Not Binging Jessica Jones: Episode 6
I must admit, I took a break from watching Jessica Jones. While it’s some of the best television currently out there, it’s too dark for the holiday season. Too bleak. Too depressing. I watched lighter fare instead, like A Very Murray Christmas and Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. (Don’t judge.) But I couldn’t stay away from the series for too long. I had to know when Luke was going to find out about Jessica’s involvement in his wife’s death. Turns out I didn’t have to wait very long.
Episode 6, “AKA You’re a Winner!” brings back Luke after his absence from Episode 5. There’s a boy, Antoine, missing and Luke is willing to put aside his differences with Jessica and hire her to find Antoine. As it turns out, Antoine’s sister may have information regarding the death of Luke’s wife, and will release that info once Antoine is found. But working so close with Jessica brings its own complications for Luke. Not only do they rekindle their sexual relationship, but at the end of the episode, when Luke’s about to beat to death the bus driver he believes killed his wife, Jessica confesses: it was her all along.
Meanwhile, we start to see more of Kilgrave throughout this episode, and his presence is felt even when he isn’t interacting with the main cast. The episode opens on Kilgrave winning a million dollars from a high-stakes poker game, which he uses to buy Jessica’s childhood home (whose address is the intersection Jessica has been mumbling since Episode one. There’s also the matter of Hope, who was beat up in prison the previous episode. Turns out Hope is pregnant and was trying to force a miscarriage. Here, Jessica asks for Jeri’s help to get Hope an abortion pill.
Abortion, death, betrayal…this episode is a downer, but in the best possible way. “AKA You’re a Winner!” raises three interesting questions:
- Why does Kilgrave buy Jessica’s house? So far we’ve seen little of Jessica’s early past. Does Kilgrave want to live here purely for kicks, or does he have some other nefarious purpose? (I’m guessing the latter.) It’s interesting to note that in his dealings with the house’s owner, Kilgrave shows restraint for the first time all season. In truth, it makes him all the more terrifying.
- What’s up with Jeri? At the end of the episode, when Jeri is sitting with Hope while Hope takes the abortion pill, Jeri makes arrangements to take the fetal tissue once it’s been aborted. Why? Does Jeri hope to use it to find a way to stop Kilgrave? Is there another reason? Maybe Jeri isn’t as she seems.
- Where will Luke and Jessica go from here? The big reveal has been revealed; Luke now knows what really happened to his wife. How will he react? And what will Jessica do now that her secret is out in the open?
Only time will tell. In the meantime, I offer one final thought. I’m really enjoying Jeri as a character, and Carrie-Anne Moss is playing the hell out of her. I only recently learned that the gender of the character was switched from the comics to the TV series, and I support that decision. Having Moss play Hogarth makes the lawyer a much more interesting character than Hogarth would be if played by a man. Old powerful lawyers having affairs with their secretaries are a dime a dozen…if they’re male. But even though Adaptational Sexuality is a trope, I think it works here. Hogarth’s gender switch gives the character depth, giving audiences a much more complex character then we would have gotten otherwise. This is one trope I welcome.
