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Jessica Jones: AKA Take a Bloody Number

“It was all me!”

Early in this episode, Malcolm declares that there’s “loneliness” around Jessica. That’s both true—she tends to isolate herself, and Kilgrave is isolating—but also false. As this episode reminds us, Jessica has a complex social network. And it’s within this episode that various elements of that network come together in new ways.

For instance: Trish and Luke. Trish looked so happy to see Jessica with an absurdly handsome hunk; it was hard for her to hide her smile: “The chemistry was jumping off the two of you, and you can’t say he’s not hot.” Yes, Trish, you have summed up my feelings on this topic quite accurately.

On the other side of the spectrum, Trish and her mother obviously knew each other before, but this was the first time we saw them together on screen. (We saw the actress who plays young Trish with her mom in the previous episode, but I’m referring to older Trish. Our Trish.) Like Jessica’s conversations with Kilgrave, their conversation was one of complete disconnect. Trish sees her mother and recalls years of abuse; her mother sees Trish and wants to continue their professional relationship (perhaps packaged in a tidy mother/daughter bonding bow).

Kilgrave’s conversations with both his father and Luke were, despite their tragic content, rather hilarious. The speed and passion of Luke and Kilgrave’s conversation—“What was it, a pity shag?” “No.”—made it one of this episode’s highlights. And Kilgrave’s tone of annoyance at his father—“I didn’t ask for a replay!”—was exactly the sort of tone I take with my mother when she trots out embarrassing stories of my childhood.

Those comedic tête-à-têtes took a dark turn, however. Given that we saw Kilgrave talking about extending his power, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he managed to extend both the distance and the timespan of his compulsions. But I was shocked to discover that Luke was, essentially, acting out Kilgrave’s little drama for this entire episode, even when he said things that rang true on an emotional level. And even when Jessica trusted him enough to fall asleep on his shoulder (as in the above picture).

The fight between Jessica and Luke was intense, to say the least. It reminded me of this episode of Buffy, albeit with a slightly different ending. The phrase “rock and a hard place” comes to mind. Not just because Jessica had to choose between being beaten to death or shooting Luke, but also because both of them are so very strong. It’s a horrible cliffhanger to leave us with... thank goodness for the Netflix binge model!

AKA:

• Jessica: “Please, Trish. I can only fight one Big Bad at a time.” OMG Jessica has seen Buffy! Of course she has.

• Luke: “Horse fetishists in Central Park?”
Jessica: “Everybody knows about those.”
Luke: “Apparently.”

• I know it’s just product placement, but I love that Luke and Jessica stopped by Target before they returned to her apartment. Superheroes shop at the same store I do! They also use the same hand soap (as in Trish’s kitchen) that I do! I’m practically a superhero myself.

• Speaking of places I shop: I love Trish’s blouses. Every single one of them. I would like to know where she gets them.

• The club Kilgrave and his dad went to appears to be a deconsecrated church. I think that’s an actual place in New York. Does anyone know?

• So, IGH is a shadowy medical organization that is responsible for Simpson’s red pills and, possibly, Jessica’s superstrength. Hmm…

Robyn Says…

• “Snap out of it sister, don’t let him control you!”

• “She is working the halls in the dead of night…Is there a camera there in your little machine?”

• Robyn’s entire speech by the river was quotable, although I kept thinking that Malcolm should have paid more attention to some of Jack Donaghy’s advice: “Never go with a hippie to a second location.”

Four out of four banana breads made by Ruben, who sleeps with the fishes in heaven filled with free shipping for all your chinchilla-chewed charger cord needs.

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

4 comments:

  1. I would like to see the show "Luke Cage". I can even tolerate it if Krysten Ritter makes an appearance.

    Given his hard skin and lack of blood I presume Luke isn't dead. (I haven't seen the final episode yet)

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  2. I so like Luke now, so he'd better be okay. The actor kept giving me the creeps on The Good Wife and I wasn't sure I could see him as a hero, but I do. He *looks* like a comic book hero.

    Malcolm and Robyn together are hilarious.

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  3. I've never liked Robyn until she hoped for Ruben that there was s free shipping in heaven. After that one line, she became a favorite!

    I also love that you picked up the "Big Bad" quote as I exclaimed, "That's Buffy-speak!" to my boyfriend when she said it.

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  4. I used to like Malcolm, but now he's just as bad as the other Kilgrave victims who like to think that everything is Jessica's fault. Jessica won't connect with you emotionally? Boo freakin hoo! She's busy trying to save the city! See the big picture!

    Luke trying to take Kilgrave on by himself annoyed me. Why would he think he could handle him by himself? If he wanted to help, following him would have been a safer option.

    If we go with the hypothesis that killing Reva cured Jessica and made her immune, is it possible for attempting to kill Jessica could do the same for Luke? Hopefully actually killing isn't a requirement. Maybe she could fake a death like when she faked Trish's death.

    ReplyDelete

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