The latest "Hannibal" season 3 episode did not see much of Dr. Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) in action.
Instead, what people saw is the adventure of Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl) in Italy. The two are in the European nation to capture Hannibal who left them to die in the second season finale.
Will and Hannibal treated Abigail like their own daughter and having her in Italy surely helped her. However, Abigail is not really alive and Will learned it at the end of the episode.
With Abigail gone, is Graham still on course in his moving on process? Will he ever recover from the fact that he witnessed a young girl gets sliced twice on the throat?
According to series creator Bryan Fuller, the purpose of Abigail's death is to let the FBI profiler move on. The biggest proof it is in the last "Hannibal" season 3 episode wherein Will told Hannibal that he forgives him.
"Yes, that was the point of the story - that Will is able to move on somewhat from Abigail after he realizes how much Hannibal is still there for him," Fuller said when asked by the Hollywood Reporter if Will get to move on now that Abigail is gone.
"So in a sense the Abigail manifestation in his psychology was a stopgap measure for him to deal with the loss of Hannibal in his life. And once he found Hannibal again, he was able to let her go."
Before that, Fuller was asked if Will is intentionally creating Abigail's images and words on his mind.
"The figment of his imagination that is Abigail was something I didn't want to answer because part of me really wanted Abigail to be there in earnest. And so when the priest turned and made eye contact with her, and she averts her eyes and he does the same, that was a very intentional move to say there is a presence with Will. And perhaps there is life after death in some way. It posed the question without answering it. It was an interesting addition to the storytelling that we haven't used yet. So to pull out the ghost card in a very subtle way - that if you blink and you miss it - was also part of honoring the greater mythology of the tale that we're telling. Is Hannibal Lector a cannibal psychiatrist or is he a fallen angel who's become smitten with someone amongst the purest of human beings?"
The next "Hannibal" season 3 episode will air on June 21.
