Netflix Retrospective: Jessica Jones episodes 4-6 review

AKA 99 friends

It’s a very busy day in the life of a top PI like Jessica Jones

Jessica Jones may not spend her days rescuing puppies from trees and cities from alien invasions but in her own words, she clearly has a lot of sh*t to deal with. Whether it’s finding the guy who’s taking photos of her, stalking her clients, stalking her client’s cheating husband, saving the life of her best friend, sorting through Kilgrave victims, fighting off an attack from client, going through long hours of security footage and attending a meeting with the Kilgrave victims. All of this happened with Jessica in just 2 days. And Kilgrave didn’t even need to show up once!

So, Jessica has another new client, a suspicious woman with a husband she describes as a ‘Wondering Penis’ no idea whether that’s true (the ending’s kinda open on this point) but it certainly raises Jessica’s suspicions. Which is perfectly understandable given the last people to arrive on her doorstep wounded up dead (something you’d think the clients would also know)

Turns out, rather than being Kilgraved (that’s a word, apparently) she’s just a prejudiced b*tch. You want to know something, tragic as the death of your father was, it would’ve happened regardless of whether superheroes were involved. How do I know this? They were planning to nuke the entirety of New York! Even ignoring that, because that might not have been obvious, you know apart actually seeing it because it came f*cking close. But even ignoring that, the Chitauri didn’t care about the Avengers, they would’ve likely destroyed everything.

So, in other news, Simpson’s still unstable, he even set fire to a dollhouse for a game, I think… But he has managed to reconcile with Trish, which is nice. Oh and thanks to an apology she made for Jessica she’s off Kilgrave’s hit list… Moving on

So, let’s talk about the big reveal. The guy taking the photos is that guy I haven’t actually given a name to, or even mentioned since the first episode review. Malcolm Ducasse is his name apparently. As you can see I’ve formed such a deep emotional connection with the character I can just go on and on about this reveal, forever… OK, no I can’t

Oh and Jeri wants Jessica to find dirt on her ex-wife as they go through divorce proceedings, she’s apparently mad about a restaurant, whilst the divorce does go somewhere the Jessica part of it goes absolutely nowhere

It’s a decent enough episode offering to develop a few sub-plots but the main plot is done in one with little progression on the main story front.

Rating 7/10

AKA The Sandwich saved me

We’re only 5 episodes in and it’s time for our heroes to make a big move on Kilgrave, it goes about as well as you’d expect. Not well at all in other words

Well, they seem to remember that the surgical drug knocks out his powers as it’s revealed that Kilgrave hired a private security firm to protect him in case exactly those circumstances revealed themselves, or possibly because of another reason which will crop up later. Except the characters themselves seem to forget it since they’re all convinced the guys are being controlled until the one they capture reveals the truth. There’s a dumber moment coming, but save that for the next retrospective.

Simpson continues to get on my nerves as to just how much of an *ss he is, following dumber moment his *ssness will only increase and he’ll reach, what’s that word…?

  

Levels.

He’s charming when he wants to be, mostly when he’s banging Trish or flirting with Trish or being sexist with Trish but… Then he becomes a f*cking nutjob on a dime, like in that torture scene that thankfully Jessica stopped occurring.

So, I don’t think I can go any longer without mentioning Malcolm, who finally gets the redeeming arc his character needs. Admittedly I think it comes too quickly but I’ll get to that, him finally making himself ready is a scene to behold actually. Jessica’s determination and turning it around to have him believe/realise that him coming off drugs is a selfless act as it’ll be saving her from having another body on her conscience (put a pin in that) was actually a pretty good one.

Of course, the sacrifice is that Jessica now has to text pictures of herself to Kilgrave, which is quite creepy. Also Hope resurfaces in this episode, asking Jessica for money so she can be beaten up, you’d think that’d be highly suspicious in prison, a non-relative visitor bringing them money.

Rating 8/10

AKA You’re a Winner

So…. This episode had to happen sooner or later.

Luke Cage asks for Jessica’s help in finding a lost boy, his sister (I think) has something Luke Cage wants, proof that his wife’s death was not an accident. This is information that Jessica is not comfortable with him finding out as she thinks it points things back to her

Meanwhile, Malcolm makes the quickest recovery from drug addiction I have ever seen and is very defensive of Jessica now. That’s nice and everything but she proves in every possible way that she is very capable of taking care of herself

We also have Hope, who is pregnant with Kilgrave’s child. I’m glad this show is not conveying a pro-life message. Abortion is still a viable option for exactly the kind of things Hope is going through. I’m not going to go into major detail in my views on abortion, it’s not an issue I’ll cover in great detail. Although anything with a pro-life message can go suck its own ****.

Then we have Kilgrave, whilst he doesn’t play a major role in the main story, he is up to no good as he cheats $1.26 million from a poker game from some crime bosses. He then uses the money to buy a house in cash in 2 days. Sounds legit. The house belonged to a young Jessica Jones for a plot to start coming together in 2 episodes’ time.

So erm… The drug cartel and the loan sharks thing worked alright, the confrontation with Jessica was handled OK, Geri’s still up to no good, so what else is new? And err… I really don’t think all that much happened in this episode, or I could be missing something

Sorry this review is short, but we’ll hopefully get some longer ones as strings begin to pull together.

Rating 7/10

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Images/clips used in this review are from Marvel's Jessica Jones and I Hate Everything and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use