Jessica Jones Season 1, Episode 10 Recap and Review – ‘AKA 1,000 Cuts’

“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

“AKA 1,000 Cuts” is probably the most difficult episode to watch so far. What happens when you’ve pissed off a psychotic mind-controller? A lot of violence. Despite Jessica’s constant warnings about Kilgrave’s capabilities, it seems that no one believed her, or fully grasped the idea of how much of a monster this guy really is. Not even Trish. As a sort of cosmic punishment, or whatever you want to call it, everyone who doubted our super sleuth is now getting the brunt of their folly in the worst ways.

Hogarth briefly teams up with Kilgrave. This is partly because he was controlling her, but it was also because Hogarth had hoped to use his powers for her own personal gain. Their partnership takes them to Wendy’s house — Kilgrave needed a doctor to patch up a bullet wound and Hogarth needed her divorce to be legitimately finalized without having to lose almost all of her money in the process. This ultimately leads to Kilgrave commanding Wendy to slash Hogarth one thousand times with a knife, and Pam (worried that Hogarth was having it out with her ex) bludgeoning Wendy to death.

Clemens made the fatal mistake of mentioning that he’s two years away from retirement. Damn it, man! You should have known better! He stays behind to secure the crime scene as well as the only proof they have that Kilgrave exists. Unfortunately, a ‘roided up Simpson shows up. He is another character who failed to listen to Jessica. She told him to move on with his life or else it will consume him. He didn’t. In fact, he thought he knew better than her. Now he’s a super soldier being ruled by his inner demons (aka addiction to the super soldier meds he’s been abusing). He wants Kilgrave dead, no exceptions. Clemens senses there’s something really off about this guy and gently tries to shoo him away from the crime scene. Instead, Simpson puts a bullet to his head and burns away the evidence.

The overly possessive Robyn, is still looking for her twin brother Ruben. Yeah…she still doesn’t know that he’s dead, and his disappearance is torturing her. She knows Malcolm and Jessica knows something, and she ends up following Malcolm to the Kilgrave support group. She overhears the nature of Ruben’s death and rallies two already frustrated support group members against Jessica.

Jessica decides to go home and regroup before she resumes her hunt for Kilgrave. Turns out, she doesn’t need to go far to find him because he’s already at her apartment. For as grim as it was, it was interesting to see how two people remember a single day so differently. While they were still together, there was a moment where Kilgrave stopped controlling Jessica for 18 seconds. In his mind, because Jessica didn’t immediately run away, he interpreted that as her genuinely wanting to be with him. For Jessica, she actually did want to run away, but savored her free will too much before getting controlled again. Before anything else can happen between them (in the present), Jessica knocks out Kilgrave and ties him up.

Then Robyn’s little mob barges in and attacks Jessica. Kilgrave is freed, again, and Jessica gets knocked out. When she wakes up, she’s reminded that Hope is being released today (Kilgrave arranged to have her released) and rushes to the station to pick her up. As soon as she gets there, however, she finds out that Kilgrave already got to her. Remember, Kilgrave wants his father back and he’s willing to trade Hope for him.

Right…Kilgrave’s father. Jessica has no choice to to bring him to Kilgrave. Hope is Jessica’s chance at some kind of redemption for what she herself lost in the past. All that matters is Hope. And the four people (Robyn, Malcolm, and the two support group members) Kilgrave arranged to hang should something go awry. Weeeeellll something does happen: Hope, realizing that she is the reason Jessica won’t kill Kilgrave, stabs herself in the neck with a broken wine glass stem. This is what finally frees Jessica to do what needs to be done.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

• Trish took Simpson’s super soldier pills. I wonder if she’ll be tempted to use them to become Hellcat later down the line…
• I like the imagery that Jessica imagined herself to be the princess who saves herself from the tower and rides off on her own white steed.
• I was rather disappointed to learn that Kilgrave’s powers is actually caused by a virus, which his parents developed to cure his bone disease. That’s like learning how every male species in the world was simultaneously killed in Y: The Last Man. Magic or genetic mutation can’t be a thing? We would have just as easily believed that his powers was already an element in his DNA that stayed dormant until he was under extreme stress. But noooooo. We can’t have mutants in the MCU. They can’t even utter any variation of the word. Bullocks.
• Kilgrave’s father made a vaccine that could block Kilgrave’s powers. He tested it on himself, but it seemed to not have worked. Either that or the good doctor saw no better way out of their situation other than giving himself up to save Hope and the four other people ready to hang themselves.
• Forget what I said about the whole “I’m rooting for Trish/Simpson.” This guy needs to go. Like, yesterday.
• A lot of different aspects of abuse was highlighted in this episode, especially where Hogarth is concerned. I was alarmed to learn a few episodes back Wendy first met Hogarth when she was a member of a jury on the same court case Hogarth was working. Hogarth intimidated the hell out of Wendy (which is jury tampering, by the way). She was afraid but also attracted to what she interpreted it as Hogarth’s overwhelming presence.
• In a way, Hogarth the muggle version of Kilgrave. She got what she wanted: a won case and a beautiful woman to boot. But then Hogarth met Pam, the new hotness, and suddenly Wendy became the disposable doll with whom Hogarth got tired of playing. It became more and more apparent when Hogarth also mentioned (probably in this episode or the previous one) that she was the provider, not Wendy. Sound familiar? Then we have the twins’ weird relationship. Theirs was more of a toxic relationship than a flat out abusive one. Robyn was definitely the dominant twin — ordering, controlling, and nagging at Ruben for no other reason than she still saw him as a simple-minded child who needed taking care of. Years of being treated like that can certainly break a person down. Other examples in the series overall include the potential wife-beater growing within Simpson, and Trish’s child-beating mother.