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EPISODE 9: "AKA Sin Bin"
SYNOPSIS: Just when Jessica has Kilgrave right where she want’s him. Hogarth’s involvement complicates the situation. Details of Kilgrave’s past emerge.
BREAKDOWN: Don't even think for one second that Jessica Jones begins to slow down in the home stretch of the season. Many felt that the second half of Daredevil lacked the same punch as the first half dozen hours, but this series does not fall into that same hole. This hour turns out to be one of the best and most intense of the entire run by changing the dynamic powerfully and leading to a shocking conclusion. In fact, this episode draws major parallels to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS with Kilgrave left powerless as he is incarcerated for most of the episode and yet becomes more powerful than ever.
Following the previous episode, Jessica brings Kilgrave to the hermetically sealed room originally planned to hold the villain in an earlier hour. Jessica has rigged the room with a microphone and several inches of water on the floor. Whenever Kilgrave begins to lose control or becomes a risk, Jessica is able to send electricity flowing to the water to knock him back. Jessica has also set the test footage of Kilgrave as a child to play on the walls of the room while she keeps a video camera aimed at her former captor to try and get a confession regarding Hope Schlottman's murder of her parents. She better hurry as Jery Hogarth reveals they have 48 hours to accept a plea deal of 20 years or Hope could get life in prison.
Even with Jery and Trish present, Jessica is unable to get Kilgrave to confess. Jessica beats him and taunts him, but Kilgrave plays innocent, trying to get himself freed. The psychological power Kilgrave possesses is frightening even when he plays himself off as weak. Kilgrave also uses nothing more than glances to try and get Trish to come in and shoot him while Jery ponders whether she could use Kilgrave to make her wife, Wendy, drop the escalating divorce proceedings. None of them get close enough to actually be taken over by Kilgrave, but Jessica does devise a plan as she realizes Kilgrave's mother is one of the people attending the support group of his former victims.
Jessica confronts the Thompsons who reveal that they weren't experimenting on Kevin but rather infected him with a virus as a means to try and save him from a fatal degenerative neurological disorder. Jessica gathers Jery, Trish, and Detective Clemons (Clarke Peters) to witness Kilgrave's confession. Letting his parents in the room, Jessica records as they try to get Kilgrave to talk. His mother pulls scissors and stabs Kilgrave and says it is their responsibility to stop him. Kilgrave then uses his powers and forces his mother to stab herself for every year he was left alone as a child. Jessica tries to use the electroshock but the wires short and Kilgrave's mother stabs herself to death.
Jessica scrambles and tells everyone to leave. Jery runs and Jessica rushes into the room to stop Kilgrave's father from killing himself next. As she fights him off, Trish shoots the glass and manages to clip Kilgrave in the shoulder. He orders Trish to shoot herself in the head, but when she pulls the trigger, she is out of bullets. Jessica knocks out Kilgrave's father and goes after the villain, When she grabs his arm, he tells her to stop but it doesn't work. Detective Clemons, under Kilgrave's control, tackles Jessica after pulling his arm out of handcuffs. When she finally gets outside, Kilgrave is gone. Jessica thinks about why she didn't fall under his mind control and realizes both this time and with the death of Reva there was blood on Jessica's hands. She smiles as she realizes this is a way to stop him for good.
A very intense episode that played strongly with Kilgrave as a Hannibal Lecter like prisoner who still has the upper hand, this hour develops a lot about the idea of survivor's revenge on their tormentor as well as providing a way to prove that Kilgrave is the mind controller Jessica and Hope claimed him to be. Jessica now has video proof of Kilgrave's powers, but being free opens up a lot more potential problems. Still, this was a thrilling hour of the series that has racheted up the intensity for the final four episodes. We also see Will Simpson turn to a doctor from a former program he was a part of who helps him after his injuries last week and gives him red, white, and blue pills, a nod to his comic book alter ego of Nuke. Will we see the supervillain version of Simpson this season? Time will tell. We also got another sex scene, this time featuring Jery fingering her new fiance. Overall, this was a stellar episode that has definitely upped the ante for the rest of the series.
MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE REFERENCES: Nothing overt this episode.
Final Verdict:
NEXT ON JESSICA JONES: Episode 10 "AKA 1,000 Cuts" – A discovery has the potential to change the entire game — if Jessica can refuse Kilgrave’s offer.