Jessica and Trish find difficulty in getting Salinger arrested as they try to find Erik, and Hogarth faces hate as Lyonne's words spread.
Jessica watches as police investigate the tanker, and Costa arrives, impressed with how she took down a serial killer alone.
She gives Salinger's address, but her vague explanation that she was working a case doesn't sit with Costa, who needs more info to build his own case. She hints that he should check behind the bureau, but he says he needs a warrant first, so she leaves to drink while waiting for him to request her official statement. Jess meets with Trish in her car, with the latter adamant that they should search Salinger's apartment again, but Jess doesn't want a technicality to get him off. Trish says they could help the cops, but Jess says they've got it handled and wants to wash off the scent of dead bodies. Erik wakes in a strange room strapped to a chair, and "ruins" Salinger's shot by falling over, so the latter rights him and removes the tape from his mouth. He explains his pictures are normally taken in a home, but Erik doesn't have one and this place provides privacy. Erik is confused, so Salinger says he suffers from good looks and charm that, combined with the powers Jessica gained, rather than earned, allowed them to "cheat" and discover what he'd been doing. He nervously agrees that this is unfair, and Salinger demands to know how he found out about him. Meanwhile, Erik begins a search on "Berry" when Zaya calls. She explains Hogarth called an all-hands emergency meeting, but he angrily states he can't make it yet. At the meeting, Hogarth gives a speech about how Peter Lyonne was looking for someone to blame. She claims they won't lose more clients, urging her lawyers to do whatever needed to keep them. One-on-one with Zaya, she asks about Rand Enterprises. Zaya plans to knock on their doors, and Hogarth replies that no door can keep her out; days like this build careers.
Jessica returns home and asks Malcolm about Berry and his face; he explains what happened and says he's been searching everywhere for her.
She tells him about the container of bodies and urges him to find her since she's not safe, telling him where she works and wondering if she's with Erik. She calls Erik, but Salinger answers, pressing a throat to Erik's neck when the man tries to say where he is. She claims she'll tell him every mistake that led her to him if he says where they are, but he counters that she can either find them herself or find Erik's body parts. Flattered in a way that a superhero is after him, Salinger starts taking photos and wanting Erik to be "honest about who he is." Erik finds a screw under his taped hands. Jess returns to Salinger's apartment, where she encounters Costa and says she's changed her mind about getting involved, wanting the info he has. He reveals Salinger only had landscape photos behind his bureau, so she tells him about the eight victim pictures, but he says they found only seven bodies. With the press there, Jess offers to trade him the photos for his victim names, sure she can find the last victim if she has their name. He warns that he'll run her for obstruction, but while leaving with another cop, he drops the list for Jessica and, unbeknownst to him, Trish. Jess says Erik was able to tell her in a "commercial something" when saying where he was, and though it could be anything, they know the building has to be abandoned. She texts Malcolm, who has just found Berry and Gor. He brushes past Berry and pummels him to the ground, ignoring them when they both say she'll go. Once he finally stops, he tells Berry about Erik's position and warns "Guess who's next" before walking off, leaving her confused. Hogarth tries to see Kith at Peter's funeral, but Laurent stops her outside and tells her to go, because Kith doesn't want to see her. She claims to be different from what Peter said, and though Laurent admits his dad was apparently a liar and thief, she seems terrible, too. She offers to leave the food she brought, but he slaps it away, causing her to fall and hurt her wrist. Upset, he tries to help, but she angrily pushes away and walks off, growing upset as he tearfully cleans the mess.
Jess and Trish bicker about their mission as they return to Alias, where Dorothy is waiting, having realized Jess must be why Trish missed rehearsal.
She wants to keep quiet, but Jess insists she admit the truth, detailing Trish's powers. Dorothy doesn't believe her, so Jess pushes Trish out a window, and she lands fine. Giving them a minute, she breaks into Malcolm's, surprised to see him there and demanding to know where Berry is. He says she has to come willingly, otherwise she'll leave again, and Jess, assuming he has facial recognition software, wants an ID on the last victim. Though he dislikes her entrance, he agrees to do the search. Trish returns to the apartment and says she knew Dorothy would have a negative reaction, though her mom says it's not because of prejudice toward powered people. Apologizing for the secrecy, Trish says she and Jess can work safely as a team, but Dorothy asks what happens to her if Trish gets hurt, bringing up her hospital stay after the surgery that provided her powers, and says she didn't get a choice. Trish snaps that she never got a choice either, reminding her of how she used to abuse her and pimp her out and saying she can now save other little girls. Finally realizing all the damage she's done, Dorothy turns and walks out, upset to have lost Trish again after having seemingly gotten her back. Jess waits impatiently for the search to finish, and asks Malcolm what happened to him, explaining Erik's abilities. Scoffing at her questions, he claims he grew up. The search determined the last victim is Caspar Marx, a chef, and Jessica, seemingly realizing something, rushes to the door where Berry is waiting. The woman asks about Erik and says how being near bad people makes him sick, and Jessica assures her they're going to save him. As Erik works on cutting the tape on his hands, Salinger becomes frustrated that he's not admitting his true faults, resulting in bad pictures, so he cuts him. Erik gets him to talk about his past, in which his dad preferred his brother Donny, with the two of them laughing at his victory in a photography contest. He thought things would improve when Donny died, but his dad wished it had been him, and stabbed him in the chest at Donny's funeral. Salinger states Erik is going to die and gets close, causing Erik to recoil. He asks why, and Erik claims he has a headache from not having eaten. Salinger realizes this isn't true and touches Erik, causing massive pain as his nose starts bleeding. He presses his head to Erik's, demanding to know what's happening. With even his eyes bleeding now, Erik admits he can see the blackness in Salinger, saying he's barely human. Salinger again calls Erik a cheater for his ability. As Jessica rushes to Marx to try locating Salinger, Erik makes his move, and Hogarth gets a surprise visit that leaves her in a tight spot.
Boy, things have certainly ramped up since the group discovered Salinger's photos, and yet he's still in a perfect position.
In regards to the police search alone, there's nothing to cause problems for him, since he was able to take precautions after discovering Jess and Trish followed him. To them, he's just a smart guy who has a secret album of landscapes, and while hiding that is strange, it's not a crime. Jess and Trish have photos of his apartment and the photos, but even then, this just proves they invaded his home and nothing about if the pictures were his. Without him there, they don't even have their suspect, which gives him time to plan as he deals with Erik. With these being a frustrating case for Jess and Trish, I'm enjoying their union but coming to find the interactions obnoxious at times, and Trish is less likable. Trish is trying to stay positive, which is something Jess needs in her life and more something you'd expect from superheroes. At the same time, she's impatient and constantly going right to the most violent methods that will only get them in trouble. It seems strange in a way for me to bring this up because I just recently talked about how I enjoyed Hopper's "interrogation" of Kline in Stranger Things. However, that is the sort of thing that fits better with his character, and he's not concerned with getting someone arrested. In his case, Hopper is trying to get information and keep everyone safe, regardless of what happens to him, and the thing in his path is corrupt anyway. Then we look at Trish, who has constantly tried to act like she knows what's right and chastised Jessica if her methods were non-traditional. She acts like she wants to do everything by the books, then refuses to be patient and let some things take their course like they have to. She doesn't seem to understand any laws surrounding the situations she finds herself in, like how she'd be assaulting someone and their pictures can't be used as evidence, since they were illegally gained. The minute she finds out about an obstacle with what they're doing dealing with good cops, she wants to muscle her way through. There's also a hypocritical moment late in the episode, when they find out a tough choice for someone to take down Salinger. Trish had already seemed hypocritical to me for moments this season, but this was one of the biggest because she pulled the classic "I'd do it if it were me." This is something that has annoyed me for a long time because people like to say they'd be grand heroes in terrible situations they have no understanding of. Back when I was in high school, I read "The Kite Runner" for a class, and a massive part of this book is that the main character sees his friend get raped and freezes in fear. I still remember everyone in my class, a room full of 11th-graders, tearing into the main character, who is a young boy at this point of the story, saying they would help their friend no matter the cost in such a situation. Well, of course, right! It makes more sense that a young, scrawny boy should rush in with fists of fury when he sees three boys, one of whom has brass knuckles and is known for biting off part of another kid's ear, are raping his friend. It's easy to sit outside a situation and immediately call someone a coward; you have to really consider all the details and who the people are. I feel like Trish doesn't do this enough, because she's so convinced she knows what's right. It's like the crappy mindset Daenerys got in the disastrous final season of GoT. Her interactions with Jessica can be confusing as well, more because of Jessica, like in this episode when she forces her to tell Dorothy the truth. Just last episode, she made Trish leave the dump site when the cops arrived, because she said they needed to keep Trish's anonymity. Now, she suddenly wants her to tell the annoying blabber mouth Dorothy, though I get the feeling this is one thing Dorothy won't try to milk for celebrity. That was my initial feeling, but Dorothy does seem truthfully afraid her daughter will be hurt, even though she was a horrid piece of crap when Trish was growing up. At the same time, I feel like Dorothy could just end up being obnoxious toward them about this, especially since she loathes Jessica and they're teaming up. One thing I do like in this episode is how Malcolm is finally facing consequences for his actions and feeling more guilty. Jessica explained Erik's power slightly to him, but didn't go into detail how he was a low number on the scale, which makes sense given his role in things. Much like Trish, however, he's definitely changing, becoming more aggressive as his fears about what he's doing get to him. When he goes after Gor, his point is less about convincing Berry to return as much as it is that he wanted to teach Gor a lesson. He brutally beats the man even after both he and Berry have told him to stop, and he tells her about Erik as he walks off. He tells Jessica that Berry needed to want to come back, but he didn't seem too concerned with her right then. He was guilty about helping people like the rich drunk driver, but now he's been part of something that led a man to suicide, and he probably fears repercussions, too. Peter Lyonne wasn't a great guy, but they still did something sleazy that led to his death and a lot of pain for the people around him. Even Hogarth seems to be feeling this after her encounter with Laurent, seeming upset as she walks away and he cleans up. This altercation will also have to show up in the future, because Hogarth was just recently told she can't risk a fall right now. Alone at home, this is partially an issue of how she could fall and be unable to call for help, but in general, her weakening body can't take damage. For now, it's just her wrist, but there's no telling what could happen to her next. There were quite a few issues with the scenes of Salinger torturing Erik, both production-wise and when it comes to stereotypical villains. For production, the issue comes when Salinger, dissatisfied with Erik's claims, walks over and slashes him with a butcher knife. This is obviously a moment where a sound had to be put in, and it's pretty jarring because of a strange silence at the slash. When Salinger slices Erik's chest, it sounds like all sound disappears except for the metallic slashing sound, then it's on to Erik groaning in pain. I don't know what would cause this, but it's strange because Erik is protesting the action as it happens, then he stops, and there seems to be no sound from anything as the slice occurs. In terms of the writing, it's partially from how Erik gets Salinger to monologue, especially since the killer knows that's what he wants. He doesn't know of course that Erik is cutting through the tape on his wrists, and believes he just wants to live longer, but it's strange. He refuses to share any details about himself at first, when Erik asks about his brother, then immediately says his name and talks about his relationships. I understand if he wants to explain what he means in comparing Erik to Donny, but he goes on and on about what happened between him and his family. Then there's the amateur mistake. Why in the world did Sallinger restrain Erik on a chair that can cut the tape, and why did he tie him in a way he could do this? You would think that if Salinger has been killing for over a decade, he'd be able to tape someone well enough that they aren't able to move anything. He's working on a time crunch right now in a place he didn't want, but I would think he'd come up with something better, and I'm surprised he didn't discover Erik's actions when he tortures him by touch. As a whole, this series has had lots of issues for me, but it's also got a lot of shining moments, and I'm hopeful that things will get better as the chase continues.
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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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