Entrée (Hannibal)

"Entrée" is the sixth episode of Hannibal's first season, airing on NBC on May 2, 2013. The script was developed by Kai Yu Wu and series creator Bryan Fuller from a story by Wu, with direction by Michael Rymer. Though it was the seventh episode produced, it aired sixth in the broadcast order.

The plot centers on Dr. Abel Gideon, an inmate at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane who claims to be the Chesapeake Ripper. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit is skeptical of his confession. Meanwhile, the real Ripper torments Agent Jack Crawford by sending recorded messages from Miriam Lass, a missing FBI trainee.

Nielsen ratings estimated 2.61 million households watched, with a 1.1/3 share among adults 18–49. Critics praised the episode, particularly Mads Mikkelsen's performance, character development, flashback sequences, and the ending.

In the episode, Gideon murders a nurse after feigning unconsciousness. Will Graham and Crawford visit the hospital, where administrator Dr. Frederick Chilton unnerves Graham with comments about his abilities. The nurse's body is posed like a Ripper victim—a killer who has been inactive for two years, the same length of Gideon's incarceration. Dr. Alana Bloom interviews Gideon, who neither confirms nor denies being the Ripper. Crawford visits Hannibal Lecter, sharing worries about his wife's health and memories of losing Miriam two years prior. That night, Crawford receives a call from Miriam, who pleads for help before the line goes dead.

Crawford believes the Ripper used a voice recorder to torment him, as he suspects Miriam is dead. To lure the real Ripper, Crawford has tabloid journalist Freddie Lounds publicly confirm Gideon as the Ripper. Lecter reads the tabloid and is disturbed. Gideon confesses to killing Miriam, but Crawford then receives the same recorded message from his own home. At dinner, Chilton suggests he suspected Gideon all along; Lecter theorizes Chilton inadvertently planted the idea in Gideon's mind during therapy, meaning Gideon believes he is the Ripper but is not. Later, Crawford traces another call to an observatory, where he finds Miriam's phone clutched in a severed arm with a note reading "What do you see?".

Crawford tells Lecter the Ripper is using Miriam to taunt him, worsening his fears for his wife. A flashback reveals Miriam once visited Lecter to discuss a Ripper victim.