Hannibal Episode 3.01 Antipasto

A motorcyclist zips around Paris at night, skillfully veering in and out of traffic. When the bike pulls to a stop, the driver removes his helmet... and we see Hannibal has indeed fled to France. Sporting shaggier hair and his typical swagger, he enters a glitzy soiree and makes his way to the center of the room, keeping his eyes trained on the guest of honor, Dr. Roman Fell. Another partygoer spots Hannibal's intensity and makes his way over to him. Antony Dimmond, a former classmate of Fell's, assumes Hannibal is as disgusted by Fell as he is. Hannibal humors this conversation but never loses sight of Fell. When Fell exits the party sometime later, Hannibal is waiting for him. And when Fell arrives home, Hannibal is there, too. As Mrs. Fell enters the apartment she shares with her husband, a delicious smell wafts toward her. She finds Hannibal waiting for her in the dining room, enjoying a meal made out of her husband.

Hannibal pushes a serving platter out of the kitchen and unveils its contents to... Abel Gideon. We're in a flashback now, and Abel is being served pieces of his own leg. He refuses to eat, however, and sarcastically laments about ruining Hannibal's fairy tale. His choice words bring us back to the present, where Hannibal and Bedelia Du Maurier are dancing across a ballroom. When the song finishes, an angry Italian named Professor Sogliato accosts Hannibal, whom he addresses as Dr. Fell. Sogliato is not convinced Dr. Fell should have been appointed curator of the Palazzo. Bedelia recognizes Sogliato's arrogance is going to get him killed and tries to squire him away, but Hannibal doesn't back down from an affront. He accepts Sogliato's challenge to a contest of wits.

In their apartment, Bedelia asks Hannibal if he plans on killing Sogliato. He reminds her he's barely killed while they've been in Europe, and she reminds him he had to kill someone to get his job (and identity). When Bedelia draws herself a bath, Hannibal leaves her to it. Alone at last, she lets herself sink beneath the water of the tub and imagines falling into a dark abyss. When Bedelia finally comes up for air, it's clear she came very close to not coming up at all.

Bedelia and Hannibal's reunion is explained in another flashback, during which we see Bedelia returning to the home she abandoned after being questioned by Jack. There, she finds Hannibal in her shower. When Hannibal comes out, Bedelia is waiting for him, gun in hand. She asks if Will Graham is still alive, but Hannibal evades the question, saying she gave up the right to ask when she stopped being his psychiatrist. He asks her if she trusts him. Bedelia says not entirely, but she feels safe enough to put the gun down.

In present-day Florence, Bedelia grocery shops while Hannibal revels in his new life, studying art at the Palazzo. His happiness comes to an abrupt halt, however, when he leaves the museum and bumps into Antony Dimmond, who is looking for Dr. Fell. With his cover about to be blown, Hannibal does what Hannibal does best: lie to Antony and invite him over for dinner.

Another flashback with Abel brings us insight into what graces Hannibal's dinner table, namely that Hannibal carefully husbands the animals he plans to eat, feeding them specific food to make them taste better. Snails are fed Abel's arm, while Abel is fed oysters and sweet wine, when he's not eating himself, that is. Back in Florence, Bedelia is enjoying a diet similar to Abel's, but it takes Antony to make her realize what's happening. Noticing that Bedelia is avoiding the meat in favor of oysters, acorns and Marsala, Antony notes that's what ancient Romans fed their animals to improve their flavor. His comment is met with a whimsical look from Hannibal and knowing dread by Bedelia. When Hannibal brazenly invites Antony to see Dr. Fell speak later that week, Bedelia assumes Antony is about to meet his end. But when Hannibal lets him leave, we all wonder: what is Hannibal playing at?

With her death seemingly a certainty, Bedelia buys supplies and goes to a train station. As she considers fleeing, she locks eye with a security camera trained on her. When next we see Bedelia, she's lying on the ground, breathing hard. As she gets up, she realizes she's covered in blood and her patient is lying motionless next to her. The memory of shoving her hand down his throat comes back to her. When Hannibal arrives, Bedelia says she was attacked, but Hannibal's examination of the body shows it was Bedelia who did the attacking. Bedelia stammers about the patient being Hannibal's before he was hers, but she and Hannibal both know that the police will only see that he died in her office. As Bedelia washes the blood off in the bathroom, Hannibal embraces her and says he can help her tell the version of events she wants to be told, if only she will ask for his help. Bedelia does just that.

As Hannibal gives his lecture at the Palazzo, Bedelia sits nervously. She did not leave but she doesn't feel good about it. Hannibal graces her shoulder as he lectures about betrayal, only frightening Bedelia more. When she spies Antony watching from the wings, it's more than she can take. As Hannibal invites Antony to join the lecture, Bedelia exits. After the presentation, Antony approaches Hannibal, in conversation with Sogliato, and plays along with the Dr. Fell act. After Sogliato departs, Hannibal cuts to the chase. Antony wants to know what happened to Dr. Fell but has no intention of outing Hannibal's secret. In fact, he thinks this lie can help them both.

Bedelia, packed bag in hand, believes she can get away before Hannibal's lecture wraps up, but just as she's about to leave their apartment, the door opens and Hannibal and Antony walk in. A second later, Antony finally gets what's been coming to him when Hannibal bludgeons him over the head. Resigned to her fate, Bedelia watches this happen. Hannibal taunts her, asking her whether she anticipated this outcome. When she begrudgingly says yes, he explains that makes her a participant in his crimes, despite what she's been telling herself. A tearful Bedelia finally accepts that Hannibal's right.

In one final flashback with Abel, Hannibal serves Abel the snails that were fattened with the flesh from Abel's arm. Abel again makes a show of not eating anything Hannibal puts before him, but he really unnerves Hannibal when he ponders aloud whether Hannibal would rather be dining with Will Graham. Perhaps Hannibal is thinking the same thing as he leaves Florence on a train, how he'd rather be with Will Graham. During the ride, he folds a piece of paper into an origami human heart. A shot of the Norman Chapel reveals Hannibal has done the same with what's left of Antony; a massive human heart has been constructed out of his remains and displayed in the Norman Chapel. It seems not even a new home and a new identity are enough to keep Hannibal from doing what he does best.