Season 3, Episode 13:
The Wrath of the Lamb
Now kiss...
"I believe that is what they call a 'mic drop.'"
— Hannibal Lecter
This page contains massive unmarked spoilers for the episode.
Francis Dolarhyde manages to evade capture by faking his own death. It seems the Tooth Fairy case is at an end, but just as Will Graham prepares to return to his normal life, he makes a surprising alliance and falls back into Hannibal Lecter's web — possibly for the last time.
Tropes
- Anguished Declaration of Love
- Autocannibalism: At the end of the episode, Bedelia sits at her dining table, apparently ready to feast on her own leg.
- Battle Couple: Will and Hannibal in the climax of the episode. The looks they give each other can only be described as "fuck me eyes".
- Bolivian Army Ending: Will throws himself and Hannibal off a cliff, Reichenbach style. When the camera finally follows them over the edge, there's no clue to whether the pair lived or died.
- Dying as Yourself: A villainous inversion. In death, Francis Dolarhyde finally becomes the Great Red Dragon.
- Faking the Dead: Dolarhyde tricks Reba into thinking he killed himself, so she'd report as much to the FBI.
- Heroic Suicide: Of a sort. While Will finally reveals to Hannibal that he reciprocates his feelings, he is aware that if he lets Hannibal live, he will kill again; and he has accepted his own murderous side, which means he too would do the same. Will can neither live with Hannibal nor live without him, therefore he decides to kill them both himself.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Bedelia helps herself to a generous glass of Scotch when she hears Will's plan to set Hannibal loose.
- Idiot Ball: Jack allowing the plan to fake Hannibal's escape is insanely stupid, especially after how the previous plan to lure the dragon with Hannibal's help backfired. Unless he wanted everything to unfold (more or less) the way it did...
- Literal Cliffhanger: Will pushes himself and Hannibal off the cliff at the end of the episode.
- Never Found the Body: After Hannibal and Will fall off the cliff, the camera zooms below the cliff, with no trace of either to be seen.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though hardly a hero, Bedelia ends up putting herself in danger by, over the course of the Red Dragon arc, revealing to Will that Hannibal is in love with him. If she had not tugged on this string, it is implied that Will would have gone back to his family and lived a happy life. Then again, she may have been unknowingly manipulated into doing this by Hannibal all along.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Alana, Margot and their son depart as soon as Hannibal escapes.
- Shout-Out:
- Your Days Are Numbered: When Alana discusses Will's plan to lure out Dolarhyde by faking Hannibal's escape, Hannibal threatens Alana with death should he decide to escape for real, reminding her that ever since she stood up to him in "Mizumono", she has been living on borrowed time.
