Not Binging Jessica Jones: Episode 9
Once the gloves come off, they stay off, at least in Jessica Jones’ world. Episode 9 “AKA Sin Bin” takes the intensity of the last few episodes and ramps it up a notch.
By the end of Episode 8, the tables had turned for Jessica and Kilgrave. Jessica managed to sedate Kilgrave and set him up in the hermetically sealed room Will set up a few episodes back. In the episode’s first twist, Jessica has electrified the floor and covered it in several inches of standing water, to knock out Kilgrave if he tries anything funny. Jessica is aiming for a confession, and she’ll stop at nothing from accomplishing her goal.
Yet there’s evidence that her goals aren’t shared by the group. Will and Trish want Killgrave dead, even if it means Hope will spend the rest of her life in jail. Jeri wants Wendy off her back, and her obsession is almost an exploitable weakness for Kilgrave. And while Jessica wants to get Hope out of jail, she needs a cop to witness Kilgrave’s powers and Detective Clemons isn’t too happy about getting mixed up with the case while he’s this close to retirement. The other people who aren’t too happy with Jessica’s plan are Kilgrave’s parents, who Jessica tracks down in an effort to break Kilgrave and force a confession. All they want to do is stay away from their son, but their redemption may cost them everything.
Episode 9 is probably one of the weaker episodes of the season, mainly because of the corner the writers need to paint their way out of. Kilgrave’s parents were first introduced in Episode 8, but the circumstances by which Jessica tracks them down is a large plot contrivance. And of course they’re going to die; their deaths are set up practically from the moment Jessica convinces them to go with her. I would have liked the search to have taken longer than a ten-minute search montage, but I also understand it would have taken away from the urgency of getting Hope out of jail. Still, their appearance and subsequent murder is one of the weakest plot points for the series.
This isn’t to say the episode is bad; there’s plenty of grey character development to make up for a lazy character introduction or two. Trish gets to show off her shoot first, ask questions later side, while Jeri has a truly interesting moment when she ponders letting Kilgrave out of his cell. Would she have opened the door? We’ll never know. And what’s this team Will is bent on joining? Will is fast becoming a more interesting character the more is backstory is revealed.
In the meantime, Kilgrave manages to escape, which was expected. But at the end of the episode, Jessica finds out she was able to defy his mind control. Looks like the tide is turning…
