Hannibal season 3 returned to NBC tonight. Follow Hannibal abroad and find out who is on the menu in our recap.

Who’s for dinner: Leg of Dr. Abel Gideon, smoked in thyme with a candied apple glazed and escargot fattened on a severed arm marinated in a red wine reduction.

Hannibal’s season 3 opening dish, “Antipasto,” can easily be treated as a stand-alone film companion. Set against the backdrops of Paris and Florence, the visually stunning introduction to season 3 hosted clever nods to the prequel Thomas Harris’ novel, Hannibal including trips to the notable gourmet emporium, Vera Dal 1926. Tonight’s episode brought us into the alibi of Baltimore’s most wanted serial killer.

The premiere’s intentions are two-fold. First to get Hannibal settled overseas, ensconced in beauty that does satisfies his mind. And two, to show that no amount of Dante and torture devices will distract him forever.

Bonswa. Hannibal rides through the streets of Paris, even the light atop the Eiffel Tower appears to search for the fugitive. He glides through a room of pompous academics, surveying the landscape in a manner not unlike his former colleague as Will Graham would a crime scene. Dr. Roman Fell, is up for the position of curator and translator at the Palazzo Capponi in Florence. A position that aligns perfectly with Hannibal’s skill set outside of the culinary arts. The trip to Paris lasts as long as it takes Hannibal to race Roman home and sauté his kidneys in butter.

Another story unfolds parallel to Hannibal’s present– the tale of his final unorthodox therapy session in Baltimore. Dr. Gideon Abel sits at Hannibal’s table as Hannibal wheels in the second delicacy created from the doctor’s flesh. Gideon presses Hannibal with his own breed of calm reserve. For the first time in the series, Hannibal openly talks about cannibalism.

His statements on the matter align closely to Darwinism. The practice is part of the natural order. Be fast, or be eaten. Gideon is succumbing to his place in the company of a superior doctor. Not eating only takes away the magic of the fairytale.

The lines are often blurred between reality and fantasy, but Hannibal’s fairytale in Florence continues as planned. The removal of Dr. Fell opened the road for Hannibal to put on the suit of the doctor specializing in letters of the Italian Renaissance. One could argue apart from a few encounters with Will Graham, Hannibal has never betrayed any emotion like pure happiness. But as Hannibal and Bedelia’s steps align in perfect time with each note of the classical piece and they glide in and out of the other pairs, Hannibal, for a moment is content. Elegance and precise execution– Hannibal’s perfect pair.

Happy to sing for his supper, as he states, Hannibal tasks himself with the opportunity to lecture to the studio at the library after first reciting Dante’s letters in perfect Renaissance Italian. A bit showy, but for the man who finds beauty in the imagery of a heart being eaten, it fits comfortably.

Perhaps the most interesting component of tonight’s premiere focuses on Beldelia’s place in Hannibal’s new world. She is not an accomplice, she is not an active participant. Rather Bedelia is another example of a pawn carefully moved around the board to protect the king. (Who looks brilliant against the backdrops of Florence while doing so.)

Hannibal’s presence in Florence has brought about little death, but his appearances are testing his moral rather his mortality. Bedelia continues to remind him of the inevitable ending to the game.

When he emerges cleansed from the safe haven on Bedelia’s shower following the Red Dinner, Bedelia awaits with a gun. Professional curiosity is not reserved for Will Graham and Alana Bloom. Bedelia has plenty of professional curiosity that Hannibal refuses to play into following the events in his home. He removed his person suit, exposed a piece of himself, the question mark of the next step is not something that he can run from and cover with books and papers.

She is in control of her present actions no more than Hannibal can control the outcome of his own. While she may not have the upper hand in the present, she has her get out of jail free card secured for the future.

The true test of his character lies not in his ability to prove himself in the company of academics, but rather when an old colleague of Roman’s begins poking around. Inviting him to dine at his table, Hannibal ropes Anthony in closer, but pushes Bedelia further away. His next move is obvious. Or show she thinks, until Hannibal lets him leave.

The story of Bedelia’s patient, and her attacker, eliminates the action in favor of the fallout. Guest star, Zachary Quinto, lies dead on the floor, as Bedelia inflicts his cause of death, swallowing of the tongue, postmortem. Even after connecting the dots from Hannibal to her attack she requests his assistance spinning her tale.

Back in Florence, an atrium echoes with Hannibal’s words as he delivers his lecture. Images of demons and the title “LVCIFER” hover over his face. Noting the presence of Anthony, Bedelia makes an early exit from the forum. Anthony serves his duty as a former colleague from Roman’s Cambridge days, enough to secure Hannibal’s alibi.

The design for Hannibal’s emergence from the shadows arrives when Anthony begins to find the cracks. The uncomfortable positions that one bends their body to keep up appearances is not as uncomfortable as the one Hannibal has in mind for Dr. Fell’s ratty TA.

“Antipasto” gave viewers a taste of a Hannibal that prepared the palate for the heartier versions of Dr. Lecter we are used to. The one that slips inside your mind, twisting it until there is no feasible way out of his control.

After Anthony is beaten over the head with a desktop bust, Hannibal turns to Bedelia and submits this question to her and the audience, “Are you in this very moment observing or participating?” Easy to answer from the comfort of your couch: observing. But Hannibal refuses to let you off that easy. If you knew what Hannibal was going to do, if you anticipated his thoughts, rationalized his thinking, empathized with his motives, and achieved the expected result, your hands are not as blood free as you may believe.

He concludes with a question that most viewers ask themselves week in and week out, “What have you gotten yourself into?”

What have we, indeed? Hannibal serves Abel his final meal, escargot fattened by his left arm. The snails are eaten without knowledge that someone is digesting their bodies. Recall these events take place shortly after Will winds up in the hospital and prison. Abel pushes one final button before eating himself one last time, what would happen if Hannibal had his first choice of dinner company, Will Graham?

Watch Hannibal season 3, episode 2, “Primavera” Thursday, June 11 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.