Jessica Jones: AKA Pray for My Patsy
March 11, 2018 1:41 PM - Season 2, Episode 12 - Subscribe
As Jessica and Dorothy wait anxiously for updates on Trish, a call from Costa brings alarming news. Jeri hatches a plan to get her revenge.
*AV Club - Jessica Jones’ penultimate episode has deadly (and non-deadly) consequences
*Hogarth calls pawn shops until she finds one selling her goods, then bribes the pawnshop owner for Shane & Inez's location. Turk makes his season cameo, giving her a gun in exchange for a future favor. Hogarth confronts Inez for an explanation, but then plays her, telling her that Shane has been conning Inez too, and that the prison gave her records of his correspondence with multiple women he's been getting money from (the folder actually just has her pawnshop listings printouts). Hogarth gives Inez the gun to 'protect herself', waits in the car until she hears Inez shoot Shane, then calls 911.
*In Trish's hospital room, Dorothy tells Jessica she doesn't blame her for what happened, that if Trish doesn't make it they're the only family each other has. Costa calls with news of Alisa's breakout, but Jessica doesn't share the news with Dorothy.
*Alisa makes it to Times Square, then to the Trish Talk studios where she throws a producer through the glass when she thinks the random blonde on the other side is Trish. She flees to the Paradise Suite to sob over Karl's band t-shirts, but when she sees Dorothy being interviewed about Trish outside Riverbank Medical, she steals an RV to race back to the city.
*Costa and Sunday interview Jessica in her office for clues of Alisa's whereabouts. She pulls out Karl's notebook for them, but says that if she shows up at all it will be to attack Trish. On the way back to the hospital, Costa gets word of the Trish Talk studio incident, and Jessica kicks out the car door to run to the hospital faster than the car can get through traffic, arriving just as Alisa climbs through the window. Jessica is able to pull Alisa out of rage-monster mode before she kills Trish, but when Costa and Sunday arrive, Alisa grabs Sunday as a human shield to keep Costa from shooting her, and jumps out the window to escape, pulling Sunday with her and letting the detective fall to her death.
*Down at the morgue where Trish has been moved for safety, Dorothy confronts Jessica about Alisa and about everything being Jessica's fault after all. Jessica visits Trish and she wakes up, mad at Jessica for stopping the procedure. When Alisa calls Jessica wanting to meet somewhere alone, Trish offers her apartment, but then tells Jessica she has to 'put her down', and to use Simpson's gear from her closet. Jessica ducks her cop escorts in bathroom and escapes out the window, hiding in the back of a funeral home truck bodybag to make it past the perimeter.
*In the morgue hospital room, Dorothy calls around trying to find a better hospital for Trish. Trish tells her something's wrong, that she feels like she's dying, then goes into convulsions.
*At Trish's, Alisa arrives to find Jessica holding a gun on her, telling her she has to go to the Raft or die. Alisa says she'd rather die than be without her, and if anyone is going to kill her it's best that it's Jessica, but then uses her hesitation to grab the gun and knock Jessica out, then drives off in the RV (with unconscious Jessica, I assume, my screen was too dark to see anything going on inside the RV).
*AV Club - Jessica Jones’ penultimate episode has deadly (and non-deadly) consequences
*Hogarth calls pawn shops until she finds one selling her goods, then bribes the pawnshop owner for Shane & Inez's location. Turk makes his season cameo, giving her a gun in exchange for a future favor. Hogarth confronts Inez for an explanation, but then plays her, telling her that Shane has been conning Inez too, and that the prison gave her records of his correspondence with multiple women he's been getting money from (the folder actually just has her pawnshop listings printouts). Hogarth gives Inez the gun to 'protect herself', waits in the car until she hears Inez shoot Shane, then calls 911.
*In Trish's hospital room, Dorothy tells Jessica she doesn't blame her for what happened, that if Trish doesn't make it they're the only family each other has. Costa calls with news of Alisa's breakout, but Jessica doesn't share the news with Dorothy.
*Alisa makes it to Times Square, then to the Trish Talk studios where she throws a producer through the glass when she thinks the random blonde on the other side is Trish. She flees to the Paradise Suite to sob over Karl's band t-shirts, but when she sees Dorothy being interviewed about Trish outside Riverbank Medical, she steals an RV to race back to the city.
*Costa and Sunday interview Jessica in her office for clues of Alisa's whereabouts. She pulls out Karl's notebook for them, but says that if she shows up at all it will be to attack Trish. On the way back to the hospital, Costa gets word of the Trish Talk studio incident, and Jessica kicks out the car door to run to the hospital faster than the car can get through traffic, arriving just as Alisa climbs through the window. Jessica is able to pull Alisa out of rage-monster mode before she kills Trish, but when Costa and Sunday arrive, Alisa grabs Sunday as a human shield to keep Costa from shooting her, and jumps out the window to escape, pulling Sunday with her and letting the detective fall to her death.
*Down at the morgue where Trish has been moved for safety, Dorothy confronts Jessica about Alisa and about everything being Jessica's fault after all. Jessica visits Trish and she wakes up, mad at Jessica for stopping the procedure. When Alisa calls Jessica wanting to meet somewhere alone, Trish offers her apartment, but then tells Jessica she has to 'put her down', and to use Simpson's gear from her closet. Jessica ducks her cop escorts in bathroom and escapes out the window, hiding in the back of a funeral home truck bodybag to make it past the perimeter.
*In the morgue hospital room, Dorothy calls around trying to find a better hospital for Trish. Trish tells her something's wrong, that she feels like she's dying, then goes into convulsions.
*At Trish's, Alisa arrives to find Jessica holding a gun on her, telling her she has to go to the Raft or die. Alisa says she'd rather die than be without her, and if anyone is going to kill her it's best that it's Jessica, but then uses her hesitation to grab the gun and knock Jessica out, then drives off in the RV (with unconscious Jessica, I assume, my screen was too dark to see anything going on inside the RV).
Yeah, do not fuck with Jeri Hogarth. And that's exactly what these people did. We've seen Jeri deal with people who oppose her and she's competitive and assertive and devious there, too. But Inez and Shane fucked with something she wanted more than anything, both to hold on to life as most living things want to and to win in an unwinnable situation against the illness that makes her vulnerable. And so even though it isn't self-defense and it isn't an accident (as Jessica's killing of Dale was), we root for this too.
The show's getting the audience to ask some questions about where the line is, right?
So let's talk about Alisa's killing of Sunday. Sunday seems to be established (as much as she can be, given her limited screen time) as harsh and suspicious of supers. Perhaps even prejudiced. Sunday is standing there telling Costa to kill Alisa even at the risk of her own death. And they have already shot her, which strongly underscores any belief that they might shoot her again, and also probably compromised Alisa's ability to give both of them a soft landing. This is arguably even close to the situation where Dale was announcing to Jessica that he planned to kill her in "self-defense."
It's still not the smart play and Alisa is still a mess of mental-illness melding terrifying strength with frequent loss of control and it makes her a monster. She's a sometimes sympathetic one we sometimes hope will find redemption and maybe even a place in the world for Jessica's sake, but a monster.
But then again we just watched Hogarth essentially murder Shane herself and ruin Inez' life in the process, much more calculatedly and much less necessarily than Alisa. The only reason we respect her for this instead of fear her may be how much more controlled it is. Maybe Hogarth's a monster too (maybe she's an even scarier one, the patient and invisible one you never see coming, the one with resources and tendrils extending out into society, the one who while mind-controlled by Kilgrave will still try to think strategically about how to use that situation to her advantage), but she's a civilized one and you can be confident you know how to live with a civilized monster, whereas you never know when Alisa might become a lethal threat for arbitrary reasons.
Still, Alisa's reasons for being lethal with Sunday are hardly arbitrary. Sunday looked like she wanted Alisa dead, then and there. Jessica was the only one in the room acting as a voice of cooperation, and neither the cops nor Alisa were willing to join her. Is that all on Alisa?
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:54 PM on March 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
The show's getting the audience to ask some questions about where the line is, right?
So let's talk about Alisa's killing of Sunday. Sunday seems to be established (as much as she can be, given her limited screen time) as harsh and suspicious of supers. Perhaps even prejudiced. Sunday is standing there telling Costa to kill Alisa even at the risk of her own death. And they have already shot her, which strongly underscores any belief that they might shoot her again, and also probably compromised Alisa's ability to give both of them a soft landing. This is arguably even close to the situation where Dale was announcing to Jessica that he planned to kill her in "self-defense."
It's still not the smart play and Alisa is still a mess of mental-illness melding terrifying strength with frequent loss of control and it makes her a monster. She's a sometimes sympathetic one we sometimes hope will find redemption and maybe even a place in the world for Jessica's sake, but a monster.
But then again we just watched Hogarth essentially murder Shane herself and ruin Inez' life in the process, much more calculatedly and much less necessarily than Alisa. The only reason we respect her for this instead of fear her may be how much more controlled it is. Maybe Hogarth's a monster too (maybe she's an even scarier one, the patient and invisible one you never see coming, the one with resources and tendrils extending out into society, the one who while mind-controlled by Kilgrave will still try to think strategically about how to use that situation to her advantage), but she's a civilized one and you can be confident you know how to live with a civilized monster, whereas you never know when Alisa might become a lethal threat for arbitrary reasons.
Still, Alisa's reasons for being lethal with Sunday are hardly arbitrary. Sunday looked like she wanted Alisa dead, then and there. Jessica was the only one in the room acting as a voice of cooperation, and neither the cops nor Alisa were willing to join her. Is that all on Alisa?
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:54 PM on March 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
Hogarth is definitely a monster. But she is such an asshole and she'd been cut so deeply by this. That's some savage cold-blooded scheming, right there.
The pawn shop owner reminded me of a younger understudy for Camryn Manheim.
Alisa is so conflicted. I think it's just that she's so all over the place because she's so damaged and barely holding it together.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:34 AM on March 14, 2018
The pawn shop owner reminded me of a younger understudy for Camryn Manheim.
Alisa is so conflicted. I think it's just that she's so all over the place because she's so damaged and barely holding it together.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:34 AM on March 14, 2018
I'm wondering what will become of Karl's notebook.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:38 PM on March 14, 2018
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:38 PM on March 14, 2018
I forgot to comment about this on first viewing, but ricochet biscuit's episode 8 comment about MCU geography reminded me - just where is the Paradise Suite 'Love Motel' supposed to be? The timing of Alisa and Jessica arriving at Trish's hospital room at the exact same moment is somewhat bonkers without teleportation being involved. Alisa makes the Trish Talk attack in Manhattan, escapes back to the hotel via public transportation (presumably?), sees Dorothy on the news, drives back into the city in the stolen RV (and parks it legally somewhere somehow, since she still has possession of it to drive away in the night at the end of the episode). But Alisa's trip back to Manhattan in the stolen RV somehow only takes her as long as it takes Jessica to run from whatever block she ditched Costa and Sunday at -- the only way they both arrive at the same time without some time-travel/speedster magic is if nobody thought to inform Costa & Sunday about the attack until hours after it happened. But I can't imagine a non-magical explanation for getting that RV in and out of the city.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:51 AM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by oh yeah! at 9:51 AM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh god yeah. Geography is so fucked up this season. Where are things and how is Jessica getting back and forth so quickly?
posted by rmd1023 at 11:06 AM on March 17, 2018
posted by rmd1023 at 11:06 AM on March 17, 2018
plot-driven storytelling + lazyass writers.... we need the characters here now - poof there they are
i wish that aspect of the season didn't undermine for me all the great acting and interacting
posted by kokaku at 3:17 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
i wish that aspect of the season didn't undermine for me all the great acting and interacting
posted by kokaku at 3:17 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
But then again we just watched Hogarth essentially murder Shane herself and ruin Inez' life in the process, much more calculatedly and much less necessarily than Alisa. The only reason we respect her for this instead of fear her may be how much more controlled it is.
That's the word. Controlled. The thematic axis that this show turns on is not violence, not morality, not the line between murder and self-defense. It is control. Who has it. Who doesn't. Who is controlling themselves. Who is controlling other people.
The drinking. All the addicts and histories of addiction. Fucking Kilgrave, not only his abilities but also that weird arc last season where he bought Jessica's childhood house and set up her room exactly how she wanted it. Jessica doing everything she could to not have to kill Kilgrave. Jessica trying to control her mother's temper; her own temper. Dorothy's relationships with Trish and Jessica. Trish and Jessica not being able to control one another. Trish quitting her show because it is not the show she wants it to be.
Hogarth fits right in because she is the placid face of utter control over others, control over powerful systems, control over resources like a lot of money. But her control is being hollowed away because her body is doing something she can't control. Her internal control is being stripped away from her, and then Inez and Shane leverage her desire to restore that control against her. So she responds as someone who is, in the show, second only to Kilgrave in terms of controlling herself and others. And I think it works in part because her control is so different from everybody else's barely-restrained lack of control.
posted by gauche at 7:25 PM on March 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
That's the word. Controlled. The thematic axis that this show turns on is not violence, not morality, not the line between murder and self-defense. It is control. Who has it. Who doesn't. Who is controlling themselves. Who is controlling other people.
The drinking. All the addicts and histories of addiction. Fucking Kilgrave, not only his abilities but also that weird arc last season where he bought Jessica's childhood house and set up her room exactly how she wanted it. Jessica doing everything she could to not have to kill Kilgrave. Jessica trying to control her mother's temper; her own temper. Dorothy's relationships with Trish and Jessica. Trish and Jessica not being able to control one another. Trish quitting her show because it is not the show she wants it to be.
Hogarth fits right in because she is the placid face of utter control over others, control over powerful systems, control over resources like a lot of money. But her control is being hollowed away because her body is doing something she can't control. Her internal control is being stripped away from her, and then Inez and Shane leverage her desire to restore that control against her. So she responds as someone who is, in the show, second only to Kilgrave in terms of controlling herself and others. And I think it works in part because her control is so different from everybody else's barely-restrained lack of control.
posted by gauche at 7:25 PM on March 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
Everyone was asking for a She-Hulk Netflix series with lots of lawyer stuff, but nobody thought it would be this dark.
posted by straight at 11:02 PM on March 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by straight at 11:02 PM on March 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Another one: the Wizzer's power only even comes into play when he's afraid (an emotion that is difficult if not impossible to summon on one's own.) This makes a great metaphor for Jessica's fears about her own use of powers, and for Alisa's actual lack of control over hers.
posted by gauche at 6:58 AM on March 21, 2018
posted by gauche at 6:58 AM on March 21, 2018
Someone in the thread for an earlier episode thought it would be great if Hogarth developed evil superpowers, but OMG does she already have more than enough evil superpowers.
posted by straight at 8:35 PM on March 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by straight at 8:35 PM on March 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
plot-driven storytelling + lazyass writers.... we need the characters here now - poof there they are
It seems like it would be an awfully tiny improvement to the show going back and rejiggering all the plots to make the travel times more plausible. I'd much rather that effort be focused on working things out to make the words and decisions of the characters plausible and interesting.
posted by straight at 8:42 PM on March 21, 2018
It seems like it would be an awfully tiny improvement to the show going back and rejiggering all the plots to make the travel times more plausible. I'd much rather that effort be focused on working things out to make the words and decisions of the characters plausible and interesting.
posted by straight at 8:42 PM on March 21, 2018
I'm sorry, that comment was out of line. It's as dumb as me trying to convince someone that what they thought was scary wasn't really scary. If it takes you out of the story, it takes you out of the story.
posted by straight at 8:45 PM on March 21, 2018
posted by straight at 8:45 PM on March 21, 2018
Honestly, travel didn't take me out of the story so much because I'm used to movies and tv shows playing fast and loose with NYC geography. It did play into my general problem with the season though, which is how the characters were driven by the plot rather than driving the plot.
posted by kokaku at 3:36 AM on March 22, 2018
posted by kokaku at 3:36 AM on March 22, 2018
Alisa's utterly blasé response to murdering Detective Sunday. She's more apologetic about almost killing Trish than she was about actually killing Sunday. Which she totally didn't have to do --
Jessica had just brought Alisa completely back from a full-on rage, something Karl had never done. In fact from how she was talking, I got the impression that maybe she was in a state she'd never been in since the accident. The way she looked and said, "I'm back." Earlier in the season (like the piano-destroying episode) you get the impression that maybe she's constantly struggling with rage at some level -- maybe this felt like an actual cure.
And then Sunday barges in and screws it all up. So her callousness about Sunday's death makes sense. Also, she is apologetic because Trish matters so much to Jessica, not out of any concern for Trish herself.
I understand Costa's reaction to Jessica. But when he says, "I trusted you," I really wanted Jessica to say, "No, you didn't. I had just talked my mom down from a murder rage and then you idiots barged in and tried to take down a superpowered target with two handguns. You couldn't have captured Daredevil that way, or even that idiot Iron Fist, much less my mother. That's the opposite of trusting me. That's on you."
posted by straight at 8:33 AM on March 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
Jessica had just brought Alisa completely back from a full-on rage, something Karl had never done. In fact from how she was talking, I got the impression that maybe she was in a state she'd never been in since the accident. The way she looked and said, "I'm back." Earlier in the season (like the piano-destroying episode) you get the impression that maybe she's constantly struggling with rage at some level -- maybe this felt like an actual cure.
And then Sunday barges in and screws it all up. So her callousness about Sunday's death makes sense. Also, she is apologetic because Trish matters so much to Jessica, not out of any concern for Trish herself.
I understand Costa's reaction to Jessica. But when he says, "I trusted you," I really wanted Jessica to say, "No, you didn't. I had just talked my mom down from a murder rage and then you idiots barged in and tried to take down a superpowered target with two handguns. You couldn't have captured Daredevil that way, or even that idiot Iron Fist, much less my mother. That's the opposite of trusting me. That's on you."
posted by straight at 8:33 AM on March 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
You know what's worse that bad TV geography (33rd and Columbus???)? Bad TV fast food.
Turk brings Jeri the gun in a Harlem Shake bag "with curly fries". Guess what? As someone who lives down the street and ate there just a few days ago I can attest that Harlem Shake does not, except for this weekend when they are running a Jessica Jones special, make curly fries. They make fresh, hand cut, straight fries: regular, jerk, cheese, chili-cheese, truffle and sweet yam fries, but no curly fries.
posted by plastic_animals at 5:39 PM on March 23, 2018 [5 favorites]
Turk brings Jeri the gun in a Harlem Shake bag "with curly fries". Guess what? As someone who lives down the street and ate there just a few days ago I can attest that Harlem Shake does not, except for this weekend when they are running a Jessica Jones special, make curly fries. They make fresh, hand cut, straight fries: regular, jerk, cheese, chili-cheese, truffle and sweet yam fries, but no curly fries.
posted by plastic_animals at 5:39 PM on March 23, 2018 [5 favorites]
The least believable thing for me in this episode/season/show was when she traded a $5-15k Cartier as something "more" than the single Birkin (black+palladium hardware - that bag new would be 21k).
posted by olya at 9:43 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by olya at 9:43 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
Wow, I'm really impressed with Hogarth's story in this season. However, I kind of question how it fits into the show at all. In season 1 Hogarth's personal stuff was a side element that was intertwined with Jessica's story as the main one. But all of her personal stuff this season didn't really matter all that much to Jessica's story.
I love it though, it's like a darker version of Suits with a woman in charge. Like, I wish Suits was part of Marvel just to see Hogarth and Specter go at it in court.
posted by numaner at 11:42 PM on April 1, 2018
I love it though, it's like a darker version of Suits with a woman in charge. Like, I wish Suits was part of Marvel just to see Hogarth and Specter go at it in court.
posted by numaner at 11:42 PM on April 1, 2018
I am glad they didn't let the minor detail that the show is called "Jessica Jones" get in the way of making good use of one of the best actors they had (Carrie-Anne Moss) to tell a great story that, while only having marginal explicit ties to Jessica, dealt with some similar themes and was similarly completely focused on a flawed and powerful female protagonist.
Also they've left themselves in a really good position to set Hogarth (and Malcom (and Trish?)) in conflict with Jessica next season if Hogarth tries to save herself by getting Karl's notes and trying to follow up on his research.
posted by straight at 10:59 AM on April 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also they've left themselves in a really good position to set Hogarth (and Malcom (and Trish?)) in conflict with Jessica next season if Hogarth tries to save herself by getting Karl's notes and trying to follow up on his research.
posted by straight at 10:59 AM on April 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I do not like the ALS storyline if it doesn't involve Jeri getting evil, but this was a satisfying revenge.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:51 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:51 PM on April 9, 2018
Once again the Hogarth story line is the most interesting/suspenseful/satisfying. It seems like Jessica spent the whole episode rushing around, her office, Trish's first hospital room twice, Trish's second hospital room, Trish's apartment. A lot of "Only I can bring Alisa in" and then not being able to do that; gets repetitive.
The timing mentioned upthread: also Jessica manages to escape from the hospital police escort, hide in a funeral home hearse, get the driver to take her uptown and she still manages to arrive at the apartment before her mother who presumably was cruising Manhattan in her camper van since jumping out the window.
Alisa just continues to be uninteresting as a character. She gets mad, that's it. Her motivation for going after Trish was contained in that single flashback at the shore and a dropped story line about a doctor; insufficient.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:38 PM on April 11, 2018
The timing mentioned upthread: also Jessica manages to escape from the hospital police escort, hide in a funeral home hearse, get the driver to take her uptown and she still manages to arrive at the apartment before her mother who presumably was cruising Manhattan in her camper van since jumping out the window.
Alisa just continues to be uninteresting as a character. She gets mad, that's it. Her motivation for going after Trish was contained in that single flashback at the shore and a dropped story line about a doctor; insufficient.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:38 PM on April 11, 2018
Important fast food update: Due to popular demand curly fries have been added to the permanent menu at Harlem Shake. Reality recons itself to conform to a fictional universe!
posted by plastic_animals at 6:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by plastic_animals at 6:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
I love Carrie Anne Moss but they could have edited the entire Hogarth sub-plot out of this season and not lost a thing. It has nothing to do with anything else in the show, it just feels like tacked on padding to make the season fill out 13 episodes.
posted by octothorpe at 7:24 PM on May 23, 2018
posted by octothorpe at 7:24 PM on May 23, 2018
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
I think I gasped out loud at Trish's reaction to finding out Karl was dead, it may be the most self-centered thing she said all season. Not one second of remorse or questioning whether Jessica killed him, just, "my last chance."
Similarly, Alisa's utterly blasé response to murdering Detective Sunday. She's more apologetic about almost killing Trish than she was about actually killing Sunday. Which she totally didn't have to do -- even if she insisted on pulling her out the window with her as her human shield, she couldn't have hung onto her and given her a softer landing? She may not have been as significant a character as Detective Clemons from S1, but, there's something very White Feminism about it.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:51 PM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]