde.

• Dolarhyde is killed.

Characters

• Alana and Margot are seen leaving the Verger manor with their son.

• Will helps Hannibal kill Dolarhyde. Now fully embracing what Hannibal had intended for him, Will admires the beauty.

• Bedelia is seen sitting at a table with her left leg served in the centre of the table. She hides a fork in perpetration for someone.

Referbacks

• Will quotes what Hannibal told him in "Kō No Mono" that "blood and breath are only elements undergoing change to fuel your radiance."

• Hannibal reminds Alana of when she "chose to be brave" in kitchen in "Mizumono" and when she made a bargain to save Will's life in "Digestivo".

• Will notices that blood does look black in the moonlight, as Hannibal noted in "...And the Woman Clothed with the Sun"

Trivia

The Show

• The title is a departure from previous episodes. Instead of being named after the William Blake paintings, the title is a Biblical reference (Rev. 6:16) and was quoted by Hannibal in the previous episode. When fans discovered the title, many believed it was a suggestion of a segue into The Silence of the Lambs, but this was not the case.

• Like with the Season 2 finale, this episode does not feature the usual closing credits. Instead, it remains looking down off the cliff before it segues into a post-credit scene.

Behind the Scenes

• Fuller has stated that the post-credit scene with Bedelia is confirmation that Will and Hannibal survived the fall from the cliff.

Allusions and References

• As Dolarhyde lays dead, the blood pools around him as to create the image of wings. This is likely directly inspired from the image used in Manhunter.

Memorable Moments

• Will and Hannibal team up to slay the Great Red Dragon. Once the act is done, they embrace and Will takes Hannibal with him as the fall off the cliff. The camera pans down and there is no sign of either of them.

Quotes

• Bedelia: "Who holds the Devil, let him hold him well. He will hardly be caught a second time."

Will: I don't intend Hannibal to be caught a second time.

Bedelia: Can't live with him. Can't live without him. Is that what this is?

Will: I guess this is my Becoming.

Bedelia: What you are "becoming" is pathological.

Will: Extreme acts of cruelty require a high degree of empathy.

Bedelia: You've just found religion. Nothing more dangerous than that.

Will: I'd pack my bags if I were you, Bedelia. Meat's back on the menu.

Bedelia: You righteous, reckless, twitchy little man. He might as well cut all of our throats and be done with it.

Will: Ready or not, here he comes.

• Hannibal: You trust Will with my well-being?

Alana: As much as I trust you with his.

Hannibal: You trust me with yours? You intend to release me into police custody. Police are not as wise as you are. I might escape in earnest and come to kill you.

Alana: First chance you get, I assume.

Hannibal: You died in my kitchen, Alana, when you chose to be brave. Every moment since is borrowed. Your wife. Your child. They belong to me. We made a bargain for Will's life and then I spun you gold.

• Jack: Well, people are going to stampede if they think that Lecter is out.

Will: Let them stampede. Authenticity. And let them believe I helped Hannibal escape.

Jack: Authenticity?

Will: Someone has to be close, when the Dragon comes.

Alana: And then?

Jack: We kill Dolarhyde. And then... we kill Hannibal.

Will: To the Devil his due.