Where to even begin? Does “Wow” suffice?Will Hannibal ever be back? It seems like quite a long shot now, but I have to say, the Season 3 finale made me perfectly fine if this is it. Yes, Season 1 and 2 also had finales that, in some ways, also could have worked as series finales if need be – both of a “Hannibal wins” variety (Season 1 with him successfully framing Will and Season 2 with him, apparently, killing everybody and fleeing). But Season 3 had an ending in a seemingly more definitive and even more emotional way.

The build up to those final moments was excellent too. The recent deviations on the source material left the finale with an “anything goes” feeling as far as Dolarhyde goes – to the point where he could have been dead in that opening sequence and I would have accepted it, considering it was an intense sequence in and of itself and given there was a lot of ground left to cover with Will and Hannibal.

Hannibal: "The Wrath of the Lamb" Photo Gallery Hannibal: "The Wrath of the Lamb" Photos 9 IMAGES

But no, Dolarhyde’s original fake out death from the book was retained – albeit with a far different outcome. And it was awesome seeing where it went, as he attacked Will and then Will came up with an incredibly risky and even twisted plan to bring Dolarhyde and Hannibal together. A plan he went to Jack with but without revealing the crucial info that he actually had already spoken to Dolarhyde.Along the way we got notable scenes for most of the supporting cast, including Alana’s meaningful encounters with both Hannibal and Chilton. Yes, Chilton is indeed alive, if you can call it that. It was a notably intense and riveting scene seeing Chilton in this state, and understandably, there was little humor to be found in the usually-funny character here – it was taken from him along with his skin.While Jack didn’t really get a big moment, per se, he was the one to notably proclaim that the real plan was to not just trap Dolarhyde but to kill both him and their “escapee”, Hannibal, which was something Will was already on board with. Obviously this plan was playing with fire and it was delightfully excruciating waiting to see how it would come together… or likely all collapse.Dolarhyde surprising everyone by striking before Hannibal’s fake escape could even begin was an effective surprise – even though it did involve Dolarhyde becoming a bit (more) superhuman, of sorts, both in how he took out all those cops and also how he effortlessly tracked Hannibal and Will, even though he left the scene before they did.And then those final moments at Hannibal’s Cliffside home occurred… And they were glorious. Will and Hannibal's conversation before Dolarhyde arrived was terrific, as they spoke openly about Will intending to watch Dolarhyde kill (or “change”) Hannibal and Will remarked, “I don’t know if I can save myself. Maybe that’s just fine.” Words that would obviously have a lot of meaning soon after.

Hannibal: Bryan Fuller on the Finale's Events and the Future

And then came the final fight, with all three men out for blood. There was one shot of them all hunched over, hurt and facing off that was absolutely thrilling in and of itself. Bryan Fuller even included Dolarhyde disfiguring Will, as he does in the book, before Will and Hannibal epically took the Red Dragon down together - and Hannibal had his final taste of human flesh via ripping out his throat.A few other thoughts:-Jimmy and Brian made one last, very funny appearance, with Aaron Abrams and Scott Thompson doing great work as the two over-enthusiastically went into how Dolarhyde faked his death.-I loved Hannibal name-checking both Abigail and Miriam when he and Will arrived at the house, giving those notable characters one last acknowledgement.-Will’s wife and stepson are mentioned but don’t appear again. Sadly for them, Will indeed was not really able to return to the “maddeningly polite” life Hannibal mocked him with.-Reba’s final scene with Will was pretty close to what’s in the book, complete with Will’s comforting words to her. What was so intriguing was here, when he says, “You didn’t draw a freak. You drew a man with a freak on its back,” we can ponder if Will is also talking about his own twisted relationship with Hannibal.-Obviously the one true “Whaaaaaaat?” element we’re left with is that post-credit scene of Bedelia about to eat her own leg. Did she do that to herself!? Meat was indeed back on the menu and perhaps Bedelia was resigned to her fate, whether Hannibal did it himself or not. Unless that was a flash forward and someone else specifically was going to sit at that other seat across from her?* Hmmm...As Bryan Fuller himself points out , there are two other place settings at Bedelia's table besides her own...