written by Kiara Williams
There’s no saving her, is there?
SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT
We start off in the police station where Jessica is held. Jessica is alone and fuming over the potential damage that Trish is doing on the outside. Just as Jess is about to just leave, a detective shows up and tells Jess that she’s free to go. Another body was found and the masked vigilante was spotted in the area, so Jess has her alibi. When Jess gets back to Alias, Erik is there in her bathtub, being pitiful and doing the “it’s all my fault” whining that sounds like my ex, and now I wanna fight him. Jessica’s pretty pissed at him too, for obvious reasons. Also, according to Erik, Trish can suppress her darkness so that Erik can’t feel it? Is she a Saiyan?
Jessica knows that Trish’s next target is Salinger, so Jess shows up to the hospital to rescue him right as Trish shows up. To save Trish’s life, Jess has to save Salinger’s. Trish chases them throughout the hospital, eventually winding up on the rooftop. Trish compares Jess’ killing of Kilgrave to what Trish is trying to do with Salinger. However, these two villains aren’t the same at all. Kilgrave was a mediocre white man with possibly the worst power a mediocre white man could ever get, and he could just brainwash a prison guard in order to escape. However, Salinger is just…a mediocre white man. He’s pretty capable of just going to jail, which is all we want here, right? Well, except for Trish. Jess is unable to stop Trish with words, but since Trish can’t jump as far as Jess, Jess just yeets her onto another roof so she and Salinger can get away.
Jeri walks into her office to find Jessica and Salinger there. Jess asks Jeri to keep Salinger in one of her safe houses or something, just take him off her hands, anything. Hogarth says that her firm doesn’t provide protection, and Salinger doesn’t want her help anyway, so he walks home. Jess just can’t get rid of the bastard yet.
Erik swings by Malcolm’s place, and through a few misunderstandings, he finds out that Brianna is back in town. Brianna’s actually quite charming. I like her. Anyway, Erik comes to Malcolm with a plan from Jessica to capture Trish.
Jessica and the mediocre white man (which could be the best or worst book ever) are back at his apartment, with Trish watching them from the rooftop across the street. Jessica distracts Trish by roughing up Salinger a little where she can see it. She also smashes his worm farm with a camera inside, and she destroys the camera, too. While Trish is watching the not-fight, Malcolm sneaks up behind her and tases her. Trish wakes up in her apartment chained to a support beam. She and Malcolm have a talk about all the things they have to make up for. “Do you ever miss the person you used to be?” Malcolm asks. Trish doesn’t answer.
After Erik and Jess have a talk in the bar, Jess goes back to Alias Investigations and starts in on some work, until she passes out from her bourbon having been spiked. The last thing she sees is Salinger walking in as he says “It must be maddening to be this predictable.” Jess wakes up to find herself duct-taped to a chair with lights in her face. Mediocre White Man does his mediocre white manning all over the place, while snapping pics of Jessica trying to get at her “truth.” I almost throw my laptop out the window when Salinger says “I live in truth.” It’s just such a Mediocre White Man thing to say. Of course he thinks that his truth is the only truth. My eyes roll so far out of my head that Tiger Woods is practicing golf with them.
After bringing up Dorothy Walker, Salinger starts to lose it and admits that he killed Dorothy to “punish” Jess. He finds out too late that Jess has a camera in the apartment, and that Jess was faking being paralyzed. She and Erik take Salinger down, and they leave him in Jessica’s office for Detective Costa to find. (Also Costa has his adopted daughter now, and that’s cute!) “This is over. It isn’t satisfying. It doesn’t take away the pain. It doesn’t affect either of us, except that he’s done,” Jess tells Trish before breaking her literal chains. So justice is complete and everything’s fine now!
…Everything’s fine now, right?
Because Salinger can’t leave well enough alone, he calls Jessica from prison to mess with her. Salinger is being transferred to the courthouse via underground tunnels when he hears loud booming. Trish bursts in and knocks out every guard before dragging Salinger into the elevator. Meanwhile, Jeri is waiting in the courthouse above for her client. Salinger, forever the smug bastard even the middle of a beatdown, pisses off Trish just enough to get her to stomp his head in. Jess is entering the courthouse when she hears a scream. Jessica and Jeri’s eyes meet as she reaches the hallway, and I feel like Jess already knew what she’d find when she got to the elevator. Salinger lies dead on the elevator floor, as pitiful as he’s ever been, and Jessica looks on, the truth sinking in with a bitter cruelty:
Trish has to be stopped.
Jessica Jones Seasons 1-3 are available now on Netflix. Kiara can be reached on Twitter @DJPrincessK.