Not Binging Jessica Jones: Episode 11
For all the intensity Jessica Jones puts out, there are episodes that feature more stillness than most. Chances where the story gets the chance to breathe and we’re shown a little more about the characters than we knew before, through flashbacks. Episode 11 “AKA I’ve Got the Blues” is such an episode. With Kilgrave still out there and having no leads on where to find him, Jessica and Trish take to haunting the morgues, watching for the inevitable time when Kilgrave’s father will come in wearing a toe tag.
While they wait, we learn a little more about Jessica and Trish’s friendship, how they came to be the lifelong friends they are today. Teenage Jessica is just discovering her powers of super strength, while Trish’s mother is terrorizing her only daughter. While Trish and Jessica stat out as adversaries, Jessica’s intervention on Trish’s behalf is what seals their friendship.
Flash forward to the present and Trish has the chance to save Jessica…if only Jessica would let her. Hurt and overextended from her last fight with Kilgrave, Jessica spends the majority of the episode in pain and not 100%. This comes into play when Will comes looking for Kilgrave. It becomes Trish’s turn to save the day, by taking one of Will’s pills and gaining super strength, if only for a moment.While most of the episode is quiet, the fight between Trish and Will at the end is one for the ages. Not to mention Kilgrave’s last text, which leads Jessica to Luke’s bar before it’s blown up.
I’m glad the series hasn’t forgotten its civilians. Both Malcolm and Robyn get some screen time during the episode, and not only because they have to explain away Hope’s suicide to the cops. These two characters are polar opposites: optimistic Malcolm and paranoid, cynical Robyn. Both have had cruel lives—Malcom with his drug abuse and Robyn by losing her brother. The conversations between those two characters add a touch of humanity to the superhero story. Malcolm represents the person in all of us who wants to be the hero’s sidekick, while Robyn is standing on the sidelines begging us not to get involved. It’s a sentiment Jessica has repeated throughout the series; she believes the rest of us are only collateral damage. I’m gonna hope Malcolm’s worldview wins out the day; I’d like to believe he can do Jessica some good. If he doesn’t get killed first.
