TV Review: Marvel’s Jessica Jones – Season 1 Ep 11 “AKA I’ve Got The Blues”

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Click here to read our previous reviews for Marvel's Jessica Jones

EPISODE 11: "AKA I've Got The Blues"

SYNOPSIS: A discovery has the potential to change the entire game — if Jessica can refuse Kilgrave’s offer.

BREAKDOWN: I should really learn to keep my big mouth shut. After finishing my review for the tenth episode of Jessica Jones, I taunted fate by saying the series had not dropped the ball yet. Then I watched this hour of the show which is by far the weakest entry in the season to date. With two episodes left in the initial run of the series, there are a lot of plot threads dangling that need to be addressed but instead we are given an almost entirely Kilgrave free episode for the first time since the pilot. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, this episode is the first to feel somewhat like a filler hour. Still delivering major developments and back story, it still manages to tread water until the final act of the series.

Left cradling the lifeless body of Hope Schlottman, Jessica cannot go after Kilgrave despite her promise to kill the villain once and for all. Instead, she helps clean up the mess left at the restaurant and tells the other survivors, inluding bitchy neighbor Robyn, to tell the police what happened was a suicide and had nothing to do with Kilgrave. Everyone abides but Malcolm is left tormented by this latest incident. Jessica then heads around town to local morgues hoping to stumble across the body of Kilgrave's father. Trish tries to convince Jessica to get some sleep but she refuses. As she stumbles around town, she thinks she sees Kilgrave and gets hit by a food truck. Injured, she stumbles to Trish's apartment where she gets a message about another body at a morgue.

Jessica discovers that the body is Detective Clemons and she realizes it was Simpson who killed him. Simpson arrives at Trish's radio show and tells her he stopped taking the pills from Dr. Kozlov because he doesn't want to hurt her. Trish doesn't quite buy it as Simpson keeps asking about Jessica. He arrives at her apartment later and the two are soon met by a pair of soldiers from Kozlov's program. They try to force Simpson to come back and he takes two red pills, instantly turning his crazy strength back on and he kills the two men and locks up Trish. This leads to an intense fight at Jessica's office where Simpson's strength is shown to be on par with Jessica's. They fight and eventually Trish takes two of Simpson's pills, gaining strength despite his warnings she needs the blue pills to stay alive. They knock Simpson out but Trish soon stops breathing and Jessica has to get her to a hospital where she barely makes it.

Malcolm and Robyn have an intense conversation regarding their state in the entire Kilgrave situation. Robyn tells Malcolm he is basically delusional and needs to stop helping Jessica because it doesn't do him any good. Malcolm questions his actions when he returns home and finds Kozlov's men in her apartment as they collect Simpson's unconscious body. He is about to call and warn her, but instead takes Robyn's advice and just goes home. As Jessica waits in Trish's hospital room, she gets a text from Kilgrave about her "boyfriend" and she rushes to Luke Cage's bar. He makes eye contact and closes the window before the entire building explodes. Jessica then watches as Luke walks out, covered in fire, but unhurt, She extinguishes his clothes and the two look at each other, this latest action clearly bringing Luke into the hunt for Kilgrave.

Throughout the episode, we also get flashbacks to Jessica at the hospital after the accident that killed her family. Trish's mother, Dorothy, wants to take in Jessica to help her daughter's PR image. Jessica soon discovers she has super strength but is still not sure how she gained the power. Trish begs her not to try and save her from her abusive mother, but Jessica cannot help herself after she sees Dorothy trying to force Trish to vomit her dinner. Jessica throws Dorothy across the room and thus began the lifelong friendship between her and Trish. While these flashbacks help balance against the life or death situation the friends face in this hour, it doesn't really progress Jessica's origin all that much.

While this episode does build on the development of Malcolm as a supporting character, the half hour spent having Jessica morgue-hop felt like a waste of time. In essence, this episode almost felt like a backdoor pilot for Will Simpson to get his own series or at least a much larger role in the second season. But, does the Marvel Cinematic Universe really need yet another unsanctioned shadow group working to build super soldiers? I almost hoped that it was somehow connected to Steve Rogers or the Weapon X program, but no such luck so far. In all, this episode really could have been condensed to the first and last fifteen minutes and it would have accomplished the same thing. I just hope this doesn't impact the final two episodes. Fingers crossed.

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE REFERENCES: Nothing overt this episode.

Final Verdict:

NEXT ON JESSICA JONES: Episode 12 "AKA Take A Bloody Number" – The hunt for Kilgrave reunites Jessica with Luke. Trish receives some unexpected information about Simpson and Jessica.