This week, Jessica is still trying to figure out who Kilgrave is using to spy on her. She gets distracted by a weird case that centers on the repercussions of "The Incident" (the Battle of New York from the Avengers movie), as well as setting up a Kilgrave victim support group. She eventually discovers that the spy was her neighbor Malcolm all along.
The episode hits on the Jessica's paranoia pretty hard -- there are several scenes where she is standing in the streets, slowly spinning around while looking suspiciously at everyone who's passing by. Hogarth later actually just spells it out, saying, "You're coming off as distinctly paranoid." Jessica has good reason to be, as we're set up for the shocking twist of her innocuous stoner neighbor as Kilgrave's photographer. Or rather, it was supposed to be shocking. The problem with constantly hitting the audience over the head with paranoia is that the viewers are eventually going to suspect everyone, so when the puppet is finally revealed, no one is actually surprised. It just becomes a matter of fact. It is still pretty sad that Malcolm has become another one of Kilgrave's damaged victims. You have to wonder if the reason he gets high all the time is to drown out Kilgrave's voice in his head.
I think the main problem I had with this episode was that nothing really happened; or rather, things were happening extremely slowly. I'm sure it would help if I were binge-watching, but when you're focusing on each episode by themselves, this one moved the overall story along by mere inches. The whole Eastman case felt completely like filler. It was interesting to see the ties to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe by examining the aftermath of all the destruction and havoc the superheros caused. It's interesting to go behind the scenes and see that People like Matt Murdoch and Jessica Jones have to clean up the mess of the larger-than-life heroes. But this isn't that story. This is a story about Jessica Jones and her personal trauma. So this whole case felt like a 45-minute wild goose chase. More Kilgrave, please!
Krysten Ritter is beginning to grate on my nerves. I thought she was phenomenal in the pilot, but the monotony of her acting over time has become a little wearisome. She uses that same gritty, nasally, monotone voice in every single scene. Her scowl has become a permanent fixture on her face. Ritter is such a great comedic actor with a wide range of emotions -- I feel like her talents are going to waste in such a one-note character. The one note is compelling: damaged, angry, cynical. But I feel like there needs to be something more to her personality in order to carry the show throughout the entire season. Some variation in emotion has and will go a long way to making her character more relatable.
I guess I can't place the blame solely on Ritter -- it could also be the character of Jessica Jones herself that's starting to annoy me. She's a psychologically damaged victim to be sure, but instead of taking positive action and getting help like the other people in the support group, she shuts people out and turns to whiskey as therapy. She looks down on the support group, scoffing at the idea of joining and simply wanting to use them for her own purposes. The fact that she acts so condescendingly towards people who are courageous enough to seek help for their trauma is extremely troubling. "You take your goddamn pain and you live with it." "I don't work my shit out on other people." "Keep your goddamn feelings to yourself." Not sure if that's such great advice, Jessica. Yes, you shouldn't take your pain out on other people, but you shouldn't bury it deep down inside either. I am hoping that Jessica will eventually face up to her destructive behavior and change her mind about the support group. I get that she is a flawed character, and flawed characters are interesting, but I also hope that Jessica can become somewhat of a positive role model for trauma and abuse victims.
Other Thoughts:
- Jessica is still trying to look out for Luke, and is starting to realize that stalking him was a pretty creepy move on her part.
- "I'm a goddamn monster." No, Jessica -- Trish isn't being too dramatic. This show's dialogue is.
- Kilgrave is such a narcissist that Trish's blatantly insincere apology and plea for forgiveness is enough to assuage his ego.
- "I couldn't hear you over that print." Eyeroll.
- So Kilgrave's power has a 10 - 12 hour time limit. Interesting.
- "I got your six." "Pft, got my six." Heh.
- The whole scene with Jeri, her mistress, and her wife at the restaurant was weirdly interesting. It was pretty hilarious to see how cold and petty Jeri is. Hogarth is definitely a character I'm intrigued by. She's consistently playing in a grey area -- sometimes doing good deeds, but not always with good intentions. Calling Kilgrave's power a gift was very intriguing, and I'm wondering on which side of the fence she's eventually going to end up.
- I liked how they filmed the interview scenes with Kilgrave's victims. You could tell right away who was telling the truth, just based on how twisted the stories were.
- Dang, Simpson has good instincts, accusing Malcolm of watching Jessica right away.
- Kilgrave using the little girl to give Jessica a message was creeeepy. "It's Friday. Don't you have a job to do?" The Eastmans didn't have anything to do with Kilgrave, so what did he mean by this?
- "Cases like this remind of why I'm single." No, sleeping with a guy and not telling him you killed his wife is why you're single.
- The friendship between Trish and Simpson is weird, but interesting. Lots of tension, lots of mistrust. But Simpson just wants to make amends, and Trish wants to believe in the best of people.
- 99 gifted friends -- kind of a random number?
- Mr. Eastman: "I want a divorce." Heeee.
- Heaven Hill whiskey is getting a lot of great advertisement from this show.
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