#watch me psychoanalyze these mutherfukers

[theoraclephobetor]

It still hits me hard that Hannibal trusts Will from the beginning. Not with secrets, obviously, but Hannibal never questions Will's judgment.

He says "there's no address" and Hannibal goes "ah, then that's definitely the killer, let me call my fellow cannibal to give him a heads up". As much as they are off to a rocky start, Hannibal has no hesitation in trusting that Will knows his shit.

And this hits me because we watch Will state the facts as he sees them and then brace for people to demand proof that he can't give. Crawford obviously trusts that Will isn't lying, but that trust has been hard won - it's a trust earned instead of a trust given. And it's a trust that could break at any time, if their conversation in the washroom is any indication.

But Hannibal looks at Will and SEES that he isn't making a leap - to Will, the evidence is obvious and leads to only one conclusion. Will's analysis is a series of if/then statements that he follows to the logical conclusion (ok, fine, a logical conclusion given the internal logic of this show) and the rest of the world just... doesn't see the journey. I don't even think Hannibal sees the journey (yet) - but Hannibal doesn't need to see into the mechanism of his mind to trust Will.

Will's a thorny, traumatized man who has had to fight for people to take him seriously, and then Hannibal shows up and just... takes it as gospel that Will isn't lying. Of course Will falls for this man. I'm halfway in love with him already.

(Sidenote: "dogs keep a promise that people can't" - we literally watch Will earn Winston's trust by feeding him hot dogs, the same way Hannibal tries to earn Will's by feeding him Cassie Boyle sausages and eggs. It adds a lot of nuance to the way Hannibal thinks of Will, treating him like a pet the way Will treats his dogs. But on the other hand, Will connects more with his dogs than with any human in this episode - suggesting that Hannibal sees Will as both a pet he needs to tame and also a creature that can give him companionship in a way no one else can.)