Netflix Retrospective - Jessica Jones Season 2 Episodes 5-6

Once more we’re with Jessica Jones

AKA The Octopus

We open with Jessica in a holding thanks to the ending of the last episode. Jessica thinks she’s been framed and it was a badly done job, but that’s not entirely the case. The killer in question is busy burning the files Jessica had on IGH and her own bloody clothes. Hogarth tells Jessica that although has made a statement which ultimately exonerates her, the police believe she knows something she’s not telling, which amounts to obstruction of justice which would violate her parole. Jessica gets angry and Hogarth leaves.

Trish is puking in the toilet and what is she doing here? No, couldn’t get Griffin to help, so we had to have more Dorothy. I know we’re supposed to hate her but because of her adamant refusal to change or even acknowledge the harm she caused, there’s no character arc for her, I don’t want to see more of her.

Dorothy can tell she’s taken something in spite of Trish claiming it’s the flu. Apparently she’s been asleep for the last 26 hours and Dorothy has used this excuse to systematically take control of her life again. She’s set up an interview at CNN, which really shouldn’t be this last minute but apparently it’s in the next few hours, and Trish is to get ready. You are not her agent and Trish is a legal adult, how did you even manage to secure this without her consent? (*Spoiler Alert*, she hasn't).

Jessica calls Malcolm and asks him to find out what Inez Green knows about IGH, and is calmer than expected on finding out that her apartment had been ransacked. Cut to our killer, she adjusts her wig and begins playing the piano, using her tablet to get the song sheet. There’s a knock at the window, her neighbour arrives with her kid, apparently the music calmed her down, how they heard it well enough from outside for that to happen is anyone’s guess. The killer holds the child and you get the impression she might’ve been a mother herself. We will get to that. The crying starts up again and the killer is noticeably distracted and annoyed by it. The mother leaves just as the killer destroys the piano with her super-strength.

Turns out one of the Doctors who was killed by the experiment/killer/whatever ended up staged in a bath and some other guy got the rap for his murder. Jessica’s co-operation secures her release but one officer who really reminds me of Amanda Waller, suspects that the two are working together because…

Anyway, the other guy remembers Killgrave and what happened at the precinct when he showed up. He gives Jessica his card in case she finds more information. Cheng just happens to be outside because of course he is and he acts like a colossal dumbass. Jessica asks Hogarth for a safe-house for Inez Green, which she says she’ll handle.

Jessica returns home to find a new computer, and a small file on what happened. Apparently the guy they framed for killing the Nurse was diagnosed with the mental capacity of a 10 year-old, something Inez objects to. Jessica promotes Malcolm to associate and tells him to bring Inez to Hogarth re the safe-house. Is that a wise idea, having her out in the open?

By the time Malcolm returns to his room though, Inez is gone, he quickly catches up with her, with a television, stolen from Malcolm’s apartment, she plans to pawn off. Malcolm gets her to co-operate by threatening to post her location and make her bait. Without Jessica’s knowledge I might add, this threat only has weight if Jessica’s in on it and we know she isn’t because in the next scene she’s talking to Oscar, asking him to falsify a medical card to get her inside the psych ward the guy that was framed got sent to, his name’s David, I’m gonna call him David.

Oscar agree to do it, saying he needs 3 hours and the name of the hospital. After that’s concluded, Jessica gets a call from Griffin, saying Trish needs her, and where have you been (answers coming, don’t worry)? Jessica arrives just as it’s revealed as the ‘interview’ was a setup for a proposal. OK, so reversing everything I said earlier, this is a f*cking awful way to propose. You don’t put pressure on someone to accept by having their entire family as witnesses, Griffin.

Trish never actually says yes but letting him put the ring on and hugging him afterward pretty much says what she doesn’t say, or at least seems to. Also, this was apparently the reason for his mysterious calls and hacking her computer. I swear just getting in contact with Dorothy would’ve been easier. Inez is brought to Hogarth, who’s going to have her stay at her place directly because what could possibly go wrong here.

Jessica goes back to Oscar to collect her ID, and it turns out Vido and presumably Oscar’s mother are there preparing dinner, both wanting her to stay, Oscar gives her what she needs but ultimately, despite being tempted she does not stay for dinner.

Guess our killer has decided to burn the piano she broke. Must be easier ways of dealing with it but we then get the reveal of why Hogarth invited Inez to stay at her place, she wants information about IGH and presumably asking about their progress towards an ALS cure. Jessica manages to get into the psych ward with her fake ID because the place has lousy security, David is brought to her and she asks the guards to leave, given what they know about David, I think they presume he’s not a threat, especially with a cage separating him from Jessica.

Question, are there no security cameras? David has severe gaps in his memory that Jessica tries to probe for information. She’s convinced he’s lying and is covering for someone else, he breaks down briefly and we see he’s drawn a picture of an octopus. He begins listing some trivia about them, citing his source as a Doctor Karl. Jessica asks him to draw a picture of him and Doctor Karl.

Trish meanwhile has ultimately rejected Griffin’s proposal. She justifies her situation is that seeing that it isn’t a CNN interview as she was promised made her realise she doesn’t want Griffin so much as she wants to be him. Dorothy chews her out for this because she’s an awful human being, in case the last 17 episodes didn’t justify that (not that Trish is entirely in the right here either). She storms out at Trish takes another shot of Simpson’s inhaler.

Jessica heads to the aquarium with the picture, she begins scoping the place day in, day out, waiting for Dr Karl to arrive. Eventually she spots someone who matches the picture, even flashing back to seeing him in IGH. He’s eventually joined by the killer, and they share a quick smooch which Jessica photographs. They soon recognise her and the killer cracks the aquarium glass as a distraction. The alarm goes off as everyone evacuates, trampling over each other to do it. As we fade to black, the glass shatters.

This episode has a lot of setup which is odd for the 5^th episode of the season. We get the first part of Hogarth’s major plot-line, which will be one of the standouts for this season, we see the effects of withdrawal from the inhaler and we say goodbye to Griffin, who will be relegated to cameo for now on, as Trish begins the downward spiral that will ultimately leave her downright intolerable by season’s end. Dr Karl is another important player established here. The scenes with the killer, aside from at the aquarium are rather pointless, her unstable temper had already been established by this point

Rating 6.5/10

AKA Facetime

Jessica makes it out fine and begins chasing the car down, however with her phone wet, she can’t take a picture of the licence plate. There’s a store with a security camera nearby but it’s closed on a Saturday. She buys some rice to dry out her phone as she sees a magazine that declares that it’s over between Trish and Griffin.

She returns home as the rice dries out her phone, she notices that Dr Karl is wearing a wedding ring, presumably married to the murderer. This pairing makes her want to have a talk with Oscar, who’s been having a bad day with the divorce courts. After eventually confessing because she didn’t want to be alone, the two kiss and they begin doing the nasty on wet paint, oh and it’s purple paint just to up the symbolism for you. Trish walks down a street at night, high on whatever that inhaler contained and increasingly paranoid. She stops sexual harassment in progress by kicking the guy out the bus.

Jessica wakes up, with Oscar proving to be Edward from Twilight levels of creepy by painting Jessica as she sleeps. Turns out the ring isn’t a wedding ring, it’s a graduation ring from the same college Malcolm dropped out of. Jessica sends Malcolm to find out what he can, in spite of his discomfort. Hogarth returns to her flat since Inez Green apparently had a list of demands and you’re right, that is exactly where this plot-line is leading, it's still well performed and features a standout Hogarth moment but it will be predictable.

She heads back to the store with the camera, now on a Sunday where they’re even less likely to be open but apparently he is anyway. And Trish is there because… The owner of the shop is an illegal immigrant, and can’t call the police or risk deportation, that’s why he has a camera and a gun. He agrees and whilst the car had no rear plate, we see that Karl had to drug the killer to get her to co-operate, opening the possibility that she may not be entirely responsible for her actions.

Malcolm talks to an old college friend, but she’s less than happy to see him, they make sorta amends but in the process Malcolm steals her access pass. Hogarth calls Jessica, having lost her patience with Inez and wanting her out. Inez overhears this and begins stealing jewels until she comes across pills, including one for her ALS.

They identify Dr Karl as Karl Malus thanks to a yearbook Malcolm stole. Jessica tracks down a load of credit card payments from Abihose, run by a guy named Justis Ambrose. Jessica quickly deduces he’s at a private golf club, which she quickly confirms. They arrive but it’s men only, so Trish distracts them with a Patsy routine as Jessica sneaks around the back.

Turns out Ambrose’s kid had a facial disfigurement that Dr Morris managed to fix, that’s why he’s been paying his personal expenses and was the original reason IGH was set up in the first place. Trish’s distraction begins to backfire as withdrawal kicks in from the inhaler and she begins to vomit. She heads off to the side and begins searching frantically for the inhaler. Ambrose refuses to compromise Dr Malus, and once Jessica leaves he tips him off.

The killer is strapped to a hospital bed again and is woken up, Malus believes it’s time. Jessica takes Trish home, pretending she had food poisoning, Jessica is apparently more gullible than Dorothy for once and doesn’t notice the withdrawal signs. Trish manages to convince her to leave as she frantically searches the house for the inhaler. Turns out she left it at Jessica's as Malcolm finds it.

Inez walks into Hogarth’s room, unveiling her stolen belongings and telling a tale about a boy with the capability of healing people with his hands. She claims that’s how she survived the various injuries inflicted upon her. Jessica returns home to find a parcel waiting for her, it’s the painting Oscar was doing, doesn’t make it any less creepy. It being mostly in purple is somewhat discomforting.

Malcolm returns the inhaler to Trish, because he’s suddenly a dumbass in believing it's anything other than bad news. Trish takes another shot of it and goes in for the kiss. Jessica hinted to Trish earlier that he might have a thing for her. It turns into sexy time because of course it does, goes on for some time too.

We cut to the next day, Jessica finds Ambrose’s son and threatens him whilst facetiming Ambrose to get him to co-operate. He concedes and Jessica takes a taxi out to the house, she finds the remains of the broken piano and finds the doors all unlocked. She enters the house and it seems quiet, until the tablet begins displaying an alert. She finds a small lab in the kitchen, and a jar of the sangria Jessica had earlier remarked was always around her parents’ house.

She heads down to the basement and finds a locked door, she opens it, finding a patient treatment room, including the straps that the killer was found in earlier. She then finds a photo of her and her brother as Doctor Malus and the Killer arrive outside. The Killer takes off her wig and Jessica recognises her as her mother.

This episode finally delivers some payoff, but ultimately still has a fair bit of filler.

Rating 7/10