Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker), Eka Darville (Malcolm Ducasse), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth), Benjamin Walker (Erik), and Jeremy Bobb as Gregory Sallinger and a special appearance by Mike Colter as Luke Cage
JESSICA JONES SEASON THREE
Produced by Marvel Television
Originally aired on Netflix
Number of Episodes: 13
Initial Streaming: June 14, 2019
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Jessica Jones: Season Three Facts
Jessica Jones: Season Three was the thirteenth and final 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.
Upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, Jessica Jones: Season Three takes place after The Punisher: Season Two and before Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
My Jessica Jones: Season Three Review
AKA The Perfect Burger – Directed by Michael Lehmann. Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Inspired by her late mother, Jessica is trying her hand at being a superhero while struggling with the stress of the person she viewed as her sister killing her biological mother. This episode opens with Jessica returning a child to her mother after her father ran away with her to Mexico. Jessica wants the case to be cut and dry, but as is usual with many of her cases, who’s right and who’s wrong lies in a very gray area and after returning the child to her mother and doing the “legal” thing, she isn’t so sure that she’s done the “right thing.” It doesn’t help either that her assault against the child’s father goes viral on social media.
Elsewhere, Malcom is working for Jeri Hogarth, and he too is struggling with moral complexities. He has gotten very good at his job in short order, but he isn’t so sure that what he is doing is good. He has slipped into a “fixer” sort of role, using money and leverage in order to protect Hogarth’s wealthy (and oftentimes guilty) clients. Jeri meanwhile is beginning to suffer the first serious attacks from her ALS, and she calls Jessica with a very dark request: that when the day comes, to assist Hogarth in committing suicide. This deeply disturbs Jessica, as does a meeting with Trish’s mother Dorothy, who seeks to hire Jessica to find her missing daughter. Jessica wants no part of this but ends up reconsidering. Jessica and Dorothy infiltrate Trish’s apartment and along with a disturbing unsent email in which Trish defends the act of killing Jessica’s mother, Jessica successfully lands on Trish’s trail. When Jessica catches up to Trish, she is both stunned and repulsed to see that Trish has obtained powers. Jessica interrupts Trish’s attempt to steal a sculpture from the custody of a man maned Andrew Brandt who stole said sculpture from his sister, whom he had beaten. Jessica intervenes when Brandt pulls a gun on Trish. There are no happy reunions however, as Jessica expresses her resentment of Trish obtaining powers while Trish mockingly points out how her doing so can benefit Jessica, suggesting that Jessica need not bother with trying to be a hero any longer, as Trish is now up for the job.
Later, Jessica goes out for a drink and meets a man named Erik who insults the hamburger that she has ordered and bets her $50.00 that she will like his way of serving a hamburger much more. Jessica takes him up on the bet and takes Erik to her place, but she is more interested in sex than in eating. That ends up getting interrupted by a knock at the door however, and when Jessica gets up to answer it, she is stabbed in the gut by a masked assailant.
Malcolm discovers Jessica lying in the hallway bleeding out and calls 911.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA You’re Welcome – Directed by Krysten Ritter. Written by Hilly Hicks Jr.
Krysten Ritter steps behind the camera to direct this episode of Jessica Jones, which revolves around Trish Walker, showing her intense training to become an effective crime-fighting superhero now that she has achieved powers. My favorite part of watching Trish’s journey was her attempts at finding a costume, and just as Marvel Television did with Luke Cage, we got to ever so briefly see Trish wear the traditional Hellcat costume from the Marvel comics.
Keeping her identity secret proves to be crucial to Trish’s superhero career due to the fact that she is so famous. One of her very first interventions resulted in her being sued, prompting her to turn to Hogarth where she experienced an uncomfortable reunion with Malcolm. After exchanging insults with Malcolm over which of the two of them was more moral, Trish steals a stack of police reports, which she plans to use as a means to track criminals. This soon leads her to an accused rapist, whom she stalks for days before finally catching him in the act of drugging a young woman and then attempting to rape her. Trish intervenes and experiences her first official taste of feeling like a superhero!
We soon see Trish start a new daytime talk show: Styles by Trish and get a peek into her mind to see that part of her isn’t as guilt-free over killing Jessica’s mom as she would have Jessica believe, and then we catch up to Trish breaking into Brandt’s apartment.
From there, Trish visits Jessica at the hospital, but after getting the full name of the man that she believes attacked her (Andrew Brandt), she once again gives Trish the cold soldier.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA I Have No Spleen – Directed by Anton Cropper. Written by Lisa Randolph
Having suffered an injury that would have killed a “normal” person, we catch up with Jessica in the hospital after having surgery to remove her spleen. She is placed on several medications and ordered to take it easy for a while, but she is obsessed with finding out who stabbed her, and it is that which drives her, soon to her own detriment. As Jessica targets Andrew Brandt after getting information from Hogarth pertaining to Brandt’s treasured statue, Jessica collapses in the street mid-mission due to severe dehydration and is readministered to the hospital while Trish steals her leads.
Once she is out of the hospital again, Jessica confronts Trish, then captures and interrogates Brandt, learning that he is not the person that attacked her after all. Jessica leaves Brandt for Trish to turn over to the police, which greatly thrills her sister. From there, Erik (the guy from the hamburger date) comes to check on Jessica, at which point she realizes that the person that tried to kill her was actually targeting Erik.
Elsewhere, there is this whole thing with Hogarth and an ex-girlfriend named Kith. Jeri is I guess, longing for good times long gone given her short lease on life, so she reaches out to Kith, meets her husband, and asks her out for lunch. It turns out that Kith and her husband are in an open marriage, so Kith is free to do what she pleases with Jeri, but Jeri wants Kith all to herself and therefore orders Malcolm to look into his life and find something – anything – that could inspire Kith to leave him. I wasn’t all that into this side story as I think Jeri would be a far more interesting character if they’d lean into her more sympathetic and vulnerable side, but Carrie-Anne Moss did great with what she had to work with., nonetheless.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Customer Service is Standing By – Directed by Liesl Tommy. Written by Jamie King
Erik explains his situation to Jessica. He is a gambling addict who owes money to a dangerous woman named Sal, but in addition to that, he too is a powered person with the ability to sense if someone has done or intends to do something wrong. He has blackmailed several people into paying him money, and Jessica joins him on the respective trails that he had prearranged which he assumes will lead to cash. It does.
Having successfully gathered enough money to cover his debts, Erik takes the money to Sal, but she says it is too late and orders her minions to drown him. Trish arrives and intervenes however, saving Erik’s life, but Sal is impaled on a weapon that she intended to use against Trish, greatly disturbing Trish, as she hadn’t intended to kill anyone.
Meanwhile, Jessica finally tracks down the person that attacked her: a man named Gregory Sallinger. The episode takes a very suspenseful dark twist when Jesscia comes face-to-face with Sallinger, a manipulative, intellectually formidable, psychopathic serial killer. Realizing that she just might be over her head this time around, Jessica swallows her pride and rage and contacts Trish, proposing a team-up.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA I Wish – Directed by Mairzee Almas. Written by J. Holtham
Jessica and Trish target Sallinger, with Trish breaking into his apartment while Jessica keeps an eye on him out in public. Jessica soon sees Erik interact with Sallinger and she goes to him and discovers that Sallinger has been stalking Erik’s sister. Jessica asks Malcolm to keep an eye on Erik’s sister. He agrees, but she soon flees with her pimp. Jesscia and Trish soon thereafter stalk Sallinger and they quickly discover that he has stowed the pieces of his victims in an abandoned train car. When Jessica investigates further, she triggers a booby trap set up by Sallinger and the door slams shut and the car begins to fill with poisonous gas. Trish corners Sallinger but has to choose saving Jessica’s life over capturing Sallinger. Trish successfully gets Jessica out, after which the two of them finally talk things out, with Trish saying that she wishes she didn’t kill Jessica’s mom and Jessica saying that she wishes her mom hadn’t been a murderous monster. So, the two of them basically reach each other halfway and decide to move on. Together.
Elsewhere, Hogarth outs Kith’s husband with the information Malcolm retrieved for her, but this ends up being a terrible mistake as after confronting Jeri, the man films his suicide and with his dying words, condemns Hogarth for ruining his life and the lives of his family for her own personal gain. Kith now wants nothing to do with Jeri.
This episode ends with Sallinger abducting Erik.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Sorry Face – Directed by Tim Iacofano. Written by Jesse Harris
As the NYPD begin formally investigating the gruesome crime scene inside the abandoned train while Sallinger begins torturing Erik, which doesn’t take all that much effort due to the fact that Erik’s abilities cause him severe agony when he is near evil people. This both fascinates and frustrates Sallinger, who refuses to acknowledge that he is an “evil” person.
Meanwhile, Jessica discovers that Sallinger has Erik and outs Trish to Dorothy in an effort to dissuade Trish from further crime fighting (but to no avail), while Malcolm confronts Erik’s sister’s pimp and takes her back into his custody. Malcolm is struggling with even more guilt following the suicide of Kith’s husband and all of the stress is beginning to take its toll on him. Hogarth is also troubled by Erik’s death, but not due to any sort of moral code, but because Kith will not see her and several of her clients are dropping her, and this concerns Hogarth greatly. Again, I’m not liking any of this stuff with Jeri at all and it is really bringing this show down for me.
Elsewhere, Jessica and Trish rescue Erik together and Sallinger is actually arrested, but Jessica soon learns from her ally Officer Costa that there is not enough evidence to keep Sallinger in custody. Jessica knows that Sallinger is a serial killer, she just doesn’t have the appropriate evidence to prove it. Erik could testify against Sallinger of course, but Costa insists that he would face jail time himself if he were to come forth, and Erik insists that he could never go to prison, as the experience would kill him.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA The Double Half-Wappinger – Directed by Larry Teng. Written by Nancy Won
Sallinger hires Jeri Hogarth to defend him and he is released from prison, making sure to insult Jessica on the way out. Believing that Sallinger may have killed his brother, who died in a tragic tractor incident, Jessica and Trish venture to Wappinger Falls and the community that Sallinger grew up in. Local police refuse to give Jessica the files that she is seeking, so Trish feigns a meltdown outside so Jessica can get them. Ultimately, Jessica deduces that the death of Sallinger’s brother really was an accident, but her continued searching leads to an unsolved missing person’s report in Wappinger Falls: a young boy who was Sallinger’s teammate on the local wrestling team. Jessica and Trish venture to the home of the boy’s parents where Jessica quickly figures out that the boy is buried underneath a gazebo that was finished on the day of the boy’s death. Jessica ignores the demands of the police to cease and ends up digging up the body of the boy with her bare hands.
Hoping that forensics will at long last have something concrete that can be tied to Sallinger, Jessica in the meantime tracks Malcolm, who is looking into Sallinger’s exploits as well, to a gym where Coach Sallinger is giving wrestling lessons. Jessica ends up entering the gym and accepts a challenge from Sallinger to face him on the mat. Jessica proceeds to embarrass Sallinger in front of his students, easily wiping the mat with him.
Elsewhere, pictures of Trish working as a masked vigilante hit the press.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Camera Friendly – Directed by Stephen Surjik. Written by Scott Reynolds
Looking to retaliate against Jessica, Sallinger contacts her, sending a video promising that at 7:00 PM, he will make his next kill. The police aren’t too worried, as they have Sallinger under house arrest, but Jessica reveals that to be a ruse. Jessica sends Sallinger a video of her own, of her destroying his apartment. Jessica’s frantic search for Sallinger’s target leads to a sit-down televised interview to warn New York citizens. Despite her best efforts, Jessica’s trail runs cold until in a moment of horrific clarity, she realizes that Trish’s mother Dorothy is Sallinger’s next victim.
Sure enough, Trish discovers the tortured and bloodied corpse of her mother taped to a chair and has a very real meltdown. Jessica is calling to warn Dororthy about the time that Trish finds Dorothy, and of course, it is too late. Consumed by rage and grief, Trish rushes out to make Sallinger pay while Jessica rushes to stop her.
In the meantime, Hogarth declares war on vigilantes, specifically targeting the masked mystery woman that we know to be Trish Walker.
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AKA I Did Something Today – Directed by Jennifer Getzinger. Written by Lisa Randolph
Trish makes it to Sallinger before Jessica, but Jessica arrives just in time to stop Trish from following through with killing Sallinger. Jessica orders Trish to lay low and soon receives a photograph from Sallinger that showed Trish clearly being the person who assaulted him. He orders Jessica to sabotage the evidence that is being built against him for the Wappinger Falls murder in exchange for never letting the incriminating photo of Trish see the light of day. Jessica is torn apart over the decision to either let Sallinger’s name stay clear or allow her sister to go to prison for the rest of her life. She ultimately sides with her grieving sister and sees to it that no evidence against Sallinger can be found. Doing so involves conspiring with Erik against a dirty cop … something that will come back to haunt her.
When Jessica takes the news of the deal with Sallinger to Trish, she is anything but grateful, voicing how her mother’s killer will now never face justice. Later, after the body of the cop that assisted Jessica with the sabotage is found, Jessica is consequently targeted by the NYPD for murder.
The Dorothy stuff – though predictable – was executed pretty well and Rachael Taylor did some fantastic acting here. Jessica really does seem to have met her match in Sallinger and their little feud continues to captivate me. However, there is a lot of other stuff going on in the background with Jeri and Kith and Malcom and his continued frustration with working for Hogarth. Basically, Malcolm quits / is fired as he decides he must stay true to his own personal convictions. As for Jeri, Kith agrees to let her represent her as her attorney and the episode ends with Hogarth discovering that the masked mystery woman is Trish Walker.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Hero Pants – Directed by Sanford Bookstaver. Written by Hilly Hicks Jr and Jamie King
The NYPD is having extreme difficulty on finding any evidence with which they can arrest Jessica, but they continue to harass her, nonetheless. In the meantime, Jessica helps Trish prepare for her mother’s funeral while beginning to question Erik’s sincerity, but she is unable to find anything that directly links him to the dead officer. From there, Jessica attends Dorothy’s funeral where Trish speaks. Jessica receives a sudden call from her secretary, telling her that the NYPD have issued a warrant for her arrest. Mere seconds later, Jessica catches a glimpse of bruising on Trish’s arm, and she abruptly leaves the service with the nauseating realization that Trish had murdered the officer. Jessica soon tails Trish but is arrested before she can make a move. Jessica Jones … arrested for a murder that Trish Walker committed … a murder that Jessica Jones is only linked to due to her putting Trish Walker ahead of herself and everyone else. Oh, the irony!
The episode ends with Erik walking in on Trish while she is committing yet another murder.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Hellcat – Directed by Jennifer Getzinger. Written by Jane Espenson
This episode was mostly flashbacks with some stuff we’d already seen and some that we hadn’t. It was all about Trish, showing recent events from her perspective along with flashbacks to her childhood. The most important things to come out of it was the reveal that Trish had accidently killed the police officer that Jessica has been arrested for and that her and Erik were in cahoots, trying to clear Jessica’s name by assaulting another evil person while Jessica was in police custody, and making it clear that both crimes were committed by the same person. This officer murder was very interesting, as when the cop died, Erik experienced euphoria. The same was not the case in the ensuing attack however, as Trish lost control and gleefully killed the man, triggering a headache within Erik. Trish was clearly becoming the monster.
I should also add that Hogarth visited Trish in an effort to blackmail her into targeting one of Kith’s enemies, leading to Trish not so casually threatening her.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA A Lotta Worms – Directed by Sarah Boyd. Written by Scott Reynolds
Jessica is released from police custody and discovers a drunken Erik in the bathtub of her apartment. Erik reveals what has happened with Trish and a panicked Jessica rushes to the hospital, knowing that she will surely target Sallinger and that there would be no coming back from that. A rather surreal confrontation ensues with Jessica defending Sallinger from Trish. Jessica takes Sallinger to Hogarth’s, but Sallinger wants no part in staying at any sort of safehouse. He instead declares that he is going to return to his apartment and will wait for Trish to confront him there. Jessica then decides to set a trap for Trish.
Trish arrives as expected, but Jessica has Erik and Malcolm with her and not only is Trish subdued, but Jessica also steals Sallinger’s camera, relieving Trish of that particular problem. While Malcolm keeps watch over Trish however, Sallinger captures a drugged Jessica and takes her back to his apartment where he prepares to photograph, torture, and kill her. Jessica is far more okay that Sallinger figured though, and after getting him to confess to Dorothy’s murder on camera, Jessica frees herself from his constraints and takes him down.
Sallinger is arrested and Jessica reunites with Trish, encouraging her to leave her vigilante lifestyle behind and to move on with her life, but Trish has no plans to do either. She instead raids the courthouse and viciously murders Sallinger in an elevator, stunning everyone.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
AKA Everything – Directed by Neasa Hardiman. Written by Melissa Rosenberg and Nancy Won with Lisa Randolph
Rattled and feeling overwhelmed, Jessica returns to her apartment where Luke Cage pays her a visit to check on her. She assures him that she can handle the situation alone. Jessica conspires with Hogarth to lure Trish to Hogarth’s apartment, but Kith pays Jeri an unexpected visit, which complicates the situation. Trish arrives and threatens Kith, prompting Jeri to offer herself up in exchange for Kith’s safety. Trish complies and leaves with Hogarth, demanding that Jeri help her get out of the country.
This prompts Jessica to publicly expose Trish as the mysterious masked woman that has risen to the top of the NYPD’s most wanted list. Jessica then cuts off Trish before she can make a getaway and the two brawl. Jessica is heartbroken when Trish pulls a knife and attempts to stab her. Jessica puts her hand up and Trish stabs right through it, after which Jessica emphatically takes her down. Trish is arrested and Jessica leaves Alias Investigations to Malcolm. Kith bitterly leaves Jeri despite all that she’d done for her recently, coldly telling Hogarth that she will die alone. From there, Jessica considers leaving New York, but appears to reconsider as the episode ends.
Jessica Jones: Season Three was just okay for me. I think there were some great ideas and an interesting overall story, but the Season felt far too long, and the side stories took up way too much time. The best parts of the Season were pretty much those that applied to Sallinger. Putting Jessica up against a serial killer was a brilliant and intriguing creative move, and adding Trish’s vendetta against Sallinger after he murdered her mother was a nice added layer that upped the stakes and added to the intrigue. Jeremy Bobb was great as the cold, calculating, and unempathetic Sallinger and the dark, psychological rivalry that was established between Jessica and Sallinger was executed very well.
Another strength of the Season was the volatile relationship between Jessica and Trish. We’d seen so much unfold between the two adopted sisters over the course of the previous two Seasons, culminating with Trish killing Jessica’s mom. I like that this was addressed and given time to breathe and more than anything else this Season was the story of Trish’s descent into villainy. I thought Rachael Taylor was great throughout the Season, and I don’t know what more to say about Krysten Ritter. She is the quintessential Jessica Jones! So, yeah, I liked the stuff with Sallinger vs Jessica and how it became Jessica vs Trish and Trish vs Sallinger, but everything else? Not so much.
While the acting was fine from the likes of Carrie-Anne Moss and Eka Darville, their respective stories just weren’t interesting to me. I hated pretty much everything with Jeri and Kith. I never felt any sort of sympathy for either of them, particularly Jeri, who was written to be more unlikable than ever before throughout Season Three. Jeri clearly has no conscience and very few redeeming qualities. Malcolm does on the other hand, and he had a nice redemption arc in terms of leaving Hogarth and reuniting with Jessica, but did we need to see him cheating on his girlfriend with a hooker when we are supposed to be rooting for him? It felt like another case of these now former Netflix shows just trying to incorporate whatever mature subject matter that they could, and I think Marvel Television overextended themselves on that front.
I have now watched and reviewed all of the now former Netflix shows in their entirety and coming out of them, I certainly believe that The Defenders Saga was a mixed bag. There were some GREAT stories centered around some GREAT characters and there were a lot of REALLY GOOD ideas and fan service, but as a whole, there were some shortcuts taken and there was a redundant theme of whether or not the bad guys should be killed by the heroes throughout the Saga. One of the highlights of any of these shows was the philosophical conversations between Matt Murdock and Frank Castle in Daredevil: Season Two concerning this very thing, but I think Marvel Television went to that well a little too often beyond that. Should Luke Cage kill Diamondback? Should Jessica kill her mom? Should Danny Rand kill Davos? Should Matt Murdock kill Wilson Fisk? Should The Punisher kill anyone? Should kill Sallinger? Etc. It’s a worthy debate for sure, but it was overused.
Costuming is another criticism on my end. Whether it was a budget issue or a creative directive, I don’t know, but the look and feel of a lot of our heroes and villains felt underwhelming. I especially loathed Trish’s vigilante look in Jessica Jones: Season Three as it could not have been more basic or bland. The overall looks of Elektra, Diamondback, and Iron Fist were misses as well, and while I found Jigsaw’s mask in The Punisher: Season Two to be a guilty pleasure, his face should have been more mangled in order to get his torture across.
I will also say that binging all of these shows as I did was tough due to the dark and sometimes depressing narratives. I actually do appreciate the gritty feel of these shows and the way most of them were grounded in the real world. There were some fantastic commentaries on God and justice and how messed up the world in which we live can be, and again, I appreciate all of that, however, there is only so much police corruption, political injustice, drugs, hookers, child abuse, sexual abuse, torture and murder that one can take! These shows deal with some very disturbing things and rarely do they allow for levity throughout all of the darkness, which is something that I believe some of them would have benefitted from.
So, after 161 episodes and countless writing hours, here are my Defenders Saga rankings: # 1 – Daredevil Season Three. # 2 – Daredevil: Season One. # 3 – Jessica Jones: Season One. # 4 – The Punisher: Season One. # 5 – The Punisher: Season Two. # 6 – Daredevil: Season Two. # 7 – Jessica Jones: Season Two. # 8 – The Defenders. # 9 – Jessica Jones: Season Three. # 10 – Luke Cage: Season One. # 11 – Luke Cage: Season Two. # 12 – Iron Fist: Season One. # 13 – Iron Fist: Season Two.
Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Jessica Jones: Season Three:
Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones
Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker
Jeremy Bobb as Gregory Sallinger
John Ventimiglia as Officer Costa
The Death and Fallout of Sallinger’s murder of Trish’s Mom
Intense and captivating rivalry between Jessica Jones and Gregory Sallinger
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