Jealous and possessive Will Graham is my aesthetics
So, I know how we always talk about Hannibal being possessive towards Will. Will even acknowledges it by saying:
"You don't want me to have anything in my life that isn't you".
Will says this as he accepts this facet of Hannibal. I would say part of him likes it even, this idea of dependency and need between them. And I believe he finds the idea appealing because he loves in a way similar to Hannibal. Has from the start.
(I might not remember the lines by heart, I will post something along the lines of the dialogues here, but please bear with me)
So, first we have the time where Hannibal was having dinner with Tobias and Will arrived (who drove for an hour to talk about his kiss with Alana, but yeah okay).
Will enters the house in a haze, fast and assuming he's welcomed, which he is. He stops when he gets to the dining room, and sees the plates on the table. Two sets.
He then asks Hannibal if he had a guest, which Hannibal replies by calling Tobias an acquaintance. Hannibal's response means that whoever had been there wasn't that important, and Will stores that information. He can't help but push for more though, as he says: "he didn't finish dinner." He is almost offended on Hannibal's behalf. One might argue that those lines doesn't indicate jealousy per se, but it does set a precedent, where Will is interested in Hannibal's affair, who he dines with, who he talks with, when and where. Will doesn't bother to ask those questions to anyone else in the show. He doesn't care about their personal lives. He does it with Hannibal.
With Hannibal, it's personal.
Another instance happens when Will arrives at Hannibal's office and smells wine on him. He then starts asking questions, if Hannibal drank wine, why, with whom. It's there that Will first finds out about Bedelia and Hannibal's sessions. I think it's cute because it's such an intimate thing to start asking and noticing. He noticed the change on Hannibal's scent right away. Then Hannibal pours a glass of wine for Will and he is finally mollified.
If Hannibal is doing the same with Will, then it can't have been that important.
Later in the series, during their renewed sessions while Will is trying to trick Hannibal in season two (or is he tricking himself really?), Will meets Margot outside Hannibal's office.
Will is meeting this gorgeous woman, but he doesn't engage her much in conversation. However, when she shows up later at his house, Will already knows her name. He has researched her. He even admits spying on Hannibal's notes to find out who she was. Their dialogue goes something like this:
Margot: "Did you look into Dr. Lecter's notebook?"
Will: "That's exactly what I did."
Will is unashamed and honest with Margot because it isn't in her that his interest lies. He didn't spy on the notebook because of Margot, but because he was wondering about Hannibal's affairs. Before, Will was always the last patient of the day, but now his schedule has changed. I don't think he liked walking out and seeing someone else enter the space he has come to understand as "their shared space". He wanted to know who she was okay, access the competition, kind of.
I have the feeling that Will constantly competes for Hannibal's attention, even if subconsciously.
There's also something that I love about Will and Alana's interactions during this season.
We have the scene where she gives his dogs back (when Will is released from imprisonment), and starts asking if Will will leave Hannibal alone. Will then looks at her and asks if she is protecting Hannibal "from him or for her".
Will is somewhat hostile here, and right now he is super angry with Hannibal, sure, and he doesn't like what Alana is implying. The assumption that she and Hannibal are romantically involved.
On another moment, he tells her: "Hannibal is good enough for you", with emphasis on the word 'you'. As if he is comparing himself again, as if he is implying "if he is good for you, why do you assume he isn't good for me? Or that I am not good for him?"
Then we have the dinner scene with Hannibal, Alana and Will. Alana and Will sit facing each other, and they stare at each other throughout the dinner. Their gazes aren't friendly, however. And Will (who used to have a crush on Alana) doesn't show her any sympathy. When she goes and says that Hannibal and Will's relationship has no boundaries, that it's hard to know how they are with the other (at times friends, enemies, patient and therapist, etc), will intervenes and says:
Will: "We know how we are with each other. Shouldn't that be enough?"
He gives her a fake smile, and Hannibal looks very proud. And he should be, since Will just staked his claim on Hannibal, protecting and reinforcing their relationship and casting Alana as someone from the outside.
His entire attitude is screaming "back off, this isn't yours to understand and you are not invited."
The way I see the scene, it's like Will and Alana regard the other as the third wheel on a date. This idea is reinforced since after this, all the other dining scenes are between Hannibal and Will. Will certainly got what he wanted, he wanted Alana out of the picture, and Hannibal's attention focused solely on him.
During third season, Will discovers that Hannibal and Bedelia were pretending to be husband and wife in Europe, and our boy is so very pissed. He cultivates a huge hatred towards Bedelia from that moment on.
Fast forward three years and Will is married, with a kid and living the dream. He totally forgot about Hannibal. Hannibal who, right?
But has Will really forgotten as he claims to every character he meets? I live him but I think he is a liar who lies.
I find it so telling that, after seeing Hannibal for the first time in three years, Will immediately goes to find Bedelia and humiliate her.
There's no need for it, it's been so long, but it's like the words are stuck in his throat and have been shocking him for years. His eyes are cold and then he asks what he truly wanted to know.
Will: "Have you been to see him?"
I mean, Hannibal has been imprisoned for years, he clearly couldn't have been intimate with anyone, and yet here is Will, wanting to know if Bedelia has been in the same space as him. If she looked at him, if they talked.
Will proceeds to pay for sessions with Bedelia because he still has questions, damnit. The first thing he asks when they are seated at her office:
Will: "Have you been in contact with him?" (Something along those lines).
To which Bedelia replies that Hannibal sends her cards on holidays and birthdays. Will's eyes glisten, and he averts his eyes. He is angry, and threatens her by saying that if she ends up being eaten, she had it coming.
For Will, it's not enough to know Hannibal and Bedelia haven't seen each other, he wants to know if there were letters, messages, what they said, etc. He wants to know if Hannibal has thought about Bedelia at all.
So we have Will apparently living the straight life he has always wanted, but it's all fake. I wonder how many times did Will lay awake at night worrying about Hannibal and Bedelia? How much it hurt to think about their elopement in Europe, how Bedelia had what should have been his from the start? How Hannibal has left Bedelia unscathed, when he hurt everyone else, and Will can't deal with it?
Will has been harboring those thoughts for three years, secretly in his heart. He has ached, okay.
And it keeps being funny, because Hannibal doesn't have a clue, he is all sad in his prison cell and here is Will, single-minded confronting his ex. Will isn't thinking about his wife, or the red dragon, or the other people in his life. No, he in full detective mode and he wants answers. That's it.
Will wants Hannibal to hurt Bedelia so much because he wants the reassurance that she isn't important. He wants her out of the picture. Will wants to know he is number one in Hannibal's heart and mind and body and soul.
*Bonus*
In the same episode of those talks with Bedelia, Hannibal tells Will that he likes the shy boy that the dragon is, has said before that he wants to meet him, etc. This is Will's face when Hannibal says these things:
When Francis confronts Will on his motel room days later, the first thing Will does is quote Hannibal's beautiful words from season two about his "radiance" and makes sure the dragon understands they were said to Will. He is implying: "Hannibal roots for me, admires only me and my darkness, not you. Keep dreaming dragon, you have no chance."
*Bonus two*
Another instance that I think is important is when Will talks with Reba on the hospital, and she tells him she is careful with the type who foster dependency. Will tells her those types don't go only for the blind.
He is clearly thinking about Hannibal, and I think the reason he isn't uncomfortable with the thought is because he too thrives on their codependency. Will helped foster it in season two, he created that environment. Will wants and needs Hannibal to be as dependent as he is.
Remember when he said: "I wonder if either of us can survive separation."
Those words are very dramatic, but honest.
So yeah, Will is as possessive and jealous as Hannibal, if not more, actually, because these were all from before he accepted his darkness. Can you imagine how he will be after the fall? Hannibal will be delighted, that I am sure of.
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