In Daredevil, despite being a vigilante by night the main character was still a lawyer by day. Yet as much as the night time action of the show satisfied, as it progressed, we get to see less and less of Matt and his partner/"avocado" at law, Foggy, actually being lawyers. The pair even only ventured inside a courtroom once. That’s why as Jessica Jones picks up speed, the most interesting transition from its Hell’s Kitchen cousin is the bigger focus on her detective skills. We’re actually seeing her be a private investigator even if she starts becoming her own main client. The show still presents as a detective drama that minors into the world of superheroes.
Episode 2, Crush Syndrome – After witnessing Hope kill her own parents under Kilgrave’s influence, Jessica tries to make Jeri Hogarth act as Hope’s attorney. She only agrees if Jessica can prove Killgrave exists which sends Jessica investigating the circumstances of his supposed death one year ago. Meanwhile, Jessica’s photographs of Mike with Gina land him in some trouble leading to some unexpected results.
There’s a great central theme to this episode of Jessica’s isolation being self-inflicted, not for her sake but everyone else’s if Killgrave ever returns for her. She sees herself as a life-threatening condition to anyone around her, and the episode shows her process of accepting that even if that’s true she still can’t live that way. The detective-based drama of the episode is very enjoyable as Jessica follows one lead after the next in a logical fashion. Some of her improvised identities and various points even have a fun feeling Sam & Dean’s investigation work from Supernatural; like at the hospital, when she almost gets rumbled for using a Grey's Anatomy alias (not to mention those flowery scrubs). Before the end, we even get to see the man himself in a slightly stronger light as he becomes as surprisingly welcome house guest in a stylish apartment. It’s a great example of how quickly his abilities dominate such a situation. How could you fight him? What use is strength when you can’t throw a punch? Yet the episode does see Jessica discovering a potential weakness, giving us grounds for her to pursue him with more than just a death wish.
The episode takes some very interesting steps in developing some supporting hero characters. The biggest (literally) is Luke Cage as any questions over whether or not he has his abilities get firmly answered. The episode teases it well earlier in the bar fight as Luke holds his own against half a dozen big guys including quick dispatching blows, suggestive of vast strength. His unbreakable skin is similarly confirmed as a couple of glass bottle hits leave no mark before someone even states the obvious, “it didn’t cut?”. Though Mike spells it out best himself in a final scene with Jessica. Even with full comics knowledge, it’s almost a “don’t look” moment, and a good creative way to reinforce the ability. The episode concludes with Luke and Jessica aware that they’re both special and it will be fascinating to see how their relationship progresses from there. The much more surprising addition comes from Trish as her choice of yoga routines would imply that she has a very specific goal in mind. Could we see her suiting up as Hellcat after all?
After giving Jessica a few headaches last episode, we meet the upstairs neighbours of Robyn and Rueben that look set to be some good comic relief for the series. Their odd relationship only gets stranger when Reuben reveals they’re actually fraternal twins rather than a couple, which requires screaming based arguments about the dumbest possible things (the most realistic feature of the show so far). Elsewhere, we see hints of Jeri Hogarth’s personal life becoming an issue as her wife is now aware of her affairs with her assistant Pam.
As the first episode set the scene, this follow up nicely puts more storyline in motion while keeping to the central idea of Jessica being forced to confront her traumatic past.
Episode 3, It’s Called Whiskey – Jeri Hogarth arranges for Hope to be interviewed on Trish’s show about her ordeal with Kilgrave but Trish’s words make her a target for the Purple Man. Jessica tries to locate the surgical anaesthesia that could neutralize Kilgrave’s powers while she and Mike get used to their new super powered relationship.
After his tease last episode, David Tennant is slowly becoming more of an on-screen presence. Our hero and villain pairing even get their first face-to-face with increased emphasis on Jessica physically fighting him... or his lackeys at least. This builds in the great concept of “henchmen apathy”. Despite their intent to kill her, Jessica is fully aware that all of Kilgrave’s controlled minions are not themselves and so she does her best to knock them out or subdue them rather than seriously injure them. This has the excellent effect of depowering her by making her strength a liability rather than an asset and making simple encounters much more challenging. Yet we also see her mind and in particular, her quick thinking becoming equally powerful weapons. From the genius little moment injecting Trish with tranquilizer to make her brainwashed attacker think his job was done, the quick use of a phone tracking app for tailing. Even with the increasing presence of her strength, it’s so good to see her detective skills still driving the results. As for Tennant himself, many viewers will be loving the inclusion of his British slang (rugby is a very passionate game) and he’s really making the creepiness of his character look effortless.
Mike and Jessica’s relationship immediately proves to be much more fun now that they physically understand each other. From their bed-breaking bedroom antics to some great scenes discussing their position in the world, and whether or not they should become heroes. Mike’s philosophy leans towards self-preservation, in using his powers just to protect his own and that masking up only threatens that, “Being a hero just puts a target on your back”. This leads to the show’s first confirmation that Jessica was indeed a superhero before her encounter with Kilgrave. We don’t get much to go yet. Just that, “It didn’t last long” and Mike joking or not about whether she still has the costume. This also leads to the first referencing of The Avengers as Mike discusses others like them which is echoed later on when the alien invasion gets referenced. There are also brief mentions of the origin events, which in keeping with their comic personas: Jessica’s was an accident; Mike’s was an experiment. We may get more details about Jessica’s but from his series premise, it looks like Mike’s will be saved for his show.
The continued use of Hope’s character proves very rewarding in this episode as Jeri Hogarth starts to build the case of her defense, if not in the manner Jessica and the rest were expecting. The radio testimony setup evolves into a great twist as Jeri flips the focus into more of an insanity plea rather than the Kilgrave stance she promised. This is actually a great moment of realism for her character. She’s a smart lawyer and can clearly see that the odds people believing Hope is out of her mind are overwhelmingly greater than convincing people she was mind-controlled. Maybe Jessica should have gone to Nelson and Murdock? There’s a great earlier scene between Jeri and Jessica about the idea of Jessica testifying about her own Kilgrave experiences. Despite wanting to help Hope, we clearly see that such a level of public exposure is too far for Jessica. In just the same way she’s been hiding her powers, she’s not ready for the world to know the dirty secrets of her trauma yet.
It’s Called Whiskey is a step of the action without comprising the core detective drama values. The cast continue to impress with many characters getting more interesting with every episode (subtle hints dropped of Trish’s mother being abusive).
Episode 4, 99 Friends – As Jessica sets to find out the identity of Killgrave’s mystery photographer she gets a new client wanting to catch her cheating husband. She finds the husband and a lot more she didn’t expect. Meanwhile while recovering from his brainwashing, police sergeant Will Stevens wants to help Jessica in any way he can.
It’s good to see our titular gal taking a client case again this episode. While the main story of the show has become her personal investigations into Killgrave, the whole pledge of her private detective business was to pay the bills (and the liquor store guy) so we need to see her doing more of it. Yet writer Hilly Hicks still manages to work in her paranoia in a realistic fashion; since her last clients were sent by Killgrave she suspects the same again from Audrey. This leads to some great laughs as Jessica concentrates more on investigating the hiring wife rather than the cheating husband. There are plenty of good clues to imply something’s up as Audrey appears to have more than just divorce on her mind for her husband. Yet the ultimate reveal still manages to surprise as Audrey does mean her harm in completely unrelated ways to her well tailored nemesis. Her story continues the last episode’s trends of building greater links to the MCU by being both a direct product of the first Avengers film and in many ways continuing the building theme towards Captain America Civil War by implying that not everyone is thrilled about the actions of superheroes. Jessica’s “99” retort comes as quite a shock. Odds are it’s a heavy bluff. When Luke Cage mentioned Jessica being “his first” last episode she didn’t reveal here magic number. Could more of “their kind” by walking the same streets of Hell’s Kitchen? Either way its Jessica’s verbal defence that impresses far more than her physical actions. It feels completely in character for someone with dealing with her level of trauma to greet Audrey’s personal problems with little more than a face palm. Her response says it all and sums up the last year of her own life, “You take your God damn pain and you live with it assholes!”
The episode takes the interesting step of making Police Sergeant Will Simpson into more of a prominent protagonist after previously being brainwashed into killing Trish. He has a nice journey of motivation across the episode. He begins acting out of guilt, returning to the scene because he believes the dead body is still there and he deserves to answer to for it. This then transitions into redemption as he offers Jessica whatever she needs to help take down Killgrave legal or not. He quickly proves his value by supplying her with CCTV surveillance footage. Finally, there are the implications of very different feelings towards Trish. The later scenes of the pair are brilliant to watch from the nervous early paranoia of Trish, to the pairing having a deep personal conversation through the intercom (opening up behind closed doors) to Trish signifying her acceptance by letting him in. At the least it’s the beginning of a meaningful friendship between the two or possibly a romantic arc.
The continued screen time of Jeri Hogarth’s personal life causes some degree of speculation over whether or not her character will become much more significant than she currently presents. We’re taking considerable time to not just get to know her soon to be divorced wife Wendy and her assistant/new lover Pam but what they mean to each other. There’s an emphasis on Jeri being hard and uncaring. We see even Pam taking Wendy’s side over when Pam discovers Jeri’s taking her to their proposal restaurant; with all but Jeri seeing what a dick move that is (or “vagina move”.... is that a thing?). This could actually be groundwork for her to immerge as a surprise villain in the series. Although she’s helping with the Killgrave case (including the really enjoyable results of forming a past victims support group) her first reaction to the mention of his powers was a seemingly comical remark about how great those abilities would be in her legal profession (like the $50million settlement we’ve seen her negotiating). Could her ultimate goal be to use Jessica to capture Killgrave and extort his abilities? Or even just to locate and align herself with him?
99 Friends keeps the series moving strong. The identity of the photographer is an excellent surprise and its increased development of the supporting cast provides much great viewing.
Episode 5, The Sandwich Saved Me – As Jessica, Trish, and Will make their move on Kilgrave, we witness flashbacks of Jessica’s decision to become a hero and her first meeting with Kilgrave. Will and Trish’s relationship progresses, and Hope is having a rough time in prison.
The show makes quite a diversion from the Alias source material with the 18 months ago flashbacks it delivers, but still has plenty of fun showing an altered and abridged version of Jessica’s back story. We see her just on the verge of becoming a hero and actively using her powers to help people rather than the full-blown transition of the comics. This fits in well with the greater MCU as it avoids any explanations over why any such costumed hero antics went conveniently unnoticed by the public, S.H.I.E.L.D. etc. Speaking of costumes, we do get the awesome Easter Egg Trish of producing the comics loyal white-and-blue outfit, and even proposing her hero name of Jewel. This becomes a lot of fun as Trish gets wildly enthusiastic while Jessica stays the polar opposite, “If I wear that thing you’re going to have to call me Camel Toe”. It also nicely builds on Trish’s present day hero/vigilante aspirations (she even says she would if she could). It builds their early foundations of her trying to express those desires through Jessica and her abilities. Then it makes complete sense that after the Killrave abduction and subsequent detachment from Trish, she would decide to go her own way. Hence the home fortress and Krav Maga training; sometimes you have to be your own hero. This even sets up a nice present day moment of Trish furious at herself after being taken out too quickly in a group fight. As for Kilgrave's first encounter, this is actually a bit of a letdown. While it was never going to recreate the smash tonal change of the comic encounter, it still feels like to much of throwaway moment rather than the life-changing significance it should have. However, David Tennant does save things considerably by being positively magnetic with his broad and worryingly charming evil grins.
The present day story is a surprising treat for just how eventful it becomes. The feeling was that the attempted Kilgrave abduction would be postponed for a big mid-season event but instead, the episode charges headlong into it.... quite literally in fact, as Jessica wants it done yesterday while Will preaches the needs for more planning and tactics. The pair works incredibly well together with their cooperation despite some degree of mutual distrust; their exchange either side of the soundproof glass is excellent (“You think you’re a hero because you’ve got these abilities? I’ve seen heroes, you’re not even close”). It’s great to watch Jessica reluctantly accepting Will’s help as much to her own annoyance, he is exactly what she needs to get the job done. However, Will’s subsequent favouring of aggressive interrogation tactics hints at a very different conflict between them in the making. In the comics, he’s actually the Daredevil villain Nuke (the crazy result of a super soldier experiment with a trademark of painting an American flag on his face), and we could still see him head down that road. The Kilgrave abduction itself delivers a couple of great set pieces as it develops, including a terrific mass fight. The end result also has a very curious effect on the Jessica/Kilgrave relations as Jessica shows some degree of willingness to play along with his games for the sake of protecting those she cares about. He’s playing on her admitted weakness of “occasionally giving a damn”.
The developments of the Trish/Will relationship produce one of the show’s funniest moments to date thanks to some really poor timing. Will’s efforts to understand Trish better also link nicely back into the main story as he figures out Trish’s family took in Jessica after her parents were killed. The Hope story could do with a bit more detail. Its purpose is clear: to encourage Jessica’s feeling of urgency to get Kilgrave and see Hope acquitted but making Hope so ungrateful leaves her more difficult to like even with fellow inmate troubles. The Malcolm story fairs much better as having Jessica help him despite his activities with Kilgrave becoming a good point of endearment to her character while strengthening Killgrave’s villainy with destructive effect he’s had on Malcolm’s life such as the forced drug addiction. Eka Darville really does well with his performance, and in just a few scenes, genuinely makes us care what happens to Malcolm.
This 5th episode brings the show’s first significant stumbles in the story execution but plenty of successes to go with it to keep it feeling like such a wonderfully unusual ride...... and the sandwich outfit, ‘nuff said.