Scattered Grahmies

I would argue that Will’s weirdly orgasmic expression in the bone saw scene:

Hornier than the scene where he has literal horns.

…can be read as not only a testament to the effectiveness of whatever painkilling hypnotic is in that IV, but also to Will’s implicit trust that Hannibal would not actually go too far and kill him*; like… Will’s reaction suggests that he has faith that this is a game, and… he’s definitely into it.

I also think that Will’s hornyhorny reaction here is that to his absolutely-not-into-it response to Mason’s relating of his plan to take off Will’s face.

Like, honestly, if Hannibal had been serious about eating Will’s brain, that would have been an equally gruesome death; but whereas Will is kind of in love with Hannibal, and is aroused by exploring his weirdo fantasies with him, and, despite himself, kind of trusts the dude… with Mason, it is absolutely the opposite. Will is unambiguously repulsed by Mason, and does not for a moment trust him, and this destroys any flirting-with-the-Freudian-death-drive erotic appeal that might come from hearing about Mason’s similarly horrific plan for him**.

I think that it’s actually in this moment - during the dining-table scene at the Verger estate is the moment that Will decides to break up with Hannibal.

I think he sees Hannibal smiling across the table at Mason, and rather than interpret it as what it is (Hannibal putting on a show or bravado to try to maintain the upper hand in a very dangerous situation), Will feels the visceral gut-punch of “Oh, shit - this person does not actually understand my limits the way I thought he did. He’s not safe, and he won’t protect me, and I’ve put myself in horrible danger just like I always feared I would by trusting this part of myself with him, because look - he’s casually inviting these other parties into it, and I am absolutely NOT okay with that.”

I think that is very much what informs “I missed my dogs. I won’t miss you.”

Again, just speculating here, because I am, it must be emphasized, big and happy and very, very sexually normal.

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*I choose to interpret Hannibal’s shenanigans with the bone-saw as pure theatre, because:

1. I like it better that way. (This is the most important reason, from which all other flow.)

2. There was no goddamn way that parsley-thyme infusion was getting through the blood-brain barrier; much less in 20 minutes.

They’re playing a game, and Will knows it.

3. Dr. Used-to-be-a-Trauma-Surgeon Lecter definitely knows how to do a craniotomy, and that it not how. He’s actually pursuing the least-efficient route towards brain access - thickest part of the skull, no pilot holes - which would make sense, if you had absolutely no intention of ever actually getting in there.

4. He waited until Jack got there, and hooked Jack up to his own IV. There was no need for that. Even if he just wanted Jack to watch, the IV wasn’t necessary. My theory (which, again, primarily exists in service of point [1]) is that he was drawing out the process so that Jack would lose consciousness before he ever did any meaningful damage to Will’s head, and thus spectacularly faking Will’s death so that he could kidnap him and work on him Miriam Lass-style.

**It’s also interesting to contrast Hannibal’s plan for Will’s “death” - intimate, and based on taking away the thing he values most (his mind, and his true personhood) - with Mason’s - enacted by Mason’s creepy surgeon, and based on taking away the superficial aspect of Will’s personhood that lies in his handsome appearance (something other people seem to value far more than Will himself does). Hannibal comes to play with Will’s self-destructive fantasies from a place of knowing Will; Mason does not.

***Also all of these performance choices could equally be explained by:

A- thematic considerations (I think the show is a metaphor for a relationship where one party is struggling with comp het, and so the violence is just a representation Gay, Gay Sex), or by

B- aesthetic considerations (it is a highly stylized, and highly horny show).