I guess the main lesson we have learned from my blog (2009-present) is that I shouldn’t be making promises on it, because I almost always never follow through. It’s probably a bit like reverse-promising. I should write what I don’t want to happen as something I’m “meaning to do,” and maybe it won’t plague my life. Ahem.
So, recaps: in the middle of writing the first one, I realized how pointless and boring it probably was to retell everything that was happening in the episode, as though the reader hadn’t already seen it anyway. Long story short, I didn’t really want to carry on, as dramatic as that probably sounds. I took notes as I watched anyway, and I felt myself recognizing themes and patterns. Which, that’s is great because that was one of my goals when I endeavored to do this anyway.
Even though this has perhaps fooled you all into thinking that I’ve only been watching one show, which is the biggest lie of all. I don’t know why I picked Jessica Jones as my recap experiment, but this is what you shall get.
AKA Crush Syndrome
Okay, so it’s been a while since I saw the second episode, and my notes are usually just a bunch of dialogue I like, but if I’m not mistaken, “AKA Crush Syndrome” opens with an incarcerated Hope Shlottman being a lil bitch to Jessica Jones. “You should kill yourself,” she says, blaming Jessica for not making sure that Kilgrave was dead before leaving him… to die. “Probably,” Jessica says, in her breezy way. “But I’m the only one who knows you’re innocent.” Touché, you ingrate. Look, I know that Hope must feel really shitty, but blaming Jessica—the sole person trying to help your sorry ass get outta jail—is probably not in your best interest.
Then we get a truly heartbreaking scene with Trish who asks Jessica to move back in with her. “I’m life-threatening, Trish. Please steer clear from me.” Trish, the best best friend anyone could ever ask for says, “I don’t do that.” To which Jessica replies, “Please. I can’t risk you.” The good thing is that Jessica seems to at least be letting Trish back into her life by letting her know what’s up.
Luke Cage gets caught in a complicated web of Hope Shlottman’s case where the Detective Clemons (who is in charge of Hope’s case) discovers photos creep photos Jessica took of Luke, somehow indirectly implicating him. When they investigate/interrogate him, Jessica has to intervene and make up a lie re: the woman he was sleeping with. Jessica claims that she was hired by said woman’s husband to look into her extramarital affairs (she didn’t) so Luke tries to get to the bottom of things. He’s still mad at Jessica, though. “I stay away from complications,” he says.
In one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen (great humor here, folks), Jessica storms up to her noisy neighbors’ apartment and chances upon what looks to be like a domestic altercation of the kinky kind. It turns out that the culprits are twins, Robyn and Ruben. Robyn is a shrill, kinda paranoid, hippie tiny person, and Ruben is her creepy-sweet man-child giant of a brother. After a little bit of physical threat, Jessica leaves a confused pair as she shouts “Self-respect! Get some.” Sound advice for everyone, if you ask me.
Jessica investigates the circumstances of the mysterious bus crash, and goes looking for the ambulance driver that picked up Kilgrave’s body. She goes to a garage where she’s told, “Rude girl is a lonely girl.”
“Counting on it,” she says in reply, and honestly: me, too.
On the way to see the ambulance driver, she gets a bout of PTSD in the subway train and punches a window. When she arrives at his place of residence, she’s greeted by the driver’s mother, who has been taking care of him since he donated both fucken kidneys to Kilgrave. To Jessica’s surprise, he’s hooked to a machine, though perfectly lucid. When Jessica looks for confirmation that Kilgrave was responsible for this mess, she gets a “Kill me” instead. She leaves in haste and looks for the doctor who hooked him up to the machine.
She finds him, and he turns out to be the doctor who operated on Kilgrave. Jessica learns that Kilgrave STAYED THE FUCK AWAKE during his surgery and the doctor, who agrees to testify to help in the Shlottman case, reveals that Kilgrave probably doesn’t want to go under. Jessica connects the dots and deduces that surgical anesthesia knocks him out well enough to render him powerless.
Meanwhile, we learn that Trish has been taking self-defense lessons so she can be with Jessica and take care of herself without being another defenseless thing that Jessica feels like she has to protect. Somewhere down the line, we see a Luke/Jessica reunion in the form of a bar brawl (scorned husband of pleased cheating wife turns up for revenge) where they both see their supernatural powers, and Hogarth learns via Hope that Jessica was once under Kilgrave’s control as well. We see the heightened crushing of Jessica towards Luke (and his crush-ing strength) and also Kilgrave’s towards Jessica—that it’s not just about revenge, but a sick want to have his love be reciprocated by her.
I’m gonna close with a line by Jessica: “My greatest weakness: occasionally, I give a damn. And Kilgrave knows it. But now I know his.”
DUN DUN DUN.
AKA It’s Called Whiskey
This episode opens with Ruben being a little creep, and segues into Luke and Jessica bonding over their superpowers on a post-coital snack run. “Being a hero just puts a target on your back,” which is a great line and also something I would probably think had I been gifted with anything superhuman.
Here’s a nice piece of Jessica-affirmation from Luke, too:
“Good?”
“Not near enough to cancel the bad.”
“The way I see it, everyone has both going on. It just depends on what wins out that day.”
That’s some black wolf/white wolf shit right there, and I’m here for it.
“Even if you could prove it, would people forgive what you actually did? Would you forgive yourself?” Jessica asks this in light of how Hope’s case is being framed by the media and perceived by everyone. The general public doesn’t believe her which makes Jessica nervous and all the more determined to prove that Hope is innocent, that killing her parents under Kilgrave’s control was not her fault. Does this sureness of Hope’s innocence absolve her of her own guilt or is it a thing that is wholly separate?
OKAY, so this episode is the first time (based on my recollection…) that “Hell’s Kitchen” is mentioned. Where the hell are Foggy and Matt? This feels like an oversight that there are very little overlaps with the narrative of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, but I guess the timeline hasn’t really been specified, so IDK. I just miss them.
Jessica is shameless and asks Wendy, Hogarth’s wife who she is divorcing, for some surgical anesthesia. Predictably, she says no. She does, however, give her a prescription for delusions, which LOL. “You’re a good person, Jessica Jones,” Malcolm says after she saves him from some altercation with a loser. And then she uses his drugged up self as a distraction so she can filch the drugs she needed from the hospital.
In a move that ends up kicking them in the ass, Trish goes off-script on her radio talk show. What was meant to shed light on the hopelessness of Hope’s situation and perhaps gain her a bit more public sympathy, turns into Trish’s personal assassination of Kilgrave’s character. Kilgrave calls and threatens her safety, and in a rush to get back home safely, Trish ends up assaulting a creepy fan.
Although she lives with more security than anyone probably needs, Trish felt morally obliged to open the door to a cop who was there to investigate the fan’s complaint of assault, even though she 100% suspected that the cop was acting under Kilgrave’s instruction. Although she had been preparing, physically and mentally, for this type of physical attack, she was no match for the cop (Will Simpson, apparently) whose instruction was to make sure that Trish was dead. This scene was a really good display of Kilgrave’s powers because Simpson was unstoppable, but when Jessica shows up at the scene and makes it seem like Trish had died (using her illegally procured drugs), Simpson simply walks away because he was told not to touch her.
She follows the cop and is led to Kilgrave’s lair. Seeing him triggered a memory which reveals that SHE FUCKING KILLED REVA CONNORS, AKA LUKE CAGE’S DECEASED WIFE. Under Kilgrave’s instruction, but still! How fucked up is that?
Kilgrave, not knowing that Jessica was within hearing distance, commands Simpson to walk off the ledge of the building. Which, of course, Jessica feels compelled to stop, ultimately revealing herself to Kilgrave. He flees and although Jessica takes off after him, she is stopped by many, many people he has under his control. She is ultimately led into a final room with a creepy printer that endlessly prints out stalker-pap pictures of her, the room papered with her unsuspecting face.
PHEW. This was a lot. My questions are:
- Why did Reva’s death make her impervious to his commands?
- Why is Hope such a little turd to Jessica Jones?
- How many people can Kilgrave control at a time?
- What “accident” was it that made Jessica the way she is?
Disclaimers: I have seen until episode 8, “AKA WWJD?” I cannot watch more than 3 episodes at a time. I’m not sure how I can sustain this, but I sure am glad I picked a series with only 13 episodes. Images are from MCU’s Wikia because I only have a webrip, embarrassing.