Round Two: Jessica Jones

Jessica Jones: Season 1, Episode 2 “AKA Crush Syndrome” (B+)

This episode was a solid follow-up to the pilot, diving deeper into all of its unhappy characters and explaining a bit more about all of them. Jessica summarized her outlook on life when she was brought in for questioning, and though she has a steely outside, it’s clear that she wants to help people, particularly those hurt by Kilgrave. Encouraging Jessica to defend Hope if she could prove that Kilgrave was real was a noble move, and she’s obviously ruffling feathers given that one of her first stops when she started looking into the accident that didn’t kill Kilgrave resulted in a man running from her as soon as he saw her. Seeing Kilgrave for the first time, even without a shot of his face, was extremely disturbing, particularly involving children and telling a girl to go to the bathroom in the closet before motivating her parents to cook him dinner as he sharpened a knife. Jessica isn’t the only one who has demons, as Trish appears to be obsessed with being able to defend herself, working through a nosebleed to continue Krav Maga training. And there’s no better way to make a memorable point than to take a power saw to your six-pack and demonstrate your invulnerability, as Luke coolly did. That bar fight was quite a sight, and it’s good that it enabled Jessica and Luke to see each other for who they really are and hopefully to form a closer and healthier relationship as joint holders of each other’s impenetrable secrets.