Hannigram -- Cuts Unscene

S1 E6: Entrée

Companion Song: "What Kind of Man" – Florence + the Machine

"To let me dangle at a cruel angle... / You do such damage, how do you manage? / Trying to crawl in back for more / And with one kiss / You inspired a fire of devotion... What kind of man loves like this?"

Season 1, Episode 6: Entrée

This "cut unscene" occurs after Will, Jack, and Alana meet with Freddie Lounds, asking her to run a story suggesting there's more evidence pointing to Abel Gideon as the Chesapeake Ripper. The idea is that the article will infuriate the real Ripper, and he'll lash out, perhaps making a mistake that will help the FBI catch him. Alana uses her influence with Chilton to get Freddie an interview with Abel that we see the beginning of. Cut to Hannibal reading the article on his iPad, very clearly pissed off, the most we've seen him emote in the entire series so far. Cue this scene, which operates presuming that all of these events happened in the same day – the meeting with Lounds in the morning, Lounds meeting with Gideon that afternoon, and publishing the story that evening for Hannibal to read.

    Will caught movement in his peripheral vision, a jagged shadow on the wall. He looked up from his darkened computer screen and saw it – the black stag, standing in the doorway of the lecture hall. He held his breath and forced himself to really look at it, taking in the details. The creature pawed at the floor, and he could hear the rasp of hoof against tile. The fluorescent lighting of the hall showed him attributes he hadn't noticed previously. The creature had fur, to be sure, but feathers as well, raven-black. They ruffled along the stag's neck and shimmered down its haunches.

    The stag lifted its head and motioned down the hallway as if its snout was a pointing finger. Will felt himself stand and walk with purpose over to the doorway, passing into the hall just in time to see the stag round a corner. He followed, limbs heavy as if he walked through water or on the surface of an unknown planet, until the creature disappeared into the forensics lab. He stood at the door to the morgue, searching for it, but it was gone, no shadows to hide in. This room was all steel and bright lights–

    "Hey!"

    Will startled out of his reverie, an entire body shock.

    "Ground control to Major Tom. Hello...?"

    Will turned to see Beverly Katz shut one of the chrome doors of the mortuary refrigerator and turn back to him. "You forget your ear protection at the firing range or something?"

    "Uhm..." So this wasn't a dream?

    "You don't want tinnitus, trust me. My brother got it playing in a punk band in college, and it still bothers him." Beverly stripped off her gloves and tossed them in the trash.

    "Were they any good?"

    Will's head shot up to see Jimmy and Zeller working on the other side of the room, Zeller with his eye pressed against a microscope and Jimmy brushing fibers from a bloody shirt. He hadn't seen anyone when he came in, the room appearing at first to be completely deserted as he tried to track the stag.

           Will rubbed his face and looked again. Everyone was still there.

    Bev answered Jimmy's question with a laugh and a, "No. And they had a really stupid name, too. Let's see, what was it — Psychotic Bicycle Thieves."

    "There's a special place in hell for someone who steals bikes," Zeller said, eye still attached to the microscope. "Then you're stuck with no ride home, standing there in your helmet like an idiot."