I can’t believe that this episode ends with everyone getting what they deserved. Trish realizes that she can have a decent work life balance by joining Jessica at Alias Investigation. Malcolm quits his soul crushing job, marries his girlfriend, and goes to work with Alias Investigation. Sallinger gets convicted 7 counts of murder and spends the rest of his life earning degrees from a federal prison cell. Jeri realizes that she had been kinda mean to everyone, decides to take on some pro-bono work to help resolve land-lord tenant disputes, and discovers that helping people makes her happy too. Erik and Jessica fall in love, have the world’s most snarky kids, and live the rest of their days out in the county. Erik tells Jessica everyday that she’s actually a good person and Erik doesn’t have any more headaches.

Yeah, except that none of that is going to happen.

The episode starts off with Jessica handing off the investigation to police, which is what would happen in real life. However, this is the MCU (maybe) and that means unless you’re in episode 12 or 13 of the season the police or legal system is probably going to screw things up.

Speaking of screwing things up, Malcolm is looking for Barry the Hooker when suddenly Sallinger calls Jessica to taunt her? I get that Sallinger is smart and that he knows how smart he is, but if the goal is really to hurt Jessica then why would he draw all this attention to himself? Why not just get your photo and be done with it? I am worried that less was more with Sallinger. It seems every time he opens his mouth he starts to sound more and more whiney. To me, his whole motive seems very weak. We learn that Sallinger was the unwanted 2nd child in his family, and that his daddy didn’t love him. Then we get some speech about how powered people are cheaters, and that they didn’t earn what they have. If this guy was going after the uber wealthy then this might have made his character make more relatable, like how Dexter was able to make us conflicted.

Meanwhile, Sallinger figures out that Erik’s powers work more like metal detector. And when Sallinger is close enough to hug, Erik does his best Eleven from Stranger Things impression, except it’s on steroids. And, we still have not learnt how Erik got his powers, only that he wouldn’t want to go to jail because that could possibly kill him

Malcolm finds Pimp. Punches Pimp. Keeps punching Pimp. Sigh. Oh no he’s angry and frustrated. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Barry the Hooker decides to come back to Malcolm’s apartment after learning that a serial killer has her brother. She and Malcolm engage in sex, while Malcolm ignores an incoming call from his girlfriend. Okay, two things. First, gross. Second, does Barry not know that serial killers have a reputation for using prostitutes as first victims? I’m still not totally clear if Barry the Hooker is going to serve a larger role in the season.

Jeri is also dealing with the fallout from the video revealed prior. Like I said last week, It’s nice to see a Jeri that is herself, this is such an improvement from last season. Speaking of which, A ghost from Jeri’s past comes back to haunt her. Her former partner, who Jeri outed as being gay last season, comes to tell Jeri that he is taking the Rand contract. Even Danny Rand got named checked, who is apparently on some sort of journey. The Rand contract is 2/3 of Jeri’s firm’s income. This could have been a moment of clarity for Jeri, but that just not the way her character written. It is exciting to see where the writers will take Jeri, especially with her ALS at the door.

Next, Trish continues to see the most character development. After missing work, Dorthey confronts Trish at Jessica’s apartment. Jessica outs Trish’s powers to her Mother. At first, she doesn’t believe Jessica, but after seeing the evidence to the contrary, she beings to realize what is happening. Trish confronts Dorothy about how now she can be the hero that Trish needed when her mother abused her. Trish is really growing into her role, as both a hero in her own right and also the backup that Jessica desperately needs.

The final scene was essentially a character saying, “Oh yeah we still have a pissed off, super smart, serial killer who is going to be set loose.”

VERDICT

3 out of 5

The episode started really strong and seemed like it wanted to wrap itself up like Jessica and Erik and go to bed. The tension with Erik and Sallinger was undercut by watching Jeri and Malcolm do their own things. While still much better paced than the earlier episodes in the season, this one has started to unravel the threat that Sallinger fronted early on. Again, unless the series is saving up their budget for something larger, I don’t know why we didn’t get a chance to see Trish and Jessica do something superpowered when they went to rescue Erik.

ONE-SHOTS

  • Erik’s attempt to call out his location over the phone to Jessica was a great touch. Erik continues to be one of the most interesting parts of this show.

  • Jessica throws Trish out the window. No one else saw that, right? Nobody in the middle of Manhattan saw that?

  • Danny Rand is name checked. Goes to show that the show is at least aware that another Netflix show exists. Sorry, existed.