*Note: like most Marvel shows, Jessica Jones is highly serialized. I’ll do my best to avoid major spoilers, but as I go forward, there are certain things I’ll probably have to reveal. This write-up will include some specifics about Kilgrave’s powers and a pretty obvious character spoiler in reference to another show.*
Not only is Jessica Jones my favorite of the Marvel Netflix shows, I’d say this season in particular is my favorite out of any individual season from any of the shows. These early episodes are especially fantastic, as the details of the mystery are slowly reeled out, for Jessica as well as for us.
The events of the pilot took a hard hit on Jessica. She’s learned that, contrary to her earlier belief, Kilgrave is still alive, and what’s more, her attempt to get his latest victim out from under him had devastating results. Even though it’s Kilgrave’s fault, she still blames herself for what happened and sets out to make it right, stopping him once and for all. As she investigates, Jessica is also forced to confront her tenuous relationships with both Trish and Luke.
First, I just want to mention that this episode features the first of a few appearances of Det. Clemons, played by Clarke Peters. Peters played Freamon on The Wire, and more recently, he was Otis in Da 5 Bloods.
Even though, when Jessica Jones first came out, Luke Cage had already been announced and I knew he was a Black superhero, I didn’t make the connection to Luke on Jessica Jones until I saw this episode. I like that, introducing him here as a preface to kicking off his own show. It feels very comic-book to me, and the scenes in which Jessica and Luke come to a great understanding of one another are pretty cool.
I also like the continuing stuff between Jessic and Trish. Clearly, Jessica has been pushing Trish away for a number of reasons, but none of them mean she doesn’t care about Trish. Rather, she’s worried about what could happen to Trish if Kilgrave or another villain comes into her life, she’s ashamed about the things she did under Kilgrave’s influence, and she doesn’t want to admit to anyone how much she’s still struggling after what happened to her. But for Trish, regardless of the reason, the end result is the same—Jessica shutting her out. Trish doesn’t want that, and on a cynical show, I appreciate Trish’s repeated efforts to get through the cracks in Jessica’s walls.
But as with the last episode, the best part of the plot here is the part involving the Kilgrave investigation. We get plenty more of Jessica in action (and I love how often that means using her PI skills and being tricky, not just using her powers to, say, beat answers out of people,) and we also get more information about Kilgrave. As Jessica tries to piece together what he’s been up to for the last year and searches for any possible weaknesses, we’re given more hints of just how twisted he is.
Which, naturally, brings us to David Tennant. Despite Kilgrave’s crucial importance to the plot, the show is still just dropping crumbs at this point when it comes to his actual character—they’ve yet to show a clear shot of his face. However, in addition to a few more scattered glances from flashbacks and PTSD-induced hallucinations, we do get our first solid scene showing what he can do. His abilities make him immensely powerful, as he can compel anyone to do anything simply by telling them to, and he shows himself here to be both petty and needlessly cruel when it comes to deploying those powers. And creepy! Kudos to Tennant and the show. We haven’t even seen his face, but what they’ve given us so far is still enough to make my skin crawl.
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