by Veronique Medrano:
Hannibal Recap: “Entrée”
Original Air Date (NBC): Thursday May 2, 2013
Season 1 Episode 6
Eddie Izzard! My excitement can’t contain itself, as Izzard enters the scene things start to get scary and heated fast as Graham’s mental state begins to deteriorate. If you haven’t watched or read-up on the show go ahead and take a look at our recap of the PILOT episode here.
Please make sure to not read this if you haven’t watched the show.
Dr.Gideon the Chesapeake Ripper
Eddie Izzard introduces us to Dr. Gideon, an incarcerated inmate who is found lying on the floor of his cell. When they take him to the medical ward, he takes that opportunity to tear apart the nurse and leaves her body on display in such a fashion that is similar to crimes as the Cheasapeake Ripper, but is he really.
That is where our beloved analyst Will Graham, comes onto the scene of the crime and takes apart the killing. I must say that this is one of the few breakdowns that really gave me chills and had me looking away. Even though we’ve seen a bit of the process this is one of the few times we’ve seen it to completion, and it makes you feel for Graham. It puts into perspective for the first time this season that this is how he sees every single murder he comes across. The viewer has been sheltered up until this moment on the extent of his ability, and with that we can also start to see the effects of what we saw on Graham throughout the episode.
To figure out why he decided to act now, despite the hiatus and uncanny good behavior he’s exhibited at the facility via Dr. Chilton’s smart remarks. This makes Graham and Dr. Bloom question whether he really is the Chesapeake Ripper, so they decide to interview Dr. Gideon in his cell. Dr. Bloom speaks with Dr. Gideon first, and even though the scenery is very similar to that in the film’s the energy is not there. Dr. Gideon looks bored and his interrogation is very matter of fact. The killings don’t seem to phase him or have any personal tie to his psyche.
Graham and Dr. Bloom, after interviewing him, deduce that he is a copycat killer and that if they want to possibly get the real killer out they must draw him/her out. So they get, Freddie Lounds to write a faux-article on Dr. Gideon, being the true Chesapeake Ripper and giving him credit for the murders prior, along with the current murder of the nurse. Of course, Hannibal reads the article and is sent into a fury that he can barely contain as it plays across his face. Hannibal is the killer they are looking for and in a way he does play into their trap, but not in the way they would expect. Hannibal doesn’t want to be found out, but he can’t stand having someone else take credit for his murders.
Dr. Gideon is setting actions in motion that would otherwise have been left alone and everyone’s issues would have been left unnoticed, skating by under the radar, but now skeleton’s start escape from the proverbial ‘closet’ and its about to get interesting as the episodes progress.
Dr. Lecter & Miriam Lass: The Past comes back to Haunt
Dr. Lecter aka ‘Hannibal’ has gone through the series so far in a very ‘hands-off’ manner when it comes to his killings. Every episode has had him preparing meals, that was first a guessing game of whether or not that meal was ‘human’ product or animal. We’ve seen him dissect organs, talk with clients, and help murderers run free, but now we finally get to see the dark underbelly of his killings.
We get a taste of Hannibal’s past and how it connects to Jack Crawford. Miriam Lass.
In a set of flashbacks that co-mingle with trying to find the person who is torturing Jack Crawford by calling him with a pre-taped recording of Miriam Lass’ pleas right before her demise. Miriam Lass an FBI trainee whom Crawford enlisted to help in the investigation,is highly perceptive and ambitious. She takes on the case and it doesn’t take her long to get a list of possible suspects. Despite Crawford’s warning that she try to take it slow, she wants to catch this person quickly before they strike again.
So without Crawford’s knowledge, she takes her list of suspects and goes to see them, leading her to Lecter’s office where she asks about a routine follow-up about the medical records of one of the Ripper’s victims. Lecter politely complies to her request, but there is an obvious tension the whole situation on our end and we wonder if this is the moment we’ve been waiting for since the show began. Sure enough, it is. While Hannibal steps away to retrieve his journals for her, she happens upon a sketch resembling one of the Ripper’s victims. As it dawns on her the person/situation she’s put herself in, Lecter sneaks up behind her and hits her across the head.
Miriam has been knocked out and awaits her demise that we get to hear the last seconds of in that phone call recording sent to Jack Crawford.To add insult to injury on Crawford’s inefficiency in taking care of his recruits, Hannibal leaves pieces of her behind for Crawford to find: a strand of her hair in Crawford’s bedroom, a severed hand left in an observatory holding her cell phone and a note attached that says: “What do you see?”
With the addition of Hannibal’s psychologist in the next episode we may just get to see what else makes the killing doctor tick.
I truly enjoyed the episode overall for once again pushing me past what was set to become a comfort zone and it is quite interesting to see many odes the the film and the cannon itself. While some might complain that it is a bit cheesy and heavy-handed for them to bring up someone similar to Agent Starling, I’d like for the viewer to know that their reason behind that, instead of doing the story as done in both the film and novel adaptation is because the company who bought the rights still owns it. We still get pieces of what we love about the series itself, but at the same time it is a stand-alone in certain aspects.
While Hannibal thinks he is the all-mighty puppet master, there are certain aspects of this drama that have unfolded they way he would hope, and so I’m curious what will happen as the show progress’.
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