Ugh Hannibal and Will’s conversation in Trou Nomand is so good!!!

Will disassociates for the very first time and travels to Hannibal’s office from the crime scene. He has lost time. We know from ep1 that Will finds it difficult to compartmentalise his thoughts/impressions, especially so when they are strong, traumatic impressions. By this point of the story, he is often seeing Hobbs and the ravenstag. These are two separate trains of thoughts colliding into a new track he’s trying to follow at the latest crime scenes.

The issue is that in his nightmares, his actions are transposing with Hobbs’ actions. He is also hallucinating about Abigail calling him “dad”. His impressions of Hobbs are so sticky that he’s getting lost. And if he’s sleepwalking — if he’s disassociating, then who knows what he’s doing when he’s not in control. He is scared shitless.

Now he is in Hannibal’s office. How did he get here? Not a clue. More importantly; Hannibal knows Will is physically sick.

And what are Hannibal’s motivations? Mislead Will from himself: make him lose control so he can see what happens. So he manipulates Will.

Will says something is wrong with him (yes there is). Hannibal counters this by telling Will he is abusing himself by going back into the field; that the scenes are overwhelming him. Are they? Who knows. But Hannibal knows it’s not the scenes that are causing him to disassociate — Will’s brain is physically growing sicker. But Will must not catch on. Basically, “You are sick because your work makes you sick, not because you are actually sick.”

Hannibal is Will’s paddle, so Will asks him: “You want me to quit?” And this is the second time Will consults Hannibal about quitting (the first time in ep2). Interestingly, both times, Hannibal disagrees; this time by redirecting the conversation. Hannibal doesn’t need Will quitting, Hannibal wants Will to lose his fucking mind.

Then the most disturbing attack: fear mongering. He hits right where it hurts. Tells Will, “What if you lose time and hurt yourself or someone else? I don’t want you to wake up and see a totem pole of your own making.”

Like, if I was Will Graham, I’d just stop sleeping altogether from fear. Will looks to Hannibal with such a vulnerable face in that moment…. And the figurative straw wedged between Will and Jack, Hannibal points a finger at Jack Crawford saying, “Jack Crawford has your head wrapped around…” To make this “Your work is making you sick, there’s nothing wrong with you!!” Story even more believable.

This is one scene where Hannibal’s manipulations are visible clearly.