The Wanderer

Hannibal and his fancy food stuff, as we know, is another trapping of his human suit. The suit is less a wearable thing and more of a constant performance. Etiquette, a nice house, a group of friends to play with, certain food for show and clothes as costumes and hobbies and decor for set pieces. The life he leads is of his design bc he has to both consciously chose to perform and how to perform. His sense of self is malleable so that he can be who he needs to be for himself and others. CHOSEN by him, therefore partly natural in taste but always socially deliberate in execution.

The food? In particular? I want to mention his stupid fish jello thing. Not to make fun of people who eat stuff like that bc good on you, but bc he can and will eat anything regardless of how refined it is. Fish jello mold? Excuse me???? He did it exclusively for the metaphor like a dramatic bitch. He plays house and cooks the liver with fava beans bc it’s fun but he is something else in a costume and can and will eat the raw beating heart of a fellow creature should he feel inclined. Deep down we all know it- bc high key his performance is so try hard that’s scary. Too civilized that somethings off, like the eyes of a predator are too big and bright to be comforting.

Prison, with The Lip, is an example of- when caged or pushed to his limits- he breaks his own fourth wall. His audience (us and the rest of the world and all the other characters) receives a wink, a toward monologue, a glimpse into the actor who’s not one of us at all. I bet he’d eat McDonald’s if you told him it’d make him more relatable. And then he’d think of what jokes to make to seem more relatable about being so unrelatable. Actors can improvise.

five times hannibal couldn’t hold will’s gaze and one time he does:

Today I stumbled upon this sentence - and I really needed to read it. So, I doodled around it to make it sink inside myself - and now I release it to the web like someone could release a bird, letting it fly away. Read it, fellow artists. Make it yours, doodle around it, transform it into a painting, into a sketch, into a comic. Go on, let your art fill the skies. Original author of the phrase: unknown. Edit by me.

Canon:

When Jayce and Viktor meet Mel, the camera focusses on Jayce watching her leave with a fawning expression, meanwhile Viktor watches Jayce with a twinge of sadness.

The way Jayce puts him arm around Viktor and says "You should come up with me, we're partners" and Viktor begins to refuse, but he hesitates slightly after looks into Jayce's eyes like this

The way Jayce and Mel's sex scene was intercut with not just Viktor dying, but Viktor rejecting affection from a woman who clearly had interest in him. Both because his project had taken over his life, but also perhaps a sign that his romantic interests lay elsewhere. He could have what Jayce has (romantic/sexual intimacy with a woman) but he doesn't want it.

How in that very same scene as Jayce and Mel climaxed, Viktor collapsed as though wounded or hurt by their act, betrayed even. The way the camera cuts from the scenes of intimacy, to Viktor's eyes made me question whether Viktor was witnessing Jayce and Mel. It was a scene that felt like betrayal despite both events being completely unconnected.

The way we cut from Mel lying alone in her bed after Jayce left abruptly, to the perfect parallel of Viktor in his hospital bed with Jayce waiting by his side.

That it is constantly shown as a choice for Jayce. To choose between Mel or Viktor, but he can't have both. That the two are seen as equally as important to him and it is an intense struggle for him to make that choice.

When Viktor looks at Jayce like this.

When Jayce confronts Ambessa, and is forced to watch her be intimate with her boytoy that bears a resemblance to Viktor (especially with the exact same placement of a mole), and Jayce becomes agitated quickly.

The betrayed/affronted expression Viktor gives when Mel suggests military action in Zaun, and Mel outright ignores his protest and tries to convince Jayce, to which Jayce stands to speak with Mel, effectively cutting Viktor (who is sat down) out of the exchange. The sense of rivalry between Mel and Viktor, as though competing for the same man.

"There is Always a choice" Viktor says, after Mel leaves. Indirectly asking Jayce to choose his way forward, and by extension, to choose him rather than Mel.

They are each other's saviours.

Me: Oh.