Guest Star Goodness: Hannibal “Entrée” 

In “Entrée,” someone is making Jack think his former protegé Miriam – presumed dead for years – is still alive. He keeps getting calls from her, her fingerprint is found on his home phone and some of her hair is even found on his wife’s pillow. He makes the mistake of letting himself believe Miriam might still be alive so it’s particularly devastating when they find her severed arm. On top of all that, Jack is trying to deal with his wife’s diagnosis. He’s asked Hannibal to break confidentiality on their sessions, but Hannibal won’t. Jack says he does it with Will, but Hannibal reminds Jack he and Will are just talking; Will isn’t his patient.

Raul Esparza as Dr. Chilton

Dr. Chilton is one of those doctors you hope you never have to encounter. He’s a smarmy, self-important man who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. And he’s the one running the asylum. That might normally be true (although I really hope that isn’t the case), but it isn’t when he’s in the same room as Jack Crawford and Will Graham. He thinks he’s got  the Chesapeake Ripper Killer (CRK) in custody. And worse than his hubris, is his attitude towards Will. He looks at Will as if he’s some sort of trained animal who can be trotted out at parties to show all the guests his “tricks.” Even though Will is a huge topic of conversation amongst the psychiatric community, it doesn’t give Dr. Chilton any right to speak to Will the way he does. And Will isn’t all that happy to be in a psychiatric facility to begin with. He’s always afraid he’ll be left there. Jack tells him that won’t happen, but Will is still afraid it will one day.

Eddie Izzard as Dr. Gideon

Tsk tsk Dr. Gideon. Don’t you know Hannibal doesn’t like it when other people take credit for his crimes? Gideon is a local celebrity, particularly amongst Ph.D. candidates who want to interview him. He’s been behaving for the past two years, so security around him was relaxed. While the murder of his wife was impulsive, CRK is methodical. Gideon doesn’t understand why both Will and Alana interview him, and separately at that. Gideon killed the nurse. He thinks that should prove he’s CRK. But Will sees the nurse’s wound pattern as plagiarism. They determine soon enough that Gideon isn’t CRK, but how can they expose the real CRK? He’s focused on Gideon right now as his adversary. Maybe it’s time to trot out Freddie Lounds as bait.

Anna Chlumsky as Jack’s former protégé Miriam

Everything Jack saw in his young FBI agent-in-training pointed to Miriam having a huge career at the bureau. Jack puts her on a special task force after she proves insightful at profiling the person they’re dubbing CRK. She says this person is a true sociopath with no remorse or guilt. He won’t have the other markers of a sociopath, such as being a drifter with no history of trouble with the law. The Ripper wanted his victim awake while he was ripping. He removed some organs, but not all of them. What’s he doing with the organs? Were they surgical trophies? Are they looking for a doctor? A surgeon? The perpetrator is exotic somehow. Miriam makes the mistake of going to see Hannibal on her own. She asks about Jeremy Olmstead and Hannibal offers to share the journals he kept during that time. She finds a detailed drawing of what was done to Jeremy and knows she’s in trouble, but not before Hannibal sneaks up on her from behind.

While CRK wanted to disillusion Jack with hope in this case, Hannibal wants to make sure Jack doesn’t give up hope with his wife.

Hannibal airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.