Will dreams of dying the night before his trial. The prosecution develops a case of Will being unable to escape the Hobbs case, and killing more women because of his delusions about the case and his vivid imagination. Jack waits outside the courtroom, and continues to be unsure about where his convictions with Will lie. Inspector Katie tries to reassure him by using the evidence in front of him.  

Jack ultimately tells the truth about his feelings towards Will. If he pushed Will, he would be the one who would break him. Ultimately, upsetting the prosecution. Will's lawyer is sent an ear. Hannibal and Jack talk about the brave thing he just did for Will. Hannibal wonders if Jack did what he did as his resignation.  

The FBI investigates the ear, and find out that it was done 48 hours ago. It's an admirer. Hannibal goes to visit Will and tells him about it. Hannibal tries to convince Will that this ear is a gift, and that the real killer is trying to help him. Will knows there is no evidence against Hannibal and is sorry to accuse him of the crimes. He knows he's not criminally insane. 

The prosecution brings Freddie Lounds in to question. She tells them that Will told he that he wanted to cannibalize Abigail and eat her. The defense begins to prep Alana for her testimony. The team finds who they think really did the killing only to be lead to a dead end. 

Hannibal visits Will again with pictures from the admirer case. Hannibal asks him what he sees and Will enters the mind of the killer again. Will says the admirer is not the same person, and says Hannibal knew this already. Will decides to abandon his entire defense and for Hannibal to take Alana's place. in the courtroom, when Hannibal is sworn in Will sees Hannibal as the image of the stag. 

The judge of the case is murdered in his chamber and then hauled out into the courtroom and hung from the ceiling holding the scales of justice. Will dreams of the stag once again, but when he follows it he's interrupted by Hannibal who motions for him to go back in his cell. Alana visits Will again, and he believes he's been misdiagnosed.