In this last half of the last season (barring some last-minute reprieve,) Hannibal has finally caught up with the books (well... setting aside the Vergers.) This season began with a certain "where are they now?" set of reveals, but this mid-season transition is a far larger one, taking place three years after Hannibal was arrested.
Also, for the first time, the show breaks with its cuisine-focused theme-naming. Hannibal Lecter is no longer the serial killer whose crimes are at the center of the show, and so instead of cuisine, we now have episode titles that appear to be the names of William Blake paintings related to the new killer's fixation on Blake's Red Dragon.
So where do we find everyone? Hannibal is in the mental institution that once held Will Graham, using his imagination to transport him to his mind palace, though even what seems to be his real cell is rather fancy (it's not the bare-bones cell Will was stuck in during the first half of season two, and seems to have fancy wainscoting and such.)
We get a bit of a fakeout, but Dr. Chilton is no longer in charge of the institution, instead Alana Bloom is (and before you complain that that's a huge conflict of interest for Alana, remember what show you're watching and how it all operates on dream logic.) Alana and Chilton have successfully convinced the courts that Hannibal is insane, even though in private they agree that he's not insane, but something essentially impossible to categorize.
Alana and Hannibal are relatively civil with one another, even having wine together as she congratulates him on avoiding the death penalty - a favor that Alana is perhaps foolish to have done, given that Hannibal assures her that he keeps his promises, and will kill her eventually.
Chilton has written a book about Hannibal, but in a fairly meta moment, he tells Hannibal (while sharing a chocolate-and-cow's-blood dish Hannibal has made - this time with a literal cow, rather than a derogatory one) (also, Hannibal's allowed to cook? This sounds like a pretty cushy prison sentence) that he's writing a new one, this time about the "Tooth Fairy."
This brings us to the new killer - Francis Dolarhyde, aka the Tooth Fairy, though he'd prefer the Great Red Dragon.
We don't hear him say a single thing the entire episode, but we watch as Dolarhyde undergoes his transformation, inspired by a Time article about William Blake's Great Red Dragon. Dolarhyde kills entire families - apparently choosing those that seem happiest - killing them in their sleep and then adorning their corpses with mirror shards in their eyes and mouths (and other parts - the show usually avoids sexual violence, and so it does not dwell on the mention of where the other shard was found.)
Hannibal is clearly fascinated and perhaps envious of the Tooth Fairy. While a bit arrogantly dismissive of him, he definitely has an interest in finding out what he can about this new killer. Chilton warns Alana after speaking with him that "the young turk might inspire the old Lithuanian to become more interesting," which of course would be dire indeed.
The symbolic relationship between Lecter and Dolarhyde has a great deal of potential. The show has always portrayed Hannibal as a kind of Lucifer-by-way-of-Dracula figure, but with a strong emphasis on the "fallen angel" aspect of the devil. Lecter's devil is a profane imitation of God. He's devout, in a sense, because he thinks that God is just as much of a cruel sadist as he is. And thus it is that he views his corruption of people like Abigail or Will as a kind of blessing - granting his Grace to them. Hannibal represents a devil that is deluded into arrogance.
Dolarhyde, on the other hand, is bestial. When we first see him, he stretches his muscles and holds himself in such a way that it seems he is trying to break out of the human form that he is bound to. While Hannibal identifies (or rather we can identify him) with Lucifer the Fallen Angel, Dolarhyde is the beast of Revelations - the Great Red Dragon who is a rage-filled destroyer, feral and with no pretensions.
Of course, what's also kind of interesting is that the works of William Blake were part of a kind of reimagining of conventional Christian religion. Blake created his own mythology in an attempt to deconstruct and then reconstruct the idea of religion. So while the painting Dolarhyde obsesses over is meant to represent the Beast from Revelations, it's not strictly the traditional interpretation of the monster.
With two families confirmed dead by the same killer, both more or less at the full moon (though according to Fuller, the very first scene of the pilot episode was also one of Dolarhyde's kills, suggesting he's been at this much longer,) Jack approaches Will once more.
Will is hesitant, not only because of the pain that working for Jack caused him (see: seasons one and two) but also because he's moved on. He has a wife now and a stepson. We don't get to see much of Molly or the kid (I don't remember his name,) but it's clear that he's happy with them, and the idea that Will Graham could have some semblance of a normal, happy life, sounds so miraculous that you kind of want him to tell Jack no.
But Will can't stand the thought of not helping and letting another family die, so he goes back, and for the first time in a long time, we get one of the disturbing "This is My Design" scenes.
Still, Will is rusty, and he's worried that he can't provide enough help. He goes to Jack and confesses that he doesn't think he can get back into that mindset on his own. For this, he'll need Hannibal. Roll credits.
Though the Verger story was drawn from the book Hannibal (with many liberties as I understand it, especially given that the book takes place after Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs,) we're now fully in established territories, albeit with a lot of creative license taken by Fuller & Co. However, I have not read the book (or seen the movie,) so what key events are to take place, I do not yet know.
But the best news is Pryce and Zeller are back!
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