The Season 2 finale of Hannibal is one of the best pieces of television I’ve ever seen.

It’s like dining with Hannibal himself – rich, satisfying, exquisitely prepared. There's so much to untangle and discuss. So when I spoke to Bryan Fuller, the show's creator and the writer of that particular episode, it's all I wanted to talk about.

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Below is an account of that conversation, in which we discussed evisceration, the cyclical nature of time, and of course, teacups.

Needless to say, there are abundant and graphic spoilers ahead...

The Final Course

Every episode of Hannibal Season 2 is named after a course served in a traditional Japanese banquet.All apart from the first, that is: Kaiseki refers to the style of cooking. Similar to haute cuisine, Kaiseki is renowned for its meticulous preparation and artful presentation.The finale takes its name with the small dessert of fruit, cake, or confectionary, typically served at the end of the feast. It delicately cleanses the palette. It is known as the Mizumono.

Bryan Fuller: “We knew that it was going to be a culmination, where everyone would go to Hannibal’s house and meet some horrible fate. It was going to be the linoleum knife from the literature, and we were going to bring that home, as it were. That was always on the cards.

“When Will goes inside the house, it’s tricky for the audience to know what’s happened. Who is he going in to save? Is he going to save Hannibal Lecter or is he going to save Jack Crawford?

“But when he gets there, he finds Abigail Hobbs.

"His agenda becomes so confused, and a lot of his intentions won’t be fully understood until Season 3.

"That’s what we’re exploring in the first few episodes. What was it Will intended when he made his pact with Hannibal? What did Will intend when he called Hannibal?

“In one version, he wants Hannibal to leave. He wants to save Hannibal, to spare Jack Crawford, and free himself from all those binds. Instead, what he finds is this ghost from the past, who has somehow survived what he thought was her murder.

"He realises in that instant the web Hannibal has been weaving is so much more meticulously woven than he had at first anticipated. In that moment when he sees Abigail, his stomach drops below his feet and he doesn’t know what to do.

"It kind of informs his surrender to Hannibal. So when he falls into his arms, he’s sort of overwhelmed. Everything he intended goes out of the window.

“There’s a sort of strange surrender for Will Graham at that moment. He allows the gutting. He almost feels as if he deserves it in light of what he’s done; he’s betrayed Hannibal.

“Hannibal is actually the better friend. We sort of break down who’s the good friend and who’s the bad friend.

"Will’s the bad friend because Hannibal gave him the chance to come clean; he assures him of his forgiveness and Will didn’t take it. Will continued with the lie because he was targeting Hannibal as his prize, and that all backfired.

"So that last moment is the piss going out of him.”

It's seems slightly inappropriate to paraphrase Bart Simpson at a time like this, but look closely and you can actually pinpoint the second when Hannibal's heart rips in half.

Fuller: “It’s a goodbye in a way. It’s one of the things I’m very proud of in the episode. You have sympathy for the devil in that last moment. You see that Hannibal gives everybody the opportunity to find a different conclusion to the horrible drama they’ve all found themselves in. But nobody takes it.

“There have been incidences in his life when he has become close to somebody, but there’s been no one like Will Graham. There has always been some artifice, even with Abel Gideon. He allowed Gideon to see him, but the price for that was being eaten.

“We’re going to the heart of how they much they meant to each other.

“It’s a specialised set of circumstances for Hannibal. I don’t think he’s allowed himself to be seen in that way, where he’s open and honest emotionally. Everyone who has had a certain level of intimacy with him has always been greeted with some sort of charade, but with Will he dropped the facade and was genuine.

"That’s why it’s so heartbreaking for the character.”