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. In the eighth episode, Jessica and Alisa get reacquainted and Trish goes too far. Let’s jump into this but be warned, there are spoilers throughout.
1. Breakfast At Mom’s
This episode opens right where the last one ended. Jessica, after being injected with something, is now shackled to Alisa’s bed. Karl tells her that she can’t get up because those were designed to keep her mom restrained. Alisa apparently suffers from night terrors and when you mix that with her rage issues, it’s better this way. Karl and Jessica have a discussion about what’s next. Jessica is furious and calls him out for kidnapping them and choosing what they will be without them ever having a say. She wants to turn them both into the police because after all the death they’ve brought on people, she knows this is the right thing to do. Karl doesn’t deny any of this but he feels responsible for what has happened with Alisa and he still wants to help her. Also? They’re together. They’re sort of like an old married couple but also really messed up. While Karl and Jessica talk, Alisa is upstairs trying to make breakfast but she ultimately gives up because she can’t compose herself enough. Karl talks with Jessica some more and asks her to try to talk to her so he lets her go after she tells him that she can’t do that restrained. After she gets let go though, things get wild and Jessica contacts Detective Costa and gives him the address she’s at. Jessica Jones is very weird at this point because it’s trying really hard to go somewhere now and I really like that Karl is immediately hated by Jessica because that’s in character for her. I like that she hasn’t thrown everything out just because of her mother. I like this distrust.
2. Getting To Know You
With the cops on the way and Karl now on the run, Jessica and Alisa get some time to talk. They cover a little of everything but for me, the real takeaway here was how they talk about Jessica’s childhood. Jessica has a ton of great memories about her childhood, including her parent’s relationship but Alisa corrects her. She tells her about how she and her husband fought all the time and how they were headed for a divorce. Alisa tells Jessica how her brother caught them in a screaming match once and that’s why he started acting out. She even tells Jessica that she herself was a bit of a brat too as she’d lock herself away and listen to her sad rock music. One of the things I’ve really learned as I’ve gotten older is that we remember things how we want to. We remember our parents as our parents and not necessarily as human beings. We tend to remember things through rose colored glasses and Alisa calls out all of that. Jessica was thrown into this place of loss because she believed her family was gone. Those memories were all she had but with her mom right here in front of her, things are different. However, it’s different for Jessica and not Alisa. Alisa has had this knowledge for a long time and it’s mean to take that away from Jessica but also inevitable. This is the best scene of the season so far because there’s so much here that feels real for me (aside from the powers and experiments of course) but it also highlights the emotional stuff that makes this show so different from anything else in the MCU. I still don’t know where this is all headed which is still nagging at me because it still feels a tiny bit aimless.
Things turn semi positive when they talk about ferris wheels but Jessica realizes something, she figures out that Alisa has had to be sneaking out some how and she figures it out. She finds a tunnel she’s been using and takes Alisa with her instead of giving her to the cops.
Continued below3. Jeri Is Still Here Too
While all this stuff is going on with Alisa and Jessica, Jeri is also still suffering from her condition. Inez tells Jeri that the guy who healed her is in jail and so, Jeri goes to see him as his new attorney. He figures something is up because someone like her would never go out of her way to help a guy like him and so, he asks her what’s wrong. He takes her hand and starts to feel something, including the first cramp in her hand that led to her diagnosis. He recoils because he feels like he’s going to be sick but Jeri smiles. Back at her apartment, Jeri talks to Inez and drinks champagne with her and tells Inez that for the first time, she felt hope. Of course, nothing can ever just be nice so they end up having sex because that’s what Jeri does to vulnerable people like Inez. The Jeri Hogarth character is one that I hate and love all that once. She’s absolutely the worst. She takes advantage of people and doesn’t actually care about them but there’s something so exciting about her power and cold exterior because you never see a woman like her on tv. I don’t know what the point of this storyline is but I want to know where it goes.
4. Trish Goes Too Far
While Jessica is having a family reunion, Malcolm and Trish are waking up after their night of passion. It doesn’t take long for Malcolm to realize that something is wrong with Trish and it’s the inhaler doing it. She tries to tell him that it’s just an enhancement of sorts and not real drugs like cocaine but he’s not buying it. He leaves and goes back to work on finding dirt on Jeri’s partners and he gets just that. He finds out that Benowitz is gay and has been frequenting a bar while he’s still married to a woman. Malcolm confronts him in person and twists things around so he can get Benowitz to give him some dirt back on Chao. Benowitz falls for it and tells him about some offshore holdings she has but this ends when they are confronted by some homophobic jerks and they beat up Malcolm. Good and bad for Malcolm, Trish shows up, high on Simpson’s inhaler and takes care of them. She basically forces Malcolm to take a puff and he completely loses it and literally runs away. Malcolm, like Trish, is a recovering addict but unlike Trish, he has some awareness still. I get that Trish is not herself but this is kind of irredeemable and I don’t know if the show can save her anymore at this point. She’s just so far gone from who she was in season one and by no means do I expect perfection from a character. In fact, that’s boring, but you have to take care with how far you send your characters down a downward spiral because there are things you can’t come back from.
5. A Cliffhanger
This episode ends with Jessica and Alisa getting ready for bed after what ended up being a very dramatic day. Jessica has Alisa staying with her for the time being and after an awkward meeting with Oscar, it’s time to relax. But this is a Marvel TV show and that’s not a thing that can actually happen and the episode ends with gunshots ringing out in Jessica’s apartment. This obviously sets Alisa off and the credits roll just as Alisa goes after whoever just tried to kill her daughter. This cliffhanger is actually great and would work so well on cable television. I’m pretty sure it’s Pryce who shot at her but it still works for a good dramatic moment.
