One thing is for sure and that's Season 3 of "Hannibal" is reaching a boiling point, one which might reveal the ultimate goal of catching Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelson). Episode 4, titled "Apertivo," airs next Thursday on NBC at 10 p.m., according to TV Guide.

In this episode, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raul Esparza) returns after the disfiguring gunshot wound and starts rallying support for the capture of Lecter to be attained by any means necessary which includes using Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as bait.

CarterMatt reports that Chilton's return comes with eerie strings attached as he rallies the support from former victims of Lecter, which includes the insanely rich and highly unstable personality of Mason Verger.

Capturing Hannibal is not quite an easy task though, which includes the use of Will as bait. This comes to Jack Crawford's (Laurence Fishburne) attention, which forces him to urge Will not to pursue his quest to find Hannibal.

Crawford is also distracted by his home life during the episode as his wife Bella's health starts to deteriorate. Her failing health aside though, he reaches within himself to try and convince Will that giving up the pursuit could possibly save him and continuing could potentially kill him, or worse, cause him to lose his own sanity.

As audiences have seen, Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) is still very much alive, and she is also on board with Hannibal's capture plans. It is she who entertains the notion that capturing Hannibal will take a few more resources than they have, so she is likely to partner with Mason Verger, due to his wealth and commitment to the cause. But, of course, this could lead to viewer's tension for Alana's own safety with Verger.

In the previous episode, as reported by Digital Spy, it becomes clear that Hannibal ate his younger sister, but he did not kill her. Hannibal also identified his feelings for Will as love, and that is the reason he had ate his sister so long ago, to deal with the pain of her loss. In the parting words for the episode, Hannibal said, "I have to eat him," referring to Will.

See the preview for next Thursday's episode below.