Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 11

Picking up from last time, spoiler alert, Jessica chooses to save the support group, while Kilgrave escapes with his Dad, and Hope stabs herself in the Juglar. On her own accord. She makes Jessica swear she’ll kill Kilgrave before dying herself. Malcolm and Jessica are able to convince the Support Group and crazy Robyn to go with the lie that they were meeting Jessica and Hope to celebrate her release with drinks, when she for no apparent reason killed herself.

Jessica and Trish start searching New York for Kilgrave and his Dad. They start with the morgues, figuring Kilgrave wanted Revenge on dear old Dad, but come up empty. Jessica goes for about thirty-six hours without sleep before she has a hallucination about seeing Kilgrave. She gets hit by a truck. Her powers make it not all that bad, but it cracks a few ribs. Back with Trish, her show gets interrupted by an apologetic Simpson. While he sounds sincere in his apology, he’s still clearly tweaking out, so Trish is very cautious around him.

After bandaging Jessica’s wounds, with saranwrap, they get a led from a mortician they bribed about a weird death. Jessica gets in, and learns that it’s Clemens. Back at Trish’s apartment, she meets Simpson, who’d been waiting creepily outside for her. A group of Simpson’s old squad show up to try to apprehend him, but Simpson wastes them all after popping a few more pills. He then disables Trish, clears up the bodies, and tries to force a partnership with Jessica over the phone.

A best friend is someone that'll help you fight their super soldier
sort of ex-boyfriend. Or so comics would have me believe.

They meet at Jessica’s apartment. She’s real suspicious of Simpson, and tricks him into confessing to killing Clemens. A brawl ensues. I assume that even with his stimulants, Simpson wouldn’t have stood a chance against Jessica normally, but her busted ribs are slowing her down a lot. She’d have been finished if Trish didn’t rush in to save her. Trish takes some of Simpson’s super pills, too, and beats the snot out of him. Then the side effects kick in. Simpson had built up a tolerance for the pills, so he can go hours without crashing. Trish had never taken them before, so she’d need the blue “calming” pills to safely adjust her body chemistry back to normal. Her heart stops, but Jessica is able to keep her going long enough for some EMTs to arrive and save Trish’s life. Jessica breathes a sigh of relief, before getting a call from Kilgrave. He feels hurt and angry that Jessica had been seeing Luke Cage for a while, and tells her to say her goodbyes. She rushes to save him.

The “Flashback plot” for this episode is seeing Jessica adjust to life with Trish and her mother. Back in the day, Trish was kind of a B-word teen and her mother was worse. Jessica was forced to watch the hostility between mother and daughter, as Trish’s mom kept forcing Trish to keep doing things that would appeal to her public imagine, while Jessica’s super powers kicked in. Trish and Jessica, who didn’t get along at all, came up with something of a cold war pact. Trish wouldn’t say anything about Jessica’s new found Superpowers, and Jessica wouldn’t tell anyone about Trish’s mom’s physical abuse. Tensions come to a head when Jessica sees Trish’s mom try to force Trish to throw up after eating. Jessica scares the pants off of Trish’s mom, and she and Trish become actual friends.

Another solid episode. Jessica is now pretty much on the warpath, and is doing everything in her power to destroy Kilgrave once and for all. Her, Trish and Simpson’s fight is pretty well done. Sure, giving Jessica a rapidly healing injury to just seemingly put her and Simpson on equal footing is a little weak, but I’ll let them have this one. It was also interesting to see how Jessica and Trish’s friendship formed. They showed a little of how Trish and Jessica acted around each other just after the Jones’ accident, and they were pretty indifferent towards each other. Standing up for someone and getting them out of a toxic relationship is one of those experiences that seems to bond folks together for life. It’s a bit like knocking out a fully grown Mountain Troll. Harry Potter reference for the win. See you next post.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 10

Episode Ten picks up immediately after number nine. Kilgrave escapes the isolated little prison by forcing Jeri Hogarth to be his getaway driver. It’s also revealed Hogarth disabled the shock button, as part of a deal to get Kilgrave out. What does she get? Why Kilgrave promised to force Wendy to sign the divorce papers. All I can say is, “you short sighted egocentric numbskull.” I could use harsher words, but hey, my mother and my sister occasionally read these. Anyway, back in the bunker, Trish desperately tries to follow Kilgrave’s order to “Put a bullet in [her] head.” Jessica stops her by finding a loophole in the wording, and sticking a bullet into Trish’s mouth. Order followed, she free to move on. It’s significantly harder for Dr. Anderson, who was ordered by his dear son to cut out his own heart. They have to restrain him.

Jessica reveals to Trish, Dr. Anderson, and Clemens that she appears to be immune to Kilgrave’s power now. Anderson explains Kilgrave’s powers are the result of a virus he emits. The virus was designed to halt the neurological degeneration that Kilgrave would have suffered, but somehow mutated to give him power over others. Trish and Anderson take a sample of Jessica’s blood, in the hopes of creating a vaccine for Kilgrave’s powers. Jessica tries to find Kilgrave. And Clemens stays to hold the fort.

Hogarth took Kilgrave to Wendy, in part so her doctor ex could patch up the injure sociopath, and to make her sign the papers. Kilgrave also learns about his and Hope’s aborted child, and that Hogarth has the remains. He orders Wendy to kill Hogarth, “death by a thousand cuts.” Not sure if mind control was 100% necessary for Wendy to go off. Hogarth is saved by her Hoe, who bashes Wendy’s brain in.

For someone who can fly, or at least jump really far, she sure
runs a lot.

Around this time, Simpson is pretty much on the warpath. High on his performance enhancing drugs, he’s sworn to kill Kilgrave, and anyone else that gets in his way. Which includes Clemens, poor guy. Jessica enters her apartment, and is met by Kilgrave. He offers her a deal, his Dad for Hope. He’d already taken the liberty of forcing a Judge to dismiss the case against Hope, and she’ll be paroled the next day. They also discuss their…relationship. Kilgrave points out there was an 18 second window where Jessica was “free” but seemed to want to stay with him. He paints a rather lovely picture of this moment with his…well, slave. Jessica remembers it differently, admitting that she was going to jump off the roof and escape, but it took her too long to force the lingering effects of Kilgrave’s powers out. When she doesn’t immediately follow his next order, he tells her to cut her ears off, since she isn’t using them. He stops her before she slices them off, though. Jessica then shows the scar, proving her version of events, and then knocks out Kilgrave.

Back with Malcolm, who has had a real tough time keeping Psycho sis Robyn from learning her brother’s fate, confides in the support group. Robyn, who’d been stalking him, hears everything. Infuriated, she whips a few of the support group into a frenzy to get Jessica. They break into her apartment about 2.5 seconds after Malcolm arrived to warn Jessica, and Robyn, like a total moron, frees the bound and gagged Kilgrave.

Simpson tracks down Trish and Anderson, and assaults them both. He wanted to hurt Anderson, for making Kilgrave, but didn't want to hurt Trish. She got in the way to protect the ailing Doctor. He still seems to genuinely care for Trish, though, as he apologizes for flipping out, and listens to her when she kicks his butt to the curb. He also didn’t notice that Trish nabbed some of his pills.

The next day, Jessica is horrified to learn that Hope had been collected by Kilgrave. The deal still remains, so she collects Anderson and the untested Vaccine. They go to Kilgrave’s favorite restaurant, as per instruction by a mind controlled currier. Kilgrave has Hope by his side, and the Support Group with nooses around their necks. It’s not a great situation, but since we’re trying to avoid episode ending spoilers I’ll get to that next time.

Overall, very good episode. Action and pacing are great, and as I’m one of those more technical minded guys, it was also great to hear the explanation of Kilgrave’s powers in this universe. And it was kind of interesting to see how far and fast Simpson fell after getting on his super soldier pills. The kind of a jerk but still overall good man becomes a remorseless murderer in less than twenty-four hours. Impressive. That being said, there are a few issues with the episode. I still think that it’s stupid that Hogarth was that selfish/stupid to let Kilgrave out, but given what I’ve seen of the character I’m not that shocked. I’m just glad that her arc is basically over. Couple that with Kilgrave escaping, again, because psycho sister did something rash and stupid felt way too easy. Like they couldn’t think of a better way for him to escape, now that we know Jessica is immune to his powers, so they Deus Ex-ed him free. Granted, they did set this up a bit with how crazy Robyn is, but it still feels cheap. So yeah, good, not great, best way to sum up the episode.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 9

After taking down Kilgrave in the previous episode, Jessica was able to get him into the hermetically sealed room, now outfitted with ankle deep water and an electric shock button, and seems to be taking at least a little enjoyment out of having Kilgrave at her mercy. She continually shocks him when he gets lippy, and tries hard to force him to admit to his crimes. He doesn’t and plays up his weakness to the camera. Even when Jessica enters the room and beats him senseless, he still plays the weakling. Taking a different tactic, Jessica and Trish look through the old video footage on the flashdrive. They plan on finding Kilgrave's parents, and forcing them to help prove their son's guilt. After hearing Kilgrave’s father use the oddly specific term of “Sin Bin,” she learns that Kilgrave’s parents used to work at a University in Britain, and that their names are Albert and Louise Thompson.

In a world where Aliens invaded New York, and an evil Android
dropped a city onto the Earth, it's weird that people
are so reluctant to believe Mind Control exists.

After a little more sleuthing, she realizes that Kilgrave’s mother is actually a scarred woman that attends the Kilgrave Anonymous meetings. After tracking them to their apartment, Jessica learn that there was actually a legitimate reason why they experimented on their son. Kevin Anderson, as he used to be known, was born with a neurological degenerative disease. He’d have died if his parent’s experiments hadn’t given him his powers. Contrary to what Kilgrave said earlier, his parents followed Kevin’s commands for years, until one of his tantrums caused his mother to horribly burn her face.

Jessica, Hogarth, Trish, police lieutenant Clemens, and the Dr.’s Anderson gather to try to get Kilgrave to confess. His parents go in, and try to get him to confess. It doesn’t work, so his mother tries to stab him with scissors. 180 on the parenting techniques. Kilgrave has enough, and orders his mom to stab herself once for every year he was left alone. They try to shock him, but the device seems to have shortened out. Trish tries to kill him with a gun, but just helps him escape the room. Chaos ensues, but, there is a silver lining. Which I’ll spoil, next time.

Side plot, Simpson is taken to the hospital. He’s the only one of his crew to survive the blast. He’s seen by a private practice Doctor named Coslov, and claims he “wants back in.” He’s given some super solider drugs that are designed to help his recovery. The doctor explains he needs to take two red pills to “amp him up,” two yellow to keep him going, and two blues to drop him back down. Almost immediately after being left alone with the pills, he pops another two red pills. Not the best idea to leave someone alone with the super drugs, just saying. Also, more cat fighting between Jeri and her ex-wife. It’s weird, the show keeps trying to make me believe that Jeri and her hoe are the injured party in this deal, and not Jeri’s abused and neglected wife of over ten years. Talk about a losing battle.

It is interesting to see how they’ve altered Kilgrave’s powers to fit the show. In the comics, he controls pheromones which make people more suggestable to his commands. It was also the result of a lab accident. For this show, it was 100% on purpose and the result of some sort of neurological treatment. Sounds more science-y, doesn’t it? We get to see a lot more of Jessica’s dark side as she gets to punish Kilgrave for what he did to her and to Hope Schlottmen. She uses a lot of folks in this episode; Kilgrave’s parents, the Support group, and heck, she even manipulates Hope a little bit. Hope was set to take a plea bargain, but drops it when Jessica insists that she’s got this fixed. Jessica’s obsession is getting pretty dangerous. This episode also got fans to speculate that William Simpson is Jessica Jones interpretation of Frank Simpson aka Nuke. In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Frank Simpson was the Vietnam era Captain America. The Government was able to make a passable Super Soldier, but the drugs plus Vietnam PTSD drove Frank nuts. From what I know about the character, I wouldn’t be shocked if in season 2 of Jessica Jones Simpson came back with a flag tattooed on his face and going by Nuke. 

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 8

What, two posts in one day? How strange. I had some extra time before my day job, so I decided to do one more write up. Enjoy.

It was heavily implied last episode, but this one flat out states that Kilgrave has been using his ill-gotten gains and mind control powers to recreate Jessica’s childhood home down to the last detail. Ladies, would you find this romantic, or really, really, really creepy? I’m hearing Creepy winning by a landslide. The recreation is so perfect that it causes Jessica to have a flashback to when her family left on the trip that killed them. Once she returns to the present, mentally, we learn that Kilgrave has decided he wants the “real” Jessica, and has sworn to not use his powers on her. Jessica uses this new personal rule to continually tell Kilgrave to screw off, while still going along with it. During a rather awkward dinner, Jessica makes a show of freaking out and smashing a bottle, to learn, for sure, that Kilgrave does have failsafe’s in place. The help is programmed to slit their throat’s if anything happens to Kilgrave. Subtle.

I really like this promo poster. Shows all the important bits
Jessica, Kilgrave, the street signs, and of course the booze.

Will Simpson, who’d been staking out the place, breaks in, plants a bomb, and tries to “rescue” Jessica before it goes off. Jessica kicks his butt, steals his cell phone, and then hides him, before telling Kilgrave about the bomb. While Jessica tries to make the best out of her situation, she learns a bit about Kilgrave. He shows her the files on the flashdrive from earlier include videos of the experiments that gave him his powers. His parents were in charge of the procedure. Mom and Pop of the year, am I right? Jessica takes Kilgrave to a crime in progress, and forces him to use his powers to save a family being held hostage by the drunk and crazy dad. Another flashback, shows that Jessica and her bro fought over a Gameboy, which lead to an argument, which distracted Pa Jones long enough that he didn’t see a truck stop suddenly until it was too late.

In the present, Jessica leaves Kilgrave, promising to return and goes to see Trish. After getting some clarity from her best friend, she returns bearing Chinese Takeout. Kilgrave is suspicious at first, but Jessica eats from his plate, showing him his isn’t drugged. Turns out, she drugged the help’s food, and then injects Kilgrave with a syringe of anesthetic before he can do anything about it. Jessica escapes, with a little help from Simpson and a crew of Army buddies. Jessica super-leaps away, not seeing Simpson and his crew being nearly blown away by the bomb Simpson planted earlier. Kilgrave re-purposed it.

So Jessica has survivor’s guilt. I mean, I think that was kind of clear before now, but they finally address it. A few years back, I was in a similar accident with my older sister. She’d been driving, roads were slick from days of rain, and the traffic suddenly stopped. We hit the tailgate of the truck, a bit of windshield plastic broke off and sliced my forehead. My sister had nightmares for several weeks following the incident, and I was perfectly fine aside from the scar on my head. I hate to imagine what would have happened to her if I’d died. She might have ended up like Jessica, hating herself and blaming herself for what happened. Even though it wasn’t her fault. The death of her family had a major impact on Jessica, both on her outlook on life, and in the whole “giving her superpowers” thing. But I’ll get more into that later. Kilgrave’s past, being the test subject of some unknown experiment is interesting. He states that his parents ran off after he got his mind control powers, which may have led to his more sociopathic tendencies. Not an excuse, but interesting bit of character info. We also learn a bit more about Simpson, how he was obviously ex-military, and very good at it, as he outmaneuvered trained bodyguards on two separate occasions. Part of me wishes some of the past stuff could have been hinted at a bit more in earlier episodes, as they shine a major late on Jessica and Kilgrave as characters, but the placement still works. A solid episode.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 7

Episode Seven starts off really creepily, as Kilgrave explores Jessica’s office. He’s interrupted in his privacy violating by Jessica’s creepy neighbor. That’s a subplot I’ve been avoiding, Jessica has a pair of creepy twin neighbors named Reuben and Robyn. They’re like a slightly less gross McPoyle twins from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Reuben came to give Jessica banana bread, and tells Kilgrave that he does it because he loves her. Kilgrave looks annoyed by this. Where is Jessica when all this is going down? Getting sloshed at the local watering holes. She’s taking Luke Cage’s chastisement poorly. She tracks down Jeri Hogarth’s wife, Wendy, and nearly gets her killed by train while trying to force Wendy to sign Jeri’s divorce papers. After screwing that up, she returns to her apartment to find Reuben with his throat slit in her bed. She tells Malcolm, who’d followed her into her apartment, that this is the final straw. Her last ditch plan is to get herself locked into Super-Max Prison, a highly secure facility. The plan being that she could trap Kilgrave inside once he tries to get to her.

Jessica forces Hogarth to represent her in her upcoming arrest/trial, and spends the next eight hours getting her house in order. She threatens Trish’s abusive talent agent mother, telling her to keep her distance even after Jessica gets locked up. She talks to Luke’s bartender, tells him to tell Cage that she’s sorry for everything and that she’s going to pay for it. Finally, she climbs to the top of a bridge and takes in New York one last time before returning to her apartment. Unfortunately for her plan, Malcolm and Trish removed the body to keep her from going to jail. Malcolm disposes of the body by throwing it into a river. Jessica dives in after it, and recovers Reuben’s head. Gross.

Jessica, I know a much better lawyer that lives in your district.
He dresses in red, knows when folks are lying,
and will even help you beating Kilgrave up.
Nelson and Murdock, ask for Matt.

Jessica tries really, really hard to get into Super-Max. She admits to Riva’s murder, and shows off her strength to the cop, Clemens. Clemens looks like he might arrest her, but then another cop comes in and says Jessica’s release has been ordered. Once outside in the main precinct, we see every cop have their gun trained on someone else. Kilgrave walks in, disposes of the evidence, and claims to be in love with Jessica. Creepy as heck.

Episode ends with Jessica returning to her house, which Kilgrave has spent the episode furnishing. Side plots include Reuben’s sister Robyn looking for her “missing” brother, and Jeri’s wife Wendy starts going for the jugular during their divorce proceedings.

I remember one reviewer making the claim that Jessica Jones is at its weakest when it focuses on the side characters. I would say this isn’t the case with Trish or Malcolm, but defiantly so when it’s the twins or Jeri. I get what they’re trying to do with Reuben and Robyn, one is socially awkward and creepy, and the other is socially awkward and a colossal B-word. They’re messed up like Jessica, so we should see some parallels between them and the super-powered PI. But I just find them freaking creepy. Reuben is played up a lot following his death, but all I could remember is that he was so freaking creepy that I’m glad we won’t be seeing much of him anymore. Robyn’s story about looking for Reuben was pathetic, just so pathetic. And I felt nothing for her. Which is a little messed up, but when a character I don’t like is made to suffer, I just can’t bring myself back to care. Which brings us back to Jeri Hogarth. Jeri’s subplot about her divorce is stupid and painful. Why? Because the show keeps trying to play Jeri and her secretary up as the tragic lovers, being forced to not be together because of Jeri’s clingy ex. The thing is… they’re the terrible people that were perfectly alright screwing around behind Jeri’s wife’s back. Nothing that they could do or say would make their story interesting or sympathetic. When we hear Jeri’s wife is demanding 75% of the marital assets or she’s reveal some of Jeri’s underhanded tactics to win cases, I was like “Yeah, Wendy, show the cheating wench what she deserves.” But that’s just me. In short, not a terrible episode, but the subplots take it down from great to just good. 

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 6

Episode 6 begins with Malcolm musing about Kilgrave and his power over folks. He feels that part of the reason that he kept going back to Kilgrave wasn’t just for the drugs, but because it was so easy to let go and have someone else do the thinking for him. We also see a bit of Kilgrave at a poker game, where he uses his powers to win several million dollars without playing a card. Back with Jessica and Malcolm, their talk interrupted by the return of Luke Cage.  Cage wants to hire Jessica to help him find someone, Antwan Greer. Greer’s sister got Cage to help her, on the condition that she hand over information on his wife’s death. He wants Jessica’s help, as she’s a skilled PI, and has super strength. Always a bonus. Jessica is reluctant to help, given her history with Cage, but agrees. Malcolm grills Cage about Kilgrave, to see if perhaps Cage has been taken over. Cage hasn’t, but his interest in Kilgrave has been piqued, and he wants to learn more, to help Jessica if he can.

In a flashback, we learn that on the night Jessica escaped Kilgrave, he’d ensnared Riva and forced Jessica to dig up something Riva had hidden beneath a building. After he has the prize, a flashdrive, he orders Jessica to “Take care,” of Riva. Jessica takes her out, and causes the bus crash.

Her codenames include Jewel, Knightress,
and Power Woman. I can see why she just
goes by Jessica.

Back in the present, after doing some investigating and chasing, they find Antwan. The moron had taken the money his sister had lent him to pay off his loan shark and invested it in a pot farm. They’re attacked by Antwan’s Loan Shark, and his goons. Jessica decides to ditch Cage with the thugs and try to get the info on Riva first. Unfortunately for her, Luke Cage handles thugs as effectively as a jackhammer handles concrete. He arrived mere minutes behind, and learns the all-important info, that the driver of the bus was drunk, and was never charged for the crash. Cage goes to get payback, but is stopped by Jessica before he finished the job. She revealed her hand in Riva’s death, and age walks off in utter disgust.

Two side plots this time. We learn that Hope paid for her beating, as she hoped to give herself a miscarriage. Yeah, Kilgrave is a bastard. Jessica and Jeri Hogarth get her some pills to take care of her problem, but Jeri also has the fetus transferred to a medical testing site. Just when I thought I couldn’t detest this woman more.

At the same time, we see Kilgrave attempt to buy a house. Interestingly, he tries his best to do it without using his powers to get it. He fused the money he won in the poker game, and while the owner is at first reluctant, he agrees. As the episode ends, we learn that it was the house Jessica grew up in. Weird…

As some plots end, new ones begin. I’m glad that they didn’t drag out the whole Jessica keeping her hand in Riva’s death a secret until the end of the season. Both Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter are excellent throughout. I especially liked Colter portrayal of the mixed bag of emotions he’d felt throughout the episode, from bitter fury to utter contempt, he is excellent. While Kilgrave is still a very minor character, it’s good to see his overall involvement going up. The whole “not using his powers” thing is an interesting subplot, which will feed into later episodes. I find it especially creepy that Kilgrave has bought Jessica’s house, and was intrigued to see where the heck they are going with this plot. I hate Jeri Hogarth, and every moment of screen time she has. This has only increased since the first episode. But, aside from that, excellent show. Episode Seven to follow. 

http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Jessica_Jones

Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 5

Episode 5 takes place around two time periods, the present, and eighteen months ago. The episode is presented in layers, flipping back and forth between the two time periods. I, on the other hand, will just present both plots. It’s a little easier on the noodle.

A year and a half before the show began, Jessica Jones’ life was fairly simple. She’d just quit an office job she hated, and manipulated her embezzling boss to give her six week’s severance pay. Trish insisted that Jessica use her much more open schedule to become a superhero. She even made a costume for Jessica, straight from the comics, and came up with her codename, also from the comics, Jewel. Jessica is less than thrilled with both. Despite this, she still goes out to fight crime, and saves a young man from being mugged. She shows off her strength, just as Kilgrave walks by. He assumes control of her instantly, having taken a liking to her pretty face and immense strength, and so begins her year of hell.

Who pays attention to a guy that's as high as a kite?

In the present day plot, Jessica is greatly disturbed to find out that that young man she saved a year and a half ago is Malcolm, the drug addict next door. Doing a little sleuthing, she discovers that until six months ago he’d been a college student at NYU and was working on becoming a Social Worker. At that six-month marker, he met Kilgrave, who got him addicted to drugs. She also surmises that the reason why Kilgrave got him addicted. That people are much more dismissive of drug addicts than normal folks, and admits that she’s as guilty of this as any one. Jessica swears that she’ll help Malcolm out, after she gets Kilgrave. The woman has priorities. Jessica, Trish, and their new buddy Simpson set up a plan to get Kilgrave into a hermetically sealed room. The soundproof room is a perfect prison for Kilgrave, as his powers only effect those that hear him directly. The team gets Kilgrave as he and Malcolm meet, and nearly get him to the chamber, but are stopped just short of their goal. Kilgrave had paid a security firm to tail him, just in case his powers got knocked out. Jessica forces Malcolm to quit drugs cold turkey. She handcuffs him next to the toilet and gives him a tough love speech. In order to protect Malcolm from Kilgrave, she agrees to send the sick British prick pictures of herself, every day at 10 am.

Oh, and Hope Shlottmen gets beaten in prison. Minor thing now, but will be important later.

This episode is good at doing two things. One, showing us just what Jessica’s life was like before, and how she got stuck being Kilgrave’s plaything. Two, it shows us Jessica’s ‘real’ self. Though out the episode, Jessica comes across as pretty callous and cruel, given her willingness for Malcolm to prolong his suffering so long as she can follow Malcolm to Kilgrave. While Jessica has never come across as a “nice” person, this is one of the first times I recall that she let someone deliberately come to harm for her own benefit. But, after it’s clear that Malcolm’s life is really threatened, instead of just being crappy, she offers a bit of herself up to Kilgrave as a prize. Which highlights that, while Jessica may let others hurt themselves, she wouldn’t allow someone to die for her revenge. Not the best stance to have, but saves her from just seeming like a cold hearted B-word. I’ll be taking a break for Thanksgiving, but be back again on Friday.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 4

Last time, Jessica Jones realized that Kilgrave had developed a pretty serious obsession with her. His latest safe-house was filled with photos of Jessica in a bizarre shrine to her. She has to split her time trying to figure out who’s following her, finding Kilgrave again, and doing her day job. The latest case being following a woman’s husband to figure out if he’s cheating. To figure out who’s spying on her, she gets the cop from last time (his name is Will Simpson but I swear they don’t say it for several more episodes,) to get her surveillance footage from police cameras around the city. It’s very illegal, but Simpson is hell bent on making up for nearly killing Trish. She also visits Jeri Hogarth and interviews a whole bunch of folks that claim to have been controlled by Kilgrave. Some of them come up with the most insane stories, but a few of them seem legit. After solving the cheating hubby case, not going to ruin that one for you, she gets info from one of the other Kilgrave victims, and learns the shocking identity of who was following her. I won’t ruin it in this one, but it’s a major plot point for the rest of the series, so I’ll be revealing it next time.

Love the look of the opener. It's great.

The big side story of this one involves Sgt. Simpson attempting to make amends to Trish for the whole… strangling thing. After a few failed attempts, they bond through Trish’s reinforced door, and Simpson give her a gun for protection. Oh, and lawyer Jeri Hogarth demands that Jessica get dirt on her soon to be ex-wife to use. I want to state right now, that this is the only subplot of this series that I absolutely hate. But I’ll get into that as it continues to develop.

Another solid episode. It was here that I started to get a sense for how paranoid being on the bad side of someone like Kilgrave can be. Jessica has to be wary of everyone from her best friend to random children around New York. Having to be so paranoid all the time must be… stressful. Heck, the first quarter of the episode was dedicated to Jessica following her new client, just to be certain that she hadn’t been controlled by Kilgrave. That’s just bad for business. We also get to see just how wide spread Kilgrave’s effect has been on New York. His victims range from a woman who was forced to play her violin until and after her fingers bled, another woman that was forced to smile for him for every waking moment, a man that served as his chauffer for a week and was forced to abandon his son on the sidewalk, and a dude who had his coat stolen. Okay, that last one was kind of…lame, but everyone else’s story is solid. One thing that is touched upon, but not really developed since, is that Jessica can somehow “sense” other Kilgrave victims. She has Coat Guy stand up and she “feels” Kilgrave’s on the guy. It’s pretty weird. If I have one nitpick, its that we're now a third of the way through the show, and we've seen very little of our main antagonist. Daredevil was very similar to this, but, again, the whole "Kingpin in shadows" thing was meant to build his mystique. Kilgrave is that kind of character that enjoys attention, so they idea of him dodging around so much just seems odd. But, again, this is only a nitpick. Overall, good episode. Next time, episode 5.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 3

So when we last left Jessica Jones, she discovered that former one-night stand partner and man she stalked for a while Luke Cage has impenetrable skin. They celebrate by turning their one-night stand into a marathon event. Yeah, it gets a little weird seeing the two of them “enjoying” their “compatibility.” Needless to say, do not watch this show if there’s a risk of a child watching silently over your shoulder. They tell each other, and the audience, how they got their powers. JJ was in an accident, LC in a medical experiment. We also find out that Jessica was “researching” Cage, as she had some inkling that he also possessed superpowers. And then they get back to enjoying their compatibility. The mood is somewhat killed when Jessica sees the photo of Luke Cage’s dead wife, and is reminded that she died in the same bus crash that supposedly killed Kilgrave. After that, Jessica begins researching Kilgrave’s movements, and tries various means to get her hands on the anesthesia she needs to put him under. It doesn’t go so great.

Fun Fact, I watch the opening credits every time.
The sequence is that well done.

Jessica learns that Trish has gone to great lengths to turn her apartment into a small fortress and her body into a blonde WMD. We get more vague backstory that suggests that Trish was abused as a child, too. Trish agrees to interview Hope Schlottmen to get folks to stop p@$$ing on her. The interview goes poorly, as Hope’s lawyer throws her under a bus and denounces her as nuts. Which, given that Jeri Hogarth has been shown to be a colossal B-Word up to this point, I can’t say I’m shocked. Trish, being a really good person, defends Hope, even when Kilgrave himself calls in. Trish verbally slaps the SOB, before Jessica could stop her. This turns out to be a stupid idea.

Kilgrave sends a mind-controlled cop to kill Trish, but Jessica intervenes. She even gets close to getting Kilgrave, but is thwarted by his mind controlled slave. She also saves the cop, whom is almost instantly remorseful about his mind-controlled actions. Jessica basically tells him to get over it, and reexamines Kilgrave’s most recent nest, and discovers that she’ll need to add Obsessive to the list of words that describe him. Jessica also decides to “break up” with Luke, for fear of his safety. I’d point out the flaw in logic in being concerned for the safety of a man with unbreakable skin, but hey, the woman is trying to protect the man. Points for going against the mold, if nothing else.  

I wonder if he's going to die, or be dyed purple by the end
of season 1...

This episode keeps the tension up, what with Kilgrave now actively trying to screw with Jessica and her friends. But, this also reveals a small nitpick with the Jessica Jones series. Daredevil had several lesser baddies for Murdock to battle through to get to Kingpin. This helped build drama, as well as show case how much pull Wilson Fisk must have to have his sausage like fingers in so many pies. In contrast, Jessica’s personal villain is significantly weaker. We just have the one amoral psychopath. His only interest is in himself, and his creature comforts. Basically all the minions he has are mind controlled slaves, which kind of means they won’t be hyping their boss up. And, with Fisk you do get the idea that he believes his actions are morally justified. He destroys to create, sort of things. But, again, Kilgrave is only interested in Kilgrave. Heck, his obsession with Jessica really seems to stem from how the loss of her has impacted his daily life. Dick. Still, a good episode, and I’m happy to see more.

One last thing, if you’ve been watching Jessica Jones and wondering why I’m skipping certain plot points, it’s for streamlining sake. I personally don’t care about Jeri Hogarth’s piggish treatment of her wife and their failing marriage. I’d rather not point it out for each post. And, as to a few other points, I don’t want to give everything away. The point of these posts is to get folks to want to watch the show, not give them enough info to impress the cute nerd you know. Don’t give me that, we all know at least one cute nerd. That’s all folks, see you next time.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 2

Okay, so for the second Viewer Log of Jessica Jones things start going a little crazy. Where the first episode seemed to be focused on establishing character, motivation, and even subplots, with the main plot being sprinkled in towards the end, episode two seemed hell bent on making up for lost time. I’ll do my best not to spoil this bit, but at the end of the last episode, Hope Shlottmen is forced by Kilgrave’s command to perform an awful crime. Jessica is interviewed by the cops, and then has to quickly apologize to Luke Cage. The cops thought he might be involved when they found a bunch of pics of him in a certain PI’s apartment. Color Jessica embarrassed.

I wonder why they dropped AKA from the title?

Jessica starts looking into Kilgrave’s miraculous recovery, despite her and Trish’s confidence in his death a year prior. Kilgrave had apparently been killed in a bus crash, the thing ran him over, so I can understand Jessica believing her tormentor was dead. Upon looking into it, Jessica learns that an EMT that had been dispatched to the crash site went AWAL. He had both of his kidney’s taken and suffered a severe stroke in the week he was missing. Jessica then tracks down the doctor that performed the surgery. Said Doctor Kuratta…Kooratta… Kur-rot-a, no idea how to spell it, was forced by Kilgrave to do the highly unethical surgery of removing two kidneys from an unwilling patient. Kilgrave went through the procedure without anesthetic, which leads Jessica to believe that Kilgrave’s powers are disrupted if he’s put under.

I feel really sorry for whoever crosses these two.

A major side plot is Luke learning one of his regular…dates isn’t as single as she appeared. Jessica told him that the husband of said date hired her to follow the date. Luke tells cheating wife, wife talks to her husband, learns husband had no idea she was stepping out, and then essentially tells Jessica “Screw you for messing with my fun.” She also mentions her husband and his rugby team are going to pay Luke’s bar a visit. Jessica rushes to Luke’s aid, but really, he didn’t need it. Seriously, Mike Colter does a perfect job during said fight, making him look more annoyed than anything as angry husband and his team rush him. For those who didn’t know before this scene, Luke has impenetrable skin, and super strength. So yeah, drunken angry rugby players would only annoy him. Luke later confirms his imperviousness at the end of the episode to Jessica, after breaking into her apartment. We also learn that Trish is going through some pretty intensive martial arts training. Everybody wants to kick a little ass.

We also see a bit of Kilgrave, as he walks into a family’s apartment, takes over, and has children lock themselves in a closet. Dick.

This episode is the first full episode to focus on the season one plot, Jessica getting Kilgrave. It was hinted at in points of the previous episode, but now she knows he’s out there and she’s hunting him. Jessica is still delightful in her witty sarcasm, and also her obvious self-destructive behavior. She’s hurting, and doing her best to live with it. We see a more caring side to her too, as Jessica becomes hell bent on getting Kilgrave, not just for her own benefit, but more of Hope, who’ll remain in prison unless they can prove there’s a man who can take away free will.

We also learn a good deal about how Kilgrave operates, just from the trail Jessica followed and that quick scene at the end. Jessica is dealing with a remorseless, egocentric sociopath that has zero problem with uprooting other people’s lives for himself. A little less awesome than Wilson Fist planning to take over the criminal underworld, but still entertaining in a “I hate you so much,” kind of way. So yeah, a good continuation. Next time, part 3.

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Viewer Log: Jessica Jones ep 1

After the tragic events in Paris last week, I felt doing Deadshot’s Villain Profile would be in poor taste. So he’s going to be shelved for a few weeks, until things die down a bit. The question, then, was what to do next? Imagine my shock when I learned that Jessica Jones premiered last night. I honestly thought I had until the 25^th do to the Jessica Jones Theme Week. How silly of me. Since I can’t do a buildup hype week, I decided to try something a little different, and try doing a V-Log, in a sense. By V-Log, I mean a Viewer Log, an episode-by-episode summary of the series, and my thoughts on it. Why am I not doing an actual, Video Log? Because I don’t really have the video editing equipment for it, and I find I’m better on the page than in person. If this goes well, I may do others but we’ll see.  

Simple but effective.

I’ve never done a V-Log style post before, so please bear with me as I figure out the formula. First, a short episode summary. We open with Jessica Jones beginning a PI. She follows folks taking incriminating pictures of their illicit acts, delivers subpoenas, gets paid, gets stiffed, and narrates her own life. You know, usual PI stuff. We see her working on three cases in the first episode, delivering a subpoena on behalf of a law firm, taking pictures of a man we later learn is Luke Cage, and then is hired by the Shlottmens who are looking for their daughter, Hope. Subpoena case ends with Jessica lifting the back of the guy’s car off its wheels and threatening him with her non-existent laser eyes. The Cage case is still open, but Jessica makes some headway and “gets to know” the guy she’s kind of stalking. Bow chika wow wow. The Shlottmen case is significantly more complex, as Jessica learns that her former abuser Kilgrave is involved. She gets Hope out of the same room in the same hotel that she used to stay in with Kilgrave, he’s a creature of habit, but things only get more complicated from there.

Jessica Jones is an interesting look at the life of superhumans in the Marvel Universe. We see Jessica, not in a spandex costume fighting equally oddly clad villains, but someone trying very hard to avoid that life and even using her powers. Largely. There’s a pretty good bit where she uses her Super Strength and her heel to get her upstairs neighbors to shut up. Jessica, portrayed by Krysten Ritter, is a sort of sarcastic, pretends-to-hate-everyone sort of character. One of the better character moments is when she’s continually forced to help out her neighbor, Malcom, who is usually so high that it’s amazing he’s can find his way back to the right floor of their apartment complex. She is also clearly suffering from a form of PTSD, and is self-medicating with a LOT of booze.  Which leads us into the villain of the season, Kilgrave.

She's really, really, really paranoid.

Kilgrave, portrayed by David Tennant, makes only a few small appearances in this first episode, in flashbacks as Jessica rebuilds Hope’s last few weeks, and in Jessica’s PTSD flashbacks. In the comics, Kilgrave is also known as the Purple Man. His skin was permanently dyed when he was in the accident that gave him his mind-control powers. Tennant is not purple in the show, but whenever Jessica remembers him using his powers on her, or in a room clearly associated with Kilgrave, the cinematographer uses a lot of purples and blues in the lighting. And while Kilgrave only appears sparingly, you do get a sense of what a sick twisted SOB he is. One flashback has Jessica remembering Kilgrave licking her face, gross, and when we’re introduced to Hope Shlottmen, she’s lying on her bed in the hotel staring at the clock because Kilgrave told her not to move until he returned. It’s a simple, but dark moment.

The ensemble cast is also really good. Mike Colter is excellent as Luke Cage. The character is only briefly shown, but Colter and Ritter have a great chemistry. Colter’s Cage is a bit more reserved than the character I know from other Marvel franchises, but it doesn’t really detract from the character. We also spend a bit of time with Jessica’s oldest and only friend, Patricia “Trish” Walker portrayed by Rachel Taylor. Trish is a radio talk show host. We really only see her long enough to know that she’s pretty well off, knows Jessica had a very terrible experience with Kilgrave, and knows Jessica well enough to loan her a lot of money without asking questions. While only shown briefly in this first episode, the two clearly have a semi-sisterly bond that works really well.

Overall, this episode was an excellent start to Jessica Jones. I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the first Daredevil episode, but good enough that I want to watch the second episode and see where the story’s going. Like Daredevil, this show looks like it’s going to be very gritty and semi-realistic. You know, as realistic as a world with the Hulk, Iron-Man and Captain America can be. Jessica is clearly a character that is picking up the pieces of her life and trying to figure out what the heck she wants. It should make for an interesting series. 

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Anti-Hero Profile: Lobo

A staple of comic book anti-heroes is the bounty hunter. Someone that will occasionally work with a hero, and at times against, depending on who’s paying them. The archetype is usually destructive, violent, and yet still sympathetic at times. One of the characters that best exemplifies these traits, and more, is the Main Man, Lobo. He’s a Bounty Hunter that will destroy anything and everything to ensure that he gets his bounty. He’ll then break more stuff, as he really, really, really loves breaking things. Let’s get to it.

Space biker, here for all your criminals.

Lobo is a Czarnian. His home planet, Czarnia, was a peaceful utopia that rivaled Krypton in terms of its scientific achievements. They’d long ago wiped out crime, poverty, and disease. This actually proves to be their downfall, as the higher ups of Czarnia had no idea what to do with Lobo. Picture the most violent, drunken brawler that you’ve ever seen, multiply him/her by 20, and make him an albino, and then you’ve got something on par with Lobo. Or to show it another way, his name in Czarnian translates to “He who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it.” What’s with comic parents giving such prophetic names? Lobo hated his home planet, feeling that most Czarnians are a bunch of boring prudes. In an attempt to liven things up, Lobo releases a plague of flying scorpion-like monsters, which wipes out his entire species. He’s basically the exact polar opposite of Superman. One is the Last Son, and is incredibly depressed by the fact, and the other is the Last Son, and will tell you all about it with a huge grin on his face.

After committing genocide, The Main Man somehow gets off planet and starts a career as an intergalactic bounty hunter. Much like Marvel’s Punisher, Lobo has a very strict but warped code of honor. He claims that “The Main Man’s word is his bond,” which is true, but be careful when whatever deal he makes ends, because all bets are off. For example, one of his bounties was to capture the one other Czarnian that escaped his flying scorpion-apocalypse, his fourth grade teacher Miss Tribb for a Brainiac. Despite his intense desire to reclaim his title as the “Last Son of Czarnia,” Lobo keeps Tribb safe, delivering her to Brainiac. Upon doing so, he nabs her, and snaps her neck. Lobo really likes being one of a kind. He’s developed a habit of coming to Earth on occasion to harass guys like Superman and Deathstroke, two bounties that continue to elude him. He also frequents an Earth diner, called Al’s Diner. He hits on one of the waitresses, Darlene, and has a very bad habit of completely wrecking the place whenever he stops by. He makes it up to them though, when he ends up destroying the entire city, but leaving Al’s untouched. The construction workers only had one place to fill their belly’s while rebuilding, thus making Al pretty wealthy. He later gave Lobo an Al’s Diner to completely demolish for his Birthday. Lobo has a soft spot for a species of spacefaring dolphins that live near his home planet. These dolphins were one of the few bounties that he didn’t end up murdering the bounty, safely delivering them to their new home, the Green Lantern Planet Mogo.

Lobo has crossed paths with a number DC’s bigwigs. He’s brawled with Superman on occasion, and fought Batman. He has a very intense bro-mance with Green Lantern Guy Gardner, as the two have a share appetite for destruction. At one point, one of Lobo’s beloved dolphins is killed by Japanese fishermen. He at first fights with Aquaman, believing him to be the dolphin-killer. He’s somewhat annoyed to discover that Aquaman is, in fact, a friend to and was raised by Dolphins. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt…er continue to hurt a fellow dolphin lover. He had no mercy for the fishermen though. Basically, when Lobo shows up, things get wrecked.

There's a grin that I don't think anyone will ever trust.

Lobo’s abilities vary from story to story. At times he’s physically on par with Superman in terms of strength and durability, and other times he’s only slightly stronger than a human. He is, across the all comics, able to survive in deep space, and survive without food and water for extended periods of time. He can regenerate at an incredible rate. He has enhanced sense that help him track and hunt down his bounties. He has a number of weapons, ranging from a crowbar, to a hook-and-chain, grenades, and high-powered alien laser weapons. His preferred method of travel is what equates to a space-flying Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Lobo is also pretty darn smart, when it comes to wrecking stuff, having engineered the flying scorpions that wiped out his race, and regularly creates complex poisons and antidotes for said poisons to help him capture his bounties.  

Also, he’s basically immortal. He was killed during a hunt, and sent to Hell. He was too intense for the Demons to handle, so he was bumped up to Heaven. He caused so much havoc beyond the Pearly Gates that he was booted back to the Mortal plane, being banned from both major after-lives. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

Lobo has appeared a couple of times outside the Comics. He’s usually depicted as a rocking alien bounty hunter with strength on-par with Superman. Most interpretations tone down some of his more intense destructive impulses. For example, he’s still the last son of and destroyer of Czarnia, but they leave out how exactly he did it. Thus making a little less intense than talking about the flying scorpions, or bio-engineered plague as some stories tell it, but still way darker than Superman’s origins.

He'll take on Kryptonians, Amazonians, Atlantians, and Batman.
On, and a couple of GL's too.  

Lobo appeared in Superman: The Animated Series. Fun fact, his voice actor is Brad Garrett, aka Robert Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. In “The Main Man,” he’s hired by an alien zoologist named the Preserver to capture the Last Son of Krypton. The Preserver is obsessed with capturing rare and endangered species and keeping them in his creepy alien zoo. Lobo agrees, as the Preserver promises a hefty bounty, plus another fugitive that Lobo had been tracking. Lobo is able to overpower Superman, mostly by using Superman’s love of humans against him, and brings him in. After the bounty is complete, The Preserver then says he’s set his sights on the last Czarnian. Lobo, who is a bit of an idiot, proudly proclaims, “Ha, that’s rich. I’m the last Czarnian. Nuked the rest of the planet for my High School science project. Gave myself an A.” He’s then promptly knocked out with Gas and stuck in his own holding cell. He and Superman are forced to team up. The Preservers cells sap Superman of his superpowers by keeping him under a red sun emitter, and by keeping Lobo surrounded by attractive robots that shoot knockout gas if he gets too rowdy. They are able to break out of the Preserver’s pen, and then beating the Preserver. Which is a little harder than they initially thought, as the Preserver morphs into an alien Behemoth. As part of their agreement, Lobo agrees to leave Earth alone after they escape. He’s got a small cameo at the end of “Warrior Queen.” Maxima, queen of the planet Almerac, tries to force Superman to marry her. This doesn’t work out, and a usurper named De’Cine tries to take over. Superman and Maxima defeat De’Cine, and Superman returns home. 2.5 seconds later Lobo breaks in, loudly proclaims he’s come to capture De’Cine, and Maxima happily proclaims “Meow!” It’s probably why we don’t see Lobo again for a while. Maxima is a persistent woman, and Lobo’s easily distracted.

He knows how to use that hook, and
not afraid to use it.

We see Lobo again in Justice League. In the episode “Hereafter” Superman is believed dead, but blasted into the far future. Lobo flies in and demands that he be given Superman’s spot on the Justice League, as he’s the only one tough enough to take Sups spot. The League is forced to accept, as they need all the hands they can get. Most of Metropolis’s most wanted were celebrating Superman’s demise. Lobo is effective, but causes a heck of a lot of damage. When Superman returns, he quickly fires Lobo, claiming that Lobo isn’t Justice League material. Lobo leaves in an angry huff, claiming that they’d better not ask for his help next time they need it. Martian Manhunter points out “We didn’t ask you this time,” but Lobo ignores him.

He appears in the second season opener of Young Justice. In it, he attacks the United Nations building, and attempts to capture Secretary-General Tseng. He’s hindered but not stopped by two new Young Justice Team Members, Batgirl and Wonder Girl. Lobo claims that the contract specifies he needs “to put on a show for the locals.” I imagine that his contract holder hadn’t worked with him before, the trick would be to get Lobo to no draw attention to himself. He literally rips Tseng to shreds, but its revealed that the Secretary-General had been replaced by an alien imposter. Lobo then flies off, with the alien hanging from the back of his bike.

 Lobo is a personal favorite of mine in the Anti-Hero category. He’s loud, destructive, violent, and just loves the chaos he causes. Best example of the whole “if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.” And despite his love of breaking stuff, he does abide by his code of honor. Most of the time. He’s also one of the most visually distinctive characters. How many other black clad, white skinned, red eyed, mullet having, biker style alien bounty hunters can you name? I thought so. He’s the havoc loving, explosion causing, stuff breaking, bounty hunter, the lunatic Lobo. Next time, a bounty hunter a little closer to home, Deadshot.

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