Jessica Jones: AKA Facetime
March 10, 2018 4:26 PM - Season 2, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Jessica gate-crashes an exclusive country club on the hunt for the killer, and Trish's new addiction begins to spiral out of control.
*AV Club - An unexpected ending can’t save a messy episode of Jessica Jones
*Vulture - The Joy of Painting
*Den of Geek - An 11th hour reveal rescues an otherwise meandering episode of Jessica Jones.
*Jessica loses Dr. Karl in the aquarium evacuation, but notices a jewelry store whose footage should reveal more, and when her phone dries out later, sees a ring on his finger. She goes to Oscar's apartment for a drink, which leads to kissing, and sex on a paint-spilled canvas.
*Drugged-up Trish walks the streets in search of crime, follows a guy with a suspicious bulge at his waist (which turns out to just be a book) onto a bus, then drop-kicks a harasser into the street.
*Jessica wakes to Oscar painting her portrait and hightails it back to her place, where Malcolm teases her for the 'walk of shame', and tells her that he recognizes Karl's ring as being a class ring of the school he dropped out/was kicked out of. Jessica tells him to go follow up; he stands around campus until his ex is walking by, apologizes to her for his drug-addicted behavior, and uses the goodbye hug to lift her student ID.
*Inez tells Hogarth she only worked at IGH a few days before the attack, doesn't know any of the doctors' names, or the treatments. Later, a fed-up Hogarth phones Jessica to tell her she wants Jessica to find another place for Inez or she'll kick her back to the streets. Inez begins stealing Hogarth's jewelry and drugs, but is brought to a halt when she recognizes the ALS medication, and later she comes clean to Hogarth, and tells her that there was another super at IGH when she was there, a boy with healing abilities who saved her from death & paralysis after the attack
*The jewelry store footage shows Karl had to inject the Killer with a sedative to get her into the car outside the aquarium. (Also, Trish is gun-happy.)
*Malcolm's student directory reveals a Karl Malus, but investigation only turns up credit cards paid for him by Ambyhose. Jessica tracks down the owner, Justis Ambrose, at a mens-only golf club, which she sneaks into while Trish distracts security with a rant against sex discrimination, and then throwing up on them as the withdrawal kicks in. Ambrose tells Jessica that she's wrong about Karl being behind any murders, that Karl cured his baby of a congenital illness, which is why he is paying the doctor's personal expenses for life.
*Later, Ambrose calls Karl to warn him about Jessica's visit, and Karl goes to where he has the Killer chained to a bed and revives her, telling her that Jessica is coming and "it's time."
*Jess brings Trish home to sleep it off what she claims was food poisoning and post-break-up stress, but Trish trashes the place in search of the inhaler the second she leaves.
*Jessica comes home to find Oscar has finished & given her the portrait.
*Malcolm finds Trish's jacket, with inhaler, at Jessica's, and brings it over to her place. She claims it's for allergies, takes a hit, and jumps Malcolm's bones.
*Jessica ambushes Ambrose's son, Eric, and facetimes Ambrose demanding he tell her where Karl is. The address he gives her is the Killer's house, which appears empty, but when she reaches the basement room with the heavily secured door and the bed with manacles, she also finds a familiar perfume, and a vacation photo of her and her brother, and the Killer reveals herself to be Jessica's previously-presumed-dead mother.
*AV Club - An unexpected ending can’t save a messy episode of Jessica Jones
*Vulture - The Joy of Painting
*Den of Geek - An 11th hour reveal rescues an otherwise meandering episode of Jessica Jones.
*Jessica loses Dr. Karl in the aquarium evacuation, but notices a jewelry store whose footage should reveal more, and when her phone dries out later, sees a ring on his finger. She goes to Oscar's apartment for a drink, which leads to kissing, and sex on a paint-spilled canvas.
*Drugged-up Trish walks the streets in search of crime, follows a guy with a suspicious bulge at his waist (which turns out to just be a book) onto a bus, then drop-kicks a harasser into the street.
*Jessica wakes to Oscar painting her portrait and hightails it back to her place, where Malcolm teases her for the 'walk of shame', and tells her that he recognizes Karl's ring as being a class ring of the school he dropped out/was kicked out of. Jessica tells him to go follow up; he stands around campus until his ex is walking by, apologizes to her for his drug-addicted behavior, and uses the goodbye hug to lift her student ID.
*Inez tells Hogarth she only worked at IGH a few days before the attack, doesn't know any of the doctors' names, or the treatments. Later, a fed-up Hogarth phones Jessica to tell her she wants Jessica to find another place for Inez or she'll kick her back to the streets. Inez begins stealing Hogarth's jewelry and drugs, but is brought to a halt when she recognizes the ALS medication, and later she comes clean to Hogarth, and tells her that there was another super at IGH when she was there, a boy with healing abilities who saved her from death & paralysis after the attack
*The jewelry store footage shows Karl had to inject the Killer with a sedative to get her into the car outside the aquarium. (Also, Trish is gun-happy.)
*Malcolm's student directory reveals a Karl Malus, but investigation only turns up credit cards paid for him by Ambyhose. Jessica tracks down the owner, Justis Ambrose, at a mens-only golf club, which she sneaks into while Trish distracts security with a rant against sex discrimination, and then throwing up on them as the withdrawal kicks in. Ambrose tells Jessica that she's wrong about Karl being behind any murders, that Karl cured his baby of a congenital illness, which is why he is paying the doctor's personal expenses for life.
*Later, Ambrose calls Karl to warn him about Jessica's visit, and Karl goes to where he has the Killer chained to a bed and revives her, telling her that Jessica is coming and "it's time."
*Jess brings Trish home to sleep it off what she claims was food poisoning and post-break-up stress, but Trish trashes the place in search of the inhaler the second she leaves.
*Jessica comes home to find Oscar has finished & given her the portrait.
*Malcolm finds Trish's jacket, with inhaler, at Jessica's, and brings it over to her place. She claims it's for allergies, takes a hit, and jumps Malcolm's bones.
*Jessica ambushes Ambrose's son, Eric, and facetimes Ambrose demanding he tell her where Karl is. The address he gives her is the Killer's house, which appears empty, but when she reaches the basement room with the heavily secured door and the bed with manacles, she also finds a familiar perfume, and a vacation photo of her and her brother, and the Killer reveals herself to be Jessica's previously-presumed-dead mother.
Re: Paint-sex: What oh yeah! said. (Is that eponysterical?) Not only that, but even an artist with a well paid day-job might think twice about wasting so much paint! That stuff costs money you know! Maybe it "fell off the back of a truck".
What an outrageous plot twist, turns out Jessica's mother is Darth Vader.
posted by Coaticass at 8:15 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
What an outrageous plot twist, turns out Jessica's mother is Darth Vader.
posted by Coaticass at 8:15 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
In addition to the inherent problem of paint-sex, I am not sure what message I was supposed to be getting from the purple nature of the paint. Kilgrave is associated with purple both in the comic and on the show, so am I supposed to think that Jessica's sex life is now forever tainted by Kilgrave? Which, sure, rape survivors often struggle with sex after being raped, but this seemed like a weird place to go with this particular partner at this particular moment. I mean, Jessica is the kind of person who signs up for anonymous sex in public bathrooms, but this event is the one that's tainted by Kilgrave? Just.. weird. Maybe I am reading too much into it, or the wrong thing.
posted by xyzzy at 10:22 PM on March 10, 2018
posted by xyzzy at 10:22 PM on March 10, 2018
Yeeeeah I’m not sure the production designers realized and or remembered that the first season is done up in shades of purple cause that’s Killgrave’s color and his name..
The opposite of purple is yellow, which would’ve fit the NYC Summer setting and the idea of breaking sunlight in an investigation but it doesnt seem like they wanted to go there.
posted by The Whelk at 10:32 PM on March 10, 2018
The opposite of purple is yellow, which would’ve fit the NYC Summer setting and the idea of breaking sunlight in an investigation but it doesnt seem like they wanted to go there.
posted by The Whelk at 10:32 PM on March 10, 2018
I would think the relationship sex would be far more triggering than the casual, seems like Kilgrave was forcing her into an imitation of the first kind rather than the second.
posted by Coaticass at 11:12 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Coaticass at 11:12 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Did they seriously end a sex scene with a shot of a train rushing out of a tunnel?
posted by rmd1023 at 5:20 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 5:20 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wait, so does Malcolm also think Trish had food poisoning? Because I can imagine a less sexy scenario, and I'm including being addicted to experimental steroids.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:56 PM on March 11, 2018
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:56 PM on March 11, 2018
All I could think of with the paint scene was an art critic walking into Oscar's apartment, dismissing almost all of his art as "too conventional", then seeing the oddly purple-smeared dropcloth and offering him an exorbitant sum of money for it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:38 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:38 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
They toned all of JJ's scenes in Defenders purple, so I think they just think that's her color. Even though that's problematic.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:45 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:45 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
And on top of everything else, Trish makes a terrible vigilante.
posted by Jugwine at 8:35 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Jugwine at 8:35 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
my god, please change that link to the Vulture review: it’s to the episode after this one. It just spoiled that episode for me. Mods can you please fix?
posted by about_time at 9:06 PM on March 12, 2018
posted by about_time at 9:06 PM on March 12, 2018
thank you!!
posted by about_time at 5:01 AM on March 13, 2018
posted by about_time at 5:01 AM on March 13, 2018
I don't know how that happened, about_time -- I definitely linked the episode 6 Vulture recap when I made this post on 3/10, because there was no episode 7 recap to link to when I made the next post later that evening. I see now they posted episode 7 on 3/11, they must have done something odd with the URLs in the process.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:17 AM on March 13, 2018
posted by oh yeah! at 5:17 AM on March 13, 2018
no problemo!
posted by about_time at 6:48 PM on March 13, 2018
posted by about_time at 6:48 PM on March 13, 2018
I like that Jessica has such a limited wardrobe. it rings much truer to life than a somewhat down-and-out character who nonetheless has a different outfit everyday. most people wear the same clothes pretty frequently, and messed up alcoholics who don't give AF what anyone thinks are even more likely to just wear the same damn jeans until they fall apart.
posted by supermedusa at 9:45 AM on March 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:45 AM on March 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
Drugs are bad, y'all.
posted by straight at 10:42 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by straight at 10:42 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought Jessica's voiceover to establish that she knows she's crossing lines and she's uncomfortable about it was kind of cowardly writing. Like they were too afraid that Jessica would lose our sympathy after she threatened that guy's kid.
That's the kind of thing you gotta show instead of tell. The whole drinking game--Jessica take a drink every time you feel self-loathing--works a little better, but I feel like that's starting to have diminishing returns, dramatically.
posted by straight at 11:35 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's the kind of thing you gotta show instead of tell. The whole drinking game--Jessica take a drink every time you feel self-loathing--works a little better, but I feel like that's starting to have diminishing returns, dramatically.
posted by straight at 11:35 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought the moment of Inez recognizing Hogarth's medicine was very nicely done. On the other hand the boy with healing powers seems like it comes from another genre than the one we've been watching.
Healing powers seems way more on the "magic" end of things than any of the other superpowers we've seen on this show. But I guess the Defenders put Jessica in the same universe as ninjas using blood rituals to raise the dead, so whatever, it's the Marvel universe, I guess.
posted by straight at 11:42 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Healing powers seems way more on the "magic" end of things than any of the other superpowers we've seen on this show. But I guess the Defenders put Jessica in the same universe as ninjas using blood rituals to raise the dead, so whatever, it's the Marvel universe, I guess.
posted by straight at 11:42 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure we can believe Inez about the healing powers - I felt like she was manipulating Hogarth now that she knows what she was after.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:18 PM on March 18, 2018
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:18 PM on March 18, 2018
I agree, vibratory. Like, good luck proving that one if his powers only "sometimes" work.
That said, I really hope Jeri gets evil superpowers. I want to see that.
I still want to know how Jessica totally failed to recognize her mom after speaking to her, seeing her face, etc. the first time. I am taking a break to go to bed (hahahahah yeah right like I sleep) after this so maybe that's in the next episode, but I would have enjoyed that reveal a lot more had Jessica not already obviously seen the woman several times by now.
Also, is it just me or is that woman's wigs getting bigger and bigger somehow?
Trish is just making me sad. I hate addiction plots anyway (yeah, shouldn't Malcolm notice?) but she's kind of being a hotheaded jerk while high to boot.
Painting while she sleeps...Yeah, I don't know what to make of that. (You bored, dude?) Though I bet Stephenie Meyer wishes she'd done that in her books. Nice painting though.
Purple is the next darkest color to black (other than navy blue, which is so easily mistaken for black that I mess that up frequently when looking for pants in the morning) so maybe that's her color not just for Kilgrave issues, but because everything being black tinted just wouldn't show too well.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:19 PM on March 20, 2018
That said, I really hope Jeri gets evil superpowers. I want to see that.
I still want to know how Jessica totally failed to recognize her mom after speaking to her, seeing her face, etc. the first time. I am taking a break to go to bed (hahahahah yeah right like I sleep) after this so maybe that's in the next episode, but I would have enjoyed that reveal a lot more had Jessica not already obviously seen the woman several times by now.
Also, is it just me or is that woman's wigs getting bigger and bigger somehow?
Trish is just making me sad. I hate addiction plots anyway (yeah, shouldn't Malcolm notice?) but she's kind of being a hotheaded jerk while high to boot.
Painting while she sleeps...Yeah, I don't know what to make of that. (You bored, dude?) Though I bet Stephenie Meyer wishes she'd done that in her books. Nice painting though.
Purple is the next darkest color to black (other than navy blue, which is so easily mistaken for black that I mess that up frequently when looking for pants in the morning) so maybe that's her color not just for Kilgrave issues, but because everything being black tinted just wouldn't show too well.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:19 PM on March 20, 2018
Malcolm's interaction with his ex on campus made me uncomfortable. He's trying too hard and making it all about him, and when she gave him that half-smile "ok" + hug , I cringed in recognition of the body language. It's what you do to get the guy to agree to move along and stop EXPLAINING. (I don't really expect that this gloss was intentional on the part of the writers, it may have just been from the actress?)
I really didn't love the way Jessica treated the jewelry store owner. She's empathetic for a second, and then as soon as she gets what she wants, she uses the fact of her own painful history as a really entitled justification to be dismissive as shit about the legit threat of this guy's family getting torn apart by ICE.
I haaaaaate the way that neither Jessica nor Malcolm seem to be connecting the dots regarding Trish being SUPER OBVIOUSLY HIGH-AS-SHIT. It's like roid-rage combined with coked-up. She swaggers like a predatory animal all the time. Come the fuck on.
The mom reveal made us groan out loud. 1) It's not terribly plausible that Jessica didn't recognize her mother all this time, just from the eyes, even. 2) If the plastic surgery on Justis Ambrose's kid is supposed to imply that Karl gave mom a new unrecognizable face, that's straight-up daytime soap fantasy science. 3) Mom's recovery from her facial scarring isn't consistent or realistic even within this show's established sci-fi/fantasy logic.
posted by desuetude at 9:05 AM on March 26, 2018
I really didn't love the way Jessica treated the jewelry store owner. She's empathetic for a second, and then as soon as she gets what she wants, she uses the fact of her own painful history as a really entitled justification to be dismissive as shit about the legit threat of this guy's family getting torn apart by ICE.
I haaaaaate the way that neither Jessica nor Malcolm seem to be connecting the dots regarding Trish being SUPER OBVIOUSLY HIGH-AS-SHIT. It's like roid-rage combined with coked-up. She swaggers like a predatory animal all the time. Come the fuck on.
The mom reveal made us groan out loud. 1) It's not terribly plausible that Jessica didn't recognize her mother all this time, just from the eyes, even. 2) If the plastic surgery on Justis Ambrose's kid is supposed to imply that Karl gave mom a new unrecognizable face, that's straight-up daytime soap fantasy science. 3) Mom's recovery from her facial scarring isn't consistent or realistic even within this show's established sci-fi/fantasy logic.
posted by desuetude at 9:05 AM on March 26, 2018
I thought the awkwardness between Malcom and his ex was 100% intentional and is part of what makes him seem more like a real character in spite of being otherwise almost too much of a stand-up, loyal guy with his shit together. Last season, the contrast between Malcom and Malcom-on-drugs was important to convey the horror of what Kilgrave did to him, but this season I felt like he needed to be allowed to screw-up and make mistakes too.
His extreme reluctance to set foot on campus seems like maybe he knew he wouldn't handle it well if he ran into her.
posted by straight at 11:47 AM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
His extreme reluctance to set foot on campus seems like maybe he knew he wouldn't handle it well if he ran into her.
posted by straight at 11:47 AM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's not terribly plausible that Jessica didn't recognize her mother all this time, just from the eyes, even. 2) If the plastic surgery on Justis Ambrose's kid is supposed to imply that Karl gave mom a new unrecognizable face, that's straight-up daytime soap fantasy science. 3) Mom's recovery from her facial scarring isn't consistent or realistic even within this show's established sci-fi/fantasy logic.
Why didn't Jessica recognize the voice, at least?
Also, why is Mom's head all scarred and bald and her face isn't?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:02 PM on March 26, 2018
Why didn't Jessica recognize the voice, at least?
Also, why is Mom's head all scarred and bald and her face isn't?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:02 PM on March 26, 2018
one of the color schemes for Jessica Jones in the comics is purple hair when she's Jewel, so maybe that's why the production went with that as her color scheme. But I also see it as more of an encompassing theme that includes Kilgrave, as in he was a big part of who she is now, regardless of good or bad.
posted by numaner at 11:17 PM on April 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 11:17 PM on April 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
The scene in the jewellery store seemed poorly written. First the guy is all suspicious of JJ (gun) because he "saw" her the day before... peering in the window? I guess probably a lot of people do that when a retail store is closed on a Saturday (? def not Sunday). She opens with the terrible thing that happened at the Aquarium (fish died?) and he admits he was concerned enough to watch the video tapes... except none of his cameras would've shown what happened at the Aquarium, just random people walking or running by? Of course it was just a set up to show the Evil Doctor injecting Crazy Wig Lady with a hypo. (I thought she was angling to get the license plate number) That seemed very weak. I dunno, the whole scene appears forced. Then we got Pantyhose Guy paying Evil Doctor's credit card bills for life which sounds ridiculous. This writing bugs me because I do like the show a lot.
I also laughed when I saw the painting because it's sooooper romantic and all pink and lavender and curly swirls which is so not Jessica.
So both Mom and daughter got super strength but Mom is out of control unless she takes her meds. I wonder which one he operated on first.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:23 PM on April 4, 2018
I also laughed when I saw the painting because it's sooooper romantic and all pink and lavender and curly swirls which is so not Jessica.
So both Mom and daughter got super strength but Mom is out of control unless she takes her meds. I wonder which one he operated on first.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:23 PM on April 4, 2018
Yeah that jewelry scene was a mess, but it showed what they needed us to see so the lead-up was irrelevant in retrospect. I want to point out that how did she not notice there was no rear license plate when she ran up to the car? Like at that distance you should be able to tell without needing to check the camera. And yeah none of his cameras were pointing at the aquarium.
posted by numaner at 10:08 AM on April 5, 2018
posted by numaner at 10:08 AM on April 5, 2018
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I couldn't enjoy seeing Malcolm's ass during the sex scene; it felt so pervy, what with Trish being under the influence - she's using him, or using the sex to distract him from noticing her addiction, or both. I mean, I think that may have been the intention, that the director didn't want it to seem like sexy funtimes, as compared to Jessica/Oscar. (Which, the paint thing was cute in theory, but I shudder to think how unsexy that would be in reality, unless it was some water-based paint? How much of a pain would it be to get it off your skin and hair/out of your orifices. Not to mention clothing, since Jessica only seems to have the one pair of boots & jeans.)
posted by oh yeah! at 4:46 PM on March 10, 2018 [3 favorites]