Deliver me...
Out of my sadness...
Deliver me...
From all of the madness...
Deliver me...
Courage to guide me...
Deliver me...
Strength from inside me...
All of my life
I've been in hiding...
wishing there were someone just like you...
Now that you're here...
now that I've found you...
I know that you're the one to pull me through...
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the webmistress, and the webmistress alone. No infringement of any kind is intended.
Needless to say, the ending of the Hannibal film left us with more questions than answers. Such as...
Where was Krendler between Clarice getting fired and getting his brain turned into an appetizer?
What happened to Clarice after she was left to face the SWAT Team in the woods?
What happened to Dr. Doemling after he fed Mason to the pigs?
Where the Hell were Margot Verger, Jack Crawford, and Ardelia Mapp in all of this?
How will they resolve the story?
With that in mind, here's my solution...
First off, since Margot was basically nonexistent in the film, it could be revealed that she'd killed herself shortly before Mason was assigned to be treated by Hannibal Lecter. Besides Mason's ill-fated pass, Margot's suicide could've been Dr. Lecter's other motive for drugging Mason, then cajoling him into maiming himself.
Margot's suicide could've been particularly upsetting to Dr. Lecter, because she'd also been one of his patients. He could have bonded with her, then tried to encourage her to make something of herself, only for Mason's abuse to propel her toward killing herself.
As for Paul Krendler, it's my belief that his dumbassed "nut with a crush" act was just that---an act. Where was he between Clarice getting fired and his brain getting fed to him by Dr. Lecter? Here's an idea...
Suppose Krendler had sneaked into the Bureau weapons lockers after Clarice was fired, then taken her service revolver and ammo. Suppose, he'd gone to the Verger estate to join Mason in seeing the pigs turn Dr. Lecter into dinner. And just suppose, he'd found the mess that'd been left behind.
This would be Krendler's opportunity to, once and for all, destroy Clarice. He could have confronted Cordell and blackmailed him into agreeing to frame Clarice for the murders of Mason and the Sardinian workmen. And for added insurance, he could've killed Cordell with Clarice's pistol, thus framing her for a fifth killing, before taking off to his holiday home like nothing happened.
After Krendler's death and Hannibal's escape, Clarice was left to face the SWAT Team and the agents in the woods near Krendler's home. Sadly, I don't think they were there for a rescue.
When Hannibal was kidnapped, Clarice was the sole witness. And because of that, the officers---including longtime colleague Clint Pearsall---didn't take her claims seriously. When she was called on the carpet for the Feliciana Fish Market killings, they didn't buy her side of the story, that she was forced into action when the DC policeman who'd opposed her leading the raid ruined everything.
Also, when Clarice surrenders, there is no trace of Hannibal. The only logical outcome is that she will be arrested for Krendler's murder, as well as for the killings at the Verger estate.
During her incarceration, Clarice begins to realize that she should have listened to Hannibal, that she shouldn't have been so blind as to believe she would regain her former glory and reputation if she had succeeded in arresting him.
She also begins to realize how much Hannibal means to her...how very much she loves him...
In the meantime, Hannibal will have undergone a successful hand transplant, replacing the hand he maimed to free himself from the handcuffs. He will also be overcome with remorse for the way he left Clarice behind.
After the hand transplant and months of grueling rehabilitation, Hannibal will return to the States, hiding out in Key West, FL with the help of Sara Gascom and Kellie Vaughn, a lesbian couple he has befriended. It is during his stay in Key West that he discovers how much he and Clarice had underestimated Mr. Krendler.
Between killing Cordell Doemling and meeting his fate, Krendler left instructions to his Washington buddies to take out a contract on Clarice's life, effective upon her murder conviction. One of his co-conspirators, as it turns out, is one of the prosecutors trying Clarice's case: Her former friend and FBI Academy classmate Ardelia Mapp, who fell out with Clarice eight years earlier after becoming Krendler's mistress.
Hannibal also discovers that his onetime friend from the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital, orderly-turned-RN Barney Jackson, played an unwitting role in Mason Verger's murder scheme. As he did with Clarice during the Jame Gumb case, when she'd gone along with the Plum Island con under orders from Jack Crawford, Hannibal is able to forgive and spare Barney...but only on the condition that he helps him break Clarice out of jail. Given everything that's happened, Barney is all too willing to comply.
Clarice's murder conviction is inevitable, but is made even more hurtful when her own defense team, Lawrence Moxley and Richard Caine, are paid off by Ardelia to take the dive sooner than anticipated. She is sentenced to six consecutive life terms and ordered to serve her time in the Federal penitentiary in Charleston, SC...Ardelia's hometown.
As soon as Hannibal pinpoints the route Clarice will take after being picked up at the airstrip in Aiken, SC, he and Barney spring into action. While Sara and Kellie secure a temporary residence for Clarice in Key West, Hannibal and Barney use the "broken-down-car-on-a-deserted-highway" trick to stage the jailbreak.
Between being picked up at the airstrip and being rescued, however, Clarice is subjected to brutal taunting, even being used for target practice, by a sadistic, trigger-happy guard assigned to deliver her to the prison. As she had when "Multiple" Miggs threw semen on her face in Baltimore, Clarice sucks it up with a steely resolve that would make Hannibal proud.
When Barney flags the truck down, the plan goes into action. While Barney distracts, then shoots, the first guard, Hannibal sneaks out of the back of Barney's rented truck to take out Mr. Gun Nut with the Spyderco knife he'd used to disembowel Rinaldo Pazzi a year ago. Then as Barney leaves for the airstrip, Hannibal frees Clarice from her shackles, then they drive to his rented Camaro ten miles down the road and light out to Charleston Harbor, where he has a speed yacht waiting to take them to Key West.
At first Clarice doesn't know what to think, and is, in fact, shocked to see Hannibal again. Her resolve crumbles, however, when he reveals the contract for her life. He also tells her about her attorneys, and Ardelia, being part of the plan. The result is that Clarice finally embraces her darker, more vengeful side...
And in doing this, she also embraces her love for Hannibal...
Your Mind Is Naked To Me...
..can you see me...?
...do you love me, Clarice...
...can you see me...?
...when you close your eyes...
...can you feel me...?
That's my girl...
