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#01 "Apéritif" #06 "Entrée" #11 "Rôti"
Season1
#02 "Amuse-Bouche" #07 "Sorbet" #12 "Relevés"
#03 "Potage" #08 "Fromage" #13 "Savoureux"
#04 "Oeuf" #09 "Trou Normand"
#05 "Coquilles" #10 "Buffet Froid" Season 2 >>
1x03 Potage
Potage
SeasonEpisode

13

Air dateApril 18, 2013

Written byStory: David Fury
Teleplay: David Fury and
Chris Brancato
and Bryan Fuller

Directed byDavid Slade
Cast
Recurring StarsKacey Rohl as Abigail Hobbs

Lara Jean Chorostecki as Freddie Lounds
Vladimir Cubrt as Garret Jacob Hobbs

Torianna Lee as Elise Nichols

Guest StarsMark Rendall as Nicholas Boyle

Co-StarsHolly Deveaux as Marissa Schurr

Severn Thompson as Marissa's Mother
Krista Patton as Louise Hobbs
Brendan Halloran as Reporter #1
Steven Pigozzo as Reporter #2

Audra Gray as Reporter #3
Chronology
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"Potage" is the third episode of Season 1, and overall the third produced hour of Hannibal. It originally aired on April 18, 2013.

Plot[]

Jack theorizes that Abigail may have aided her father, Garret Jacob Hobbs in his serial killings. Against Dr. Alana Bloom's advice, but at Hannibal's behest, Abigail is escorted back to Minnesota, where she discovers much violent hostility against her and her family. Things go from bad to worse when a copycat killer murders a friend of Abigail. Hannibal suggests they hide the body to protect Abigail - but secrets come at a cost.


1x03 FatherAndDaughter

In a flashback to a time before his murder, Garret Jacob Hobbs is hunting with Abigail, who is not comfortable with killing a deer. Hobbs explains that it is not a murder if every part of the animal is used does, and prompts her to cut the deer. It is then that Abigail violently awakens from her coma. Alana visits Will's house, and informs him of Abigail's awakening.

1x03 AlanaAndAbigail

Despite Crawford's instruction for Will to visit and question Abigail about her possible involvement in her father's murders, Alana comments that Abigail should not open up to a person who was there when her father's murder took place, and volunteers to go herself. During their conversation, though, Abigail seems unaffected by the recent violent attack.

1x03 TwoDoctorsAndACop

Crawford summons Alana and Hannibal to his office, since the families of Hobbs' victims need answers, and Abigail is able to supply him the necessary information. While Alana admits that Abigail acted suspicious during their meeting, she disagrees with Jack's demand to have Will talk to Abigail. Meanwhile, Freddie Lounds made her way into Abigail's room and is interviewing her about the recent tragedy, but is stopped by Will and Hannibal. Abigail recounts Will killing her father, to which Will admits to being haunted by nightmares after that encounter. Outside the hospital, Lounds offers an insincere apology to Will, though when she reveals her true intentions behind the visit, Will blurts that "it's not very smart to piss off a guy who thinks about killing people for a living." That quote soon appears in Lounds' new article, painting Will as a deranged law enforcer.

1x03 WelcomeHomeSign

Abigail expresses her intentions to return home, though Alana protests, claiming it is not healthy for a recovering victim to return to the scene of the crime. Hannibal, however, suggests to let Abigail do as she wants, to which Jack approves, since it will help him close the case. Elsewhere, Lounds meets Nicholas Boyles, brother of Cassie Boyle, the Copycat Killer's victim. Nick is enraged to hear about Abigail's awakening from her coma. Back at her Minnesota home, Abigail is welcomes by a graffiti message on her front door and garage, saying "Cannibals." Inside, Hannibal, Will and Alana attempt to help Abigail retrace her memories before the attack. Abigail recalls the phone call she answered before her father's murder, but says she does not remember the voice of the person, though presumes it was the Copycat Killer.

1x03 WillAndDeadMarissa

One of Abigail's friends, Marissa Schurr, stops by her house after noticing the car in her driveway. Outside the house, Marissa tells Abigail that the town is horrified by the murder, with many residents believing that Abigail was involved in her father's crimes, though Marissa does not think so. Suddenly, Nick Boyles emerges from the woods and confronts Abigail. Marissa drives him away by hitting him with a rock, as Will and Hannibal rush to the two girls. Hannibal discreetly hides the rock. That night, Will has a nightmare in which he is Hobbs, and he slashes Abigail's throat. The next morning, at Hobbs' cabin, Abigail recounts how her father instructed her to cut the deer they hunted. A drop of blood suddenly drops onto Abigail's forehead from the ceiling. Upstairs, Will finds Marissa impaled on a rack of antlers.

1x03 HairEverywhere

As traumatized Abigail is waiting outside the cabin, Hannibal, Will and Crawford examine Marissa's body. Will believes that this was another work of the Copycat Killer, with the main suspect being Nick Boyles, who had connections to both victims. After Crawford orders Abigail to be sent away from Minnesota, Abigail packs her belongings as Marissa's mother confronts Abigail, and blaming her for her daughter's death. A distraught Abigail remembers her father's mantra that a killing is not a murder if every part of the victim is used, and realizes that all of the homemade items at her house have remains of her father's victims. As she rips open one of the pillows with a knife, she finds it filled with human hair. Before she can fully digest the sickening revelation, she is confronted by Nichoals Boyles.

1x03 Don'tTouchTheBody

Nicholas assures Abigail that he has no intention of hurting her, and claims he did not murder Marissa. As Abigail attempts to escape, Nicholas grabs her and presses her against the wall in an attempt to explain himself. In a panic, Abigail fatally stabs Nicholas with her knife. Instinctively using the method her father taught her to skin a deer, Abigail pulls out and knife and guts Nicholas. Upstairs, Alana and Hannibal hear the commotion. As Abigail walks upstairs with bloody hands, he knocks Alana out against the wall before she can notice Abigail. Calmly, Hannibal instructs Abigail to show him what had happened. Nicholas' body is practically butchered, and his murder would not appear to have been an act of self-defense. If Abigail is found guilty in the murder of Boyles, her speculated assistance in her father's crimes would surely be reinforced. Hannibal offers Abigail help with hiding Nicholas' body.

1x03 TwoLiarsInARoom

Alana wakes up, and is told by Crawford of what supposedly happened. According to Hannibal, Boyles attacked Abigail, knocked Alana and Hannibal out, and escaped the house. He assures Alana that Boyles will be brought to justice. In his office, Hannibal and Abigail discuss the Boyles' recent murder. She comes to realize that Hannibal was the one who called her house, and suspects him to be a serial killer. Hannibal refuses to admit guilt, and promises to keep her secret. Abigail promises to do the same.

Analysis[]

Episode Title[]

Potage

 

A type of thick soup or stew, made from meat and vegetables that are boiled together.

Book to Show[]

  • Freddie saying that Will was too unstable to get past the FBI’s screening process echoes a similar assertion Freddy makes in an article in the novel Red Dragon.
  • Will’a dialogue when telling Abigail there is nothing wrong with her is a truncated version of what he tells Reba McClane near the end of Red Dragon.
  • Abigail and Will’s dialogue about killing being the ugliest thing in the world comes from an identical exchange in Red Dragon between Will and his stepson Willy, also referring to his shooting of Hobbs.
  • Will’s saying that pretending to be Hobbs felt like talking to a shadow suspended on dust echoes a passage in Red Dragon when Will is drunkenly trying to understand the Tooth Fairy killer: “He stared until the space in the opposite chair assumed a man-shape filled with dark and swarming motes, a presence like a shadow on suspended dust. He tried to make the image coalesce, to see a face. It would not move, had no countenance but, faceless, faced him with palpable attention.”
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