“AKA Crush Syndrome” opens on Jessica being interrogated by the cops in the wake of Hope’s parents’ deaths. The scene has the kind of framing I love in this show, where we observe Jessica at an odd angle — through a window, behind a door, in a mirror. We’re watching Jessica, of course; but more importantly, the way this show’s shot doesn’t let you forget that Jessica is constantly being watched. The camera literalizes the feeling Jessica (and, to a lesser extent, ladies in public spaces) has of being perpetually on display for an unseen audience. It’s a neat trick that HOLY GOD IS THAT LESTER FROM THE WIRE?
Wow, I did not notice this my first time through. On a rewatch, I noticed as soon as he looked at Jessica over his glasses said “I love antiques,” because — well, see above. That was a very Lester Freamon thing to say.
Sadly, Jessica doesn’t know he’s Lester Freamon from The Wire, so she gets out of there as fast as she can. She goes home to gaze sadly into the mirror and take mercy on a cockroach she finds in her bathroom. She will later have to kill this cockroach when it crawls back up out of her sink. It’s not the subtlest of metaphors, but then, I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining about subtlety considering that Jessica’s next move is to head to the jail to visit Kilgrave’s latest victim, Hope.1
From Hope, we learn a little about Jessica’s time with Kilgrave, and Jessica discovers that Kilgrave blames Jessica for leaving him behind, injured, in the aftermath of the bus crash that she believed had killed him. And when Hope says, “You should have stayed to make sure,” it’s hard, as the viewer, not to think, YES JESSICA, YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED TO MAKE SURE. But the show never lets you forget about the trauma Jessica herself experienced with Kilgrave; and beyond that, it’s a recurring character note for Jessica that she’s not quite as careful as she should be.
(Have I said that I love how the show makes Jessica smart but not perfect? I LOVE THAT.)
Jessica goes by Jeri’s office to ask her to represent Hope, and Jeri agrees that she’ll do it, if Jessica can convince her that Hope was the victim of mind control.2 Off goes Jessica on her quest to discover how Kilgrave survived, what he’s up to now, and how she can defeat him. This quest features my most favorite moment of the episode:
And my least: Jessica tracks down ambulance driver Jack, who was coerced into donating both his kidneys to Kilgrave following the accident. He’s on a dialysis machine full-time and has recently had a stroke, but he manages to write “KILL ME” on a piece of paper to Jessica. Show. Show. Can we not proceed on the assumption that being on a dialysis machine while recovering from a stroke is an a priori reason for someone to want to die? Yeesh.
Anyway, Jessica tracks down the doctor who did the kidney surgery, makes him tell Jeri about what happened (independent corroboration of Kilgrave’s powers!),3 and discovers that Kilgrave insisted on remaining conscious for the entire surgery, rather than accepting a general anesthetic. “That’s it,” Jessica whispers. “That’s his weakness.”
You know what your weakness is, show? It’s insisting on explaining everything to us like we are idiots. HAVE SOME FAITH IN US PLEASE.
Over in the B plot, my former enemy Trish is convincing me to love her. Granted, she sends a strange man to Jessica’s apartment with power tools, but she does it out of love, to replace the broken glass in Jess’s door. The excellent thing we get to see is that Trish is a good complement to Jessica: perhaps not as quick on her feet, but she makes Jessica think her problems all the way through.
It’s going to grow into a lovely relationship, and we see the beginnings of that here. Please note that when Trish shows up with bruises and a bloody nose, my whole binge-watching team diagnosed leukemia. NOPE. Trish is taking lessons in krav maga with a personal trainer, because Trish is a damn baller.
“I’m life-threatening, Trish. Steer clear of me.”
“I don’t do that.”
I heart you, Trish Walker.
Elsewhere, we meet Jessica’s neighbors, the twins4 and discover — when Jessica tries to rescue Luke Cage from being beaten up at his own bar by a cuckolded husband — that Luke Cage, too, has superpowers. He is super duper strong, fights people without breaking shit, and not even power tools can harm his perfect, perfect skin.
(My binge-watching team was shocked when the show cut to credits after the above. We were all like, “Wait, what? He’s unbreakable and she’s not going to hit that right now?” But, uh, stand by.)
Drinking game rules: Drink if the show overexplains something you had managed to grasp on your own. Drink once if Pam’s wearing a wrap dress. Twice if her wrap dress makes you say “Boobs! Boobs!”
Jessica breaks things: Two locks on hospital lockers. The chain on the twins’ apartment door (good). The guy Trish hired to fix her door. A subway car window as she’s having a particularly vivid flashback. A table and a lamp at Luke’s bar. A bunch of glasses at Luke’s bar. The payphone at Luke’s bar.
New Yorkers complain about New York stuff:
“There’s no Walmarts in New York!”
“He means she got the gun at Walmart in Nebraska and BROUGHT it to New York.”
“I don’t think DiBlasio would care for this.”
and:
“That apartment’s way too big.”
“Bro, don’t be a poop, they have to have a big enough space to film in.”
“It’s way too big, she couldn’t afford that place.”
“It’s also her workplace! She gets most of the rent as a tax write-off, I bet.”
- Yes. ↩
- In this scene, Jeri also learns that her wife has discovered her affair with Pam, but I’m ignoring that because I feel like Carrie-Anne Moss deserves better material than this. And also, Jeri, good Lord, you can’t conduct your affair with any discretion? Really? REALLY? ↩
- They’re in a basement, but Jessica somehow still gets perfect cell phone reception. I’m going to assume that she also has a superpower relating to maintaining cell service underground. ↩
- Ugh. ↩