Hannibal: 7 Burning Questions Left By The Season 2 Finale

5. What Will Be The Legal Repercussions Of Jack Crawford's Actions?

A very popular cliche in television shows and movies features a passionate Federal Agent (in this instance, Jack Crawford) pursuing a case he knows is worth pursuing in direct defiance of his superiors. Mizumono adhered quite strictly to this cliche (Jack even had to hand in his badge in the middle act), until a key moment. That key moment was in the literal apprehension of Hannibal Lecter. If this series stuck closely by the cliche route, Jack would have captured, or assisted in capturing, Hannibal, and then received validation from the Bureau for sticking to his guns and capturing an infamous serial killer. But people make mistakes. By defying the FBI, assaulting Hannibal Lecter in his own home, and subsequently failing to capture Hannibal, Jack Crawford has started an avalanche of legal consequences tumbling down onto the heads of whoever ends up surviving Hannibal Lecter's knife. And let us not forget how many risks Crawford took in establishing Hannibal's trust in Will - approving him to murder a man (another killer, but still a victim in the eyes of the law), brutalise the body, and set up a crime scene. The carnage at Doctor Lecter's is certainly going to prove a dense legal maze for all the survivors, especially if one of them was the man who sanctioned murder and mutilation for the sake of capturing a mastermind, however inadvertently.