The Wrath of the Lamb Part III — The Dragon in the Motel Room

There is a very basic explanation for Will’s motives: He thought his family was safe, but since Dolarhyde is alive, he knows that they’re not, and he pits Dolarhyde against Hannibal to save them once and for all. If you’ve told yourself that you’re watching a normal show about a righteous family man who’ll do anything to save his wife and child, then you could be totally happy with this explanation.

But that isn’t what this show is. And Will isn’t righteous. He didn’t even have this family until a few episodes ago, and in the previous episode he admitted to Bedelia that they’re all but lost to him. Will has constructed his family for the sake of his soul. It’s not that he doesn’t care about them, but as far as the function of the show is concerned, they are very much secondary. They don’t even appear in the finale.

Will’s eternal struggle is with himself, and it clearly reaches some tipping point during his interaction with Dolarhyde. But why?

You think you can sit up? Try to sit up.

This is the first thing Dolarhyde says when Will comes to. Being able to sit up, of course, takes a back that’s intact. Will understands the implication immediately:

You didn’t break my back.

Will is genuinely surprised. Of course he’s happy to find that his back isn’t broken, but there seems to be more to it than that. It’s not just relief — it’s also shock. This moment of realization means something to Will. But what is it?

It means that Dolarhyde didn’t follow through on his threat.

Your face is closed to me.

If I can see you, you can see me.

Dolarhyde can’t understand Will, even though Will assures him that they ought to be equals. They are both proteges of Hannibal. They’ve both undergone his therapy in the course of their becoming.

Oh, you think you understand, don’t you?

Dolarhyde doesn’t believe that they could be equals. He’s read all about Will and knows his history, of course, but he doesn’t consider him to be on the same level as himself and Hannibal. And then Will delivers this zinger:

I understand that blood and breath are only elements undergoing change to fuel your radiance. Hannibal said those words… to me.

Will is proving to Dolarhyde that he does understand, and he understands very well. But that final line also has a possessiveness to it, and it’s doubled in Will’s mind by Hannibal’s own voice. This may not be as much a show of equality as superiority. Why is Will’s face closed to Dolarhyde? Could it be because they’re not actually equals?

Essentially, Dolarhyde wants to be Will. He wants to be Hannibal’s acolyte or his friend as he undergoes his becoming. Over the years we’ve seen a few stand-ins for Will who’ve sought Hannibal’s friendship. (Franklyn, Tobias, that awful intellectual Dimmond…) None of them came close, and Hannibal killed them all. All they did was make him appreciate Will more — you might even say they were the blood and breath that fueled Will’s radiance in Hannibal’s mind.

Dolarhyde is yet another stand-in, and one who has gotten a lot of play. He wants to take Will’s place, which until now Will was ready to vacate… Could it be that Will is jealous?

I wanted to share with Lecter. And Lecter betrayed me.

He betrayed me, too.

Another assertion that the two of them are equals. Will’s been through it all.

I would like to share.

You shared with Reba.

It’s no big leap that if Dolarhyde is a surrogate for Will, Reba is one for Molly. Both Will and Dolarhyde have found love in normalcy, and they’re struggling against their murderous natures to preserve that. By bringing up Reba, Will is making a case for himself, suggesting that normalcy could be enough.

I shared with Reba a little. In a way that she could survive.

This hearkens back to Will’s conversation with Bedelia: “Is your wife aware of how intimately you and Hannibal know each other?” “She’s aware enough.” Will has shared a piece of himself with Molly, but it’s far from his whole being, and he knows it. His suggestion that Dolarhyde could be satisfied sharing with Reba instead of with Hannibal is a grasp at straws. In this moment, he may be coming to terms with how flimsy his plan was. He can’t keep up his normalcy any more than Dolarhyde could.

But you didn’t change her.

I chose not to change her. I am stronger than the Dragon now.

This is interesting. The reason Will can’t stay with Molly is because the floodgates have opened in his mind — he can’t stop thinking about changing her. And he seems genuinely confused that Dolarhyde pulled back. Dolarhyde sees sparing Reba as a sign that he is stronger than the Dragon, but does Will believe that? If Dolarhyde is in control of the Dragon, he hasn’t fully become. He’s shown weakness and deluded himself into thinking it’s power.

What if, on top of being jealous, Will is unimpressed?

Two episodes ago, when Will confronted Hannibal after Molly almost died, Hannibal said “The Dragon likely thinks you are as much a monster as you think he is,” prompting Will to ask “Is this a competition?”

It might as well be. It certainly is with Bedelia. Under every one of their sessions runs a current of competitiveness. At the same time that she tries to convince Will that he is special to Hannibal (nearly all of the show’s romantic wording comes from her), she exudes a clear resentment that she’s been replaced, and by someone more worthy.

Perhaps we can see this interaction as a microcosm of Will and Bedelia’s sessions. Two people who consider themselves equal but different get together to discuss Hannibal’s influence over them. Dolarhyde could be Will’s replacement, just as Will was Bedelia’s. He could be, as Bedelia said, Bluebeard’s last wife. Perhaps in this moment, Will realizes that he doesn’t want to be replaced. And that this replacement would be a poor substitute.

Dolarhyde is Will-lite. He hasn’t fully become, he can’t see Will’s face, and he hasn’t shared with Hannibal the way Will has. He doesn’t even use his first name. Will sees his competition face to face, and he knows that he’s better.

Hannibal Lecter is who you need to change.

If we take everything else into consideration, we see this sentence in a whole new light. Will isn’t trying to off Hannibal — he’s setting Dolarhyde up.

I wanna meet Lecter. How would I manage that?

If Will believes Dolarhyde is weaker than he says he is because he hasn’t fully become, then pitting the two of them against each other would be a show of confidence in Hannibal. Will does not expect Hannibal to lose.

But what about the FBI? Doesn’t their plan put Hannibal in even more danger? Let’s talk about that plan in Part IV.