written by Kiara Williams
Well, that cliffhanger was rude. Rude, I say!
SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT
But a lot happens before we get there. Detective Costa tells Jessica that the police want the masked vigilante in for questioning, but Jess sticks to her claim that she doesn’t know her. Jess runs down to the studio to talk to Trish about her photos online, and runs into her mother Dorothy because of course she’s there. Dorothy’s only remark is that Trish needs a better costume, something like a cat. (Ha ha ha.) Always the marketer, that one. Well, at least she’s still supportive even after Jess chucked Trish out of a window.
While at the studio, Jessica receives a video via Snapchat-but-totally-not-Snapchat from Salinger stalking three people in a restaurant. He says that a life will be lost at 7:00 p.m. because of her, and that her hero charade will end where it began. After Jess shows Trish, the video disappears, since it deletes itself after two watches. There goes their evidence. Trish slyly dumps her mother in front of the camera and then bails in order to go with Jess.
Jess calls Detective Costa in order to get the police’s help, but without the video from Salinger, there’s not much he can do, despite Jess’ insistence that Salinger will do something to someone very soon. Jess interrupted Costa and his husband’s meeting at an adoption agency. It looks like they’re adopting a little black girl, and I hope to god that at least one of them knows how to do her hair. Just sayin’, a lot of non-black adoptive parents don’t know their child’s hair and it’s tragic. Do your research if you’re gonna adopt black kids.
Anyway, Malcolm is back at work, and Jeri gives him the job of unmasking the woman who broke into her building. It also turns out that when Zaya saw the footage before, she edited out the parts where Malcolm was calmly talking to Trish, potentially risking her job to do so. Boy, it sure is gonna be great when she finds out about Berry, huh? Especially after all that she’s risked for Malcolm so far.
Costa, who tells Jessica time and time again that there are eyes on Salinger and that he hasn’t left his apartment, let alone stalked someone, still goes with Jess to said apartment to check on him. They find a stranger whom Salinger paid off to unwittingly pretend to be him so that he could sneak out. Jess and Costa toss him out, and Jess is left alone. She records a video for Salinger, trashing the degrees and trophies that he values so much. Salinger is so angry that he screams at his phone in public. He sends another video back in reply, and it helps Jess and Trish narrow down which of the three people Salinger was following in the last video. It was the one woman in the group, a dark-haired girl who tends to wear black…so pretty much exactly like Jess. But Jess and Trish have no idea how to find this mystery person, so they need a bit of extra help.
Dorothy swoops in and arranges an interview for Jessica in order to get the word out about Salinger’s plan, hoping it’ll save his target. Dorothy tries to doll Jess up with some lipstick, and Trish tells Jess to be herself but more friendly, and literally none of that happens. You’d think Dorothy would be mad, but she’s actually happy for Jess’ outbursts because it means that clips from the interview will play everywhere, spreading the word like wildfire. Huh, this is the first time Dorothy has shown a wholly positive reaction to Jessica being…well, Jessica. Jess’ outbursts end up causing every brunette in Hell’s Kitchen to pour into the police station out of fear. Oops.
Eventually, Jess and Trish stumble on an AgroChemicals truck. Jessica’s family died when they crashed into an AgroChemicals truck, and that’s where Jess’ hero story began. This has to be the place! They go in and hit up the security guard for info. I’m not sure if Trish slamming him against the desk was necessary, though. She just seems too eager to beat people up, and it’s worrying. Anyway, they find their mystery person – a girl named Mona Lee – and they stay until 7:00, during which nothing happens. Salinger just walks back home with coffee with the smuggest look on his face, and I wanna run into the TV and clothesline him. Jess comes out looking pretty bad at the end of all this, surrounded by paparazzi as she leaves the AgroChemicals building. Trish, while masked, comes down to save her and they bounce out of there, which is good. But their connection to one another has now been established in a very public setting, which is bad.
The press tries to get a comment from Salinger about Jessica via Jeri, and Jeri, who makes everything about her as always, says that she will come for Jess if she knows who the masked vigilante is. It seems the more desperate she is to clear her name, the harder she goes after Jess. Considering Jeri’s progressing illness and her need for control in her life, I feel like this won’t end well for her at all.
Malcolm visits Jessica back at Alias Investigations to tell her that he’s not going to unmask Trish, in spite of Jeri’s orders. Good! Meanwhile, Jess can’t get her mind off of Salinger’s threat, and the fact that he said her hero charade will end where it began. She realizes that it began not at AgroChemicals, but with the death of her family, so Salinger will make it end that way, too. Jess told Trish earlier to be careful, but it seems there was a family member she was forgetting…
Trish finds her mother dead, strapped to a chair by duct tape. As obnoxious as I’ve found both Trish and Dorothy at various points during this season, Trish’s reaction is so heartbreaking. You can see and feel how much she’s losing it at that moment. Trish is screaming over the phone to Jessica that Salinger killed her mother. Jess tells Trish to stay put until she gets there, but since when has Trish listened?
When Jessica passes Salinger’s apartment building, she hears glass break and finds the police who were watching Salinger unconscious. She runs up to find a masked Trish with a knife to Salinger’s throat. She looks up at Jess, but doesn’t show any hesitation as she starts to draw the knife up to kill Salinger. Jess starts to run forward…
Cut to black.
How dare you, show? How dare!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to watch Episode 3×09 right now.
Jessica Jones Seasons 1-3 are available now on Netflix. Kiara can be reached on Twitter @DJPrincessK.