Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker), Eka Darville (Malcolm Ducasse), JR Ramirez (Oscar Arocho), Terry Chen (Pryce Cheng), Leah Gibson (Inez Green), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth) and Janet McTeer as Alisa Jones with Wil Traval (Will Simpson) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson) and a special appearance by David Tennant as Kilgrave
JESSICA JONES SEASON TWO
Produced by Marvel Television
Originally aired on Netflix
Number of Episodes: 13
Initial Streaming: March 8, 2018
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Jessica Jones: Season Two Facts
Jessica Jones: Season Two was the eighth series produced by Marvel Television for the Netflix Streaming Service. You can read about the history of Marvel Television from its inception as a division within Marvel Entertainment overseen by Ike Perlmutter and run by Jeph Loeb to its incorporation into Marvel Studios and the eventual canonization of Marvel Television’s Defenders Saga into the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the Fun Facts section of my Jessica Jones: Season One review. That post can be found on the dropdown menu of the site under the MCU PHASE THREE REVIEWS tab.
Between Jessica Jones: Season One and Jessica Jones: Season Two, Jessica’s story can be followed in the Netflix original series The Defenders, which sees Jessica team up with other heroes such as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Dany Rand / the Iron Fist, and her former crush Luke Cage.
Upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, Jessica Jones: Season Two takes place after Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange and before Luke Cage: Season Two.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
My Jessica Jones: Season Two Review
AKA Start at the Beginning – Directed by Anna Foerster. Written by Melissa Rosenberg.
This somewhat slow-moving first episode of Season Two is mostly used to get viewers up to speed with where the respective main characters are at in their lives following the events of Jessica Jones: Season One and The Defenders. Jessica and her exploits as a superhero private investigator has become quite infamous throughout New York City, and business is somewhat booming as a result. The problem for Jessica, however, is that she finds the majority of her potential clients to be pathetic, deranged, and sometimes both. A prime example of this is one Robert Coleman who reaches out to Jessica with claims that he is an enhanced individual known as “The Whizzer” and that someone is trying to kill him. Jessica pretty much laughs the guy off, but he will turn out to be an important part of Jessica’s story later in this episode.
In the meantime, we see Jessica’s sister / best friend Trish Walker trying to convince Jessica to look deeper into her past, which Jessica is uninterested in. Trish reveals that she has been looking into Jessica’s past and has discovered a missing 20-days in her official file between the automobile accident that killed Jessica’s family and when she was assigned a hospital bed. Trish believes that Jessica was experimented upon by IGH during that 20-day window, but Jessica simply doesn’t see the point in exploring her past. What happened, happened, and there’s nothing she can do about it now. Furthermore, Jessica feels that Trish’s digging is less about giving Jessica peace and more about generating ratings for her radio show. And we see that Trish is in fact desperate for ratings as Trish Talk is not doing so well these days as the general public is suffering from “superhero fatigue.” Trish feels the right story will remedy this and this causes Jessica to feel that her concern is disingenuous. Jessica becomes even more annoyed with Trish later when her best friend presents her family’s ashes to her.
We are introduced to Pryce Cheng in this episode, who promises to be an antagonist. We see him visit Jessica and offer to absorb Alias Investigations into his own (lucrative) P.I. company, hiring Jessica in the process, but she adamantly refuses. Cheng does not take her answer well and begins targeting Jessica’s potential clients. This infuriates Jessica, who is more on-edge than usual due to Trish’s meddling. Jessica visits Cheng at his office and after he takes to insulting her, she roughs him up pretty good before being arrested. Trish and her boyfriend Griffin Sinclair bail Jessica out.
From there, we learn that Jeri Hogarth actually hired Cheng to hire Jessica for her and when Cheng informs her that he intends to sue Jessica for her assault, Jeri agrees to represent him. Not a great look for Hogarth here after she was quite likable in Iron Fist: Season One but we do learn that Jeri is under a great deal of stress after being sued herself by her ex-girlfriend / former secretary Pam. We also see Hogarth learn that her health is failing in this episode.
At the end of this episode, “The Whizzer” returns to Jessica, revealing in a panic that he really does have superpowers (super speed). After “The Whizzer” bursts open her brother’s ashes, Jessica ends up chasing after him out of her office but before she can catch up to him, a heavy set of construction scaffolding falls on him and he is killed. Jessica manages to possess his backpack however, and inside, she finds a pill bottle and decides to venture to the address of the manufacturer. Believing that she and “The Whizzer” might be connected after all, Jessica begins the uneasy journey into her mysterious past.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Freak Accident – Directed by Minkie Spiro. Written by Aida Mashaka Croal.
With great power, comes great mental instability.
Investigating IGH doctor Koslov, Jessica discovers his home address, but when she goes there, she arrives during his funeral and learns that he had just recently died. Jessica knows that the deaths of “The Whizzer” and his doctor this close together cannot be a coincidence. Jessica furthermore learns from a disabled funeral attendee and patient of Koslov named Isaiah that Will Simpson (of course, another patient of Koslov as we learned in Jessica Jones: Season One) is still alive. Isaiah suggests that Simpson is responsible for the murders.
Meanwhile, Simpson is actively stalking Trish, watching her during a lunch meeting with her mother, which Trish only arranged amidst hopes of learning the whereabouts of director Max Tatum, a man from her past who sexually abused her when she was a teenager.
In the meantime, Jessica is confronted by two police detectives who suggest that she caused the accident that took the life of “The Whizzer.” She looks to quickly put an end to that speculation by reaching out to her new neighbor Oscar, who she knows witnessed the incident with his young son. Oscar proclaims that he didn’t see anything, refusing to clear Jessica and Jessica later learns that Oscar resents powered people. In fact, that is a recurring plot point here – this show seems to be going out of its way to suggest that a large portion of the population no longer view powered people as heroes. They instead view them as “freaks” and nuisances and these views will fuel the MCU campaigns of people such as J. Jonah Jameson to speak out against powered people in the future as time moves on, so it’s a nice touch, I think.
As her investigation continues, Jessica gets her hands on the computer that belonged to “The Whizzer” after breaking into his place. As Jessica continues putting the pieces of her investigation together, she grows to believe that Trish is a target. She desperately tries to get in touch with Trish, but has no luck, as Trish is busy with Max Tatum. Trish attempts to blackmail Tatum in order to gain access to more of Jessica’s IGH files, and disgusted by her actions, he insults her, going so far as to blame her for what he did to her, as disgusting men tend to do. This reduces Trish to tears and Malcolm (who Trish took with her to document the conversation with Tatum) takes it upon himself to confront and punch Tatum over what he did to Trish. Loved that sequence and I should say that Malcolm is one of my favorite parts of this Season two episodes in.
As Trish tries to regain her composure, Will Simpson approaches her. She shoots him in the leg just before Jessica (having pretty much forced the address of Trish’s whereabout from Trish’s mother) arrives. Simpson insists that he only means to protect Trish, and a threat that has only been alluded to as a “monster” arrives. Jessica knows it is the entity that killed “The Whizzer” and Koslov, but goes on to realize that Trish isn’t the next target after all … it’s Simpson, and Simpson is viciously killed, much to the dismay of Jessica and especially Trish.
Elsewhere, we see Hogarth indulge in cocaine and hookers to remind us that this series is intended for mature audiences.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Sole Survivor – Directed by Mairzee Almas. Written by Lisa Randolph.
This episode opens with Jessica and Trish disposing of Will Simpson’s body. From there, Trish urges Jessica to submit herself to hypnosis with hopes that such a session could unlock some of her suppressed memories, but Jessica can’t bring herself to cooperate. Back at home, Jessica learns that she is being evicted by Oscar Arocho on the grounds of her operating a business out of her living space. Jessica confronts Arocho and he proudly stands firm, suggesting that Jessica and her line of work are a danger to the tenants of the building in which she lives. In the meantime, Jessica begins suffering from nightmares which involve a mysterious monstrous entity amongst other scenes from her past. Jessica and Trish begin tracking a Doctor Leslie Hansen who boasts ties to IGH. They venture to her presumed residence, only to find it empty, which leads them downstairs where they find a human skull within the ashes of a recently used furnace. Trish uses her morgue contact to identify the skull. In the meantime, Jessica confronts Arocho with dirt that she’s dug up on him, including the fact that he has a criminal record and had recently manufactured a fake ID for the building’s landlord. Arocho is unphased and practically dares Jessica to try to expose him.
While Jessica struggles with her housing status, Trish continues to dig into IGH and decides to out Doctor Leslie Hansen on-air during her radio show, hoping that some of her former patients may reach out. Instead, a woman claiming to be Hansen herself contacts Trish and invites her to meet her alone. Jessica intercepts the proverbial pass however, insisting that Trish stay at home while she meets Hansen in her place.
An emotional Jessica lashes out at Hansen, who she has come to believe is directly responsible for the procedure that enhanced her. The woman insists however, that Jessica was provided with a gift and that Jessica should be grateful. Jessica is appalled by this notion. Meanwhile, Trish receives a call from the morgue and learns that the human skull has been identified as Doctor Leslie Hansen!
Back at the bar, the woman that Jessica is meeting with grows quickly perturbed by Jessica’s ungratefulness and begins demonstrating uncanny physical strength. Jessica begins to brawl with the woman and the two of them destroy portions of the bar. Outside, Jessica and Malcolm arrive and one of the members of the paparazzi that has been stalking Trish inadvertently photographs the mysterious woman, which Jessica sees after she commandeers his camera.
Elsewhere, it seems that Trish Walker’s loving and protective boyfriend is up to something nefarious as we see him break into her computer and copy files that it seems pertain to Trish’s IGH investigation, and we learn that Hogarth has been diagnosed with ALS and she reaches out to Jessica with help on digging up dirt on her partners, who are looking to oust her from her law firm. Following Hogarth’s story allowed for an appearance by Foggy Nelson, which is always a good thing in my opinion, and Carrie-Anne Moss’s performance throughout this episode was stellar.
In fact, this entire episode was stellar, as for me, it was the first time of the Season that it felt like it was living up to the quality of Season One.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA God Help the Hobo – Directed by Deborah Chow. Written by Jack Kenny.
After attending her anger management session, Jessica deduces that the supposed Doctor Hansen was wearing a wig and hopes this will serve as a key to unlock the mystery surrounding the identity and whereabouts of the powerful woman. In the meantime, Oscar’s son Vido arrives at Jessica’s door, looking for an escape from the argument that his parents are actively having. The self-professed Captain America fan ends up playing in Jessica’s open window and nearly falls, but Jessica quickly springs into action, saving his life. Though a frustrated Oscar yet again lashes out at Jessica over the incident, he later apologizes to her and thanks her for saving his son’s life, stating that he owes her a debt that he could never repay. He rescinds the threat of her eviction and shares some drinks with her where they clear the air and establish a clean slate. This leads to some kissing and some foreplay that Oscar isn’t quite ready for.
From there, Jessica and Trish confront Max Tatum, and this was a great sequence with Jessica punching a hole through the creep’s car over what he’d done to Trish when she was a kid, and he was 40. Their ongoing investigation into IGH ultimately leads them to the name Inez Green, who they assume is the true identity of the supposed Doctor Hansen. They deduce that Inez is homeless and successfully track her down. In preparation of the conflict, Trish foolishly takes more of the late Will Simpson’s drugs in a callback to Season One and this causes her to act aggressively and erratically. As it turns out, Inez is not the mystery woman, but she does have ties to IGH, and she does recognize the woman in Jessica’s photograph. In fact, she cowers at the sight of her and shows Jessica and Trish painful scars that she has stemming from her time as a nurse whence she was attacked by the woman, whom Inez insists also killed a fellow nurse. Jesscia and Trish urge Inez to leave with them, promising to protect her from the looming threat of the mystery woman.
Elsewhere, Cheng offers Malcom a job with his company, which Malcolm declines and Jessica, in an uncharacteristic acknowledgement of Malcolm’s value and importance to her, grants him a raise and the promise of new responsibilities with it. Soon, Cheng sends an associate into Jessica’s apartment to steal whatever he can – her laptop, her case files, and pretty much everything pertaining to IGH. And my goodness, I just cannot strand Cheng! He is such a tool!
Anyway, as the guy brags about the heist, the mystery woman viciously attacks and murders him in his van, which was parked right in front of Jessica’s apartment. You can see where this is going, and sure enough, police arrive and arrest Jessica for the murder. Trish – still blitzed – puts her hands on a police officer and she gets handcuffed as well while Macolm tends to Inez.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA The Octopus – Directed by Millicent Shelton. Written by Jamie King.
As this episode opens, Jessica is in jail and an extremely sick Trish is throwing up as her mother tends to her. This allows us as viewers to spend some time with the mystery woman. We see her burn all of her blood-soaked clothes along with pretty much everything that had been stollen from Jessica’s apartment. Later, we see her practicing her piano skills and getting interrupted by a neighbor, who just wants to listen-in, as the music had calmed her constantly crying baby. This sequence serves to show us how unhinged the woman is, as when the baby begins crying again, she is perturbed and is sent into an instant rage, aggressively banging on the piano keys. The neighbor leaves and the woman violently destroys the piano. Scary stuff.
In jail, Jessica is relying on Jeri to find her a way out, but the only thing Hogarth can really come with is for Jessica to fully cooperate with the police and tell them everything that she knows about the real killer. Ultimately, Jessica does this, and it leads to her release. In a very touching scene one detective offers Jessica any backup help that she may need, confessing to being one of the officers that fell under Kilmonger’s murder / suicide trance at the precinct, as seen in Season One. He explains how tortured he was following the incident but admits that all of his nightmares went away the instant he learned that Jessica had killed the psychopath. Jessica needed this, as she’s been wrestling with Kilmonger’s death by her hand and the public’s general perception of her for quite some time, to the point in this Season where she has been unsure at times whether or not she is the same type of monster that the mystery woman is. I really loved this exchange!
Cheng angrily confronts Jessica outside the precinct and though I enjoyed the way she stood up for herself and dressed him down, as a viewer, I’m really hoping that somehow, someway, the mystery woman murders this guy. Moving on, Jessica asks Hogarth to provide a safe house for Inez and Hogarth chooses her place with private hopes of learning more about IGH and the controversial procedures that she has learned of through Jessica’s words. Hogarth sees a long road of sickness, torment, and death ahead of her, and she is beyond desperate for a fix.
Elsewhere, Trish’s mom whisks her away to what Trish believes is a job interview, but it turns out to be a marriage proposal by Griffin, who did what he needed to in order to make sure Jessica was there along with family and friends from both sides of the relationship. It turns out that Griffin wasn’t nefarious at all … he only hacked into Trish’s laptop for contact information so he could invite the right people to the elaborate proposal and his otherwise sneakiness was merely an effort to maintain the element of surprise. Trish ends up turning Griffin down though, which her mother cannot accept. An ensuing confrontation between the two sees Trish admit that she doesn’t want to be “with Griffin” so much as she wants to “be Griffin” (an award-winning investigative reporter). When Trish’s mom name-drops Max Tatum and implies that Trish sought him out to engage in renewed sexual acts, Trish slaps the shit out of her! After her mom leaves in quiet disbelief, a rattled Trish takes another hit of Simpson’s IGH drugs (which are now administered through an inhaler, by the way).
As for Jessica, she convinces Oscar to make her a fake ID with which she can interview the incarcerated man that was declared guilty of the murder of Inez’s nurse friend. She interviews the simple man that insists he’s guilty despite Jessica knowing that he isn’t and while she capitalizes on the opportunity to discover the person that she believes coerced him to take the blame – an IGH doctor named Malus that routinely took his patient to a local aquarium where they marveled at the uniqueness of Octopuses. The doctor was said to visit the aquarium daily for lunch, so that’s where Jessica ventured to. Sure enough, she identified the doctor there, but before she could confront him, she noticed that the mystery woman was with him. She watched the doctor and the woman kiss but was spotted and identified the doctor, who recognized her. This prompted the mystery woman to punch the aquarium glass, fracturing it and inciting a panic.
This was another stelar episode!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Facetime – Directed by Jet Wilkinson. Written by Raelle Tucker.
This episode revolved around two primary things: Jessica’s search for Doctor Malus and Trish’s downward spiral.
Trish has quickly become addicted to the combat enhancement drugs that ruled over the late Will Simpson’s life and we see her actively seeking confrontation and sleeping with Malcolm. Rachael Taylor is performing her scenes well, but I can’t say that I am a fan of what the show is doing with the character this Season.
Jessica also hooks up in this episode (with Oscar) and ends up threatening a child in order to obtain the whereabouts of Doctor Malus following the miss at the aquarium. She eventually finds him but is not prepared for the startling revelation that awaits her: the murderous mystery woman that Jessica fought in the bar and has been hunting ever since … is her mother!!!
This changes everything and I’m looking forward to seeing where this show goes from here!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA I Want Your Cray Cray – Directed by Jennifer Getzinger. Written by Hilly Hicks Jr.
After such a big reveal the previous episode, of course we get a flashback episode next. To be fair though, there was actually a lot to like here as we delved into the past of Jessica’s mother Alyssa post-crash as well as the past relationship of Jessica and Trish.
Like Jessica, the experiments performed on Alisa that ultimately saved her life were done without her consent and obviously did not go over as smoothly as they seem to have with Jessica. While Alisa (like Jessica) gained enhanced strength, a side effect of the procedure was a rage-induced sort of psychosis. Alisa woke up from her procedure to see her mangled flesh (she suffered serious burns in the crash) and to learn that her husband and son were killed. She initially freaks out and physically assaults several members of the IGH staff before briefly attacking Jessica, at which point she was sedated. This specific sequence was the memory that Jessica had been flashing back to at various points of this Season.
Five-years later, working with the actual Doctor Leslie Hansen, Doctor Malus has been working tirelessly to rehab Alisa. Her skin has been mostly repaired, though she is still baldheaded, and she is suffering from memory loss. Doctor Malus recounts Alisa’s story for surely not the first time, and she of course reacts negatively to news that her husband and son are dead and that her daughter believes the same of her. Malus insists that Alisa cannot go to Jessica due to her frequent violent outbursts that neither he nor she has figured out how to control. Alisa has pretty much taken everything that she has been told as well as she can, but being told she cannot be with her daughter is something she simply cannot tolerate, and I’ll get back to her in a minute.
We flashback to Jessica during this time as well and see that she and Trish had a very volatile relationship in those days. Trish is an aspiring musical star that is totally strung-out and in way over her head with the drugs that she is hooked on. She is surrounded by moochers and enablers and Jessica can’t stand to see her like this, and ultimately has enough when her concern is answered with hurtful insults from Trish that suggest Jessica is leeching off of her. Jessica’s past relationship with Trish is pretty much everything that Matt Murdock’s past with Foggy Nelson wasn’t.
Jessica storms out of Trish’s life, but not before meeting a bartender at Trish’s club named Sterling. As we will learn over the course of this episode, Sterling was Jessica’s first (and ultimately only) love. He had ambitions of opening a club of his own called “Alias” and that black leather jacket that Jessica always wears … that was pointed out by Sterling. Jessica led a life of petty crime, robbing ATM machines and whatnot, but she was alive, and she was in love with Sterling, and there was nothing that she wouldn’t do for him and that included protecting him. Sterling was a bit in over his own head with his lender however, and when said lender came to collect, Jessica easily dispatched of him and his goons.
Meanwhile, Alisa fakes taking her medication and sets-up her nurses (one of which is Inez Green). We see the scene that Inez alluded to in all of its violent glory here, as Alisa wounds Inez and snaps her co-workers’ neck by twisting the front side to the backside in a mere moment. From there, Alisa seeks out Jessica, eventually finding her with an assist from Trish’s mother of all people. Alisa follows her daughter into a local bar where Sterling meets Jessica about the time that Alisa walks in.
Jessica unknowingly converses with her mother from a stall in the restroom and things are going well until Sterling is confronted at the bar by his lender and escorted outside by him and his goons. Alisa follows, and overhears the goons ask Sterling to lend out the services of Jessica for future dangerous missions. Sterling says he will comply for a certain price, and this provokes Alisa into a rage. She confronts Sterling and emphatically informs him that Jessica is not his to pimp-out and she then violently bashes his skull against a concrete wall, killing him.
She then takes cover as Jessica discovers the slain body of the love of her life and realizing what she’s done, she voluntarily returns to Doctor Malus and submits herself to his treatment, now knowing that he was right … in her condition, she cannot be with her daughter. Elsewhere, Jessica and Trish make up and Trish decides to get clean.
Back in the present, we see that Alisa has been telling her story to Jessica. When she asks if Jessica can ever possibly forgive her, Jessica answers with a harsh “no” and punches her mother, prompting Doctor Malus (who has fallen in love with Alisa over the years) to sedate Jessica.
Outstanding episode here! Both Janet McTeer and Krysten Ritter should be commended for their work in this episode. Janet was phenomenal in portraying both the monstrous and the vulnerable side of her character’s personality while Ritter showed us another side of Jessica Jones as we saw Jessica at a time before she was so cynical and hardened and at a time when she still believed in love. The raw emotion that Krysten conveyed in the sequence in which she discovered Sterling’s body was powerful and gut-wrenching and it was neat to see Jessica smile so much in her scenes with Sterling.
I also want to applaud the I Want Your Cray Cray song! It was appropriately ridiculous, and you could tell Rachael Taylor had a blast with it!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Ain’t We Got Fun – Directed by Zetna Fuentes. Written by Gabe Fonseca.
Jessica wakes up in shackles as Doctor Malus does all he can to convince her to give her mom a chance, but Jessica wants no part of it. She is as confused as she is disgusted, and though she makes a move to turn Trish away when Trish calls her, after she convinces Malus to release her while Alisa is frustratingly failing to make breakfast upstairs, Jessica capitalizes on her temporary freedom and texts her contact at the NYPD the address at which she is being held.
Knowing that the police will be arriving imminently, Alisa convinces Malus to flee and begrudgingly accepts her fate, choosing the down time to converse with her daughter. As Alisa speaks, Jessica finds herself conflicted, for as surely as she is a monster, she is also her mother, and is someone (like Jessica) that was violated by IGH and turned into something that she never intended to be. Ultimately, Jessica decides to flee with Alisa and takes her back to her apartment. There, they bond, and they bicker, and Jessica suffers a mild panic attack when her mother slips out the window while Jessica speaks with the police and then Alisa converses with Oscar, and Jessica is just an absolute mess as she struggles desperately with the fact that she is outright protecting a murderous monster.
The episode ends with gunshots from outside, one of which strikes Jessica, and you just know something bad is coming as Alisa has been triggered.
This episode reminded me a lot of the episode last Season where Jessica was trying to convince Kilgrave to use his powers for good, in that, we got to see Jessica hang out with the primary antagonist of the show and try to see a different side of them. It goes against Jessica’s cynicism and adds depth to her character, and the fact that Alisa is an unstable murderous monster allowed for some flashes of comedy via irony and I once again really adored the performance of Janet McTeer. She continues to successfully bring all of these different emotions and attributes out of the character that she is portraying. She is smart, sincere, blunt, protective, loving, dangerous, and completely psychotic all at the same time and she has been my favorite part of this Season!
Elsewhere, we see Malcolm begin to look into Hogarth’s partners while discovering that Trish is on Simpson’s drugs. Malcolm’s investigation leads to him getting beaten up by three thugs, but Trish intervenes and then convinces Malcolm to take the drugs in order to quickly heal his wounds. Malcolm (a former addict, of course) complies, but then instantly regrets the decision, telling Trish to stay away from him before running away.
As for Hogarth, she visits an IGH patient in jail that Inez insists boasts the power of healing. Hogarth seems to get what she wants out of the visit (hope) and then sleeps with Inez. Again, I’m not exactly loving the stuff with Trish (though Rachael Taylor rocked the fight sequence with the thugs, especially when she clawed that guy’s face), and the Hogarth stuff is sort of just there for me. The main players are delivering time and time again though, and overall, I’m really enjoying this Season.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Shark in the Bathtub, Monster in the Bed – Directed by Rosemary Rodriguez. Written by Jenny Klein.
I figured that Pryce Cheng had something to do with the gunfire that penetrated Jessica’s apartment, and as it turns out, he was the actual shooter. He has decided to take Alisa Jones down himself, but that of course, does not bode well for him. Alisa quickly catches up to a fleeing Cheng and begins to attack him, but Jessica breaks things up by sedating Cheng and Jessica and Alisa store his body in Jessica’s bathtub. The mother and daughter then debate whether Cheng should be killed or not, with Jessica of course voting against that option. There are some really great exchanges between Jessica and Alisa as they converse, with the one that stands out most being Alisa expressing sincere regret and concern over the fact that Jessica has spent the past 17-years blaming herself for the accident that took the lives or her family. Alisa insists that it was the fault of her and Jessica’s father and urges Jessica to abandon her guilt and move on.
Soon, a panicked Oscar calls Jessica and reveals that his estranged wife has taken Vido. Jessica and Alisa both rush out to help Oscar in an effort to find the woman before she leaves the Country. Together, they use their strength to stop the bus and Oscar is reunited with Vito in what was a really great scene.
Alisa is encouraged by the notion of using her “abilities” to do good, but Jessica does not share her enthusiasm. When Cheng wakes up, he declares that he never meant to shoot Jessica and that he was only targeting Alisa. Jessica urges him to let bygones be bygones considering the fact that Cheng could be charged with attempted murder, and Cheng reasons with her, insisting that Alisa needs to be put away for her crimes. It’s easy to forget that Alisa is a murderous monster during her scenes with Jessica, but the show reminds us of that the moment that Jessica concurs and calls Detective Costa, her contact at the NYPD.
Overhearing Jessica’s call, Alisa goes into rage mode and violently attacks Cheng, whom Jessica defends. This prompts Alisa to attack Jessica, and she only stops when Jessica cowers and calls her “mom.” Alisa chases after Cheng outside and when she exits the building, she finds that she is surrounded by police. Jessica begs her mom to refrain from further violence and she concedes.
Also in this episode, we see Jeri Hogarth get the healer (Shane Ryback) out of prison and begin undergoing his treatment. We also see Trish Walker try to get Inez to appear on Trish Talk, but Hogarth defends Inez’s feelings and stands up to Trish for her with an emphatic “no.” As Trish’s downward spiral continues, she quits Trish Talk over the air after ranting about how no one cares about what is really important. Much of what Trish said was very powerful and it certainly rung true, but it reminded me of some of the conversations that I’ve had with people that I care about in that yes, awful, horrible, and I dare say evil things happen every day to good, honest, loving people. It sucks. This world that we live in is fucked up. It is. And it sucks. However, in order to maintain our sanity, some of us have to have an escape. If you’ve read much of anything that I write, you know that I am one such person. This very site is about Marvel comic book characters that appear in movies and television shows. It is absolutely trivial and in the grand scheme of things, none of it matters when you think about rape and child abuse and addiction and war and famine and murder … but personally, I can’t think about those things 24 / 7. I have a wife and kids and friends, and I have to try to focus on the good and the fun in this world, or else I’d fail them and go crazy. Sometimes, as is the case with this episode and in fact most of the now former Netflix stuff overall, some really heavy stuff gets addressed through plot points and character stuff and when that happens, even the thing that I generally use as an escape delves into the horrific side of life and the world that we live in and sometimes I appreciate that, and at others I’m a little annoyed by it, because again, this is my escape from the horror. I will again say that Trish’s outburst was well-written, but I will also encourage those who feel the way that she does to follow their passion and stay true to their conviction for sure, but to also be sure to try and let a little light into the darkness where you can because for all its horrors, there is good in this world too.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Porkchop – Directed by Neasa Hardiman. Written by Aida Mashaka Croal.
I’m not going to spend a lot to time on this episode. If you read the end of my above entry, you can probably tell that I’m feeling the weight of this series, and I am. I hate seeing certain characters go through the things that happen in this specific episode and that’s because I know that people go through these types of things in real life and again, it’s just really sad and heavy.
Alisa gets locked-up and Jessica, with Hogarth’s rather generous help begins the process of trying to keep her out of The Raft (as seen in the Marvel Studios film Captain America: Civil War). In order to do this, Alisa has to give a full confession and Jessica has to ensure the safety of Doctor Malus. Jessica (with generous help from Oscar) does her part, but in the meantime, Crazy ass Trish (with help from Malcolm) has decided to go after Malus, and by her own admission, if anything happens to Malus, Alisa will lose it. Meanwhile, Alisa obviously feels a bit betrayed by Jessica, but she’s trying to bury these feelings due to her unconditional love for her daughter. In the meantime, Alisa is being relentlessly harassed by a cruel and overbearing guard. She refrains from killing the jerk, but he still doesn’t relent. Jessica catches on to him and follows him home from work, learning that he has covered up the murders of several inmates by his hand, disguising them as suicides. Jessica breaks into his house and finds evidence to back this up, but the man returns home and attacks her. As he relentlessly beats her, Jessica, forced to defends herself, fights back, delivering a killing blow to her attacker. Of course, that’s not good.
Elsewhere, Jeri Hogarth returns home from a meeting with Jessica at the prison to discover that Inez and Shane aren’t there and that they robbed her. Catching up with Trish and Malcolm, they have located Malus and Trish knocks out Malcolm, places him in the trunk of her car and then, armed with a gun, prepares to confront Malus. On the superhero show of it all, Trish is about to screw everything up for Jessica and that really sucks. Other aspects that are more grounded in the real world though are the scam that Hogarth fell victim to and the prison cruelty stuff. It was extremely unsettling to watch Alisa be force-fed meat (she is a vegetarian) and seeing Trish morph into this wildly ambitious, yet disgustingly selfish character is unfortunate.
As for the Hogarth stuff, I can’t imagine the horror of someone stealing your precious belongings, but I can absolutely relate to being scammed by would-be “healers.” This is an especially sore spot for me, and I really felt for Hogarth. Her arc has not been one of my favorite things about this Season, but I swear, Carrie-Anne Moss has been phenomenal in her role.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Three Lives and Counting – Directed by Jennifer Lynch. Written by Jack Kenny and Lisa Randolph.
With the deaths of three people now weighing on her conscience, Jessica begins losing her grip on reality as she starts suffering from debilitating panic attacks and visions of the late Kilgrave. After disguising the prison guard’s death as a suicide, Jessica returns home where she takes a call from her mom and covertly confirms that Alisa’s problem has been taken care of. Alisa tells Jessica that she is proud of her, and Jessica isn’t sure if that’s such a good thing. She’s feeling really low.
Nonetheless, Jessica goes to take Doctor Malus his faux papers and is horrified to discover that he is gone. Jessica informs Alisa of this, asking if she knows where he may have possibly gone, and she assures Jessica that Malus would have never left by his own accord, and she suggests that Trish has something to do with it. Jessica believes that is nonsense until she returns to her apartment and sees that her laptop has been hacked (by Trish and Malcolm). Jessica breaks into Malcom’s apartment and hacks into his computer to deduce his and Trish’s location.
She soon catches up to them moments after Trish fired shots and Malcolm’s feet. Trish makes a getaway with Malus and Jessica scolds Malcolm while Trish and Malus are photographed together by a fan. So, what Trish really wants with Malus is for him to give her superpowers and he agrees to do just that. The procedure threatens Trish’s life however, and Jessica arrives just in time to try and save her. She takes custody of Trish and lashes out at Malus, who takes her words to heart and decides to blow himself up. Malus kills himself, going out in a blaze of glory.
Jessica berates Malcolm and he fires back, noting how many times he’d been there for Jessica for whatever she needed, and he announces that he is quitting Alias Investigations. Meanwhile, news of the death of Doctor Malus is covered by the media, and Alisa sees the news from her cell, complete with the fan photo of Trish and Malus together. Alisa begins sobbing uncontrollably and her grief quickly turns to rage. She kills her new guard (who was actually really sweet to her) and uses her immense strength to break out of prison. Alisa is out for Patsy’s blood!
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Pray for My Patsy – Directed by Liz Friedlander. Written by Raelle Tucker and Hilly Hicks Jr.
Trish Walker is barely clinging to life and Jessica learns that her mother has broken out of prison. Officer Costa and his partner Ruth meet with Jessica and Ruth berates Jessica as she routinely has throughout the Season. Alisa meanwhile stalks Trish, paying a visit to the radio station, but not finding her there. As she continues to mourn the loss of Malus, Alisa discovers Trish’s whereabouts, thanks to Trish’s idiot mother, and Alisa heads to the hospital.
Jessica rushes to cut her mother off and arrives just as Alisa bursts into Trish’s room. Alisa overpowers Jessica and begins strangling Trish, but ultimately stops due to Jessica’s desperate pleas. Officers Costa and Ruth arrive and hold Alisa at gunpoint, but she manages to take a hold of Ruth and then falls backwards out of the room’s high window. Officer Ruth is killed from the fall and Alisa makes a getaway. Having lost one of their own, Officer Costa and his NYPD colleagues are out for Alisa’s blood.
Trish is secretly moved to a morgue where she soon awakens. She lashes out at Jessica for stopping her procedure and tells Jessica that she doesn’t deserve her powers. Trish then urges Jessica to kill Alisa. Jessica sneaks away from the morgue and meets Alisa at Trish’s apartment. Jessica holds Alisa at gunpoint and Alisa practically dares Jessica to shoot her, but quickly turns the tables on Jessica, commandeering the gun and knocking Jessica out. Alyisa then loads an unconscious Jessica into an RV and leaves the city.
Elsewhere, Jeri Hogarth begins buying her stolen items back from local pawn shops and eventually deduces the whereabouts of Inez and Shane. We then see Jeri return to being the manipulative character we know and love as she tricks Inez into shooting Shane and then calls the police on her.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Playland – Directed by Uta Briesewitz. Written by Jesse Harris and Melissa Rosenberg.
Well, shit.
The Season Finale of Jessica Jones: Season Two stayed true to the overall tone of the Season by delivering a both shocking and haunting end to the story of Alisa Jones and it left me both angry and heartbroken. The short of it is, Alisa and Jessica bond in a major way as they ride to the border when they team-up to rescue four people that have been involved in an explosive car crash, including a family of three. We see Alisa take sincere pride in the good deed and she enthusiastically proposes to Jessica a life in which they work together to defend the innocent. Alissa insists that Jessica is her anchor and ultimately, Jessica actually decides that she really should give a life with her mother a go as they are both the only family that either of them have. I really enjoyed just watching Alisa and Jessica talk here, and I especially loved Jessica threatening her mother not to say, “With Great Power, Comes Great responsibility.” Good stuff!
Jessica ends up reaching out to Oscar to make passports for her and her mom both, but Oscar is followed by the police and Jessica has to covertly flee the scene and reunite with Alisa. Later, Deputy Costa contacts Jessica and announces that he is aware that Jessica is aiding her mother, and he encourages her to “do the right thing”, reiterating that he believes that she is “one of the good ones.”
Hearing this exchange in which Jessica never spoke hurts Alisa’s heart, as she selflessly realizes what being with her daughter is doing to her daughter and her conscience will not allow herself to be the cause of Jessica’s life and future unraveling. Alisa therefore pulls over at a local amusement park, activates a Ferris wheel and boards it. Jessica follows and as they ride together, Alisa insists that she has to do what is best for Jessica and that she realizes that now, going so far as to say that Jessica is a hero and declaring that for all of her failures in life, something good did come from it … and that was Jessica. Alisa is going to turn herself in, consequences be damned.
Then, Alisa is suddenly shot in the freaking head and killed. Covered in her mother’s blood, Jessica looks down to identify the shooter, and it’s freaking Trish Walker! Ugh. Jessica leaps down and confronts Trish, who insists that she had to do what she’d done, saying Jessica couldn’t see things clearly and that she did what she did to save Jessica.
Jessica refrains from assaulting Trish and tells her to “run.” She then takes Trish’s gun with her and returns to the cart in which the fallen body of her mother is and awaits the arrival of the police. Detective Costa theorizes that Jessica shot her mom in self-defense and that Jessica had done the “right thing.” Jessica is of course, a mess.
The fallout sees Jessica get back to private investigating. Trish does visit her, but Jessica wants no part of her sister. As viewers, we then see that Trish apparently has powers. Elsewhere, Hogarth uses the evidence obtained for her by Malcolm to blackmail her partners after which she launches her own practice. Malcolm goes to work for Cheng. Ugh. The episode ends with Jessica having dinner with Oscar and Vito in their apartment.
So, this episode – and parts of this Season as a whole in fact – was a tough watch, emotionally speaking. I could not help but think of my mother, who passed away just before the Pandemic and a lot of the interactions between Alisa and Jessica reminded me of my mom. Some of it good, but admittedly, some of it bad, for we certainly had our clashes at times, but I miss her terribly every day and she was on my mind throughout most of this episode. Then, there’s Jessica, the daughter – and that’s how I viewed the Jessica Jones character in this specific episode – as a daughter. My daughter has gone through some difficult things recently and some of the things that Jessica struggled with and said about the world reminded me of my daughter’s struggles and that was hard. Like the Jessica Jones character though, my little girl is tough and driven and she has fought and risen above her trauma.
I loved Alisa’s message to Jessica, and I can completely relate it. My daughter is my hero too.
In closing, this was a great Second Season of Jessica Jones. I would certainly understand the heaviness of the series turning some people off, for it was a tough watch for me at times too, not because it was offensive or poorly written or anything like that, but because it hit a little too close to home. That being said, there is a place for diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not just in a casting sense, but in a storytelling sense. Though it hurt my heart to see Alisa die the way that she did and though it made me pretty much hate Trish and feel so sorry for Jessica, I have to give credit to Marvel Television for being different. I’ve heard it said time and time again that “All Marvel projects are the same” and that they all end the same way with a big super-powered fight between the hero of the story and a villain that boasts similar powers, but you cannot say that about Jessica Jones: Season Two. There was no big CGI battle or even a final fight between the hero and the villain – it ended with a bonding moment between the hero and the villain that resulted in the villain’s death at the hands of the hero’s best friend.
Jessica Jones: Season Two was far less about superheroes and far more about the complexities of life … parents and children and friendships and partnerships and sickness and disease, and loneliness, love, and loss. It was different and it was bold, and it was raw and thought-provoking and as inspiring as it was deflating.
Kudos to all involved.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Jessica Jones: Season Two:
Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones
Janet McTeer as Alisa Jones
Chemistry between Krysten Ritter and Janet McTeer
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth
JR Ramirez as Oscar Arocho
Eke Darville as Malcolm Ducasse
John Ventimiglia as Detective Costa
Kilgrave (sort of) Returns
Intriguing Mystery and Surprising Twists Throughout
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