Previously: Jessica lost her shit on a prejudiced client.
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AKA The Sandwich Saved Me
Catherine: After those trill, trill credits we open in a crowded office and the helpful on screen text tells us that we’re in a flashback to 18 months ago.
Jessica is sitting in a cubicle, boredly bouncing a rubber band ball against her computer screen. (M: I feel this.) A guy comes up and grabs the rubber band ball away from her. He’s a nerdy, power hungry, obviously suppressing weird sex stuff type so you know instantly he’s her low level boss. Also because he asks her if she thinks rubber bands buy themselves. Considering the fact that I tend to find them literally everywhere around my house, I think they are actually left by helpful elves.
But apparently Jess has been making paperclip chains and taking 6 packs of Diet Coke home from the employee kitchen, or so says Boss Guy. Jess corrects him by pointing out that she only took 2 cans. He smugly tells her that they’ll probably only dock her pay if she’s lucky and not full out fire her. Calm as ever, Jess reaches over and pushes the button on her printer and out comes an entire dossier on Boss Guy. And oh, he’s been buying his expensive suits and trips to Atlantic City on the company’s dime. It’s always the not-quiet ones. He asks her what she wants and she says that she wants him to fire her so she can get 6 months severance pay and a recommendation or she’s gonna email proof of his embezzlement to HR. Before Jess can walk away Boss Guy yells that her parents must be proud. She answers by pushing over a line of filing cabinets with one hand, then getting on the phone to Trish, asking her to meet for happy hour. Obviously.
Jessica: I like how her take-down of low-level boss guy is through her detective work, not her menacing him physically. I mean, don’t get me wrong, that would have been entertaining probably, but it shows Jessica’s character really well, how she’s reluctant to use her powers blatantly, and that she’s smart and resourceful on top of it all.
Marines: Also, though, this is a SCHEME. She could just line up jobs and severances all over the place is what I’m saying.
Catherine: Over in A Bar, Trish is asking Jess what the problem was with this job. Apparently Jess has been going through jobs in the exact opposite way she goes through new outfits—which is to say a lot. Trish tells her that she’s overqualified for all these jobs and that’s why she’s bored. Because it’s true and also, Trish is a good friend. While they’re talking a rando Wall Street looking guy comes up and sleezily asks Trish to play a game of ‘Love Tester’ and that says he thinks they’d be a match. She politely tells him that she’s busy but not before the guy realizes who she is and starts singing the ‘It’s Patsy’ theme song. Jess gets a look on her face like she’s gonna do something awesome and at least marginally violent and we all get excited. Get excited, all. (J: Done!)
Trish tries to tell the guy that Patsy was a long time ago and he grossly tells her that she taught him how to jerk off. Charming. Jess tells the creepy guy that she’ll play him and he reacts like she isn’t also incredibly gorgeous and he’s fine with playing the weird friend, too. Trish, sensing what’s gonna happen, tells Jess that it’s not worth it. Jess wants to do the strength tester instead of the love tester and says that if she wins the guy has to pick up their tab, apologize to Trish and then leave. But if he wins she’ll have sex with him. The guys agrees because he assumes that he’ll win. You know what they say about assuming things, right? Something, something, a superhero will crush you?
Jessica: My favorite part about this, is when the sleazy guy asks Jess “and when I win?” and Trish does this amazing snort-laugh into her drink. It’s the best.
Catherine: Best best. The game is basically a speed bag that you have to punch as hard as you can. Obviously, Jess annihilates it. The guy apologizes and disappears with his tail between his legs. Trish reminds Jess that she could be using her abilities for something more useful. More useful than emasculating creepy guys in bars? Okay, that sounds fake, but okay.
“There’s before Kilgrave and there’s after Kilgrave,” Jess’ voiceover tells us as the scene clips to her in present day, looking at 6-month-old picture of Malcolm. Trish leans over and marvels at how clean and happy and not addicted to drugs Malcolm was. Jess says that she hears Malcolm shuffling down the hall every morning at a quarter to ten and she never thought too much about it before. Cut to her stealthily following him through the park. (J: I feel so sorry for both her and Malcolm right now!)
At exactly 10 a.m. Malcolm pauses by a tree and then moves off to meet with Kilgrave. The moment Jessica sees Kilgrave she has to turn away and recite her streets again to calm herself from having a panic attack. “Birch street. Main street. Higgens asshole drive.”
She checks that she still has the needle full of anesthesia she’s supposed to use on him. Meanwhile, Kilgrave is looking through the pictures that Malcolm handed him and giving him his money.
Back at Jess’ apartment, she tells Trish that Malcolm moved in down the hall 4 months ago after Kilgrave got him hooked on drugs. Trish points out that that’s a lot of effort on Kilgrave’s part and Jess says that it’s a good cover because everyone dismisses a junkie. Trish says that they’ll pull him out and Jess says that she’s not gonna do that until she gets Kilgrave.
Back in the park the next day, Jess is following Malcolm again and sees him stop by the same tree exactly at 10 again. This time she notices a random woman come up to him and mumble something before he takes off. Jess runs up to the woman and asks her what she told Malcolm. She told him to go to the kiosk of 16th and park because some British guy told her to. The woman is obviously trying to justify to herself what she just did and she ends up getting mad and walking away. Another excellent, small way the show shows us how Kilgrave’s influence affects different people.
J: So true! His power becomes more terrifying the more we brush up against it.
Mari: I keep saying how impressive that is. Just when I think I can’t be creeped out any more by his powers…
Catherine: Jess chases after Malcolm and finds him talking to Kilgrave at the kiosk. Kilgrave is stealing a bunch of different magazines while the proprietor tries to stop him. Kilgrave tells the guy to pick up his steaming coffee and throw it in his own face. He does so and it obviously distracts him enough that Kilgrave can leave with Malcolm.
Mari: Here’s another way Kilgrave is awful. He could just tell the man to leave them alone. Instead, he makes the man burn himself.
Catherine: I never even thought of that! He is evil as hell.
Back at Jessica’s apartfice she calls Trish and leaves a message saying to call her back and that she figured out how Kilgrave is meeting Malcolm. She kills another bottle of whiskey and then accidentally smashes it as she’s throwing it into the trashcan. As she’s cleaning it up there’s a knock on the door. It’s Ruben. Of course. He tells her that he heard a crash and got worried about her but she looks creeped out since he would’ve had to have been standing around outside her door in order to get down there so fast after she just broke the bottle .02 seconds ago. Before she can shut the door in his face he tells her he brought her some banana bread that he and his sister baked. He asks if she likes banana bread and she says no but takes it as she shuts the door. She takes a bite out of it and shrugs like it’s pretty good. I would worry that it was poisoned or contained 15 of Ruben’s eyelashes or something but that’s just me.
J: Oooh, I never thought of that part…
Mari: I definitely did spare a thought for the cooties.
Catherine: Don’t eat food given to you by creepy weirdos. Advice from the Snark ladies.
Over at Trish’s luxury apartment, she’s having sex with what’s his face, the cop guy. Jess shows up and hammers on the door, wondering where Trish is and why she isn’t answering her calls. Trish tries to get her to leave but it’s Jess so she doesn’t. She finally lets her in and Jess goes through the whole story of how Kilgrave is setting up his meetings with Malcolm. Apparently Kilgrave doesn’t know that Jessica is onto Malcolm but he’s still not there for her sneaking up on him so she’s gonna have to use a dart gun to shoot the Sufentanil into him.
Just as she’s explaining this to Trish, cop guy comes into the room in his underwear and explains that a dart gun won’t work if Kilgrave is on the move and she would need time to set it up beforehand. Jess doesn’t answer him but instead gets weirded out that he’s there in his underwear and asks Trish if she’s over him trying to kill her and everything.
Simpson tells Jess that she should just shoot Kilgrave, and Jess calls him Rambo and tells him that she needs Kilgrave alive, duh. She tells Simpson that she needs to prove that Hope was influenced by Kilgrave to kill her parents and she yells at him a bit and it’s great. She tells him it’s her call, motherfucker. She doesn’t say motherfucker but it’s implied. Trish reminds Jess that Simpson is a war hero and Jess doesn’t give a shit. She tells Trish she needs her to rent a van and be her getaway driver.
Trish is surprised to learn that Jess still doesn’t have a license and she’s all ‘what is up with you and cars?’ I’m thinking Trish, of all people should know the answer to that. But okay.
J: Yeah, it felt a bit weird for Trish to say this, but I guess we’ll let it slide. It felt like a line included “for the audience,” but really, probably didn’t need to be.
Catherine: Simpson, who is still here and talking for some reason? Says that one of his boys from his old unit will do the driving. Jess refuses. Simpson points out that this military buddy would be trained in military drivery stuff and much better at driving around the rough terrain of New York City than Trish, who is a talk radio host. Trish gets offended and reminds him that just because they had sex doesn’t mean he gets to also insert his opinion into her. And Jess is like, yeah, fuck off?
Jessica: Can I just say how I loved that line from Trish so much? So. Much.
Mari: I still kind of like Simpson…
Catherine: Simpson apologizes and Jess makes a grossed out face. She seems confused as to why he’s even involved in this conversation. Anyway, this fight is great because both Jess and Trish didn’t let their plan get steamrolled by Simpson and stood up for their opinions. A million girl points! Flower chains all around!
Trish’s phone beeps and reminds her that she’s supposed to be on air in an hour. She wants to cancel but Jess tells her that everything has to appear normal to Kilgrave so they won’t tip him off. Simpson still wants to help and Jess shouts that she doesn’t need him. Trish takes the middle ground and points out that while Jess doesn’t need him, he could still be useful. Jess agrees but she’s still grumpy over it. Simpson says he’s gonna go grab some pants. (J: I like how Trish is like, basically wrangling cats to get them to work together. She’s awesome. But seriously Simpson, get over yourself.)
That night, Simpson drives Jess out to a safehouse that he says they can use for Kilgrave. It’s located in the shady, warehouse district of New York City. Ya know that part that’s always on T.V.? That part.
Simpson tells her that the second floor is a decommissioned CDC facility and one of his boys told him about it. It has a hermetically sealed room. Jess tells him that he knows a lot of ‘commando shit’ but that he doesn’t know anything when it comes to Kilgrave. He agrees, but they argue all the way up to the second floor. The hermetically sealed room is a glass Kilgrave aquarium in one corner of the creepy warehouse. (J: “Kilgrave aquarium.” LOL.) Apparently it’s also soundproofed. Simpson tells Jess that he can rig up a safeguard but that he needs until the day after tomorrow to do it, which would be better anyway because that will be a Sunday and there would be less people milling around outside. Jess finally relents and agrees to wait until the day after tomorrow to move on Kilgrave. Simpson says that he should be the one to dart Kilgrave and grab him up. Jess says that’s dumb because she can run much faster than him. Apparently her fastest mile is under 4 minutes. (J: Yeah it is!)
In order to test out the room Jess locks Simpson in it. They talk to each other through the glass but since they can’t hear one another they say what they’ve really been thinking. Jess tells him he has a screw loose and Simpson tells her that she’s not a hero and he’s seen heroes. Ugh, leave him in there. Then they give each other a sarcastic thumbs up.
Jess is dressed as a giant hoagie, standing on the street corner selling a 2 for 1 deal. A little girl and her dad stop next to her and the little girl wanders out into the street while her dad negligent parents on his iphone. Jess stops a taxi from hitting the little girl and the girl thanks her and tells her dad that ‘the sandwich saved me’. Jess looks pleased.
Back in current time Jess gets back to her apartment building to find that Malcolm is passed out in the elevator. Ruben sees them and tells her that she should take Malcolm to the hospital and that he might OD. Jess tells him that Malcolm is better off in his own bed and decides to take him home. It’s hard because you can tell that she knows she should really take him to the hospital but that there’s a good chance that will ruin her Kilgrave plans since Malcolm wouldn’t be there to meet him. (J: Crushing! Especially as we watch the evolution of her in the past deciding to try and be a hero who helps people.)
After a moment of silence Ruben asks Jess if she wants to go to a movie sometime and she just looks at him like he’s insane. (J: Read the room, Ruben.)
The next day at the docks, for some reason, Simpson and Trish pick up the van that they’re gonna use to kidnap Kilgrave. Simpson gives her the stats on the van and then Trish tells him that he doesn’t need to worry because she’s a good driver. He tells her that he read that on her Wikipedia page and that he also read that she was highest paid child star in television history. Also she’s a saint because she took in an orphan named Jessica when her family died in a car accident. Simpson gets all nosy and asks if Jess got her powers in the car accident and also, what exactly can she do? Trish rolls her eyes and tells him that he won’t find that on Wikipedia, while she gets in the van. Simpson keeps pushing and Trish tells him if he wants to know about Jess he should just ask her. He complains that she doesn’t like him very much. Trish tells him that Jess is protective and she doesn’t like anyone that Trish dates. Simpson finally admits that he just wants to know who he’s ‘throwing in with’. Trish asks him if he trusts her. He says that he does and Trish says that she trusts Jess so whatever. That’s fine. Stop whining, Simpson. Get in the kidnap van.
He says that’s fair enough and they kiss.
Jessica puts Malcolm on his bed and as she is leaving his apartment, gets a call from Hope. She goes to the prison to see her and apparently Hope is asking for money for something but won’t tell Jessica what it’s for. She specifically asks for cash. As they’re talking, an extra from Orange is the New Black asks Hope to come watch TV with her and Hope calls her ‘Sissy’. Jessica gives Hope the money and tells her that she’s close to catching Kilgrave. Hope is like, yeah, sure and leaves.
Flashback. Jessica is sitting on the couch in Trish’s apartment while Trish shows her a truly horrible superhero costume that she thinks Jess should wear. It’s a live action version of the costume that Jessica wears in the comics and in real life it looks even more ridiculous.
Mari: Her boobs must have super strength. *cough*
Catherine: Yeah, yeah. That’s it. Or there’s a lot of tape in there.
Jessica hates it of course. Trish points out that she can’t keep saving people dressed as a sandwich. Why not, I say? Sandwich woman sounds awesome. Jessica tells her to put on the mask that comes with the costume. Trish puts it on and does a cute pose but Jessica turns the mask around so it’s covering her eyes and tells her to try to hit her. Jessica also points out that if she wears that outfit they’re gonna have to call her camel toe. After they stop laughing, Trish asks her if she’s really gonna be a hero and Jessica gives her a sarcastic smile and says ‘we’ll see’.
Cut to present day, where Jessica is wearing her sad girl hoodie and sitting on her desk, waiting for Malcom to leave his apartment. When he does she joins him in the elevator and watches him creepily while he tries not to seem uncomfortable. When they get outside she pretends to be going the opposite direction but turns around and tells him to ‘hang in there’. He’s like thanks?? and walks off.
In the kidnap van, Jessica readies her syringes while Simpson and Trish ready their earpieces. Trish is the getaway driver. Simpson tells her to ignore anyone that walks up to talk to her and Jessica reminds him that Trish is a celebrity so she’s used to dealing with weirdos… usually. Simpson says that she’s dealt with Jessica all these years so…
Trish gets uncomfortable and tells them to go back to tense silence.
After another second, Jessica ominously says ‘it’s time’ and she and Simpson get out of the van. She starts to tell him what to do if Kilgrave Kilgraves her. He says he’ll take her out. She was going to tell him to tranq her but agrees that he can shoot her in the head. He tells her to do the same to him. (J: This was funny and sad at the same time.)
In the park, kids run by the camera and one is dressed as Captain America. Only one. Unclear if the other kids are chasing him to beat him up or not. (J: Aww, haha.) Malcolm walks through followed by Jessica. From the distance, we see Malcolm get his Kilgrave orders and he walks off again. He meets up with Kilgrave in an outdoor cafe. Jessica stays back and gives the address to Trish and Simpson over her earpiece. Trish tells her that she’s gonna park a half a block down. As Simpson is approaching, (with the tranq gun super poorly concealed in a paper bag nice job, dummy) a balloon pops near him and Kilgrave happens to look up. Kilgrave seems to possibly recognize Simpson but definitely sees the gun.
Jessica tells Simpson to turn back but Simpson says that he has a shot. Jessica suddenly starts yelling at Kilgrave to distract him and get his attention. Simpson darts Kilgrave who passes out in the cafe, taking out his table. Jessica approaches and Malcolm runs off, telling her he’s sorry. Two huge dudes come out of the cafe and tell Jessica to back off. Of course, she pushes them back and tells the bystanders that Kilgrave is her brother and they attacked him. One lady says that she’s gonna call an ambulance but Jessica tells her it’s too late and picks Kilgrave up over her shoulder. She tells Trish that she’s coming her way but there are two big guys after her now. Jessica and Simpson, jump in the van and Trish guns it.
Jessica looks at Kilgrave’s unconscious body. Trish reminds her that they need him alive. She says that she remembers but punches Kilgrave in the face. Just as they pull up to the warehouse, Jessica realizes that Kilgrave is wearing a tracker for his bodyguards. A van of even more huge guys pulls up, blocking them in. The guys taze Trish. Simpson and Jessica start fighting them with Jess trying to tell them that they’re being mind controlled. Of course, Jessica get’s tazed like six times before getting knocked down and it takes four of the guys tazing her at once to get her to stop punching. But it’s interesting to note, perhaps, that Simpson gets tazed once without it seeming to have any effect. (J: Interesting indeed…) (M: COOL!)
The bodyguards take Kilgrave and drive off except for one that Simpson manages to knock out. A short while later, Trish laments that she was useless after one taze when everyone else kept fighting. Jessica, in her brusque way tells Trish she doesn’t know how to make her feel better right now but Simpson tells her that she did good. They tie the guard up and interrogate him about Kilgrave when he wakes up. Of course, Simpson knows creepy torture stuff about pain centers and the guy quickly confesses that he just works for Kilgrave because his firm took the job and he’s not being mind controlled. Jessica realizes that Kilgrave knows about the surgical drugs because Malcolm would have told him. Simpson still thinks the guy is lying. The guy says that it’s a well paying job but not well paying enough to loose a kneecap over. Simpson persists until Jessica pulls him away and has to remind him that he’s a cop so he probably shouldn’t be torturing people?
J: Simpson, you keep getting shiftier. Put away those crazy eyes!
Mari: Is this punishment because I said I liked him? Dammit.
Catherine: TV will always punish the things we love, Mari.
Back at Jessica’s apartfice, she passes by Malcolm’s apartment and hears him arguing with his drug dealer. I wish I hadn’t used up that ‘extra from Orange is the New Black’ joke earlier because this lady honestly fits it better. Malcolm argues with her before he gets in her face and she pulls a gun on him. Fair. Jessica sweeps in, disarms the woman and pushes her out of the room. Malcolm doesn’t want to see her. He tries to get out the door and she pushes him back onto the bed. He tries to get up two more times and she keeps pushing him down. He tells her that she can’t save him again.
Flashback. Past!Jess is walking down the street when she sees a guy being robbed. She beats up the attackers and goes to help the guy before she hears someone applauding. Kilgrave is standing nearby, having watched the whole fight with two random women. He tells Jessica that she’s amazing and then tells the random women to leave which makes me feel weirdly relieved for them.
He tells Jessica that he was debating where to eat when he saw her performing acts of heroism or whatever. He tells her to come closer. Kilgrave marvels (geddit?) at her power and her beauty while pointing out that she has no sense of fashion.
Now, off the top of my head, I can’t remember if the conclusion that we’re supposed to draw from this is that Kilgrave forced Malcolm and the robbers to put on a show to draw Jessica out or if he honestly did just happen to be walking by at that exact moment. But either way it was probably random that it was Malcolm involved, right?
Jessica: My impression, after multiple viewings, is that the mugging of Malcolm was real, and the meeting with Kilgrave just happened by suuuper unlucky circumstances. He seems genuinely surprised to see her. One thought is that later Kilgrave specifically chose Malcolm as the spy because of him being who he was, making a perversion of one of Jessica’s rescues as yet another form of psychological torture and punishment, but a second thought argues that Kilgrave never truly saw Malcolm’s face, that he was too focused on Jessica at the time, and to him Malcolm was just a body to be ignored (“leave him, he’s fine.”) In that case, it’s extra super unlucky that Malcolm got roped in again. Hard to say.
Catherine: It’s so hard to say. Poor Malcolm either way, though. Back in present day, Jessica has handcuffed Malcolm to a pipe in her bathroom. She brings him a sandwich and he tells her to go to hell. She says that they’ve both already been there. He begs her to get him some heroin and she says that she’s not gonna help him kill himself. He says that he’s useless and she says he is, at the moment but a while ago he was gonna be a social worker. She tells him that he has a choice now. He tells her that Kilgrave didn’t always compel him take pictures of her, sometimes he did it just for the drugs. Kilgrave’s control only lasts for about 12 hours and Malcolm only met him once a day. Jess says that’s why Kilgrave got him hooked so that he could control him even without his powers. Malcolm says that the point is that he had a choice and he still did it. He’s obviously trying to hurt her because he’s mad at himself and detoxing. He says that he wants his drugs because Kilgrave will find and kill him anyway.
Jessica tells him that the whole time Kilgrave had her there was some part of her that fought against his control and she’s still fighting. But she tells Malcolm that since Kilgrave did this to him to get at her, if Malcolm gives up then she loses. She tells him to remember how to be a goddamn human being again and save her for once. Then she throws down an envelope and leaves the room.
Malcolm snatches up the envelope. Inside are the drugs and a syringe.
In her apartment, Trish stares out the window sadly and reloads her gun before putting it back in her jacket.
At the prison, Sissy and two other inmates get out of bed and wake Hope up by beating the shit out of her.
This transitions to Kilgrave waking up, looking a bit worse for the wear in a nice bed somewhere. He goes to the mirror and pulls out a busted tooth. It’s ewwwwww. But then he smiles cause he’s a complete freak.
J: People in movies/TV always pull teeth out like it isn’t a big deal but I call total BS on that! There are nerves there, people!
Mari: But also, if some freak is going to actually do it, I buy Kilgrave.
Catherine: Jessica’s phone rings in her apartfice. It must be taunt o’clock cause it’s Kilgrave calling. He tells her how rare it is for him to be powerless. Obviously she wants him alive, but why? She doesn’t speak. He points out that he could just show up on her doorstep and make her tell him. When she still doesn’t respond he realizes that she’s mad about “the junkie” and tells her that he didn’t make Malcolm do anything he didn’t want to do and that “he was an addict waiting to happen”. He says it in such a petulant way that it truly makes your skin crawl.
He also says that he was really the one that saved Malcolm and suddenly gets an idea. He will leave Malcolm alone if Jessica agrees to text him a picture of herself once a day. And don’t forget to smile. He tells her she can send him one now.
Jessica looks disgusted and angry as she hangs up the phone. Kilgrave texts her to say that he’s waiting. She goes back into the bathroom and finds Malcolm lying on the floor but he hasn’t touched the needle and the drugs are in the toilet.
Kilgrave, who is still sitting in the same place, gets a text from Jessica that is a pic of herself not exactly smiling.
End of episode.
Jessica: What a crushing episode! It gives us a lot of backstory that we’ve been craving but in such a way that is just, man. And at the end, the scene on the phone is so powerful. Jessica never speaks, but they still have this connection, as Kilgrave manages a conversation anyway. We hear what becomes a common refrain from him, a victim-blaming dodging of fault. Plus the gross insistence in smiling. But we also see Jessica and Malcolm’s connection, strengthened at the end as she sees his strength and determination, and decides to do what she can to save him, even if it means giving Kilgrave (sort of) what he wants. It gives us a strained hope for the future.
Mari: The flashbacks in this episode also help us see who Jessica was when she was taken by Kilgrave. She was probably never the typical hero, but she had a spot of brightness and a desire to do good. She wanted to help people. Kilgrave changed her in a lot of ways, and she tells us as much in her first voice over of the episode. It’s heartbreaking to watch, with or without the strained hope for the future.
Next time on Jessica Jones: Luke needs Jessica’s help on a case in on S01 E06 – AKA You’re a Winner!
I am a 30-something year-old human woman who lives in Maine. I'm a freelance writer who mostly spends time that I should be doing that, watching T.V. I also love reading and comic books way too much.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a chronic book nerd and love storytelling in all forms. I'm particularly excited by the rise of the television show as an art form with long, cinematically beautiful plots and complex character arcs (I also watch cartoons). My travels in the past handful of years have led me through three continents and most recently landed me among the majestic mountains of Colorado. Some day I will compile all my travel journals/blogs into one place. Some day. Until then, you can find me with craft beer in hand, ready at any moment to deeply and passionately discuss survival tactics for the zombie apocalypse.
