Jessica rushes to protect and Sallinger from Trish, who has gone on the warpath, while still looking for the key to sending him to prison.
Jessica goes free after learning Nussbaumer's true killer has been determined, and she gives nothing when Imada requests her help bringing in the vigilante.
She instead returns home, where she discovers Erik and berates him for helping Trish, and he explains both what happened and how, despite his headache lifting, Trish has started registering on it. Knowing Trish will get darker if she kills Sallinger, Jess rushes to the hospital as he's trying to leave and Trish appears to beat him. Jess protects Sallinger as they run, arguing with Trish, who compares the situation to Killgrave's death. After reaching the roof, Jess hurls Trish to another building. She takes Sallinger to Hogarth, who refuses to provide protection, and Sallinger decides to walk home, assuring Jessica that Trish will kill him. Hogarth reveals she knows about Trish and the request she made, wondering if she should worry, but Jessica coldly says she doesn't fit Trish's profile and leaves. Erik goes to Malcolm, surprised to find Brianna living there, requesting his reluctant help with their plan to stop Trish. Jessica watches over Sallinger at his apartment, and with Trish watching, roughly handles him and smashes his worm farm, which contains a camera she crushes. Malcolm and Erik sneak up on and taze Trish, and she wakes the next day in her own apartment, chained to a support beam with Malcolm guarding her. He scolds her for her violent actions, and though she claims she's just balancing the scales, he asks if she ever misses the person she used to be. Jess and Erik meet at a bar where she hopes their "upward swing" will continue, only to get a surprise visit when she returns to Alias.
Trish has gone into a pretty unnerving personality that I actually enjoy now that we've gotten a peak into how Dorothy raised her.
She seems unaware of it, but the things she says about how she can handle the burden of killing criminals show the degradation of her mind. In Trish's mind, she simply sounds impassioned as she tries to convince Jess of her methods in the hospital scene, but what we see is very different. From a dialogue standpoint, we get quite a bit just from how she normalizes what she's doing, but as this is a show, there's the visual aspect. Jess, as always, maintains her poker face, but Trish, making her plea, has creepy, wide eyes, which Rachael Taylor does well to show a sort of mental snapping. By combining these words with such an unnatural face, the feeling Taylor gives off is an unnerving, cold sensation from Trish as she talks about murdering people. I think Trish at this point feels misunderstood, as she tells Malcolm that she, just like he, has a lot to make up for, which is why she's doing this. He believes she's acting as judge, jury, and executioner, but she argues that she's just balancing the scales, and in a way I'm reminded of Misty Knight of Luke Cage. Misty never goes as far as Trish does of course, but they each faced a similar issue as they came to the conclusion there are some people the justice system can't touch. Misty's decision was to go from being an actual police detective to a more classic idea of detective, taking down criminals by pushing the law's boundaries. This is likely due to her position and personality teaching her about the law and a kind of ethical standard she sets for herself despite her disillusionment. Trish, on the other hand, doesn't have this exact ethical code, and especially since she's been on the receiving end of unpunished criminals, she goes further. Erik has continued to stress that despite her actions being accidental, each time caused him to feel as if the world was lighter, which egged her on. She now believes more than ever that she's right, which means that Jess, who despite her cynical nature has the tiniest flickers of hope at all times, will be a fool for taking the high road as she tries to save her sister.
It's strange to think, but considering how negative Jess is about everything, but she has the slightest hope that Trish can come back,
Just like how Trish has her argument with Malcolm, Jess first debates Sallinger, who is certain that Trish will come kill him if she isn't stopped. Jess is looking for any option to keep Sallinger safe that keeps Trish safe as well, going to Hogarth with hopes she can keep him in a safe house. The minute Hogarth turns this down, she suggests he instead stay at the lawyer's own apartment, and this of course fails as well. Sallinger, with a more realistic mindset, points out that Trish will never stop, and no matter what he tries, he'll find himself face-to-face with her. The moment where Jess breaks his worm farm, one might think for a second she's coming to see things Trish's way, which is what her sister believes. From outside, Trish only sees Jess shoving Sallinger around and lift his tank, and urges her to end him like she's trying to do. Of course in reality, Jess has simply realized this is the location of Sallinger's camera, which is also a sign she hasn't given up on sending him to prison. She claims to have evidence on him, but at this point we can assume this is little more than a bluff to keep him in the game of chess they're playing. All the while, she's juggling keeping Trish at bay, simultaneously planning to take him down and stop Trish from advancing. First comes the most pacifist method she can take when they're running, when she flings Trish from one roof to another. Although this would of course be horrific normally, she knows Trish can survive this, and her reasoning is that Trish can't jump as far as she can. Lacking Jessica's immense strength, Trish is unable to manage the same feats as Jess, and if she can't jump as far, they have time to get away.
--------------------SPOILERS FROM HERE ON--------------------
It naturally turns out that Jessica's claims were indeed a bluff, but she had a plan to get the exact evidence she needed to send Sallinger away.
At his apartment, Jess says he could get the truth of her claim if only he could get her in one of his photographic murder sessions. After returning to her apartment, she takes a drink, only to black out as he enters, calling her predictable and later waking strapped to a chair. He says his sedative contained a paralyzing agent that will keep her there, and eventually finds the photo he believes captures her "truth." Seeming shaken at first, Jess starts laughing at him as he brandishes his knife, and questions his claim that her murders cheaters and liars of the world if he killed Dorothy, who despite her faults, was honest about who she was. He finally blurts that he killed Dorothy to teach them a lesson, and she reveals she has a camera and was pretending to be paralyzed. After she knocks down Sallinger, Jess brings in Erik, who was recording everything, and they leave Sallinger tied up while they head to his apartment. There, they find his server to destroy the evidence of Trish, and she calls Costa, who finds Sallinger at her apartment with a loop of him admitting what he did. This is such an excellent scene, both because it's a massive checkmate on Sallinger and because it justifies some of Jessica's hope. Sallinger, who prides himself on his intelligence and has repeatedly gotten the best of the heroes thanks to his cameras, got so angry he gave her exactly what he needed. This is a sign of what Jess has learned about him over the season, as she learned quite some time ago that hammering away at his ego can get him furious. The first time, she embarrassed him in front of others by winning in a wrestling match, and here, she goads him into a confession. She's learned how to push Sallinger's buttons, a way to trick him into thinking he's got the upper hand, and how to get the truth in an admissible way. Of course the problem is, Jessica's hopes about Sallinger were right, but there's still the issue of Trish, who has already lost faith in their prison plans.
Trish initially seems calm after Jess tells her they succeeded in getting Sallinger, but like Jessica says, the situation still isn't satisfying.
It's completely understandable for them to want Sallinger dead in this situation, and that feels like the only satisfying way to take them down. When you think of it from the victim's/griever's perspective, there are still people dead, and the criminal gets to keep living, even if imprisoned. Jess should've kept this in mind and kept an eye on Trish, but believes everything is over, even when Sallinger gives her a call from prison. Trish was ever going to be satisfied with this, and has another experience that makes her think she's doing the right thing. Dazed after Sallinger's defeat, she returns to work, where her coworker shares the same frustration in thinking Sallinger should get the death penalty. She backtracks soon after, believing Trish shouldn't hear such a thing at this time, but Trish replies that "I can handle it." At face value, this is just her saying she can handle hearing this after losing her mom, but also interpret this as her saying she can handle Sallinger herself. This is of course what she does, heading to the prison where guards are currently transporting Sallinger. After incapacitating the guards, Trish is able to get Sallinger into an elevator alone and beats him, finishing him with a kick to the head. Unfortunately for Hogarth, she's the one who, while travelling through the prison, discovers his body, and lets out a piercing scream. We don't see Trish anymore as this completes the episode, which left me wondering what she is feeling and thinking now. Erik claims she was able to do the things she did because she closed off a part of herself, which prevented her from registering higher on his scale. After talking to Malcolm, however, she honestly seems to feel some kind of regret for what's happening, as if it's hitting her more. She tells him how it wasn't intentional that she killed the men she did, and says that even if she could find the person she used to be, she's not sure she wants to while people like Sallinger are out there, she's not sure she wants to. It's nice how the show, even if we know she's going bad, the writers are continuing to make it a slope showing how she's reaching her mindset. Despite being so sure what she's doing is right, she's still struggling in a way with the kind of person she's becoming to do it. Her claim that she can just handle the burden of killing people makes me think she's aware it's not exactly good what she's doing, but just that she's willing to take it.
With only one episode left, not too much can happen, but there's a massive confrontation coming between Jessica and Trish.
No matter how much Jess loves her sister, this has got to be a point she realizes she's going to have to do something to take care of her. Much like how Trish's situation was comparable to Misty before, I'd say Jessica's issue is like Danny Rand's in Iron Fist. There of course, Danny's "brother" was the villain, who took extreme measures to do what he though was right, just like Trish is doing. Jess is therefore in a dilemma, as she doesn't want to kill or arrest Trish, and knows she has good intentions, but she's taking drastic measures. Even if she means well, Trish is a danger to everyone, and might start taking down people for smaller offenses. Malcolm sort of brings this up while arguing with her, as he judges her actions, and she brings up what he did for Hogarth. He admits he's done bad, but asks if this means he deserves death. She says it's different, but this might not always be her mindset. Now that Trish who was already in the cops' sights, has killed Sallinger, Jessica will have to choose how best to handle her power-crazy sister.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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