The whole "raze the earth" feel of the finale was fantastic. No one really knew if the show was going to be renewed when they made it, so they had to leave it a little bit ambiguous. Ending the season that way took some big freaking balls, but imagine if that were the series finale? Some twisted part of me almost wishes the show wasn't renewed so that it could have gone out with the best series finale of all time. Sure, people would probably be pissed at first, but it would have been such an amazing inverted take on the usual. The villain kills the good guys and the one's "adoptive daughter", walks out into the night's rain cleansed of the consequences of everything he's just done,
and gets the girl.
I'm guessing Alana doesn't make it because she was the only one that wasn't taken down by Hannibal personally. Hell, it's as good of a working fan theory as any other I've seen (I really have no idea who's going to make it). I have mixed feelings on the idea of her not making it though. She hasn't really been a well-utilized character and killing her off after this season isn't far from a "women in fridges" scenario, but I would almost rather see her go than be poorly handled for yet another season.
Will and Abigail together could be very, very interesting. They've suffered the most from Hannibal's toying, and seeing them try to recover while looking for Hannibal could make for one of the more intriguing character relationships in quite awhile. But, out of all of them I honestly think Abigail is the least likely to survive. Her sudden resurrection and immediate subsequent death was like a bold exclamation point in the show's plot, but especially to Will. To have her walk back into his life only to immediately lose her again was the cruelest part of the finale for me, and was made even worse when you take into consideration how Will lost his future child with Margot due to Hannibal's orchestrations.
Fuller's said he wanted Bowie to play Hannibal's uncle, and that he wanted to do it this past season but couldn't work it out with Bowie's schedule. I don't think they'd get a more perfect opportunity story wise to have him than this season, even if it is only for an episode or two. Here's hoping that works out this year.
Adam wrote:
So Will survives?
I haven't read the books so I don't know the storyline that they have to follow, but after that finale and seeing how much blood he lost, learning that he survives seems like a cop out on the show's part. He's a great character and probably irreplaceable, thinking he was killed off I was wrapping my head wondering who could replace Will, who has such a unique persona and played Hannibal's counter so well. Still, him surviving almost feels, to me at least, the show wanting to send the finale off in huge fireworks but then not having the balls to follow through with what they did out of fear that any replacement for Will would hurt the show. I can see how they simply used the blood for aesthetic purposes, but watching that scene and seeing just how much blood was on the floor I assumed he couldn't have survived that.
That said, I can see how Hannibal could leave Will alive. Not so much for the others. At least with Will, I think Hannibal respects him and enjoys the power play between the two. I could see him choosing to keep that game going, and leaving him alive, injured, and forced to witness the deaths of those close to him seems like another move in Hannibal's playbook. As for Jack and the doctor, not sure why Hannibal would allow them to remain alive. They always felt like mere pawns to Hannibal and i don't see how Hannibal would find them worth keeping around.
My knee jerk reaction was similar, but early the next day I started thinking about other instances of characters surviving in stories and how it didn't always cheapen the plot. And then I came across
this article and was talked down off the ledge. Highly recommend giving it a read as it makes a good case for the "there are worse things than death" outcome that Will and some of his cohorts will be working through in season 3.