Hey, do you know that feeling of hitching up a long skirt so you don’t fall on your face when walking upstairs, and then you immediately become a wretched yet resolute Jane Austen character? It’s a universal thing, right?
I think one of my favorite consequences of the existence of Pacific Rim and Drift Compatibility is that Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin can now exist in an AU where they go to war by piloting a giant robot.
Hannibal – 3.13 “The wrath of the lamb” / 3.01 “Antipasto”
Bedelia Du Maurier / Abel Gideon
Thoughts about these two scenes:
I think Antipasto provided the clues for the last episode of this season. Abel’s scenes in Antipasto weren’t random. They had one single purpose. That purpose was to plant clues about the finale, and especially about the fate of Will and Hannibal in The wrath of the lamb. There are a lot of parallels between Abel’s scenes in Antipasto and Bedelia’s last scene in The wrath of the lamb (the paintings, the same table, the decoration, and obviously the parallels between the situation of Bedelia and Gideon). I always wondered why they included scenes of Gideon in Antipasto, and after I saw the finale I understood it.
Let’s take a look at these gifs.
First of all, the painting. It’s clear that some time has passed between the cliff scene and the scene at Bedelia’s. There’s another painting on the wall. But this isn’t that important. The painting shows a similar landscape to the painting that is hung on the wall of Hannibal’s dining room (trees and water). If we pay attention to the painting of 3×13, we can see it’s the branch of a cherry tree, and there is a beach behind the cherry tree. The cherry tree is associated with Hannibal (2.06 Futamono) and I don’t think the choice of the painting is random at all. That painting may provide some clues. Let’s not forget the painting that was hung on the wall at the beginning of this episode. It was a landscape, but not any lanscape. A cliff! So I’m sure the choice of the last painting isn’t random either. There is a lot of symbolism associated to cherry trees. Awakenings and rebirth are symbolized by these trees. The cherry tree is the tree of the phoenix, which rose from the ashes. And they are related with the concept of “mono no aware” (also translated as “an empathy toward things”). But we have to remind that the cherry tree is also a reminder that rebirth always follows death. I link all of this to Will. Will was reborn the night of the “cliff”, he survived the fall and started a new life with Hannibal. He “awakened” that night. And I link the cherry tree to Hannibal as well. It’s another proof that he’s there. At the beginning of 2.06 we saw Hannibal had turned a corpse into a cherry tree, and then, at the end of the episode we saw Gideon’s “dinner”. I think it’s not a coincidence.
Second, Abel’s line. “If only that company could be Will Graham”. I have two theories. One: Will is present at that dinner. He is with Hannibal. Hannibal got his wish at last. Will is joining him at the table, and this time he is doing it willingly. They are eating an enemy together. Two: Will’s presence is only symbolic at that dinner. And I come back to the symbolism of the painting. “rebirth always follows death”. If we take this literally it could mean that Will is dead at that point of the story. He has been killed and his place at that table is just symbolic (again the tragedy of Patroclus and Achilles).
And finally, Hannibal. He’s there. I think there’s no doubt about that. Abel’s scenes in Antipasto mirror the last scene of Bedelia in The wrath of the lamb.
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