S01.E05: AKA The Sandwich Saved Me

[Cranberry]

Despite Jessica's objections, Trish's new friend Simpson gets involved in the hunt for Kilgrave. Jessica recalls a pivotal moment in her life.

[Conan Troutman]

Obviously that plan couldn't work out smoothly, or the season would be over, but I liked how it got foiled by such a mundane thing as hired bodyguards. And Kilgrave doesn't seem to fall in the usual arrogant-villain-trap. Well done.

 

Loved the interrogation scene.

 

"Okay, this is just a day job, so please let me tell you every little bit I know."

"Who cares, it's going to be useless anyway."

"Shut up you two, let me at least carve him up a little."

[tanita]

that ending scene on the phone was amazing. you can see the struggle right there - when he says "tell me, let me hear you voice". the dynamic they chose for the two of them works wonders so far.

[numbnut]

Obviously that plan couldn't work out smoothly, or the season would be over

 

IKR? I'm starting to wonder if the scenario of Jessica hunting down Kilgrave is only good for a limited series. It could get old without another villain in season 2. I wonder if that's where Trinity comes in (what's the lawyer's name again?) since she envies K's powers.

[Vikitty]

I knew catching Kilgrave wouldn't be that easy, but it was still incredibly suspenseful the entire time.

 

The ending scene gave me chills. 

[Sakura12]

Ritter is doing a fantastic job showing Jessica's PTSD. Killgrave is a villain to fear, he destroyed her. I liked that when they showed the before Killgrave, Jessica wan't a happy go lucky person or anything but she wasn't the broken mess that she is now. I love Trish and Jessica's friendship. I love that Trish is like I know you are super strong and you can keep pushing me away but I'll still be here standing right by your side. That's friendship.

 

Like Daredevil I'm enjoying Jessica Jones because it's about a broken person that doesn't always make the right decisions but when it comes down to it they will do the right thing and the biggest thing is they don't consider themselves a hero for doing so. They do it to help not for the glory.

[Danny Franks]

Yeah, that final scene was chilling. Kilgrave gets off so much on having power over people, even when he's not using his powers. But unbeknownst to him, Jessica is doing it on her own terms, because she already got Malcolm to make the right choice.

 

I feel even worse for Malcolm, knowing that just six months ago he was a social worker, doing his best to help people. And Kilgrave just casually picked him up and got him hooked on drugs. As casually as he had that magazine stall vendor throw scalding coffee into his own face. The charming monster is a scary thing, especially when he has no 'cause' or ambition.

 

I really liked seeing flashback Jessica and Trish, and their friendship is one of the best things about the show. The costume scene was great, the nods to Trish wanting to be a hero were great, Jessica dismissing the Jewel costume as branding her 'Camel Toe' was... well, not something you'd hear if this show was on ABC. Knowing that Jessica was already dissatisfied and aimless helps establish a lot about her current state of mind. As soon as she got ambitions of being a hero, along came Kilgrave and took them all away.

 

I can see why they couldn't wrap up his story in a few episodes, because his power and the issues of control he represents colour the entire show. You've got Jessica haunted by him, Hope rendered helpless and at the mercy of her Orange is the New Black fellow inmates, Will trying too hard to reassert his control and coming off as a jerk because of it. I was less keen on his paternalistic, chauvinistic attitude for much of this episode, until I realised that's what it was about. He's the alpha male who was made to feel powerless and abused, and he wants to reject that. But Jessica reminding him of who he is will hopefully take. And if not, the prospect of dating Trish should help, because she's awesome.

 

I did like seeing that Trish is not going to take any of this lying down, and that she's determined to be truly valuable in this fight. I just hope it doesn't backfire on her, because she's worthy of her own show, at this point. I would absolutely watch a Patsy 'Hellcat' Walker show.

 

Learning that her family took in Jessica was a sweet bit of their backstory. I wonder how that ties in with her abusive mother. But the friendship makes more sense in terms of their relative social and financial stations now.

[calliope1975]

I figured some type of Malcolm reveal was coming, but it was worse than I thought. I'm really enjoying the actor, too. Kilgrave just shatters lives. I don't know that I've wanted a villain taken down more than him. 

[Chaos Theory]

Of course Jessica couldn't catch Kilgrave her first time at bat. I don't think Matt caught Fisk his first attempt either. That doesn't and shouldn't mean the character will go on forever. I think Kilgrave is a fitting villian for Jessica's first chapter and origin story. Unless he dies at the end, like Fisk he might return eventually but that doesn't mean there won't be a season two villian.

I think Trish might be my favorite character. She could have been written as some sort of damsel but instead she is incredibly proactive if over her head. Bi like that the show...well shows that. How in over their head these people are. Most...if not all are not natural heroes and yet they are trying to stop someone who has destroyed their lives and trying their best to do if the right way.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[SeanC]

During the attempted apprehension, I was thinking "it's way too early for them to succeed at this", so when they actually got him in the van I was confused; but then the goons arrived, and all was as expected.

[VCRTracking]

Loved the Heroes dig. "Send the picture, save the junkie. Heh, sounds like an ad campaign!"

 

I liked David Tennant's reaction to when Jessica tells Kilgrave why she stopped those muggers. Like he expected her to say she liked beating people up and not that helping some made her feel good.

 

Trish coming up with the Jewel costume and name was great.

 

I enjoyed the bickering between Jessica and Simpson. It makes me want to see her interact with Steve Rogers.

 

Poor Hope. As if things weren't bad enough for her.

 

Nice to see Krysten Ritter get someone OFF of heroin for once(Breaking Bad reference).

Edited November 22, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Bec]

I liked how despite all the bickering, Jessica and Simpson worked pretty well together. They point out each other's shortcomings and can take each other's criticism when it came down to it. It was hilarious when he was talking shit about her in that soundproof room and she was doing the very same thing about him. For a second I wondered if she would leave him locked up in there.

 

I didn’t outright dismiss the possibility they could lock up Kilgrave. If they did, this would have gone in more of a “Silence of the Lambs” direction, I suppose.

 

If Kilgrave has a security detail watching him 24/7, wouldn’t they witness some pretty crazy shit?

 

I was wondering how a sandwich could save anyone. Well played, show, well played. I would pay good money for a comic series starring a superhero dressed as a sandwich.

 

Now they have me wondering what got Simpson kicked out of special ops. He didn’t actually massacre a small village, did he? He was scarily eager to torture that guy they caught. But at least he looked chastened when Jessica reminded him he is a cop. Though I was like “Is it really a great idea to talk about that in front of the guy he almost tortured? Now that guy can file a complaint against him with the police department!”

 

Of course Jessica couldn't catch Kilgrave her first time at bat. I don't think Matt caught Fisk his first attempt either.

Plus Jessica didn’t almost get herself killed, she went in with an actual plan and some backup. Hee! I can’t wait for them to team up. I was just imagining how much easier this would have been if they had Matt along for the ride. First Matt could get real close to deliver that knock-out drug because Kilgrave would never see it coming from a blind guy. Then he could have taken out all those security guys (though, like Trish, he can be taken down by one taze, so maybe not?)

 

I wonder if you have to be able to see Kilgrave for him to take control over you. Like maybe something to do with sight is part of his whammy and that’s why he couldn’t do it over the phone or the radio. If so, would be funny if Kilgrave tries to control Daredevil and it doesn’t work.

[thuganomics85]

The flashbacks were pretty good at showing how everything was before Kilgrave came in and ruined their lives.  I liked that Jessica wasn't just a completely different person; she did at the same attitude that she has now and was clearly directionless on some levels; but she clearly could be a happier person too, and her friendship with Trish really was solid as a rock.  I loved the scene when Trish was trying to convince Jessica to wear a uniform.  It just makes what happens to her even more tragic.

 

Speaking of tragic, wow, did Malcolm get the raw deal.  Kilgrave just randomly picked him to spy on Jessica and used his powers to get him hooked on drugs in the first place.  And he used to be a social worker too.  Just sad.

 

Not surprised that Simpson and Trish are already hooking up, and Jessica isn't a fan of it.  I do think there is truth that Jessica probably would be wary of anyone dating Trish, but I can see why she'd be extra hostile considering that history, even if Simpson wasn't fully in control of himself at the time.

 

Kilgrave stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight a bit in this episode.  Once again, he creeped me out and David Tennant nailed all of it.  The phone conversation at the end was fantastic and disturbing, but I also liked the scene when he first met Jessica. He just came off so patronizing and condescending to her, like the idea of her wanting to be hero was so amusing to him.  Like she was a child or something.  He just clearly thinks he is above everyone.  I so hope he gets knocked down a few pegs soon.  At least the failed capture briefly showed his vulnerabilities, but I'm sure he'll be even more ready for next time.

 

I was kind of confused about what happened to Hope.  Are those prisoners part of Kilgrave too, or are they just normal ones trying to extort money out of her?

Edited November 22, 2015 by thuganomics85

[xqueenfrostine]

Speaking of tragic, wow, did Malcolm get the raw deal.  Kilgrave just randomly picked him to spy on Jessica and used his powers to get him hooked on drugs in the first place.  And he used to be a social worker too.  Just sad.

 

Well probably not quite so randomly.  I don;t think it's a coincidence that Malcolm was the guy Jessica was saving from being beat up when Kilgrave first found her.  Given how obsessed with her Kilgrave is, and how deliberately he seemed to mirror his time with Hope after his time with Jessica (following the same routine for their one month "anniversary"), it seems like choosing Malcolm in particular was meant to be another way to dig at her. 

 

As for Hope, you didn't miss anything.  Her assault is meant to be left unexplained within the episode.

[Jenniferbug]

Wow that was intense. I didn't think they would succeed, but they came awfully close.

Poor Malcolm. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now his life is in shambles. I'd love to see him overcome it and become a supporting character, but that might be too optimistic for this show.

When Simpson said "he'll never see me coming", did anyone else think he might reveal invisibility powers? I'm not convinced he's not special too, with how he's questioning Trish about Jessica's powers and the backstory about him being kicked out of special ops.

I loved the costume scene with Trish and Jessica, and thought it was really interesting to see how Jessica was before Kilgrave.

Do Malcolm or Simpson have comic book counterparts?

[Cranberry]

Do Malcolm or Simpson have comic book counterparts?

 

Answering this question at all is a spoiler, so I've tagged it:

 

Simpson does; he's Nuke. You'll see that in later episodes.

[bettername2come]

I loved the flashbacks. I'd been assuming Kilgrave controlled Jessica when she was younger. Is that true of the comics? Could've sworn I've read that somewhere. It was interesting to see her still Jessica with all her same interpersonal skills (or lack thereof) and attitude, but happy and somewhat emotionally healthy. And answering that she liked beating up the bad guys because she liked helping people.

[tanita]

I don't know what you mean by younger. In the comics, she tried to intervene in a restaurant where Kilgrave was using his powers. She was in her Jewel persona and the moment he saw her he took control and compelled her to come with him. She was under his power for 8 months of grueling psychological torture (but if I remember correctly no actual physical rape, he would have sex with other women in front of her and compel her to desperately want to be in their place. kinky and creepy as hell). In show, I would guess that it's been maybe a year or two so since she escaped from Kilgrave.

 

She was already damaged from the loss of her family in the accident that gave her powers and grew up in a home with a woman who abused her own child aka. Trish and her mom. she was cynical but a good person non the less. And it made her feel good to do something with her life because she seamed aimless before crime-fighting.

Edited November 22, 2015 by tanita

[Unusual Suspect]

Ritter is doing a fantastic job showing Jessica's PTSD. Killgrave is a villain to fear, he destroyed her. I liked that when they showed the before Killgrave, Jessica wan't a happy go lucky person or anything but she wasn't the broken mess that she is now. I love Trish and Jessica's friendship. I love that Trish is like I know you are super strong and you can keep pushing me away but I'll still be here standing right by your side. That's friendship.

 

They're doing a fantastic job showing how destructive Kilgrave is. Everyone he touches is incredibly wounded by him. Jessica had to remind the cop of his job, Kilgrave's "driver", it's scary. 

 

The Netflix series in general have far superior villians than the rest of Marvel's offerings. Fisk, Kilgrave, the villians are really forcing the heroes to up their game.

[tanita]

I love the fact that literary everyone around Jessica sort of minimized the impact of Kilgrave's power until they experienced it themselves - Trish, Hogarth and Luke. They all thought mind control - ok, but when they got compelled it became - MIND CONTROL. Don't think any of them fully understood the absolute lose of ones self that occurs when he takes over. That is why his effect is devastating on a personal level.

Edited November 27, 2015 by The Crazed Spruce
spoils events from later episodes

[Danny Franks]

They're doing a fantastic job showing how destructive Kilgrave is. Everyone he touches is incredibly wounded by him. Jessica had to remind the cop of his job, Kilgrave's "driver", it's scary. 

 

The Netflix series in general have far superior villians than the rest of Marvel's offerings. Fisk, Kilgrave, the villians are really forcing the heroes to up their game.

 

They definitely do.

 

I found Fisk intriguing and really enjoyed the parallels between him and Murdock in terms of their motivations and goals.

The idea that both had the same ultimate goal of saving the city, but that while Matt wanted to save the people in the city, Fisk saw the city as an entity in itself, that needed to be populated with better people to be saved. That was an interesting juxtaposition of ideas, and their methods of Matt constantly sacrificing himself, while Fisk would happily sacrifice any number of other innocents, was nicely constructed.

 

Kilgrave is different. He's scary in a different way to Fisk. Fisk was controlled rage, which could burst out and destroy you if you pushed him. He kept you off balance through that fear. Kilgrave is insidious, he can ruin your life without you even knowing, until it's too late. He can destroy everything about you. And he enjoys it, clearly. He's needlessly cruel and capricious, he will throw lives away on a whim, to entertain himself.

 

Both these characters leave Loki 'Daddy Issues' in the dust, when it comes to engaging, complex villains.

[Kel Varnsen]

I did like seeing that Trish is not going to take any of this lying down, and that she's determined to be truly valuable in this fight. I just hope it doesn't backfire on her, because she's worthy of her own show, at this point. I would absolutely watch a Patsy 'Hellcat' Walker show.

She took at least one thing lying down in this episode.

 

 

Plus Jessica didn’t almost get herself killed, she went in with an actual plan and some backup. Hee! I can’t wait for them to team up. I was just imagining how much easier this would have been if they had Matt along for the ride. First Matt could get real close to deliver that knock-out drug because Kilgrave would never see it coming from a blind guy. Then he could have taken out all those security guys (though, like Trish, he can be taken down by one taze, so maybe not?)

I was thinking about their eventual team up too. Matt's fighting style is basically I am an expert martial artist but without that my powers just give me a slight edge over a normal fighter that could see. Jessica on the other hand is probably one of the strongest humans in the MCU (only stronger human I can think of is Deathlok, maybe) so she doesn't really need a fighting style to kick ass. If she could fight like Matt, almost no one could stop her.

[Kathira]

 

 

Kilgrave stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight a bit in this episode.  Once again, he creeped me out and David Tennant nailed all of it.  The phone conversation at the end was fantastic and disturbing, but I also liked the scene when he first met Jessica. He just came off so patronizing and condescending to her, like the idea of her wanting to be hero was so amusing to him.  Like she was a child or something.  He just clearly thinks he is above everyone.  I so hope he gets knocked down a few pegs soon.  At least the failed capture briefly showed his vulnerabilities, but I'm sure he'll be even more ready for next time.

I was kind of confused about what happened to Hope.  Are those prisoners part of Kilgrave too, or are they just normal ones trying to extort money out of her?

Tennant is definitely killing it.The way he looked at her picture at the end - satisfaction and triumph, sure, that he got her to do something without using his powers directly, but also a wonder and longing. In his own twisted way, he loves Jessica and wants her to love him. He's a sick bastard, but imagine having all your relationships tainted by compulsion. How much can he control his power? Does it just happen all the time, automatically anything he says, people do? If that's the case, he could never know real affection from another human being, because he would never know if anything they said or did was compelled or not. I was afraid of this - that David Tennant would make me feel sorry for a vicious psychopath.

 

Damn you, show, you're making me both think and feel. 

[Kathira]

OK, I take that back, I don't really feel sorry for Kilgrave. He's a rapist and murderer. But I did feel something for him and that's the mark of both great writing and great acting.

[ZootSuitWyatt]

From the AV Club's review of this episode:

 

"By making Kilgrave more charming than menancing, Jessica Jones is hinting at a hard truth through a superhero lens: Abusers don’t just rely on physical threats. They cultivate a sense of trust and intimacy with their victims that keeps the cycle of violence going. Though Kilgrave is too far away to actually control Jessica, he still manages to engineer a situation in which she’s sending him daily selfies. That non-superpowered psychological control is just as terrifying as his ability to make someone throw scalding hot coffee into their face."

 

The writers and Tennant definitely do a very good job of portraying this.

[Primetimer]

While a plot to kidnap Kilgrave goes awry, Jessica is still able to score some major points for Team Sisters Doin' It For Themselves.

Read the story

[TeeVee329]

The private eye game has been pretty slow for Jessica as of late -- which is a real shame because, in these first five episodes, JJ works best when it balances the high-stakes Kilgrave plot with lower-stakes case work. To compensate for her lacking funds, Jessica is forced take on some gigs below her paygrade. Besides the titular hoagie sandwich flyer girl, Jessica takes on the role of an office drone with a shitty boss.

...I believe both these jobs are flashbacks to before Jessica's enslavement to Kilgrave and her then setting up her PI business.

[Tara Ariano]

...I believe both these jobs are flashbacks to before Jessica's enslavement to Kilgrave and her then setting up her PI business.

 

You're right, I missed that on my edit. Fixing!

[Helena Dax]

Great episode. I  knew it was too soon  to catch Kilgrave, but at least she got to punch him and save Malcolm.

 

It was sad to meet her before Kilgrave. It must be horrible to see how your good intentions become a devastating nightmare.  She's a  hero just to get out of bed every morning  (or afternoon).                     

[Bec]

Favorite part of the episode:

 

Simpson: I'll just grab some pants.

Jessica: Good call *eyeroll*

 

Also, when Simpson apologized for overstepping and Trish looked so pleased, but Jessica just kept rolling her eyes at him.

 

How does she keep her eyes from falling right out from all that epic rolling?

 

Alas, I thought it could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship last episode when Simpson and Jessica sort of related to each other. I mean, how many people would understand what it's like to be mind-controlled into killing an innocent person? Of course, sleeping with her one true love really ruins your chances of friendship with Jessica.

 

He wasn't totally wrong that he figured out it was Malcolm spying on Jessica, though. She's the one who dismissed his suspicion as paranoia, really.

 

Simpson's outfit during the mission to capture Kilgrave was exactly the same as one of Captain America's outfits in the Civil War trailer. And there was a kid dressed as Captain America running around in the park, so it had to be on purpose. Hmm...

[Xena]

She reminded me so much of Pennsatucky in the hoodie that it took me right out of the scene.

 

Just me?  Alright then...

[Etta Place]

I noticed that in the scene when Jessica finds Malcolm passed out in the elevator, he is in the position of the Hanged Man. I don't know the significance (for the show), but since they did an overhead shot of it, I'm pretty sure we were supposed to see it. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by Etta Place

[Bec]

Just came back in to add this photo someone posted (top picture - Will Simpson in this episode, bottom picture - Captain America in Civil War). Seriously, there's some kind of outfit twins thing going on here.

[The Saga Continues]

I'm enjoying this show so much that it pulled me out of lurk mode. I wish I had the time to binge watch it...

 

-No Luke or Hogarth understandably. Jessica certainly had her hands full this episode. I figured it was too early in the series to take down Kilgrave, but at least she, Will and Trish  had a plan. When Kilgrave's henchmen showed up to extract him, for a minute I thought that Coulson deployed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to get him. Especially since they used something similar to those taser batons that they tend to use. Wishful thinking...

 

-Will Simpson being styled similar to Steve Rogers is no coincidence, knowing who his comic book counterpart is. I'm looking forward to seeing that play out...

 

-Speaking of the comics, nice nod to Jessica's superhero past on the show with Trish designing the costume. The flashbacks did a good job showing how Jessica was before Kilgrave...

 

-Poor Malcolm. I was only familiar with Eka Darville from "Empire" as Jamal's love interest in season 1. Here, he's definitely given more to work with...

 

-Before I had a chance to watch this series, I saw people ship Jessica and Trish hard on Tumblr. I can understand why. Krysten Ritter and Rachael Taylor have great chemistry. Jess could've easily been the jealous ex-lover disapproving of Trish's relationship with Will, if they chose to go there. But, the MCU seems to be pretty gun shy with their main characters being LGBT. So, they're probably testing the waters with Jeri Hogarth...

 

-And David Tennant as Kilgrave never fails to impress. He seems like what a real life supervillian with his abilities would be. No real ambitions to take over the world or anything, just doing whatever he wants because he can and leaving behing a trail of broken people...

 

 

[theatremouse]

-Before I had a chance to watch this series, I saw people ship Jessica and Trish hard on Tumblr. I can understand why. Krysten Ritter and Rachael Taylor have great chemistry. Jess could've easily been the jealous ex-lover disapproving of Trish's relationship with Will, if they chose to go there. But, the MCU seems to be pretty gun shy with their main characters being LGBT.

I'm spoilering because I can't remember if it were revealed yet at this point.

That would squick me out, and would have nothing to do with MCU being gun-shy or not. I don't know about in the comics, but in the show I'm pretty sure they said Trish's mom adopted Jessica when her parents died. Sure, it's a little different because they became insta-siblings when they were tweens. Still, even though they did refer to each other as BFFs in a very early episode, they're sisters. I know there's no biological taboo there, but I like their relationship as presented. They do have great chemistry and it would seem totally superfluous to me to turn it in the direction of anything other than siblings.

Edited December 3, 2015 by theatremouse

[Sakura12]

I wish everything didn't have to turn into shipping. Why can't characters be just be friends?  People are always raving about bromances, we don't have nearly enough women friendships on tv. Then when we do everyone wants them to date, instead of just being close friends like woman can be. 

 

I like Jessica and Trish's sisterly/friendship. I don't need to see them sleep together to know how much they care about each other. I like that they love each other without having to be lovers.

[supposebly]

Continuing my watch. One of the things I love about this show is how it makes me think about the repercussions for the villain having those powers. Every control freak would probably think for a moment that this is heaven. Control the world the way you want it to be. And even for people with less inclination to want the world to revolve around them, it's a tempting thought once in a while.

But it is a terribly boring life. No surprises, no real drama, you make everything happen on a whim. So you feel compelled to create the drama around you. Kilgrave's first meeting with Jessica showed that clearly. He can't help being intrigued by her and falling in love with that little element where he can't completely control her (or the thrill of controlling someone with powers) while simultaneously enjoying it much more when he does. The bodyguards show that she is probably his first challenge in forever while he can't help sticking around. He's certainly not brave, he never had to be and of course, he isn't stupid, he knew and probably hoped a bit that eventually she will try to come after him. It speaks to his self-absorption that he doesn't get it's because of Hope.

 

How many newspaper vendors are there per day who may have irreparably destroyed the skin on their faces just with a throwaway line. He is truly a scary villain which makes this show very tense for me. I felt so very relieved when I realized he can't control people over the phone. The trail of destruction he leaves behind feels much more impactful than any destruction from what they call "the incident" on this show.

 

Poor Malcolm! Even his hair was happier looking before Kilgrave. What I also like is that I'm not sure he will make it. It's been a while and he is a very vulnerable target. But then, everyone is. I still haven't forgotten that ambulance driver without kidneys.

[Hecate7]

Kilgrave is a truly terrible person. Most people would be tempted by his powers, but he has never explored how to talk to people without ordering them around. He could, instead of saying "have dinner with me," ask them, "what do you want to do?" and then ask if he can do that with them. People always tell him the truth, so that's kind of nice. He could have used his powers for good, as he managed to do in the one instance with the father who wanted to shoot his family.

 

Of course, he would have really botched that if Jessica hadn't been there. Somehow he thinks punishment is justice, which makes it easier to see him punished, but it's also a sign that he WAS punished as a child, and probably ridiculously severely, or he wouldn't think that every single annoyance and slight has to be punished. I also found him to be one of the scariest villains ever, because of his pettiness and his randomness.
 

[End Table]

She reminded me so much of Pennsatucky in the hoodie that it took me right out of the scene.

 

Just me?  Alright then...

Nope...me too! Thought the same thing.

[LeGrandElephant]

Kilgrave is a truly terrible person. Most people would be tempted by his powers, but he has never explored how to talk to people without ordering them around. He could, instead of saying "have dinner with me," ask them, "what do you want to do?" and then ask if he can do that with them. People always tell him the truth, so that's kind of nice. He could have used his powers for good, as he managed to do in the one instance with the father who wanted to shoot his family.

Of course, he would have really botched that if Jessica hadn't been there. Somehow he thinks punishment is justice, which makes it easier to see him punished, but it's also a sign that he WAS punished as a child, and probably ridiculously severely, or he wouldn't think that every single annoyance and slight has to be punished. I also found him to be one of the scariest villains ever, because of his pettiness and his randomness.

Is that in a future episode that comes after this thread? Because I don't remember it.

I was really confused by their plan to capture Kilgrave. Suppose they do capture him in a soundproof room. What are they going to do, take him to court and say this is the guy who controlled Hope? How can they prove he has mind control without him mind-controlling his way out of the situation? Wouldn't it work just as well to kill him and then have all those people testify that he had mind controlled them as well? And that has the advantage of preventing future victims since he seems to destroy people on a daily basis. I know shows don't like to have their heroes kill anyone because they're supposed to be the good guys, but in this situation it seems like killing him is the right thing to do, and I really don't understand how capturing him is supposed to work.

Edited December 13, 2015 by LeGrandElephant

[WatchrTina]

This show . . . it stresses me out.  I want to like it.  I love me some comic book heroes.  But I'm not enjoying all the stress.  I guess that's a back-handed compliment to what an effective villain Kilgrave is.  I can't imagine how they are going to surmount his superpower.  So I should be intrigued.  I should want to see what comes next. But I don't -- I want to go watch something light and fluffy -- where bad guys lose and good guys win.  I need me some Iron Man / Captain America quips.  I need to see the Hulk falcon-punch Thor.  Dammit I need some levity.

[Dobian]

I agree it was a great final scene.  The fact that he was manipulating Jessica without using his powers on her made it even creepier, in that now there is almost this co-dependency between them.  What's great about this show is you could completely remove all the super hero/villain stuff and still tell this story.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 12/5/2015 at 11:01 AM, supposebly said:

Poor Malcolm! Even his hair was happier looking before Kilgrave. What I also like is that I'm not sure he will make it. It's been a while and he is a very vulnerable target. But then, everyone is. I still haven't forgotten that ambulance driver without kidneys.

Ha, so Malcolm has hair like Coach Taylor's on Friday Night Lights - you can tell how he's feeling based on his hair!

On 12/15/2015 at 7:46 PM, WatchrTina said:

This show . . . it stresses me out.  I want to like it.  I love me some comic book heroes.  But I'm not enjoying all the stress.  I guess that's a back-handed compliment to what an effective villain Kilgrave is.  I can't imagine how they are going to surmount his superpower.  So I should be intrigued.  I should want to see what comes next. But I don't -- I want to go watch something light and fluffy -- where bad guys lose and good guys win.  I need me some Iron Man / Captain America quips.  I need to see the Hulk falcon-punch Thor.  Dammit I need some levity.

I get much more emotionally stressed watching Outlander whenever Black Jack Randall is around. I don't know if that makes him better or worse than Kilgrave. I think Kilgrave is much more three dimensional as a character whereas BJR is just all evil, all the time (even when his brother was dying, he was still a total dick). I find them both terrifying though. It's only the fifth episode and we know that Kilgrave is willing to plan in advance (turning Malcolm into a junkie) as well as being casually violent (telling the newspaper guy to throw coffee in his own face).

On 11/21/2015 at 11:39 PM, Bec said:

I liked how despite all the bickering, Jessica and Simpson worked pretty well together.

Now they have me wondering what got Simpson kicked out of special ops. He didn’t actually massacre a small village, did he? He was scarily eager to torture that guy they caught. But at least he looked chastened when Jessica reminded him he is a cop. Though I was like “Is it really a great idea to talk about that in front of the guy he almost tortured? Now that guy can file a complaint against him with the police department!”

Damn it, now I'm thinking of Jessica Simpson during her Newlywed years!

ITA - not only did Jessica say, "YOU'RE A COP!" right in front of their hostage but she also said his last name. Why not just give the guy one of Simpson's business cards and call an Uber to take him straight to the precinct so he can report what Simpson did? Sheesh.

Poor Malcolm. I felt bad enough for him in the previous episode when we found out he was the one being compelled to take pictures of Jessica, but knowing his story more fully just makes it so much worse.

Unfortunately this episode reminded me why I originally thought Krysten Ritter was not a strong enough actress for this role. Most of her arguing scenes with Simpson were really painful to watch. "It's my call. MY CALL!" In one of the previous threads, someone mentioned her jolie-laide thing. Similarly I am noticing her good acting/bad acting. Sometimes she is very convincing while other times she looks and sounds like she's in an acting 101 class. Some of those moments really pull me out of the show.

I really felt for Trish when that stupid dude bro approached her at the bar in the flashback. I'm not a former child star, but I can imagine how frustrating that is on top of the usual getting hit on by douchebags at bars.

Edited October 5, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[chaifan]

On 12/13/2015 at 9:31 AM, LeGrandElephant said:

I was really confused by their plan to capture Kilgrave. Suppose they do capture him in a soundproof room. What are they going to do, take him to court and say this is the guy who controlled Hope? How can they prove he has mind control without him mind-controlling his way out of the situation? Wouldn't it work just as well to kill him and then have all those people testify that he had mind controlled them as well? And that has the advantage of preventing future victims since he seems to destroy people on a daily basis. I know shows don't like to have their heroes kill anyone because they're supposed to be the good guys, but in this situation it seems like killing him is the right thing to do, and I really don't understand how capturing him is supposed to work.

I'm a latecomer to this thread - just started watching JJ on Netflix, and it doesn't even seem like anyone is still following the thread, but I just had to comment on this.  I was thinking the same thing as to The Plan once Kilgrave was captured.  How could Jessica, or anyone, prove that Kilgrave has mind control powers.  It reminds me of Michigan J Frog - you know, the singing frog from the old Warners Bros. cartoons.  Every time the guy who found him would try to get him to sing in front of others, he'd just croak.  Kilgrave would be the exact same - you can't compel him to show his mind control powers.  On the other hand,  you could parade in all those people in the support group to be shows a picture of Kilgrave and say yep, that's the guy who had a freaky mind control thing over me.  May not be enough to free Hope, but it could influence her sentence or get her off on an insanity defense. 

I think Jessica's "noble" cause of freeing Hope is actually very selfish.  She's doing that to absolve her guilt over Hope killing her parents.  It would be better for the greater good if Kilgrave were dead.  How many people is he harming/ruining/killing while Jessica is trying to free Hope?  Just kill Killgrave, then bust Hope out of prison. 

I really hope they come up with some sort of explanation to make Kilgrave's capture make sense.  Soon.  This is a big enough plot hole to taint the whole series for me. 

[Taryn74]

8 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I think Jessica's "noble" cause of freeing Hope is actually very selfish.  She's doing that to absolve her guilt over Hope killing her parents.  It would be better for the greater good if Kilgrave were dead.  How many people is he harming/ruining/killing while Jessica is trying to free Hope?  Just kill Killgrave, then bust Hope out of prison. 

Yep.