Jessica may have overstepped in the last episode. Teasing a mass murderer isn’t always the best strategy. Not only did she provoke him by confirming his belief that she is cheating, but she also gave away her only trump card to get Salinger to land in the slammer. All this leads to a new confrontation in A.K.A. Camera Friendly where Salinger gives away that he will murder again. Now, Jessica and Trish need to act fast before he takes his next victim’s life. Sadly, they might be following a false lead that may end up in a much more personal tragedy than they first expected.

Let us start off with the clever use of social media in this episode. They may not have gotten the rights to any actual platforms but it was kind of fun to see Jessica trying to make it work. This was a great episode for Dorothy to shine. First, she helps them out with the self-deleting video and then even manages to organize an interview for Jessica. They have shown her darker side but also how much she has changed over time. This season has given her a lot more time to shine and help develop her as a character. It almost feels like she and Trish switched places in their roles throughout the show.

In the video, Salinger confirms that he will kill someone. In it, he shows off two men and a woman that is his mark to keep Jessica guessing. Most of the episode is her and Trish trying to track down whoever he may be targeting. At first, they go with his usual M.O. of it being a man but it turns out he is trying to kill someone that resembles Jessica. He even states that he will end it where it all began. Alongside Costa, they figure out that Salinger had a decoy at his home. I did kind of love how this guy was just desperate enough to enjoy  This riddle goes throughout the entire episode until he just shows up at home. We saw him getting ready to kill but Jessica was able to save the person in the video. We get a few seconds of relief that he may have been stopped but then reality hits us. Trish goes to visit her mother and finds her cut up. Jessica figured out she may have been in danger but she was too late.

This has been a rather strange season for Jeri. It seems like her own actions are starting to show repercussions. What used to work without an issue is slowly piling up. Her own ambitions got in the way of actually reaching her goals. It does offer some unique perspectives into her character and it makes sense given her sickness slowly breaking her apart. Yet, after her building a friendship with Jessica over the last two seasons, it is sad to see her start a war on superheroes. Perhaps they are pointing to her and Salinger feeling cheated out on that some are special while they have to face reality. Her anger mostly is toward the masked vigilante that stole from her which is pushing her over the edge even more. Malcolm was lucky that Zaya found the footage and altered it but it won’t last long.

Speaking of the masked vigilante, I did believe the episode would end on that emotional moment. It was a great place to let the horrors of that event sink in but the show wasn’t done with us yet. In a natural reaction, Trish loses herself and almost kills Salinger in a fit of rage. This might be a hint at what is heading our way further down the line but it was certainly brutal. Adding insult to injury, Salinger was probably hoping that it would turn out to be Jessica that would try to kill him. At that moment, it felt like he would have accepted his own death as long as he can get her behind bars. We still have a few episodes to go and we will see what will happen, as Salinger saw her face.

VERDICT

4 InstaYaps out of 5

This season has been quite a slow one but the twist in this one kickstarted the pace back up for the final arc. Salinger is a fantastic villain and it is really clever in the way they play on Jessica’s own ego. His actions seem to be escalating even more and we will see how far he is willing to go. This season isn’t as personal as the last two but that doesn’t mean the writers will find a way to make it. In a rather calm season, this was a heartbreaking highlight for the season that really pulls in a lot of elements from the past. We are entering the final third and it will be interesting to see what direction they may be taking in the upcoming episodes.

ONE-SHOTS

  • So, can we just call the Patsy references a running gag at this point? This season, they sadly have less impact outside of some cute moments with Trish.
  • As much as I am not the biggest fan of Trish this season, I do have to say that the ending really got to me. That twist really caught me off-guard and it made me feel for her, especially knowing that she was constantly being pushed down a dark path.