written by Kiara Williams
Grief takes a toll on the human spirit, but good gravy, Trish.
SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT
We open with Dorothy’s body being transferred to the funeral home. I really liked that they never show the body itself, only people’s reactions to it. Trish’s reaction, the funeral director Gene’s reaction… We don’t have to see the body to know how horrific her sudden loss is. (Aside from the original discovering of the body, of course.) I really wish more media would take note of this.
Jessica’s apartment is being ripped apart by the police, who are searching for clues about Officer Nussbaumer’s death. One particularly annoying cop finds a folder with Nussbaumer’s name on it. Why Jessica would have this so blatantly out there is beyond me. Jess remarks that Nussbaumer was a cop who killed drug dealers unnecessarily, and Annoying Cop remarks that she wouldn’t be alive today if he hadn’t “stood his ground.” That phrase makes me instantly hate her. Kindly fuck off, white lady. The nice cop with her is able to get her out of there eventually after they couldn’t find any evidence of Jess murdering her fellow officer.
Next we find Jessica and Trish at the funeral home picking out a casket for their mother. Dorothy had already picked out everything she wanted for her funeral, because of course she did. Jess and Trish are informed of this through Gene, who they are pretty mean to for no fault of his own. Trish is pissed and grieving, sure, but Gene doesn’t know the full scope of why! Leave him alone. Later, Trish confronts the two cops from earlier, who have followed Jess to the funeral home. Jess breaks it up by taking Trish away, but not before Trish flips them the bird. Jess also informs Trish that she suspects Erik may have killed Nussbaumer.
I’m pretty proud of Kith for keeping her daily dose of Jeri to the bare minimum. She keeps her conversation strictly professional and then bounces. I respect it. Kith wasn’t initially for Jeri illegally grabbing info on Demetri Patseras’ tax evasion, but then he decided to threaten to jail Kith, which would leave her son Laurent alone. So Kith give Jeri free reign to do what she has to in order to end it all.
Jessica is going through some old items of hers from childhood when Erik shows up at her door. Jess called him over in order to question whether Erik is a cop killer or not. “I’m innocent. That’s my alibi!” Erik says, which is not an alibi, sir. You’re gonna have to do better than that. Erik leaves, clearly frustrated that Jess doesn’t believe him. But he doesn’t have an alibi, soooo…Jess continues to suspect him, obviously.
Jessica calls on Malcolm to try and find another suspect. “Nussbaumer was a prick,” she says, so there had to be somebody else who wanted to kill him, right? Malcolm is fully on Jess and Trish’s side now and it’s hella good to see.
Jess has complicated emotions when Jeri (who wasn’t supposed to be there, mind you) tells her that Dorothy left her the armchair that Jessica used to sit in as a kid. Dorothy had eventually moved it into Jess’ room, and Jess thought she was banishing her from the rest of the house. Was she? We don’t entirely know now, and neither does Jess, but I think we’re supposed to think that Dorothy gave that chair to her out of affection. Abusers aren’t incapable of love, and I suppose that’s the scariest thing about them.
Jess fires Jeri, but Jeri tries to make her case to continue helping Trish. She says that she’s cutting all her professional ties with Salinger, and that she regrets having helped him. Jess’ callout here is cold-blooded: “Dorothy had no idea that she was about to die, and even she wanted to do something good before she checked out. You know you’re dying. What are you doing?” “Trying to fix a mistake,” Jeri says. Even here, she can’t help but sound like the calculating strategist she always is. Change is hard, I suppose.
Thanks to Malcolm’s help, Jess gets photos of Nussbaumer’s corpse and discovers his badge is missing. Just as they realize they can look for the badge in order to see if Erik actually did kill him, Dorothy’s phone rings. One of Dorothy’s young mentees is on the other end, a ray of sunshine who’s ecstatic that she got an acting part, but Jess has to tell her that Dorothy’s gone. And this pure bean can only think to tell her that she’s sorry for Jess’ loss and I must protect this girl at all costs.
Zaya’s been increasingly frustrating for me throughout this season, and it all culminates here. Malcolm hadn’t told Zaya that he quit/was fired. (I still say Malcolm quit. He said it first.) Zaya is making it all about her because he quit “the firm. My firm.” She knows that you don’t have to work together to be together, right? “I didn’t call because I couldn’t tell you what you wanna hear,” Malcolm says. Well yeah, if Malcolm said anything that might not be pro-Jeri, she fought him about it every time. It was the most obnoxious thing. She’s spouted a lot of the same lines that Jeri did. It’s a level of hero worship she would never admit to, but is definitely there. “I just…need some time.” And with that, Malcolm and Zaya break up, and Zaya never has to find out about Berry! …Yay? Zaya also says that his current actions make him a cruel person. I’m gonna come back to that.
Jess drops by Erik’s place and they have a conversation about the complexities of loving your abuser. But really it’s a way to get Erik into bed so that Jessica can scope out his place while he’s sleeping. However, there’s no badge to be found. Erik is hiding files of other people he has dirt on, though, so Jess asks Malcolm to see if one of Erik’s marks is still alive. Malcolm leaves while Jess mentally prepares herself for the funeral.
Oh hey, Berry/Brianna’s back! She needs a place to stay while she gets her shit together, and she’s requesting to stay at Malcolm’s place. Berry calls Malcolm “good” where Zaya called him “cruel,” and Malcolm just needed some confirmation from someone that he was doing the right thing. Plus, well, Malcolm’s single now. Kind of odd to have sex before a funeral, though. You do you, Malcolm.
So hey, a bodega owner tells the detectives that they saw Jessica and Nussbaumer go at it the day he died, and now there’s a warrant for her arrest. Just before running from the funeral, Jess notices that Trish has a weird bruise on her arm for some reason. That’s interesting. While Jess is avoiding the cops and stalking Trish, the cops catch Jess and arrest her. Later that night, Erik is at a construction site when he hears thudding from inside one of the trailers. He goes in to see Trish beating the shit out of one of Erik’s marks. Trish only looks back at him with cold fury.
She’s completely gone, y’all.
Jessica Jones Seasons 1-3 are available now on Netflix. Kiara can be reached on Twitter @DJPrincessK.