Okay I’ve been thinking about Hannibal as a whole show rather than its parts, and I really love how it was divided up.
Season one is getting to know Will. Us as the viewers are obviously learning about him because we are meeting him for the first time going right into it. Hannibal is also in the same position as we are, but he gets to interact, he gets to experiment with Will to learn who he is on a much deeper level, and there is definitely even more that he learns beyond what we the audience are shown. Season one is particularly great, though, because Will is also learning who he is. He’s doing real FBI work and hunting down the baddest of bads, and he’s also going to therapy (consistently) for the first time ever. While what he’s learning may not be the most reliable account of himself, it all set him up so well for his utter conviction in season two
Because season two is all about learning who Hannibal is. It starts with Will but on a more surface level, if you count knowing Hannibal as a canniballistic serial killer surface level. He learns that much and is then slowly able to get those around him to come to the same conclusion. But then Will goes further, and he “joins” Hannibal. He steps into a role as Hannibal’s equal, and Hannibal allows that. He allows Will to know him. (That’s what hurts him so much in the end.) Through Will and the eyes of both those who know what Hannibal is, and those who don’t, the audience also gets a much clearer sense of who Hannibal is, although there are definitely still quite a few questions
That leads into season three, which is at its deepest level, about the two of them. It’s where the show explores who they are apart from each other, but still in relation to the other. And it shows who they are together. It’s really just about the two of them- even though it also introduces the second biggest bad of the show (second only to Hannibal himself). They pine after each other in the space between themselves. Then they close that space. They are far but seeking each other, then they are close but opposing, then they are a pair. They work together finally and it ends the only way it could. Their two minds become one, just for a moment, and that was all that was left for them to experience, for the audience to need, in order to have all of the information
