It's time to rewind the clock a bit to see what Trish was up to while Jessica made the hard decision to save her by following Salinger's order.
Trish tells the funeral attendees about a time her mom pushed her harshly to get a role, as they were running out of money.
This ends with her saying she'll do it for Dorothy, and we see her repeat this in her point of view discovering Dorothy's body, before she forces her way into Sallinger's. After blankly sitting through Jess cleaning her up and Hogarth's declaration, Trish recalls the audition from her childhood; Dorothy got the EP Devlin Hoskin's (Harry Smith) attention by having her wear a red wig despite the character being blonde. She wakes to the sounds of domestic abuse next door, and after Malcolm's visit, she begins banging on the wall. This brings over the violent man she was hearing, and after he says the woman "got what she deserved," she beats the man, leaving him helpless on the ground. When Trish later refuses Erik's apology, he goes out and makes a call for "any game," and after learning what Jess did, she visits Sallinger at the hospital. She claims to not be afraid of going to jail for killing him, but he says the cops will shoot her, and reveals he left his most recent "work" in an obvious place. Trish convinces the cop outside Dorothy's apartment to let her in, and looks through a photo album marked "It's Patsy!" After remembering her mom violently demanding she take a sleazy action to get the role that another girl got, she discovers Sallinger's photo of Dorothy in an album. Doorman Omar (Nick Freni) offers his condolences and says sitting idly by while evil is out there is the devil's work, and she heads to Erik's apartment. Though he says he's reconsidering his blackmail business, she suggests he give her info on bad people so she can then take them down. She learns about Nussbaumer, and although he says the evidence and witnesses he has aren't good enough to put the man away, she has an idea that leads us to the attack we ended last episode with.
I like the way this episode, like "AKA You're Welcome," takes us back to see exactly how Trish's actions met up with Jessica's.
The end of last episode left me with a few misconceptions about Trish's actions, and how Erik was able to seemingly discover her attacking the man. What it seemed to me was that Trish had murdered Nussbaumer and was willing to let blame fall on Jessica, which seemed a terrible thing for her to do. This episode sheds light on what really happened, though, and we see things are a lot more complicated than they initially seemed. After attacking Salinger, Trish seemed to simply be in an angry daze, dealing with her grief and the repercussions of her actions. Malcolm's arrival in the previous episode made it seem like she was simply stressed, so the yelling next-door was irritating her. Thanks to this episode, however, we see she was actually angry about the abusive man, and after beating him, she goes into the exercise we saw. Something I found interesting was that, after essentially getting her resolve back, Trish takes a similar trip to what Jessica did around the same time. Like Jessica, Trish visits Salinger, and despite the danger they pose, he's able to use his intelligence with both of them to continue his manipulations. Jessica was able to show she could get him alone, but he was able to get her thinking about Trish, especially after revealing the photo of her. Jess is therefore a nullified threat, as he is able to force her to delete the evidence, and I feel like Trish is more of a wildcard he doesn't yet understand. Salinger's game is often to goad the two into making angry mistakes, but he doesn't realize that Trish is starting to use her anger a lot more than Jessica does. She admits her reckless uncaring for the police around, and he still thinks he's in control, but sends her to find his picture of Dorothy. Considering what Trish did to him just after finding Dorothy, and that her comic counterpart is named Hellcat, Salinger is really poking a bear right now. After this point comes the spoilers, so check on out if you'd prefer to just watch the episode not knowing what else happens.
Erik's involvement in the investigation into Jessica is one of the things I found most interesting with this episode, because I didn't think he was part of it.
From Jessica's point of view, it started appearing like Trish was simply taking things into her own hands and murdering people she deemed bad enough. Of course now that I think about it, Trish couldn't have known about Nussbaumer unless Erik or Jessica told her, and we know Jessica wouldn't. Trish killing Nussbaumer was a part of something I've mentioned quite a few times, even in this post, which is that Trish is starting to act the way she feared Jessica would. Similar to Jessica's mom, Trish is really starting to struggle with her rage, going too far because Nussbaumer, and later the building owner, briefly appeared as Salinger. So overcome with anger, Trish can only think about what she wants to do to Salinger, which leads her to going too far and putting them in worse situations. Worse than that, however, is that Erik's own power is starting to make her think that it's actually okay she lost control and killed these two. After both men's deaths, Erik comments on the fact his headache immediately got better, at one point saying it's like the world got lighter. To Trish, this is verification that what she's doing is the right thing, as the world is a brighter place thanks to her actions. Moments of her auditioning for the eventual It's Patsy! role are weaved throughout this episode, as a way of explaining how she could get to this point. Jessica said herself that Dorothy made Trish the way she is, and as an impressionable child, Trish was told she needed to use her gifts to help the world. Failing to do so caused her to receive punishment, and eventually she decided she would "do it for Dorothy," which is now her goal again. This is something I wished had been done better in Game of Thrones with Daenerys: Trish isn't turning on a dime here; the killings are accidental, but the groundwork is truly there for her to think she's doing good and avenging Dorothy. Using Erik's powers, Trish knows for sure her targets have done something terrible, but a problem is they could eventually reach a point that anyone registering on his scale could be deemed a major criminal in her mind. We've already seen Trish relish in her abilities and the attention she gets, so now that she thinks she's in the right, it's going to her head. A small aspect of this I really enjoyed was that at the end, when Trish goes off to handle things, we hear a ringing and see Erik press his hand to his head. This is a small, yet noticeable sign that Trish herself is starting to register on Erik's scale, going darker and darker on her crusade. Fitting this darker path is how Hogarth has finally approached her for a request, and we don't yet know how Trish will respond in the end. Trish has a deep dislike for Hogarth, who enables criminals, but if she thinks she's doing something for a good enough reason, she might take dark actions herself.
I wonder now how Trish and Jessica's relationship is going to change, especially because of Trish's desire to both gain attention and protect Jess.
Ever since developing her powers, Trish's good nature has had her deciding she could take on the heroics while Jess could take a step out of public attention. We've seen that certainly, this is for Jessica's wellbeing, but often times only causes problems for sisters, like it is with the cops after her. Trish has good intentions, believing Jess might be happier in some way if she doesn't constantly have the cops breathing down her neck. The problem with this, however, is Trish is rather reckless, and her actions have only made it more difficult for Jess as the cops pay her more attention than the vigilante. In this regard, it's possible Trish could actually start to resent Jessica over time, because people see everything happen and care more about Jessica. Perhaps this is because the public knows Jess; they can put a face on her actions and know things she's been involved in before, but don't know Trish. This leaves Trish in a frustrating position, because she took on her masked identity so people couldn't retaliate against her, like the phone mugger she caught. Though she's protected in this regard, the frustration comes in that she clearly wants fame and recognition for her actions, ever the celebrity she is. The key moment that showed this was when Trish literally set up a photoshoot for herself, leaping from a high spot for a journalist to snap pictures. Trish has expressed irritation at how it seems she's not able to make a real difference, and this feeling could be compounded if Jess, a person who doesn't even want the attentions he gets, continues receiving credit, good or bad, for Trish's actions. We learned in this episode she didn't intend to frame Jess for Nussbaumer's death, as I previously thought, but she and Erik are forced to get her arrested to keep her off their trail, and I wonder how she really felt about this. At the very least, regardless of if she felt some kind of sick pleasure in the moment, getting one over on Jess, her sister will feel betrayed if she learns what happened. This is another moment where Trish was doing something for Jessica, but the latter will likely still have a negative reaction to the whole situation.
I haven't been the biggest fan of Trish's character, but I like the direction she's going now as she starts taking darker and darker actions.
Unlike Daenerys Targaryen, who suddenly turned around from everything she said and thought in the past, Trish's actions here have basis. We've seen peltny of times that Trish felt helpless and wanted to do something to take on those who prey on the weak, and now she has a chance. As we see this episode, Dorothy's abusive child-rearing gave Trish a dangerous mindset that she needs to go on this crusade she's planning, and her mother's death has enhanced this message and pushed her over the edge. Seeing the flip-side of what we got in the previous episode, we learn all about what led Trish to killing Nussbaumer and how she planned to clear Jessica's name. The problem here is that Salinger is still a threat, and now the cops after Jess are an additional issue, with potential evidence to send her to prison. Each action Trish takes seems to only cause more problems, and her idea to exonerate Jess has potential, but these cops aren't likely to give up easily.
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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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