Hannibal Review: “Relevés” (Season 1, Episode 12)

Relevé Will: use his newly-regained alertness to put it together that the Shrike copycat and the murderer of Georgia and Dr. Sutcliffe are one and the same and that Abigail assisted her father. Vigorously reject Hannibal’s and Jack’s suggestions that he’s delusional, escort Abigail back to the attic, confront her with the facts, and complete the picture.

Relevé Jack: drop in on Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier and question her as to Hannibal personally and the nature of his treatment of Will. Hannibal has had some unusual client situations, has he not? (Including the late Franklin and his friend Tobias, both dead in Hannibal’s office.) She cites privilege and deftly half-answers the inquiries, but acknowledges that it was a patient of Hannibal’s who attacked her and she’s alive only because he died during the course of it. Regarding treatment, she says it isn’t, really – Hannibal considers Will to be more of a friend, and his loyalty to Will is genuine and beneficial to Will’s well-being. Will could use more friends like Dr. Lecter.

Relevé Hannibal: bring these proceedings to a halt. Fortunately Bedelia withheld from Jack that Hannibal’s patient died during the attack because Hannibal killed him, but she’s adamant in her directive to stop whatever it is he’s doing with Will. Seems to be good, if arguably accidental advice, since the effort to make Will believe he could be the copycat is failing miserably. Execute plan to frame Will as the copycat and alert Abigail that Jack knows everything and will be coming for her.

Relevés leaves us with many delicious questions and a tantalizing sense of what may greet us in next week’s season finale. Thanks to Hannibal and his manipulations, Jack has a rock-solid case against Will and will no doubt pursue capture. But will Hannibal actually allow Will take the fall? Will’s done nothing – yet – to lose his loyalty, so it’s just as likely he’ll let Will be arrested and then commit an alibi killing while he’s in the clink.

I could even see him using Abigail to do it – we saw the hidden side of Hannibal, his truly dark nature, as he shared with her the fullness of who he is: that he knows she was much more than just the bait for her father’s killings, that he tipped off her father simply because he was curious to see what would happen, and that he himself had, in fact, killed many more people than her father. His face is beautifully shrouded in shadow during this scene, and while we can’t quite see his eyes, Abigail can, and hers are wide and terrified. He doesn’t answer her question as to whether he is going to kill her, but he apologizes, with all twisted sincerity, for being unable to protect her.

And Bedelia’s creating a few luscious few questions of her own. She clearly holds a special place for Hannibal as revealed back in Sorbet, where she stated she’d seen behind his “human veil” and likes him, and her cool demeanor, which started out as professional detachment, has become unnervingly similar to Hannibal’s own. If the writers aren’t already laying this groundwork, my fingers are crossed that they bring Gillian Anderson back next season and really explore it as a storyline. Can you imagine what fun that would be?

It’ll be interesting to see how the writers wrap the season, and what they make of it going into Season 2. How do you think Hannibal is going to steer this outcome? Does Freddie fit in, with her own relevé of a book and open belief that Will is a serious menace? Abigail’s been cut loose from Hannibal’s protection – what do you think will be the consequences of that? Share your predictions below, and then we’ll see how it turns out next week!