The episode was written by series creator Bryan Fuller, executive producer Steve Lightfoot, and co-producer Nick Antosca, and directed by Michael Rymer.
The series is based on characters and elements appearing in Thomas Harris' novels Red Dragon and Hannibal, with focus on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), a forensic psychiatrist destined to become Graham's most cunning enemy.
The events of the season involved the capture of Lecter and a new threat, a serial killer named Francis Dolarhyde, also known as "The Tooth Fairy".
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 1.24 million household viewers and gained a 0.3/1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Graham (Hugh Dancy) visits Reba at the hospital, where he deduces that Dolarhyde's love for her made him commit suicide.
At BAU, Price (Scott Thompson) and Zeller (Aaron Abrams) inform Graham and Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) that the body retrieved at Dolarhyde's house wasn't his and only used it to deceive Reba.
Meanwhile, Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) visits Chilton (Raúl Esparza) at his hyperbaric chamber, who warns him that Graham and Lecter could be the exact same and she could be manipulated.
Bloom visits Lecter to ask for his cooperation, promising to return his privileges if he helps in catching Dolarhyde.
Fearing for her safety and having been threatened by Lecter, Bloom takes Margot (Katharine Isabelle) and their son to escape to a safe place.
Bedelia takes a fork and hides it in her lap as the camera pulls back and the music stops, and the scene cuts to black.
It was an extremely romantic moment, in the heightened, horror-tinged way only Hannibal could provide and it paid off the link these two have shared and built upon through the entire series.
Club gave the episode an "A" and wrote, "While I hope it is not the last we see of Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter, it likely is all the same.
"[10] Mark Rozeman of Paste gave the episode a 9.9 out of 10 and wrote, "Both Fuller and his actors moving on to different projects, 'The Wrath of the Lamb' is likely the last we'll be seeing of the Hannibal-verse for some time.
"[11] Jeff Stone of IndieWire gave the episode an "A−" and wrote, "So that was Hannibal, a show that seemed like a bad idea on paper but became one of my favorites.
It was an easy show to mock, if you were so inclined, because it was so specific and committed to its outsized reality: its ponderous dialogue, its slow-motion close-ups, its unparalleled visuals.
"[12] Brian Moylan of The Guardian wrote, "Hannibal, though thought dead, still lives inside of the minds and behaviors of everyone he touched.
"[14] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine wrote, "This finale is cluttered and self-conscious, but it evinces a tireless ambition to resist the expectation that a TV series gives its audience the same thing each week.
"[15] Greg Cwik of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Hannibal, you beautiful, bizarre, beguiling bastard, I'll miss you.
"[18] Emma Dibdin of Digital Spy wrote, "I still feel like I'm tempting fate by saying this, but if this really is the last episode of Hannibal I ever get to recap, I'll be sad not only because it's the best show on television, but also because the Fannibals are the best fandom on the internet.
"[20] Britt Hayes of ScreenCrush wrote, "'The Wrath of the Lamb' is a fitting farewell for Hannibal, equal parts tone poem and visceral doomed romance, in which the mechanics of the plot pale in comparison to the feelings on display and those it means to elicit.
The site wrote, "Through the haze of meds and madness, Anderson allowed us to see the unthinkable — a slight grin emerging on Bedelia's terrified face — after which she reached for a deadly two-pronged fork from her place setting, yet another move on the Hannibal chessboard.
The brilliance and beauty of Anderson's finale work made us hope that if, by some long shot, Fuller revives Hannibal at another network or transports it to the big screen, Bedelia Du Maurier will have legs.