That’s all, folks. With this solid episode, we bid farewell to our favorite drunk detective, Jessica Jones, and to all of the amazing side characters she gathered throughout her three season run. This finale wasn’t as agitated as other Netflix MCU finales have been, but it was a worthy send-off nonetheless.

This season, the script has worked hard to convince the audience and the protagonist herself that Jessica Jones is, in fact, a superhero. As such, she feels the burden of what Trish has become fall upon her shoulders. It is her own sister wreaking havoc on criminals around New York, killing one bad guy after the other and showing no signs of regret. Trish is convinced that she is doing the right thing, and this dynamic of a protagonist trying to stop someone who acts as judge, jury and executioner is very similar to that of Matt Murdock and Frank Castle in the second season of Daredevil.

Speaking of parallels with other shows, Luke Cage shows up out of the blue just to show his support for Jessica and his belief on her. It was great to see Mike Colter as the character once more, especially with the same style of clothes and behavior we last saw him at the end of his second season. Luke tells Jessica about his family troubles and how it felt to put his own brother in The Raft, exactly what Jessica was going to have to do. It was another nice reminder that, even at the very end, these shows remain connected and establishing parallels between its main characters.

Still on the topic of characters that show up in multiple Defenders series, Jeri Hogarth has some of the heaviest scenes of the episode, and of the season as a whole. She comes clean with Kith, who clearly appreciates her efforts but knows Hogarth is a messed up, selfish person and that they could never be happy together after what she did. The scene that follows, with Kith telling Jeri that she is going to die alone and Jeri replying that Kith is the last mistake she’ll ever make, is the kind of stuff that could easily serve as the backstory for a villain. As this is the last we’ll see of Hogarth, it’s quite a cruel ending to a cruel character.

Erik has a bittersweet ending, with Jessica saying that she doesn’t trust him and him taking it as something he should work on. Their relationship is natural, both apparently accept each other’s flaws and it seems like the best fit for Jessica down the line. On the other hand, a couple that doesn’t work at all is that of Malcom and Brianna. It’s obviously not gonna last, but it has already ruined his relationship with the woman that he loved. Malcom deserved better.

Back to the main topic of the season, Jessica and Trish finally go toe to toe and it was surprising to see that Trish was willing to kill even her own sister if she stood on her path. During their fight, we were reminded that Jessica Jones is not only a great detective, she is also one hell of a badass. She takes a knife to the hand like it was nothing and beats Hellcat without much difficulty, thus sealing her sister’s fate and losing yet another loved one in the process. Trish eventually realizes what she has become, in a heartbreaking scene with Costa, and later on when she apparently smiles at Jessica. We probably won’t get to see anymore of these characters, but it would be interesting to see what would become of her. Even if she regrets what she did, her powers are still there.

Jessica has now lost her family twice, first the biological and now the adoptive one, and her closest friends are not that close anymore. She is alone and has lost a lot of the people and things that mattered to her the most. Setting up Erik with Costa was a sign that she believes in his redemption, and the same goes for Malcom, who will now be in charge of Alias Investigations. It’s the perfect moment to give up, skip town and start over, and she is about to do that when we hear David Tennant‘s incredible voice once more.

Giving up and letting others deal with the problems that are sure to come is exactly what she would have done in the years she spent trying to recover from Kilgrave’s abuses. But not anymore. Jessica Jones has grown, the traumas she went through made her stronger, and his voice on her mind reminds her that she is more than what Kilgrave made of her. She doesn’t have to run away, she can deal with it. She will keep on living. Jessica Jones is a badass.

VERDICT

5 wasted tickets to El Paso out of 5

The series finale ends things in a very satisfying way, without any cliffhangers  but also leaving some room for more, if we’re ever so lucky. It ties all the loose ends together, not only from the third season but from the show as a whole, and the last few scenes showed just how much development have we seen on the people of this series. What a true shame that we most likely will never see these great characters again. Jessica Jones will always be Krysten Ritter in our minds.

ONE-SHOTS

  • It was so, so good to see Luke Cage again. With a beard and everything! And what a good actor is Mike Colter, who manages to make the character feel different and changed with only a couple of minutes of screentime. Season two suggests as much, but since we won’t get to see his future, it was nice to see that Luke himself thinks he could end up getting his hands dirty. If anything, we can at least imagine where would a third season of his show go.
  • Trish seemingly realizes her mistakes, but if her murdering path were to continue, she would make a fantastic duo with Frank Castle. Punisher and Hellcat, together and leaving a trail of bodies wherever they go.
  • Now that it’s all over, it’s impossible not to feel bad for the Netflix corner of the MCU. It had its problems, but every show had their appeal and its roster of great characters. It seems very unlikely, but one couldn’t help but dream of a Hulu or Disney+ revival some day.