What have we always said is the most important thing? Family. That’s the theme of “And the Woman Clothed with the Sun…” which contrasts several different families from Hannibal’s world of characters. Will’s new surrogate family, his wife and stepson, are an attempt to quell the thoughts and emotions Hannibal stirred up within him. From the moment Will sets foot in the Baltimore State Hospital, he’s tempting fate in order to track down a serial killer who targets families. Being around Hannibal’s mind helps him achieve his potential as a psychoanalyst, but he also risks relapsing into the instability that inspired his most violent thoughts and actions. Tellingly, the first scene between them is set in reality, in the hospital, pristine and without fantasy. But once Hannibal looks over the Dolarhyde file, the conversations shift to his mind palace, where he sees the Wendigo reflected back at him in a mirror shard. Their connection is so strong—Freddie Lounds called them “murder husbands” when they traipsed across Europe—that it triggers the hallucinatory sequences that have already begun to affect Will’s fragile balance. In flashbacks, Hannibal’s relationship with Abigail Hobbes provides context for how Lecter treats the people he considers family. It’s a highly manipulative relationship based on paternal influence: Hannibal controls her actions right up until the point he kills her just like her father intended. And considering that Hannibal not only sees what Alana Bloom and Jack Crawford are doing in an attempt to control his interactions with Will, but has already begun to subvert them by getting in contact with Francis Dolarhyde, it’s apparent that he has another violent display of family affection in mind.
