Jessica thinks she's finally got Sallinger, but errors and her and Trish's part enable him to skulk again, and Zaya shows Hogarth the footage from Malcolm's office.
Gillian wakes Jessica with a call from Costa, who says there was hair on the corpse, which he can't get out of Wappinger because of Trish, whom everyone is focused on.
He sends Jess an article with the pictures Trish posed for and explains it's causing problems for him. He admits he has other problems going on, and asks that Jess help him get the vigilante to stop. Unable to call Trish, who is busy with her show, Jess goes to the studio and waits impatiently, refusing to leave when a stagehand and Dorothy approach her. She brings up the article, but Dorothy is more concerned with her daughter's hero costume and publicity, and returns to watching the show. Jessica gets a video, and, despite complaints as they're taping, she listens as Sallinger walks through a diner and warns that someone will die because of her. She repeats it for Trish, only for it to delete itself, and Dorothy explains that, as an "InstaYap" video, you get two views and then it disappears. Jessica bemoans having humiliated Sallinger, but Trish says it's just who he is. She's certain they'll catch him, but Dorothy protests so she returns to the set. To Dorothy's surprise, however, Trish says that it's the perfect time to shop for Mother's Day, which is six months away, and introduces her mom to take over for her. Jess plans to go to Sallinger's, and asks that Trish go as herself when she looks into where and when he shot the video, explaining the cops want to question her. Jess calls Costa, who is with his husband, Russell, as they prepare to adopt a daughter from Africa. Russell dislikes how Costa takes her call, but the officer assures him it won't be a constant thing. She tells him about the video, ignoring his complaints about the timing and claim that Salinger is under heavy security, and says she's going with or without him. Malcolm arrives at work, where Zaya is showing the security footage to Hogarth, but to his surprise, it's been edited to cut out his encounter with Trish. Furious, Hogarth believes Jessica is working with people to take her down, and ignoring Malcolm's protests, orders him to slam her across social media.
Trish visits the market and asks a waiter about the people Salinger followed, pretending she wanted a guy's number.
Recognizing her, the guy believes it to be some kind of prank show, remembering an episode of "It's Patsy." He brushes her off, so she gets angry, which turns him away. She texts Jess what little she knows, as Costa approaches Jessica, begging her not to cause a ruckus by entering the apartment, where he's certain Sallinger is. Ignoring him and paparazzi, she goes upstairs, where a man similar to Salinger is in the apartment, Sallinger having paid him to stay there and watch tv. Costa wonders why Sallinger would risk this, and Jessica admits she rubbed her discovery in his face. She tells Costa to leave, so she can send Sallinger a message. Under the name "Big Time Wrassler," Jessica sends Salinger a video of herself destroying his trophy and degree displays, infuriating him. Zaya confronts Malcolm about knowing Trish and disregarding laws, but he says they don't always work and Trish is doing important work. She feels he's delving too into this, and questions if he can both be with her and still support Trish, whom she doesn't know and can't trust.
Jessica returns to her apartment, and after asking Gillian to pull up imagery of the Hudson Market, gets another video from Salinger warning of him striking at 7 pm.
Using her phone and Gillian's computer, they record the video and realize Salinger's target isn't one of the men; it's a woman with dark hair and a dark jacket, like Jess. Jess decides they need Dorothy, and as the woman dotes, they get nowhere figuring out where Salinger will strike based on his clue about where she got her start. Gillian says it's time for an interview Jess set up, and Dorothy encourages her to only answers questions she wants to, then lead things to win people's support. Though the interviewer seems polite, she corrects Jessica that Sallinger is only an alleged killer, and dislikes when she uses foul language. Jess further stokes the flames by directly accusing Sallinger of being a killer and going after the dark-haired woman, but the interviewer brings up how he was cleared of charges and accused her of harassment. Jess says she was calling him out, and the interviewer wonders if she put the woman in danger by provoking this alleged killer. She asks if this is why Jess teamed up with Trish, and if this means she's breaking the law by working with the "unhinged, violent vigilante." Finally done, Jess snarls that she should pull her head out of her butt and focus on the truth, so Dorothy steps in for a kindly ad about Alias. Dorothy chastises Jess later, saying this clip will be the focus everywhere, but commends her daughter's heroic actions. She decides they need to monetize her work, but the two leave to focus on Sallinger. Costa calls, his boss angry and scared women at the station, but she says one could be the victim and he gives her the location Sallinger was seen with his phone. After a fruitless search asking about the woman, Jess notices a building in the area for GT chemicals. It was this company's truck that her family crashed into. While Salinger gets to work, they enter the building and for some reason violently make a clerk look at the photo; he recognizes a woman, and they walk him out. As he leads them to Mona Lee, some guards arrive and order them to stop. A sort of fight ensues, but the guards recognize Jess and stop when she mentions Mona. A cluttering nearby draws their attention, so Jess and Trish go around a nearby truck, where they bump into Mona (Ellen Mah), who confirms the picture is of her. The two think they've saved Sallinger's victim, but a disastrous PR puts them in a tight spot, and Jessica figures out what Salinger's clue really meant.
This season has done an excellent job of repeatedly passing the ball from our hero's side to Sallinger's and putting the other in a tight situation.
Last time we saw Sallinger, Jessica was literally standing victorious atop him, and in a position where he was likely to be identified as a killer for sure. Just like her previous attempt, however, Sallinger has found a way to bypass the police and continue his work, even taunting Jess. It's incredibly smart to send his video the way he does, as it would've made a perfect piece of evidence to send to police. Unlike his previous time with the press, where he seems an innocent victim, he is here clearly warning Jessica that he's going to strike again because of her. Unaware the app delete's the video after a second viewing, however, Jess plays is for Trish rather than getting it to police, and she's again left with nothing. This also snares Jessica once again into his traps, as she immediately becomes fearful, heading to his apartment, and is unsure who or where he'll strike. Hogarth says at one point that Sallinger's silence is allowing Jess to weave a narrative, but Sallinger is the one controlling the media by playing Jess. In coming to his apartment when the police are watching it, Jess is giving credence to Sallinger's claim that she is harassing him. This paints a negative picture about her, especially when her interview, intended to do good, results in panic and has her acting in a rude way toward the interviewer. For a moment, the show did trick me into thinking Jess was going to succeed, since the episode title is "Camera Friendly," and Trish and Dorothy encouraged her. I actually really liked Dorothy in this moment, as although later she praises only Trish for her heroics, she truly tries to help and encourage Jessica here. It makes sense, however, that Jessica, annoyed with the interviewer's questions, repeatedly snapped at her in her typical fashion. Honestly, though, I didn't think much of the reporter, either, who was obviously taking Sallinger's side in things. A reporter is meant to be un-biased, which we assume she is doing at first because she repeatedly reminds Jessica that, according to the law, Sallinger is allegedly a killer. However, she completely tosses this out the window later, when she asks leading questions about Jessica and the masked vigilante working together. She phrases these in such a way that make it seem like they are confirmed working together, when only Sallinger says they are and Jessica says they aren't. A following question is if Jessica is breaking the law by working with Trish. Either way, yes or no, rather than stating they don't work together, is confirming they do; she'd simply be answering to the legality of them doing so. Thinking about it now, I also find it strange that the reporter says Sallinger was cleared of all murder charges he was being accused of. I remember Hogarth getting him out of jail, of course, but last time I checked, that was all, and he never had any kind of court case. What Hogarth did was declare her client's innocence, and the police had no evidence with which to keep him at the precinct. This doesn't mean he's cleared of the charges, which would mean he can't be tried for them again, but rather that he was simply released. He is still a major suspect in the case, as evidenced by the police stationed all around his apartment complex, but the reporter frames him as an exonerated victim. Both Jess and Trish stupidly cause problems for their mission again, with Trish's being her vanity shoot and Jess' being hoer she repeatedly taunts Sallinger. Trish's actions shift police focus away from the Wappinger body, causing problems for Costa and preventing him from being able to determine Sallinger's guilt. Solely because she wanted more attention, which she's now getting, however negative, Trish prevented them from being able to put Sallinger behind bars, which would've prevented his actions this episode. Jess isn't without blame, however, as her taunting Sallinger both at his class and by destroying his trophies only served to make his blood boil and his mind plan. In ways, Jessica's taunting helped, with the first time resulting in some good PR for her as she simply won their wrestling match, and the second time causing him to shout in rage and have others spot him. However, both of these moments also fueled his hatred for her and his killing intent, causing him to enact this plan that got them in a new sticky situation. To be fair to Trish, as well, she tried to help Jessica with the interview, and if her friend had listened to her, things could've gone a lot more smoothly. Trish might not make the best moves, but she knows who to play a crowd to her advantage, even using her tv skills at the start to weasel out of the show for the day. I really feel bad for Costa in this, as he's just trying to do his best and the right thing, but his powered friends keep finding new issues. He deserves to be happy with his husband and adopt a child, dang it! Malcolm's interesting is more interesting now after Zaya saved his butt, though I wonder why she did so, especially since she's against what he's doing. I'm glad Malcolm is taking stands in ways against Hogarth, and it might be for the best that he doesn't defy her right to her face. By not doing that, Malcolm is able to essentially be a spy, and know how best to combat Hogarth's sleazy actions. Hogarth has completely gone into me disliking her again, as she's now caused a man to commit suicide and is trying desperately to prove a serial killer is innocent while slandering the name of someone who has helped her in the past. Without giving too much away, this episode proved to be sad in the end, and although I dislike plenty of characters in some ways now, the actors deserve praise. What started out in Jessica's favor in the situation with Sallinger has quickly soured into a catastrophe, and things are only going to get worse.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
April 2020
Categories
All
|