Finally, on Hannibal, we got the official confirmation that the only person to die at the "Red Dinner" was Abigail Hobbs. In fact, this fourth episode of the season not only confirmed that Alana Bloom is still amongst us (and with some bite now, which is refreshing and probably a lot more interesting to play,) but Dr. Chilton, who we literally saw shot through the head, has survived as well. Apparently the bullet went through the cheek and just underneath the brain, as we see in typically horrifying fashion.
This week is actually missing one prominent cast member - Hannibal himself (save for one brief shot.) There is a degree of anachronic order - we are not following up Will's trip to the Lecter estate, but instead we are reassembling the rather vast number of people who now have great reason to want to take revenge on one cannibalistic doctor.
Apertivo sees the reintroduction of the Vergers, and late in the episode we watch (in even more horrifying detail than the path of the bullet through Chilton's head) the skin-grafts that have restored Mason's face... as well as they could manage it, at least.
Chilton serves as something of a through-line of the episode, as he visits the various injured parties to put together some sort of revenge society together, but he does not have much luck. (Actually, an even larger throughline of the episode is the fact that we see many of the characters at the moment they wake up after their major injury - the exception being Chilton.) While everyone has something of a plan to deal with Hannibal, they are not quite ready to hop on Chilton's wagon. Chilton - whose injuries pre-date those who survived the Red Dinner - visits most of them while they are bound to beds, carrying a bouquet of flowers that might seem like a note of sympathy, but in a way it's more like he's asking them out on a date - it's his proposition. He approaches them each with a strategem - with Mason, he takes out the prostheses that have allowed him to look like he used to - a contact lens, a plate in his mouth that mimics his missing chunk of palette and teeth, and some make-up to hide the bullet's entrance wound. Without these aides, Chilton looks half-dead (though still better than Mason.)
Most heartbreaking is Jack's story this week, as Bella finally succumbs to her cancer. Perhaps more than anyone else on the show, Jack feels the most like an ordinary person, and so this loss hits us hard (not to mention the fact that Laurence Fishburne and Gina Torres are married in real life, which comes through with the authenticity of their rapport.) As he sits with Bella's body in the church, remembering or perhaps imagining their wedding day, he finds that Hannibal has sent a note of condolences. As always, with Hannibal, you don't really know if this is a genuine expression of sorrow or a way to twist the knife a little more in Jack's gut - or both. It's sad to see Gina Torres leave the show, but this was clearly where the story was heading, and at least her death from cancer was about as good a death as you could hope for - dying in her sleep in the arms of the man she loves (though Jack points out that she probably would have wanted to die while he was out to spare him the trauma.)
While not totally bereft of surreal interludes, this episode plays a bit more straightforward (though that's in relative terms - we've really left behind the crime-procedural stuff from season one by now.) Essentially, we get where each character is. Jack is no longer with the FBI, and he wants to ensure that Will is ok. Will, of course, is off to Europe - his relationship with Hannibal is so bizarre that even a disemboweling and the murder of Abigail hasn't been enough to permanently divide them - though Alana points out that this is essentially a kind of emotional blackmail.
Chilton has attempted to enlist Mason Verger's aid (and his resources) in a plot against Hannibal, but Mason isn't really interested in him as an ally. Instead, he finds Alana Bloom. Alana, so deeply violated by Hannibal but lacking Will's fuzzy mentality, looks like she's become an avatar of pure vengeance, and I'm very excited to see her enact it.
Honestly, if there's a critique I have of the show, it's that I'm waiting to see Will's image of Hannibal transform. I understand that he has a great deal of affection toward his friend, and certainly we cannot lose that without losing a key component of the show's themes. But I want to see Will angry. As much as Will might like Hannibal and admire him, fundamentally Hannibal is a monster, and one who has done terribly cruel things to Will personally - cultivating a disease within him, framing him, and finally eviscerating him literally. Will risks losing agency if all of this can be forgiven - we are presented with their relationship as one that transcends mundane conceptions of what friendship really is, but it seems much more like a kind of grand case of domestic abuse, with the abused partner forgiving far too easily.
Will has not had his confrontation with Hannibal yet, but when it happens, I want to see him get fucking mad.
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