*Episode premise spoilers, but I’ll avoid any major specifics.*
I get that I sound like a broken record on this, but I really love this episode too. For me, Jessica Jones is great at letting tension simmer until it rises to an explosion point. It’s really compelling to watch, and the cast knocks it out of the park in this taut episode.
After a lot of big plans that didn’t pan out or hinged on Jessica taking huge amounts of risk on herself, she feels like she’s finally in a place where she can have the upper hand on Kilgrave. While everyone around her has strong opinions about how she should handle this, she works to do it her way, digging deep into what makes him tick in order to finally take him down.
Even though many episodes in this season are built on a premise of “Jessica plows ahead with a bold/dangerous plan to get Kilgrave,” it’s to the show’s credit that, to me at least, it doesn’t feel like the series is spinning its wheels. Instead, each plan is something new. Each requires Jessica to try different tactics, and while we learn a little more about who Jessica and Kilgrave are each time, their respective reactions are also internally consistent. Now, after a lot of time spent chasing and coming from behind, Jessica’s ahead for once. It’s really interesting to see what she does in that situation, as well as how Kilgrave responds to it.
It’s also a strong episode for some of the other characters at well. We start putting together an important piece of the puzzle about Simpson, we get to see Trish and Jessica working together to try and unravel a mystery, and Jeri, the shark lawyer who has a combative professional relationship with Jessica, is drawn more directly into the main plot. I haven’t talked much about Jeri in these reviews, but Carrie-Anne Moss does well with the role and she has some great scenes in this episode.
One thing I want to say, though, is how we’ve been seeing Malcolm recede after a couple of really strong showings earlier in the season. As a fan of both the character and the Jessica-Malcolm friendship, that’s frustrating, even if Eka Darville makes the absolute most of his brief appearance in this episode—he’s 100% here for Jessica to support/help her in any way he can, but he’s also not down with her evasions and doesn’t put up with inexcusable behavior from her. As Luke disappears to make his own show and Malcolm lose some screentime, the white feminism of the show stands out more. I’ll admit to liking and having liked plenty of shows or movies that show up for white women but drop the ball with characters of color, but I’m trying to be more attuned to it and not letting them off the hook when they could do better.
David Tennant, as always, is great. There are a lot of fascinating things going on with Kilgrave here. First up is the most obvious: for once, he doesn’t have the upper hand, and Kilgrave is not someone who’s used to not being in control. It’s really cool to see how he tries to manipulate people to regain that control in a situation where his powers aren’t in play. And just generally, I like his relationship to control within himself. On the one hand, he’s someone who, for most of his life, has gotten everything handed to him literally at a word, so there’s a big part of him that’s just this walking id of self-gratification. On the other, his abilities wield so much power so easily that he’s had to learn to be careful with his words in certain situations. It creates a neat dichotomy, and here, there’s a great tension between his barely concealed rage at his present circumstances and his delicate manipulation of the situation.
And man, he’s just such a bastard. To me, Kilgrave isn’t the sort of “likable villain” who gets woobified by fans and eventually rehabilitated, like the MCU’s Loki or Spike from Buffy. When I say I love to hate him, I mean it’s masterful to watch how terrible he is. With every smug smile, every long game, and every cheap manipulation, Tennant just has such a strong command of this character, and it’s really effective.
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