Jessica Jones has returned with her second season, where she is forced to patch together the past she's been trying so hard to keep forgotten.
Jessica seems to still be dealing with the end of the Defenders season 1, where Daredevil seemingly sacrificed himself to save New York. More damaging to her, however, is the death of Killgrave, the Purple Man, at the end of her own first season. For a reminder or anyone not too into Jessica Jones, Jebediah Killgrave is a villain with the power to make anyone do whatever he wants, simply by commanding it. Killgrave kept Jessica as a sort of mental slave for years in a "relationship," where he forced her to do horrific things with her powers, and at times evidently raped her. Miraculously, after years of this living Hell, Jessica found herself immune to Killgrave's powers, and when he attempted to make her stay, a vehicle hit him. In the previous season, Killgrave returned, attempting to get Jessica back by pretending his powers still worked on her and that he honestly cared about her. In the end, he got together a mob of people, including Jessica's adoptive sister Trish, in an attempt to win her back, and, after pretending his powers had become strong enough to affect her again, she snapped his neck. Jessica is struggling to deal with this, seeing herself as a murderer, and becoming enraged when anyone calls her a superhero or vigilante. Early in the episode, she shows a woman that a worker of hers, who seems to also have been her boyfriend, was cheating while working. In response, she demands that Jessica kill him, so Jessica tells him about the request and turns the woman down. The woman, angered, asks why this isn't okay when Jessica killed a man just for wronging her, so Jessica flies into a rage, threatening the woman, before saying she isn't a killer and leaving with a pizza. Trish, meanwhile, is performing as her old famous persona, Patsy, at a child's birthday, to get medical documents on Jessica's hospital stay after her family's accident. Trish takes the files to Jessica, and tells her there are days missing from the file, as it shows a 20-day gap between entering and being given a room. Jessica, however, refuses to look into the situation, as she still wants to repress her past with alcohol, and she leaves. The next day, Jessica sits through multiple disastrous requests from potential customers, including a young man who claims people are trying to kill him because of his super speed. Jessica, naturally, doesn't believe him, and is set on not going with any of the applicants, when Pryce Cheng, a rival PI, shows up. He offers to buy Jessica's PI service, and when she refuses, he threatens that he is powerful enough to put her out of business. Jessica follows Cheng, showing her powers to new tenants along the way, but Cheng spots her later, taking pictures of him. The episode heads to Jeri Hogarth, accepting an award revealed to have essentially been bought, in an effort to restore her reputation. Hogarth's former assistant, whom she slept with, is suing her, and even her lawyers's reputations are suffering as a result. Over with Trish, the radio show "Trish Talk" is suffering as a result of no heroics going on, so she decides to convince Jessica again. Trish heads to Jessica's place with her family's ashes, only for Jessica to angrily rebuff her, saying she will cut Trish out of her life if need be. The next day, Jessica gets another visit from "Whizzer," Mr. Speedy, again turning him down before discovering Cheng is indeed taking her business. In retaliation, Jessica finds the dog of Cheng's friend, at the friend's ex's house, where Cheng had previously been but refused entry to. Jessica gives the man her card, saying she can go where Cheng can't, and Cheng soon begins provoking her. After Jessica throws him, Cheng pulls out his tazer, and as is is ineffective, Jessica is able to throw him into the hallway, becoming angrier after his taunting. Security arrives as Jessica realizes what she's doing, she leaves with security, and Trish has to bail her out. Trish, who has been followed throughout the episode, sees Will Simpson as she and her boyfriend, Griffin Sinclair, are leaving. In season 1, Simpson was a cop whom Killgrave almost had commit suicide after using him, and Simpson devoted himself to tracking him down. After Jessica and Trish spurned him, he rejoined a military experiment that provided him with pills, which, though increasing his strength, make him volatile. Back with Hogarth, Cheng is demanding her help in suing Jessica, and Hogarth agrees, and later gets negative news from a doctor about a health problem. Jessica has another run-in with Whizzer, who says "they" are giving him medication to suppress his powers, and are trying to kill him and others like him and Jessica. As he hasn't taken the pills, Whizzer finally shows his superspeed, and in the process the ashes of Jessica's brother are spilled on the floor. Though she gives chase, Jessica is only able to watch in horror as Whizzer is crushed under scaffolding, and impaled. With the revelation of Whizzer's real powers, Jessica is finally motivated to do some digging as the episode comes to its final scenes. Starting off with technical aspects, the show's episode poster is a clever for the show, giving it the feel of a classic detective series. Along with the intentional wrinkles, the picture's style feels like something from a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book. This season, while Jessica is still as violent as ever, she is even more sympathetic as a character, as well, because of what happened in the first season and with Daredevil. Jessica is a very pessimistic character, and while the others may have been pushing her more toward heroics, the difficulties she's faced have caused her to retreat into the bottle once again, as it's the only way she knows how to mask the pain. Snapping Killgrave's neck has caused Jessica to not see herself as a hero, and her continued issue of her family suggests she has survivor's guilt. When already wondering why she survived and not them, it would be easier for the Killgrave situation to make her think she's just a problem. With this episode, Marvel has a chance to expand Trish's story, as she is clearly interested in becoming more. Trish has never been happy with the life she was forced into, and Jessica accuses her of just wanting to use Jessica's notoriety for her show. Trish concedes this to be slightly true, but says it is so she can help people by getting important information out. Trish being followed throughout the episode hints at something ominous for the future; perhaps an experiment like Jessica underwent. In the comics, Trish is the superhero Hellcat, so it's possible that this season will broaden her character to more than just a talk show host. I would definitely suggest that viewers refresh themselves on season one if they haven't watched for some time, as I had forgotten many names and didn't even recognize Simpson. Whether you do or not, though, this episode was definitely a lot of fun and presents many questions for episodes to come.
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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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