| “ |
I feel protective of you. You support me as a colleague and psychiatrist and as a human being. I want to be supportive of you. |
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| Hannibal to Bedelia | ||
Hannibal Lecter and Bedelia Du Maurier are friends and colleagues. Hannibal is also her one and only patient. In Season 1 Du Maurier often has to remind Hannibal of the fact that she is his psychiatrist, not his friend, and that their relationship is purely professional. This changes throughout the show's run. At the end of season 2, Hannibal and Bedelia are seen leaving America on a plane to an unknown location (assumed to be Europe) as Hannibal goes on the run. It is not known what the relationship between the two is at this point.
Season 1
In Fromage,
Hannibal speaks with Bedelia Du Maurier, another psychiatrist, about Franklyn's clingy behavior; he
Hannibal is speaking with Bedelia again, informing her that he may have made a new friend in his life. To be fair, he's not entirely interested in making friends though this man and he share the same hobbies and worldview. The whole thing has made Dr. Lecter more curious about friendship, in general, though. Bedelia thinks this is good news; Dr. Lecter spends so much time putting up walls in his life that it will be nice to see if someone is clever enough to get over them for a change.
Hannibal meets with his own psychiatrist and speaks about his obsession with Will's mental health. Will is losing his mind, and Hannibal sees it as an oil spill he needs to contain. But, Hannibal's psychiatrist ponders the source of Hannibal's obsession. What is at the root of his interest in Will? Hannibal thinks he sees Will as an opportunity for a friend. But his psychiatrist warns him - Dr. Lecter must resist that urge if he wishes to remain Will Graham's professional therapist.
In Relevés, Hannibal meets with Dr. Du Maurier in her office. She tells Hannibal about her run-in with Jack Crawford. Jack
seems to think Hannibal is protecting Will - who in turn is protecting Abigail from the crime she committed against Nick. Hannibal is simply protecting a friend, but Dr. Du Maurier says he can't be friends with someone who doesn't understand the concept of the term... especially since Hannibal himself doesn't know the concept of the term. When Dr. Du Maurier mentions Jack's questioning about her attack, Hannibal becomes more interested. She calms him down though, assuring him she only gave half-truths. Jack knows her assailant choked on his own tongue... but he doesn't know Hannibal caused it to happen.
In Savoureux, In Dr. Du Maurier's office, Hannibal puts on an act about mourning Abigail's loss. Of course, he was the one who watched the life leave her body on account of his own hands, but the tears streaming down his face help keep suspicions low. Dr. Du Maurier recommends Hannibal stay away from Will during and after his murder case, as rehabilitation efforts may be harmful to Dr. Lecter, considering his connection to Abigail. Hannibal regrets his inability to save neither Will nor Abigail.
Season 2
In Sakizuki Bedelia comes to Hannibal's office. She informs him that she can't be his therapist anymore. Then she leaves. After that scene those two don't meet, until the last episode of the season (Mizumono), when they fly away in a plane.
Season 3
The third season shows more about the relationship between Bedelia and Hannibal. In first episode there is finally shown the mystery scene of "Bedelia's attack" and things that happened next. Those two are shown as an unusual and a bit strange pair of friends. They spend a lot of time talking about Will, the past and Hannibal's future plans. Up to episode six Bedelia wittnesses two of Lecter's murders. She refuses to help Hannibal, but she also doesn't help the victims. She only watches them dying. In "Dolce" Bedelia decides to leave Hannibal. They kiss.
Quotes
- "I see enough of you to see the truth of you. And I like you." (Bedelia)
- "I feel protective of you. You support me as a colleague and psychiatrist and as a human being. I want to be supportive of you." (Lecter)
- "It's easy to understand why you retired." (Lecter)
Interviews
"She's a very respected colleague of his, and, is potentially very good at what she does. There's something a little eccentric about her and based on their shared dialogue it feels like a good match. It takes a particularly sharp mind to keep up with where his mind is going. And, it's possible that, a lot of what she's gathering from him, she's actually not feeding back to him, that she's getting the information that she's not revealing that she's gotten." (Gillian Anderson)
"Well, they have a very strange relationship. They have secrets together, but what they are, we'll have to see." (Mads Mikkelsen)
"I would love to tell more of Dr. Du Maurier’s story in Season 2 and certainly see what happened in that fateful therapy session where her patient tried to kill her and then miraculously swallowed his tongue, which is something that we know Hannibal is capable of making someone do with the mere suggestion. So that was very much seeds being planted to tell a bigger portion of that story and to not only keep Bedelia mysterious, but to keep the nature of their relationship mysterious. So that will blossom and continue to give us fodder for stories. It’s now just a question of how do we get to use Gillian Anderson in Season 2, because she’s on another NBC show [Crisis]. If I had it my way, I’d have her in every episode, but NBC will have to decide how much we can use her and to what extent." (Bryan Fuller)