What I’m Watching: Jessica Jones

Jessica Jones: Season 1, Episode 8 “AKA WWJD?” (A-)

I didn’t know what was going to happen when Jessica agreed to move in to her childhood home with Kilgrave, but I did not expect the best episode this show has produced so far. Jessica is still her usual prickly self, and Kilgrave is mediating how much he is controlling those around them to make sure that the experience really is authentic. That means plenty of sarcasm and insults from Jessica, but he’s also not content to let her roam so free that he won’t force the helpless cook and maid to keep their eyes open all night or get ready to peel each other’s faces off if she doesn’t return. Lashing out at Kilgrave for raping her repeatedly when he was claiming that his ability was hard to control and he never knew whether people were doing things because he told them to was a commendable and intense moment, and his defense was rather weak, even after seeing that video of him being poked and prodded as a young boy. Daring Kilgrave to be a hero was a great idea, and it actually worked pretty well even if he didn’t care that he had done something good until he thought that it would allow them to team up together. The most shocking development came at the end of the episode when things seemed like they were going great and all of a sudden both of Kilgrave’s hypnotized servants passed out and Jessica made her move to sedate and abduct Kilgrave. If that wasn’t forceful and daring enough, Kilgrave sent Jessica’s chatty neighbor to blow Will up and may have succeeded in taking him out. This show is really great, and this episode was considerably more thrilling than usual.