Hannibal Lecter Transcripts: Hannibal S2E3

Hannibal: That was a good and brave thing you did for Will today.

Jack: It may have cost me my job.

Hannibal: The prospect doesn't seem to trouble you as much as I would have thought.

Jack: Haven't felt better in weeks.

Hannibal: Clarity will do that. Tell me, Jack. Was your testimony meant to be a resignation?

Jack: There is something appealing about walking away from all of the noise. I'm content to let the chips fall.

Hannibal: The magic door is always attractive. Step through and leave all your burdens behind.

Jack: I've given my life to death.

Hannibal: And now death has followed you home, come to live in your house.

Jack: Bella has kept our bedroom from looking too much like a sickroom. There are flowers, but not too many. You know. She insists that there are no pills in sight. So, I've been thinking about taking her to Italy where we met. We could... She could die there.

Hannibal: Jack. You're not sick. You don't have to go into the ground with her. When Bella's lost to you, the FBI could still be there.

Jack: You're telling me not to commit professional suicide?

Hannibal: As a friend, I'm telling you not to force an issue for the short-term emotional satisfaction it can have.

Brian: Shrunken capillaries. The ear was cut from a corpse no more than 48 hours ago.

Beverly: Before the trial started.

Jimmy: We fumed it all, ear's clean, no prints on either of the envelopes, besides the courier, paralegal and lawyer.

Beverly: We know Will Graham didn't do it.

Brian: It wouldn't surprise me.

Jack: The timing's deliberate. It was choreographed to drop the ear at the beginning of Will's trial.

Hannibal: Such a gift has great significance.

Jack: A gift from who?

Hannibal: Will claimed someone else committed the crimes he's accused of.

Jack: He said that person was you.

Hannibal: Perhaps he was half right.

Brian: You've gotta be kidding me.

Hannibal: It seems you have an admirer.

Will: You think someone sent me an ear because they admire me?

Hannibal: The boundaries of what's considered normal are getting narrower. Outside those boundaries, this may be intended as a helpful gesture.

Will: How far would you go to help me?

Hannibal: It hadn't occurred to me to send you an ear. But I'm grateful someone has.

Will: Gratitude has a short half-life.

Hannibal: So can doubt. I have new thoughts about who you are. There may very well be another killer.

Will: I want there to be.

Hannibal: Some part of you still suspects me.

Will: I don't know what anyone is capable of anymore, least of all myself. But, um... I know there is no evidence against you.

Hannibal: There never was.

Will: And accusing you makes me look insane. I'm not insane. Not anymore.

Hannibal: And you may not be guilty. This ear you were sent is an opportunity. If someone else is responsible for your crimes, perhaps he now wants to be seen.

Will: Why would he want to be seen now?

Hannibal: He cares what happens to you.

Jack: They wanted to give us a warm welcome and to make sure we found something.

Hannibal: An arresting piece of theater.

Brian: Our bailiff was mounted on a stag's head. Glasgow smile. Killer lopped off his ear and set him on fire. Will Graham's greatest hits.

Jack: Could we have been that wrong?

Brian: About Will Graham? No. We could not. He practically takes selfies with his victims.

Beverly: The evidence we found was immediate and almost presentational. May as well have been gift-wrapped.

Jack: That's what Will said about Cassie Boyle when we found her in that field. "Field Kabuki."

Beverly: There was no evidence before Will was apprehended and there hasn't been any since.

Brian: He ate a girl's ear! It was in his stomach. God knows what else of her was in there.

Jimmy: We should've taken a stool sample.

Brian: Yes! We should have. Well, why didn't we?

Jimmy: I was the one that said we should have.

Jack: Knock it off.

Hannibal: What impact could this have on Will's trial?

Will: My admirer?

Hannibal: Yes. The forensic report from the crime scene. What do you see?

Will: It's not the same killer. He murdered his victim first and then mutilated him. Cassie Boyle's lungs were removed when she was still breathing. Georgia Madchen was burned alive. What I found of Abigail was cut off while her heart was beating.

Hannibal: Then this is blunt reproduction?

Will: You knew that already.

Hannibal: Would've liked to have been wrong.

Will: Occam's broom. You intentionally ignored facts that refute your argument hoping nobody'd notice.

Hannibal: You noticed. I wanted to dispel your doubts once and for all.

Will: My doubts about what?

Hannibal: Me. I want you to believe in the best of me, just as I believe in the best of you. This crime offered us both reasonable doubt.

Will: It offered us a distraction.

Hannibal: Maybe this acolyte is giving you your path to freedom. Even Jack is ready to believe, Will.

Will: It would be a lie.

Hannibal: I don't want you to be here.

Will: I don't want me to be here either.

Hannibal: Then you have a choice. This killer wrote you a poem. Are you going to let his love go to waste?

Hannibal: I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Mr. Brauer: Good morning, Doctor. Please describe your relationship with Will Graham.

Hannibal: I was asked by Jack Crawford to monitor Will's emotional well-being while he worked on cases. I was never officially his psychiatrist.

Mr. Brauer: If you weren't his psychiatrist, what were you?

Hannibal: I was meant to be his stability. I failed him in that.

Mr. Brauer: How did you fail him?

Hannibal: I was unable to determine if Will's condition was due lo mental illness or stress from his work at the FBI. My mistake was never considering his innocence until the murder of a bailiff from this courthouse.

Mr. Brauer: And how did you know about that, Dr. Lecter?

Hannibal: I have been asked to consult on the case by Jack Crawford. He wanted a profile of the bailiffs killer.

Mr. Brauer: So you believe the bailiffs murder was committed by the same person guilty of Will Graham's alleged crimes, yes?

Woman: Profiles aren't evidence, they're opinion. This is hearsay.

Judge: I will allow it.

Man: Thank you, Your Honor.

Hannibal: I believe there are alarming similarities in the crimes, yes.

Man: Will Graham accused you of the crimes for which he now stands trial, and yet here you are, testifying on his behalf for the defense.

Hannibal: Will rightfully couldn't accept these actions to be his. A mind faced with the possibility of committing such deeds will find an alternative reality to believe in.

Man: You don't blame him for that?

Hannibal: No. Will Graham is and will always be my friend.

Man: Your witness.

Woman: Dr. Lecter, what was the cause of death in the bailiffs murder?

Hannibal: A bullet to the heart.

Woman: And in Will Graham's victims, or alleged victims, what was their cause of death?

Hannibal: Mutilation.

Woman: That's very different from a bullet.

Hannibal: No two crimes of any killer are going to be exactly the same. The similarities...

Woman: Your Honor, the witness's personal beliefs and biases are driving his conclusions. There are clearly two different killers and two different cases.

Mr. Brauer: Your Honor, there are sufficient similarities to consider this a defense.

Judge: I'm ruling this defense inadmissible, Mr. Brauer.

Woman: Thank you, Your Honor.

Judge: All previous testimony on the matter will be stricken from the record.

Jack: So, it appears that the judge was murdered in his chambers and then he was hauled out here to be put on display.

Hannibal: Not only is justice blind, it's mindless and heartless. How did the killer get so close?

Beverly: No sign of a struggle. Mutilation was post-mortem.

Brian: He was shot in the chest just like the bailiff. Can't see the entry wound because he removed the heart.

Jimmy: But there is an exit wound. No slug, must have taken it with him.

Hannibal: A trophy.

Jack: Doctor. With this judge's death, there will be no verdict. No ending. It'll start again, like the trial never happened. But why?

Hannibal: Psychopathic violence is predominantly goal oriented, a means to a very particular end.

Jack: So the killer wanted a mistrial?

Hannibal: It's an elegant, if rather unorthodox solution.

Jack: He spares Will a guilty verdict and his life for the moment.

Hannibal: Yes.

Jack: The question is, is it the same killer? Is Will still on trial in your mind?

Hannibal: The use of a gun, death first, mutilation last. I feel like St. Peter ready to deny Will for the third time. I'm not sure this is the same killer, Jack.