Jessica Jones S01 E11 – Flashbacks and Feels

Previously: Goodbye, Clemons. Goodbye, Wendy.
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AKA I’ve Got the Blues

Jessica: Flashback — we’re in the car with the Joneses. There’s a blurry semi truck up ahead. We hear Philip’s voice off to the side “It’s not fair, it’s mine.” Their dad says, “Let him play.”

The screen goes black, and we hear voices whispering, including a young Trish saying, “It’s not fair.”

Blurry first POV shots and beeping equipment let us know we’re in a hospital. Young Jessica is waking up from after the accident, and is overhearing a whispered conversation between Trish and Mrs. Walker. Trish is annoyed because she barely knows Jessica, but Mrs. Walker pushes the fact that she (Trish) needs good press because of her recent drunken behavior. Man, one line in and there’s no question that I hate this woman.

Marines: It’s an immediate onslaught of hate and who do I feel worse for?

J: A few scenes like this cut in and out with sounds from the crash, as Jessica comes into full consciousness –- likely over the course of several days.  As she’s starting to wake up a more fully, Trish and Mrs. Walker are there for a photo opp (gag) and Trish, not realizing she’s awake, lets out that Jessica’s whole family is dead.

As tears leak out of Jessica’s eyes, Mrs. Walker comes over and sweet talks, but the damage is done. “Patsy’s gonna save you,” Mrs. Walker says, with this garish smile, but Jessica just keeps crying. (M: Jessica. I feel the worst for Jessica.) (J: Seconded.)

Back to the present — it’s the immediate aftermath of the traumatic events of the last episode. Jessica stares as the white tablecloth soaks up Hope’s blood, while the would-be victims behind her cough, cry, rip off their nooses and start to stand up. Robin is hysterical. Everyone else stares at Jessica, who is staring at Hope.

Jessica stands, decisive, and tells them they need to lie to the police. The story is that they were friends having dinner, and Jessica invited her former client (Hope) who committed suicide in front of them. They work to get rid of the evidence that they tried to hang themselves while Robin argues. “We’ll tell them we’re a cult,” she says. “At least cults are real. One tried to recruit me once.” But everyone else is keen on not looking crazy and start to help Malcolm.

Jessica says that now she is the only one who can stop Kilgrave, the only one who is immune, unlike cops or anyone else nearby. Robin is finally convinced, or at least stops arguing.

Mari: The fact that she still was after almost hanging herself is BEYOND me.

J: In the next scene, police are there to collect statements from everyone. After some tense moments, they stick to the concocted story of Hope’s suicide, including Robin.

Elsewhere — Jessica meets Trish in a car. Trish tries to make Jessica feel better for her plan, even though it failed. Trish wants to take her home, but Jessica wants to go to a nearby morgue, which her police scanner app just told her a dead body came to. She thinks it could be Albert, and now she’s full-bore Kilgrave hunting, looking for leads as to where he’s gone.

Morgue. Jessica tries to bullshit her way past the guy at the door, but he’s not buying her usual smoke and mirrors. So they pull the “do you know who this is” card with Trish. At fist it doesn’t seem to be working but then Jessica notices that Morrie the Morgue Guy is reading a food magazine, and lets him know that Trish can get him a seat at any fancy restaurant in the city. He names some ritzy place and Trish talks in French to the chef and sets it up, and suddenly the coast is all clear to go in and look at the dead body.

It’s not Albert. Jessica tells Morrie the Morgue Guy to call her if any other similar bodies come in, especially if it’s really gruesome. Walking outside, Jessica says she can put together a “network of morgue staffers” to keep her informed of the incoming dead body situation and just like, that whole sentence makes me shiver a bit.

Trish says they’re just grasping at straws but Jessica is adamant – she needs Kilgrave dead, ASAP, before more innocent people get thrown in between them. There’s another morgue nearby but Trish says she needs sleep – they both do. Jessica unconvincingly says she’ll walk home, and they part.

Mari: I feel like I always need sleep and I’m not putting together a network of morgue staffers. Get some sleep, Jessica.

J: Next is a montage of Jessica taking taxi cabs around to various morgues, checking them off her list one by one. She looks exhausted. Dawn approaches but still nothing. She gets out of the cab one last time. Whatever place she’s at now, is no longer a morgue. She sits down on the sidewalk leaning up against the building, and falls into a drowsy stupor, over which we hear her last few words with Hope– Hope gasping “you can kill him now” and Jessica replying “I will.”

Jessica half opens her eyes, and blurry vision shows a man in a purple jacket walking by. Purple tinges the area around Jessica’s face as she sits up, and then she dashes after the man. She follows him as he jaywalks across the street, and we hear a car horn, a crashing sound and Jessica grunting in pain.

Flashes, blurry vision. A truck with a smoking engine. Jessica comes to lying face down on the pavement. People run over to surround her, including the purple jacketed man, who is not Kilgrave. Jessica rough-handles a woman trying to help her, and slowly crawls to her feet and limps off.

Now that it’s morning, Trish is working at her Trish Talk studio when Simpson shows up. Trish is upset, and asks why he came. “You weren’t answering my calls,” he says. “Because I don’t want to talk to you,” she replies. He calls himself an asshole but she says he was worse – violent and scary. He apologizes and blames Kaslov’s drugs for messing with his mind. He claims to have quit the program, though Trish is suspicious.

As he continues to apologize, she gets a text from Jessica, who needs to be picked up (after literally being hit by a truck, but Trish doesn’t know that yet). (M: Being friends with Jessica: “Pick me up” could mean HIT BY CAR HALP.) (J: She really needs a translation app.) Simpson keeps pushing, wanting to know where Jessica is, and to go out for a bite. Trish is annoyed but agrees to something vague for “later.” He leaves, as does she shortly afterward.

Trish’s apartment. Trish is performing Saran wrap-based first aid to Jessica’s broken ribs. As Jessica lies on the couch, she grumbles – as most people do when they’ve had a shitty day, though she is so far on the end of that scale that there is no scale anymore – and says that people are shitty, like the truck driver who didn’t even hit his brakes, and they don’t deserve saving.

Trish gets philosophical and humorous, asking who she would kill in order to kill Kilgrave. First graders? Sure. Puppies? Definitely. Nuns? “They still make those?” Jessica quips. Trish turns serious, what about someone she loves? There are two, Jessica replies, and it’s obvious Trish is one of them. Trish wonders who else, but Jessica defers, and Trish doesn’t push. Trish goes to bed, and on the couch, Jessica has another flashback.

This time, Young Jessica is in the bathroom of the Walker household, and can hear Young Trish arguing with her mother. Trish wants to quit being Patsy but Mrs. Walker isn’t having it. The yelling is getting to Young Jessica, and she snaps her hairbrush in half. She stares at it a moment then throws it into the trash.

The yelling continues and in frustration, Jessica pounds her hand onto the sink – something we’ve all done and she has likely done, but now the sink breaks in half. She stares at it in awe, as the fight in the background escalates. She leans down and picks up the entire giant chunk of marble, lifting it high over her head in shock, first with two hands, then with one.

The bathroom door opens and Trish walks in. Jessica tries to play it off, putting it hastily down, but not dropping it, and it’s obvious she just lifted that entire chunk of marble. As Trish stares, Jessica asks about the cut on Trish’s arm. “I got hit with a People’s Choice Award,” she snarks. “You?” Jessica says she doesn’t know. Trish tries to lift the marble but can’t.

They talk it out, and while Trish says she has to tell her mom, Jessica is adamant that she shouldn’t, and that her mom is “a dangerous nutjob,” which, true. They agree on mutually assured destruction – Trish doesn’t tell about the super strength, Jessica doesn’t tell about the child abuse. They end glaring at each other, but knowing that they end up becoming fast friends makes this slightly more heartwarming (as much as this situation can be…)

Mari: Yeah, the bonding over secret powers and child abuse is sad, but the bonding is nice. 

J: In such a dark show/episode, we have to appreciate every little nice thing.

End of flashback. Jessica gets a text about another body from Morrie the Morgue Guy and painfully makes her way over there. Unfortunately she gets there after his shift ends, and the new lady won’t let her in. Though she does mention “the old CDC building,” which is where Jessica and co. were holding Kilgrave.

Jessica breaks in, and finds a burned-up body, and realizes it was Clemons. Trish calls, angry about being left behind, and Jessica relays the news. She thinks Kilgrave did it, doubling back to destroy the evidence. She knows it’s all burned down now. They make plans to meet at Jessica’s place.

Outside Trish’s door, Simpson is waiting in the hall like a creepy stalker. Trish is annoyed, she obviously doesn’t want to deal with him but he’s being just polite enough to not be yelled at, just like in the radio studio earlier. She tells him to leave and he pushes, saying he doesn’t want to lose her. She relents, but says she’s just going out to get some milk. He pushes about Jessica, and Trish is smart and her suspicion level is super high right now and she doesn’t trust questions like that.

Simpson pushes about Jessica, saying his team is dead because of her. “Because of Kilgrave,” Trish insists. Simpson nods and he’s just all sweaty and wide-eyed, but in a clamped-down way, and he says that he will definitely kill Kilgrave but Jessica keeps getting in his way. As Trish argues, the elevator dings and two military-looking but plainclothes guys show up, telling Simpson he needs to come with them. “Doc’s worried about you,” one says. Simpson says he’s not coming, and they insist. Trish tells him to go with them, but Simpson turns his back to them, looking at her, and says, “Go back inside, inside.” Earlier, he had repeated another word, but it seemed like it was just his emotions getting in the way. Now we know something’s really off, and he tells Trish he’s got this as he pulls out two red pills and crunches them in his mouth, giving the creepiest smile. Then he flips around and shoots both guys right there, and Trish screams. She presses back against her door and Simpson approaches the camera menacingly.

Outside and elsewhere, Jessica picks up a call, asking Trish if she’s already at her place. Simpson answers, and tells Jessica that he stole Trish’s phone, and she’s on her way to see Jess. He says he wants her help, and that he has a lead on where Kilgrave is, but he wants in and wants to see him die. This whole time, he’s cleaning up a trail of blood from Trish’s front door through her apartment. Jessica agrees to meet him in 30 minutes at her place. They hang up.

We pan down to see the bodies of the two men Simpson killed. We thankfully hear Trish pounding on the door to her training room. Simpson tells her he locked her in there to keep her safe.  She tries to get him to talk but he leaves. Thinking fast, she uses one of the dumbbells to knock the hinges off her door.

Alias Investigations. Malcolm confronts Jessica coming out of the elevator. He says the people from the restaurant – the ones who nearly killed themselves on Kilgrave’s command, including Robin – have been waiting for her and they want answers, they deserve an update. Jessica says they do but they’ll have to wait. Malcolm leaves unhappily and she limps into her apartment.

Mari: All the Malcolm feels. 

J: You are constantly asking yourself, ‘who do I feel worse for?’ in this show. Aside from Jessica, who is pretty much always #1, it’s a lot of people.

Simpson knocks at her door, and we see he’s holding a gun. He’s going to shoot her through the door but behind him, some other people come out of their apartment, so he reluctantly puts the gun away. Jessica opens the door and he comes inside.

Jessica asks where Trish is. Simpson says he convinced her to stay behind. Jessica pauses but continues the conversation, saying Trish will be safer that way. Simpson says, “She’s not like us. Her heart’s too good, good.”

Jessica cocks her head, but says nothing, and asks where Kilgrave is. Simpson won’t give it up, and Jessica lets drop that Clemons is dead. Simpson unconvincingly explains he already heard about it from the precinct, but says that fire killed him, and Jessica says it was actually a bullet. Police issue. Clemons calls bullshit that ballistics would have that info so fast, and Jessica agrees, saying she guessed. She points out other things that confirm it was Simpson who killed him – Simpson knew where to find Trish, and he has a fresh burn mark on his arm. Simpson goes to shoot Jessica but she kicks him in the chest, and he falls with his chair.

Simpson jumps up and they struggle. Jessica asks if he’s Kilgraved but Simpson explains Clemons was a threat, was going to put Kilgrave in the system – another person in the way of Simpson’s plan – now a despearate need – to kill him. The fight continues and they struggle until the gun is empty. Simpson shows off his super strength and slams Jessica into the wall, where she collapses with her broken ribs.

Mari: I regret every place I ever said I liked Simpson. Can I go back and delete all that? I’m an admin on this site, right….

J: Poor Simpson! I really did like him in the beginning too. But man, once he starts sliding, there is no going back.

He takes another pill and she attacks him again, but he throws her THROUGH THE WALL. He tells her she’s done protecting Kilgrave. She says she’s trying to kill him but Simpson doesn’t believe her. They continue fighting and Simpson is winning. He keeps attacking and puts her in a chokehold, but Trish runs up and attacks him with a fire extinguisher. He kicks her back and she and Jessica run into the bathroom and lock themselves in. Simpson pounds on the doors from the outside.

Jessica desperately says she can’t beat him. Trish takes pills out of her jacket – she got them somehow from Simpson.  As Simpson pounds through the door with a crowbar, he sees Trish holding them. He tells her they’ll kill her, but she doesn’t believe him. He holds up another bottle, saying that without this second batch of pills, eventually the first batch of pills will cause her to stop breathing. He throws the breath-saving pills out the window. (M: SIMPSON WHY.)

Jessica wants to take the fighting pills, but Trish says if Jessica dies, no one can stop Kilgrave. She pops one into her mouth. Then she stabs Simpson with scissors or something in the bathroom, and then busts out of there, all kicky punchy and strong.

     

She and Simpson fight down the hallway, and she holds her own. Jessica joins in and finally slams his head into her fridge and pulls the fridge down on top of him.

Trish gets up. They don’t know if he’s dead. Trish is running high on the pills. She asks, “Is this what it’s like for you? Like all the time?”Jessica wants her to slow down, but suddenly Trish starts gasping for air.  She grabs at her throat and falls to the ground. I keep shouting at Jessica to jump downstairs and find the other pills, but she calls 911 instead as Trish struggles to breathe and Jessica freaks out.

Flashback. Young Jessica watches from a crack in the door as Mrs. Walker tries to force Young Trish to throw up after eating. Trish is resisting but Mrs. Walker is being terrible and insisting. Jessica storms in and insists she stops. Then Young Jessica literally THROWS Mrs. Walker into the hallway, knocking down all the hangings on the wall. Mrs. Walker crawls away in fear, and Jessica and Trish look at each other. “Now she knows,” Trish says, but Jessica just shrugs.

Ambulance. Jessica is there while a paramedic works on Trish. Trish flatlines and Jessica freaks out, until Trish breathes and comes back to consciousness suddenly. Trish smiles slightly and they embrace. “You just had to be a hero didn’t you?” Jessica says. Trish replies, “I learned it from you.”

Malcolm is waiting for the Kilgrave therapy group at the restaurant, but it seems to be in vain. Robin appears, saying no one else is coming, and she has a warning. “Stop group texting your location to a group of strangers,” she says, which is pretty good advice. To them, even more so, because anyone could be brainwashed to do terrible things to you.

“What is with people?” Malcolm says, frustrated.

“At best, they’re assholes,” Robin replies. “At worst, they’re zombie assassins.”

So that means everyone for themselves? Malcolm counters. Everyone sucks? Robin tells him that he got duped. Her too. She thought she and Ruben were safe together, but it didn’t help. No one can help anyone. Malcolm refuses to believe that. She looks at him sadly and leaves.

Hospital. Trish wakes up to see Jessica sleeping in a chair at her bedside. She smiles and goes back to sleep.

Alias Investigations. Flashlights and boots go over all the broken glass. Dr. Kaslov stands over Simpson’s unmoving body, checking for a pulse. He tells the people with him to take him. Malcolm arrives in the hallway and sees the lights and people in Jessica’s apartment. He goes to text her, then pauses, puts down his phone and angrily walks into his own apartment, closing and locking the door.

Mari: NO, MALCOLM. DON’T GIVE UP!

J: Hospital. Jessica gets a series of texts from an unknown number: “heard you were looking for me.” / “I ran into you ‘boyfriend’” / “if you hurry, you can say goodbye.”

Jessica runs, and a cab pulls up in front of Luke’s bar. She gets out across the street. She sees Luke in the window, he stares at her and mechanically closes the window. She starts across the street and the bar BLOWS UP, tossing Jessica back. Burning embers rain through the air. Luke, engulfed in flames, walks slowly out of the building. Jessica runs to him, starts hitting him with her jacket to put the flames out. He lies on the ground, smoldering, and they stare at each other. He looks around at the fiery destruction of his bar, and she looks at him sadly. No words. Fade to black.

There are a lot of flashes in this episode, and lots of flashbacks. We didn’t get much closer to Kilgrave but we learned a lot about Jessica and Trish, and had to deal with the side distraction of freakin’ SIMPSON for most of it. I liked the reveal of the beginnings of their friendship, even as we build toward the final confrontations.

Mari: I hadn’t really thought about the apparent little forward progress of this episode because I’m tense all the time now and also, after the last episode, it was probably best to give my emotions a little break. 

 

Next time on Jessica Jones: Jessica and Luke join force in S01 E12 – AKA Take a Bloody Number.