Jessica Jones 2.06: “AKA Facetime”
We begin right where we left off, with visitors running out of the aquarium at full speed. Jessica chases after Dr. Karl, but she’s too slow and now her phone is too wet to recover the pictures she took. Never fear, though, for a bag of rice should do the trick. Hours later, she spots a ring on Dr. Karl’s finger and begins her investigation again.
Thinking about how there’s someone for everyone, she goes to see Oscar and they share drinks and stories about their days. The actors have a nice quiet chemistry that fits the mood of the season, and soon they’re exchanging heated kisses instead of words as they paint his canvas purple with their bodies. Oscar works on a Jessica piece while she sleeps, which unnerves her and sends her running back to her office where Malcolm has figured out that Dr. Karl went to the very same university he dropped out of.
High and apparently angry, Trish wanders the streets and subways looking for a fight until she kicks someone out of the train for groping a passenger. When Jessica sees her the next morning, she makes the valid point that Griffin left no space for Trish in the relationship. Then they go into a jeweler’s, where Trish exposes her instability by pulling out a gun to threaten him into answering. Eventually the owner does show them his security footage, where he see that Dr. Karl has some kind of control over his superpowered lady and even drugged her to get her in the car. The parallels with Jessica pile up and the tension for the audience mounts.
Malcolm arrives at his alma mater and immediately runs into an old girlfriend. It’s nice to see a little bit of his life outside of Jessica, and his reconciliation with Niche is both painful and sweet. It’s painful partially because it was an excuse to swipe her ID, but the words spoken feel very real. He returns to Jessica with information on Karl Malus and comforts Trish about her breakup. She responds very positively, much to Jessica’s chagrin.
While all of this is going on, Jeri is stuck babysitting Inez and buying her $100 ‘distressed’ shirt in exchange for information on IGH. The company was supposedly working on a technique to speed up the healing process, but instead they created a monster. Inez overhears Jeri wanting her gone and decides to make off with her jewels and medicines before leaving, until she notices that Jeri is suffering from ALS. She confronts Jeri about the pills and actually tries to reach out, confessing that there was a young boy at IGH who could heal people. Considering what we learn at the end of this episode, might that boy be someone else Jessica knows?
Together, Jess and Trish head to a private club that happens to be for men only to get information on Karl. Trish distracts them with her tirade while Jessica sneaks in to find the man paying for Karl’s expenses. His name is Mr. Ambrose, and Karl saved his son with experimental treatments that were years away from being approved. Trish takes her show a bit too far, feeling truly sick and reaching for another hit, in a tragic display that feels a far cry from her demeanor in the first season. Jessica tries to be a good sister and puts her to bed, but Trish wants to be alone so that she can search for more. Jessica Jones is dedicated to exploring how each character deals with the fallouts of their demons, and Trish has plenty of those even if there was a more straightforward way to attack them.
Malcolm brings her the inhaler and tries to open up about his ex, but Trish needs to take another hit first. After she’s done, she’s ready for some sex. And while it was telegraphed earlier in the episode, it seems a little out of the blue here. At the very least Malcolm should have questioned her intentions a little more before agreeing. Meanwhile, Jessica comes home to find Oscar’s finished artwork of her. It’s beautiful, but she’s still not ready to face herself.
When Karl hears that Jessica is on her way to finding him, he cryptically tells his mystery lady that “it’s time.” And by the time Jessica actually makes it there, thanks to a quick and dramatic Facetime conversation, the house is empty and open for her to explore. She makes her way down to a basement bedroom, noticing that the items inside it feel familiar. The pin drops when she sees a photo of herself and her little brother staring right at her, and she turns to find herself face to face with her own mother. It’s a beautifully understated reveal, though it is a long time coming in a season that feels much more slower-paced than anticipated.
Check back tomorrow for our reviews of Jessica Jones 2.07 – 2.09