Regardless of what happens this season, it’s going to be bittersweet because this is likely the last season of Marvel Netflix that we’ll ever see.  The episode picks up with Jessica Jones after she’s had some time to process the tragic loss of her mother.  She’s still an active investigator and seems to be putting a lot of energy into her work.  She has an assistant now named Gillian and enough clients to require a waiting list.  However despite the time Jessica’s had to heal, her falling out with Trish and the loss of her mother still weigh heavy on her.

Meanwhile her relationship with Malcolm is still very tense which contributes to her sense of isolation.  Everyone she’s ever cared about has either died or left her.  Except for maybe Jeri Hogarth.  Their scenes were the highlights of the episode for me and their relationship continues to be one of the most complex.  Hogarth’s ALS has been getting worse and she’s now accepted her fate, but is still terrified about what will happen.  She’s never faced her own mortality and now she’s being forced to do so which makes her incredibly vulnerable which is something she despises.  And like Jessica, Hogarth is trying to face her problems alone.

But that may be why she asks Jessica to help end her suffering when the time comes since the two of them really only have each other.  So Jessica’s refusal to help Hogarth not only hurts because she needs someone to administer the drugs, but also because it’s painful for her to appear this weak.  Especially in front of Jessica. But even though they argue and have very different moral points of view, it seems like Hogarth has come to care about Jessica.  Even though she may be motivated for personal and selfish reasons, Hogarth willingly offered to help take down Jessica’s incriminating assault video.

There is a subtle affection that Hogarth has developed for Jessica in the past several years.  They both seem to recognize parts of themselves in the other which is where some of their animosity may come from.  Jessica constantly beats herself up for being selfish, which is a trait Hogarth blatantly exhibits.  And Hogarth recognizes that, at her core, Jessica is good person trying to do the right thing.  It’s a reminder that she’s only ever cared about herself.

We also pick up with Malcolm as he helps a client escape the consequences for his reckless driving.  Malcolm is conflicted because he needs to do this in order to pursue his desired career, but he doesn’t like helping people who don’t deserve it.  He also knows that his actions could unintentionally lead to innocent people getting hurt.  Malcolm is very much like Hogarth if she had a moral compass.  He’s very career driven, incredibly smart, and great at what he does.  So it’ll be very interesting to see where he goes this season and if he’ll make further compromises in pursuit of what he wants or if he’ll turn a new leaf and stop defending the guilty.  However, he may pick a third option which we see at the end of the episode when he crashes into his reckless client.  Malcolm still accomplished his assignment, but he also may have prevented his client from injuring anyone else.

And speaking of budding vigilante’s, since her operation last season Trish has been using her new abilities to track down criminals and bring them to justice.  Trish believes that she’s freeing Jessica of an unwanted burden since she’s going out there and “being a hero.”  Since the first season Trish has been in awe and a bit jealous of Jessica’s powers and now that she has these abilities it makes sense that she’s going out and using them.  At the moment it’s unclear what she’s capable of, but she jumped out the window of a very tall building so she’s clearly somewhat enhanced.

However, even though Trish views her actions as a way to free Jessica from the self-inflicted burden of being a hero, Jessica is still very upset with her.  And Jessica’s concerns are far from baseless.  We’ve seen last season that Trish’s judgement is far from perfect and she often acts on impulse, so Jessica has every right to be concerned.  It’ll be interesting to see how Trish’s new powers will effect their relationship in the coming episodes especially since I don’t see her sitting by after Jessica’s brutal attack at the end of the episode.

VERDICT

5 burgers out of 5.

A great reintroduction to these characters while also setting up where the rest of the season will go.  All the characters appear to have grown a bit since we last saw them, but are still struggling with what happened last season.  We’ve watched these characters change and develop over the past few years and it looks like that will continue.  Especially since several of the characters are already being faced with some very difficult choices.

ONE-SHOTS

  • A potential reference to the Avengers when Costa tells Jessica that she should leave the heroics to trained professionals who are committed to the rule of law and are subject to oversight.  However he could also be talking about the police.
  • Carrie-Ann Moss continues her incredible portrayal of Jeri Hogarth and manages to convey the characters internal struggle without saying a word.
  • Dorothy Walker has to be one of the most obnoxious characters in the MCU.  It’s amazing that anybody still puts up with her.
  • Looks like Hogarth is a bit familiar with abusing YouTube’s video-takedown system.