The Five Person Sex Scene of Hannibal

It seems each episode of Hannibal this season is 'what will be most misunderstood and overreacted to this week'. While these negative opinions do help fuel me as a critic, it's annoying to have to be there to defend Bryan Fuller who is not as demonic as people would think. Hell, he had it so that Mason and Margot's stories were changed to show that people don't become part of the LGBTQ+ community because of abuse.

So this week people were complaining about the big, anticipated sex scene. Now I'm going to talk about two things in this post. I will first cover Margot's reasoning and then I will talk about the sex scene as a whole.

Now in the realm of fiction, the LGBTQ+ community does have a few troubles plaguing it and so having good representation is a rarity. Sad but true. So when Margot Verger was confirmed to be a lesbian in the tv series Hannibal, as she is a lesbian in the books, there was great rejoicing. Besides Margot being a lesbian, she is a strong woman who has to deal with her abusive brother.

She even tried to kill Mason at one point. That's the reason she's in therapy in the first place.

Margot, being a lesbian, doesn't like men sexually so she can't produce a male heir. Why is producing a male heir important? If she is successful in killing Mason she won't get anything due to her being a woman. Everything would end up going to charity.

So she decides that she has to get pregnant to get her male heir before killing her brother. Why Will? She probably feels some kinship to him and so decides on him as her best option. Why not tell Will that's why she wanted to have sex with him? Any kinship she feels for him will be overshadowed by suspicion as I see her as not being a very trusting person. Who would after having a brother like Mason?

Finally: Why not use another method to get pregnant? Margot might be worried that Mason would find out and then she would be where she was in the beginning.

Now onto the sex scene itself!

While I write smutt/erotica myself, I do like sex scenes that are there for other reasons than to cause arousal. The sex scene during the Hannibal episode "Naka-Choko" is a perfect example. While it does arouse there is so much more to it than that.

I'll keep things simple before I go into more complex ideas of the scene.

On the Hannibal and Alana side there are different motives for each party having sex. Hannibal starts off talking about a musical instrument and the symbolism of that goes throughout the entire scene. Hannibal is having sex with Alana both because he likes her and he can use his control over her to threaten Will if need be. Alana is having sex with Hannibal because, long story that I explained in a previous post short, she has decided to finally take the plunge with him.

On the Will and Margot side there are also mixed reasons about each side having sex with the other. Margot is having sex with Will so she has the chance of getting a male heir without Mason finding out. Will is most likely having sex with Margot because he hasn't been laid in awhile and he knows the possibility of ever having Alana is gone.

Will still wants Alana as is shown by Margot changing into Alana various times during the scene. It's heartbreaking to see him mourning Alana during this scene. He's scared about her safety since she's now in a relationship with Hannibal. This is evidenced by Hannibal's demonic form being in the scene.

At the end of the sex scene Will imagines himself on the bed with Alana in the middle and Hannibal on the other side. Alana moves away from Will, not even looking at him, and he hesitantly reaches a hand out towards her. That was the most heartbreaking moment of the scene, at least to me.

So that's my reasoning for not loathing the scene. I really wish that each week people would remain calm and not bring up non-issues.