Going into its second season, Jessica Jones was probably the series with the biggest question mark. Jessica Jones is not a character with a long history so it will be interesting to see what the show chooses to do and be. The third episode continues the trend of the first two – slow with little reveals here and there. This show is taking its time getting where it wants to go. Let’s jump into this but be warned, there are spoilers throughout.
1. Jeri’s Predicament
In this episode, Jeri Hogarth is at what is her lowest point yet. After all that happened in the first season, she’s now been diagnosed with something. Her partners at the law firm confront her about this because in her contract there is medical clause. Basically Jeri has to inform her partners if she has an illness that will impact her work performance. They are ready to buy her out but Jeri immediately goes on the warpath. She refused to take a buyout and tells them her name will come off that door over her dead body. Foggy Nelson makes an appearance because as you maybe remember, he works for her now and offers to help her fight this. He says that she’s not going to be able to do this alone and will eventually need someone. See the hints here. We still don’t know what the doctor told her but we can maybe take some guesses. Jeri goes directly to Jessica, finally. She comes with the legal complaint that Pryce filed against her but tears it up and begs (as much as Jeri can) Jessica to give her five minutes. Jessica finally lets her in and Jeri tells her she wants to hire her to find dirt on her partners so she doesn’t have to quit the firm. Jessica tells her that everyone has dirt but she needs to know why. Jeri reveals to her that’s been diagnosed with ALS and is already dealing with cramping. For those who don’t know, ALS is a disease that basically makes your body a prison. It’s a neurological disease that attacks the nervous system and weakens muscles until they simply stop working. Jeri tells Jessica that she thought about taking the buyout and going out to an island, spending her money and making love to beautiful women but decided to fight. She has no family so basically her law firm is her legacy and she refuses to be pushed out this way. Jessica agrees to take the job. I’m a little confused as to where this is going. I don’t think we’re getting some redemption story for Jeri Hogarth but I’m thinking something will go down with Jeri and her condition and IGH. Jessica and Trish are getting really close to finding some things out and it’s possible that IGH could cure Jeri but with side effects. It could give the show another actual villain for another season but who knows.
2. Super Problems
Oscar, Jessica’s new building super, has decided he doesn’t like her and serves her an eviction notice and she thinks it all stems from her super powers. It doesn’t and I’m just going to throw it out there that doing any kind of racist allegory story with a pretty white lady is not exactly the best route to go. I side eyed this whole thing very much. After digging around, Jessica finds out that Oscar has a criminal background and he must have dirt on the owner of the building, Eugene, to have gotten the job so easily. Jessica decides to send Malcolm to the owner of the building and when Malcolm gets there he finds out that Eugene is a fan of Oscar and Malcolm’s charm doesn’t work against him because Eugene has a Cambodian boyfriend who’s finally getting the chance to come over to America. Jessica puts it all together and realizes that Oscar forged a green card for Eugene’s boyfriend and now she has dirt on him. Nothing else happens with this in this episode so it’s all still unclear what any of it means. The thing about subplots is that they have to exist for a reason, especially when they involve the main character so what’s the end game for this? Is he going to still kick her out? Will he give her apartment to Pryce as revenge? I hope it leads to something meaningful. I hope it leads to Jessica gaining a new friendship since it seems part of her journey this season is coming to terms with a lot of things in her life. Maybe she’ll soften up a bit and keep learning to be a better person and she’ll find a friend in Oscar and his son.
Continued below3. Therapy, Shmerapy
Jessica has a lot to sort through and so Trish gets the idea to have her talk to a therapist who uses hypnosis. The doctor tries his best and tries to get her under hypnosis and to mentally open a door that would open her memories but she’s not into it from the get go and it goes badly. She gives up but the therapy actually did something because later that night she begins working on the files Trish had and has a dream about the facility again. This time she remembers the door and she remembers the name Dr. Leslie Hansen. They go to the address she has on file and they find a place that’s just too clean. This takes them to the basement where they find a dead body…well, a skull really. Trish freaks out but Jessica figures out a way to get it identified. They break into the morgue and Jessica creates a file for the skull and Trish entices the coroner again with a restaurant reservation like she did last season. This whole investigation leads to something bigger at the end of the episode but that’s going to get its own point down the end. For me, this whole thing with Trish and Jessica plays really well and I’m going to sound like a broken record here but this is the kind of thing I love. I like Trish and Jessica’s interactions and I like them just investigating stuff. All this does is remind me of the show that we could have.
4. What’s Up With Trish?
Trish is going through some stuff and no one really knows what. She’s become obsessed with IGH and super powered people in general. She’s getting paranoid and she insisted on keeping Simpson’s stuff. She’s also pushing Griffin away as she gets deeper into this investigation. Something is going to happen with Trish but I’m not sure exactly what. She does have Simpson’s stuff so is she going to end up on drugs like he did? Are we going to get some version of Hellcat this season? I’d bet on that at this point. Griffin takes a few hours away from Trish and when he comes back, Trish is on high alert because of the phone call she got and the meeting Jessica has gone to (skip to point five) so she has a gun in her hand. She’s listening to the Whizzer’s video when she comes in and surprises her and we think all is well between them but Griffin immediately gets on her computer and seemingly makes a copy of what she has. Griffin is definitely up to something but I think he’s going to steal her story. I don’t think he’ll be revealed to be part of IGH and I’m not sure what to make of that. I don’t know what would be more interesting. I don’t want another story where Trish gets screwed over by a boyfriend but that’s what we’re getting. It might be more interesting to have him be a part of IGH only because it would show how strong they are.
5. Meeting With The Devil
At the tail end of the episode, after Trish’s show, she gets a call to meet with someone who claims to be Dr. Hansen. Jessica tells Trish she’s going instead and to stop her, she leaves TMZ a tip that her and Griffin are on the outs so that the paparazzi will follow Trish. Jessica goes to the meeting and she meets with a frazzled looking woman who claims to be Dr. Hansen. The two of them start talking and this woman tells Jessica that she should be proud and grateful for the powers she has. She claims that Jessica actually died on the table and they brought her back and made her better. Jessica is furious and rightfully so but she feels like something else is happening and she gets a call from the coroner telling her that the skull that was found belonged to Dr. Leslie Hansen, which means this woman is not who she says she is. Then things get even more surprising when she reveals she has powers too and she pushes back Jessica with even more strength than Jessica has. She runs away and climbs over a building and that’s where the episode ends. This was a pretty predictable scene and what’s annoying about it is that it took a while to get here. I adore the cast of Jessica Jones more than the other shows but these three episodes have been very slow in getting to where they want to go. I’ve seen people call it boring and I have to agree with that sentiment to a degree. Krysten Ritter is still so good that it’s hard for me to write the whole show off. I just wish these Netflix series would embrace different formats or cut the seasons in half.
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