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Jessica Jones has had plenty of “Man, that’s evil” moments regarding Kilgrave. Also creepy. That man ruined purple for me. It was my favorite color!!! We know he’s evil. We know about the messed up things he’s done to several people. We know that the people he’s controlled come out differently in the end. Rape, in the purest sense of the definition, leaves a person incomplete and broken. We’ve always assumed Kilgrave did way more things to Jessica and Hope than either of them are willing to talk about out loud, but the reality doesn’t actually hit us until this episode.

The gravity of Kilgrave’s effects on Hope don’t reach us until we find out that Hope is in the prison infirmary. She paid another inmate to beat her until she miscarried. That’s right, she’s pregnant with Kilgrave’s baby and Hope wants it out of her STAT.

I applaud the show’s decision to not take us back to the rape of either Jessica or Hope. It’s unnecessary and we don’t need to be shocked. Instead we’re presented with a relatable scene with two woman faced with another side effect from their mutual abuser. It’s also worthy to note that while Jessica has a problem with the way Hope wants to get rid of Kilgrave’s baby, she doesn’t take a moral stand nor does she attempt to impede Hope’s next attempt, of which she’s 1000-percent sure about.

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As huge of a moment this is, it’s a subplot that takes up a small part of the episode. “AKA You’re a Winner!” mostly focuses on Luke Cage and Jessica trying to find someone’s missing brother. Luke needs to find this person in exchange for information concerning how his wife really died. Jessica is still grappling with the moral dilemma: tell him the truth, or just leave it alone? At first she falls back into bed Luke, but eventually confessed. Reva had a thumb drive Kilgrave wanted. He made Reva show where she hid it, and then ordered Jessica to kill her. Luke allows Jessica to live but leaves her with some biting words, “I was wrong, you are a piece of shit.”

As for Kilgrave, who is up and about on his own again, he’s moving on with his plan to torture Jessica further. I find it curious that he uses his powers to win millions of dollars at a high-stakes poker game, and then he uses that money to bribe a guy into buying his house, which happens to be Jessica’s childhood home. We don’t get an answer, but I really want to know why he does this. Also, what’s on that mysterious thumb drive?! I feel like we’re only scratching at the surface of this show’s real mystery and we’re almost halfway finished!

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

  • Jessica adopting a peppy and perky voice to fool someone over the phone is equal parts unnerving and hilarious.
  • It’s great seeing Malcolm sober. He’s taking more of the “Let’s talk about it and heal together” route of rehabilitation than Jessica’s go-to response of repressing everything.
  • I didn’t see the same fighting finesse Luke displayed in the bar than in the pot farm/warehouse. I was kind of disappointed that the choreography just stuck with “messy brawl.”

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.