Will is never powerless. He’s helpless, but never incapable. He’s just… It’s like, he’s a very capable carpenter who built this cupboard, right? And it’s making creaking noises now and it’s driving him crazy because he can’t figure out what’s wrong with it; just that he’s sure he was very aware of every single splinter that went into building it, but now he can’t source the problem and he’s so fucking capable and he knows this thing so intimately but then why the fuck can’t he find whatever’s making it creak?? Unable to accept this and scared out of his wits about the fact that he can’t figure this out despite his creed, he lies to everyone that he isn’t hearing the creaking even when it’s constantly stuck inside his head, but he tells Hannibal because Hannibal is an equally skilled carpenter and he must understand the working of this cupboard just like him so he can help him give a second opinion right? But Hannibal here is gradually replacing the screws in the cupboard every night while Will is asleep and then telling him it’s all in his head.

It’s just so?? Hannibal was conning another master at the game. Of course he needed 1.5 hours time between his penultimate client and Will. And the fact that it worked! Speaks so much about Hannibal’s manipulation skills. If Will didn’t have Encephalitis, he might have come up with something else nefarious, but looking back, it’s so ugly and admirable he was able to get Will incarcerated in the first place.