Oh man, I am, like, super behind on these things. As I’m sure that you’ve all been weeping and pining and such, I guess it’s time for me to play catch up.

Le Quois? Entrée (n): …a dish served before the main course, or between two principal courses of a meal. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entr%C3%A9e)

First Thoughts: Pincushions. *fails psych evaluation, goes to prison*

This episode starts out with Eddie Izzard being a magical slasher villain in a psych ward. “Magical slasher villain” because it’s like he’s down for the count and then whoops he’s right behind you. The lax security in this place seems like a huge oversight, but I guess it’s not that unlikely. People can be dumb about that stuff sometimes.

I like that when Will and Jack get to the hospital, Will is a little afraid that they won’t let him leave. Yeah, you’re kinda crazy. But you’re our crazy, and Jack’s going to look after you! I also like how much of a dick the head doctor at the hospital is. He even has a dickish name. Dr. Chilton? Really? To be honest, I’m actually not sure why he’s such a jerk, unless he comes back later. I guess he makes for an interesting contrast to Alana and Hannibal, since he’s super smug and treats his patients like trophies, and our two favorite doctors…don’t do that stuff. Sure, Hannibal eats people, but at least he’s not a jerk about it.

Oh Jeepers, the empathy power scene. This week’s murder sure isn’t for the faint of heart. There’s that thing with the thumbs and the eyes, and let’s not forget the crime scene. Whoever he/she is, the Chesapeake Ripper sure is a piece of work.

And now we know why Jack keeps treating Will like fine china. Because Will is the new Miriam, and Miriam is Jack’s greatest failure. Bright young trainee with a knack for profiling. Yeah, I guess there are some similarities. Poor Jack.

The previous episode was sorely lacking in Caroline Dhavernas. Seriously, it was an episode where Jack finds out that his wife has cancer and Will thinks about quitting the FBI and nobody talks to Alana? Really?  Anyway, now she’s a more likeable/sarcastic/wonderful Clarice Starling, although not exactly.

Dr. Gideon sure ain’t no Hannibal Lecter. He’s a little off-putting, and yes, brutally murdered a nurse, but he seems kinda dumb. Or maybe just not quite all there. I…am actually not sure if I believe that this guy was a doctor.

Next we get a scene of Jack seeing Hannibal during a moment of “desperate coping.” It’s super sad, and however much I think they may be rushing the Bella’s Cancer subplot, Laurence Fishburne’s performance totally makes up for that. It even makes up for the fact that Bella is “out of town” for this episode. I said in my last Recap (like a billion years ago) that because we don’t really know Bella, it’s harder to care about how she feels about her own cancer. Since Jack is one of the main characters, it makes sense to continue giving us his perspective, but right now it feels like all that perspective doesn’t leave any room for Bella to be a fully developed character. Still, in the context of this episode, that’s a small complaint. Jack’s perceived “failure” to save his wife ties in neatly—maybe a little too neatly—with his failure to save Miriam from the Ripper.

So, unsurprisingly, the FBI has some doubts as to whether or not Dr. Gideon is the real Ripper. Because, as I said before, he seems kind of dumb. Unfortunately, the real Ripper is not dumb. He is also not happy that someone else is getting credit for his work, a feeling that he shares with the world by making spooky phone calls to Jack, using a recording of Miriam’s dying words. Now Jack is not happy either. He is sad and angry.

Sad and angry Jack still has a job to do, so he comes up with a plan to draw the Ripper out. At first I thought they were going to just leave a trail of candy leading up to one of those traps where it’s a stick holding up a cardboard box, but the Freddie Lounds thing works too. To clarify, they’re having Freddie write a “confirmed” report that Dr. Gideon is the Chesapeake Ripper. I may not be a fan of Ms. Lounds, but I did like the scene where Jack, Will, and Alana meet with her to discuss the plan.

Aha, and it worked. Hannibal reads the article on an iPad and looks pissed. Is he the Ripper? Probably. Did you see him as an iPad kind of guy? I didn’t.  Either way, Hannibal has an iPad, and the Ripper is still messing with Jack. He/she/Hannibal makes a call from inside Jack’s bedroom! And leaves Miriam’s hair and finger prints! Oh shit!

Yay, a dinner scene! I’ve never wanted to eat tongue before, but Hannibal makes it looks so good. Also, I like that he’s started reusing jokes. The tongue comes from “a particularly chatty lamb,” which is reminiscent of the “supercilious pig” from his dinner with Jack and Bella in a previous episode. Coincidence? I hope not. I like to think that they’re just having him do that because it’s a thing that real people do. But I digress. This episode’s dinner scene covered some important stuff: 80s Principal Chilton is kind of a douche, psychic driving is wrong, and I think that 80s Principal Chilton may have used it to prompt Dr. Gideon to murder the night nurse. I’ll be interested to see where that goes.

Meanwhile, or perhaps later, Jack gets another phone call, but this time it’s traceable! They go to an observatory to find the phone, and, oh my, it’s in LadyWill’s hand, which is attached to her severed arm.

The episode closes with Jack and Hannibal having a classy and emotional conversation by the fire. Oh, and the revelation that Hannibal is the Ripper and he killed LadyWill when she found out. Oh, snap!

So this Chesapeake Ripper guy is clearly meant to be a big deal. He was mentioned once before, in episode 5, but we haven’t heard much else. Because, y’know, they were doing other stuff. In “Entrée,” much time is devoted to letting us know why the Ripper is such a big bad, and I’m not sure I’m convinced just yet. To be honest, up until Hannibal’s involvement, I didn’t really care about the Chesapeake Ripper. Well, outside of him having murdered LadyWill. Although now that we know Hannibal is the Ripper I am much more interested in seeing the rest of this storyline. Not that I was tuning out before. Even when I’m not impressed by the killer-of-the-week, I still love these characters.

Speaking of characters, where the Hell is Abigail? Hey, remember that time when she killed a dude? That was in episode three. We haven’t seen her since the Webisodes/Episode 4. I want to know what she’s up to.

Recap of the Recap: Not the strongest killer-of-the-week, but a solid episode in terms of us getting to see Jack have feelings. And if you’re just watching for the disturbing violence, then I guess “Entrée” has got you covered.

What about you guys? Did the introduction of the Ripper work for you? Were you as underwhelmed by Eddie Izzard as I was? Why do you think that Hannibal did the Ripper killings? Let me know in the comments, or by engraving your thoughts on the moon.