"Jessica Jones" Recap: "AKA Ladies Night"

Written by Scotty

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Let me just start as saying that I know very little of Jessica Jones and her origins.  With that being said, I was psyched when Netflix said they were going to bring out another Marvel show that featured a woman character.  There have not been a lot of female characters getting the lead in any of Marvel’s movies, so I was very excited to see a strong female lead in her own show.  I am a sucker for a strong female character in all types of movies, especially in the horror genre and now that a comic book character is coming out in her own show, well, there is no reason to pass this by.  So let’s jump into the first episode, shall we?

Jessica Jones is a private investigator looking to make ends meet and most of her cases she has been taking on revolve around the adultery market.  Even though most people are not happy with what she finds, they have to except what they paid her to do, but most of them take out their frustrations on her, or try to at least.  With some super strength, she is able to defend herself, but she also has a hard time keeping a lock functional on her office/home door.  When she finds her friend Malcolm in her home, wacked out of his mind, Jessica is shocked to see that the police have thrown a missing persons case in her direction.

Mr. and Mrs. Shlottman are looking for their daughter who is going to school at NYU.  Although they get weekly calls from her, they fear that something is wrong when she said that she will be taking a break from her track career.  Hope has loved track ever since she was a child and it would take something life changing to make her stop.  Upon her investigation, Jessica finds Hope’s friend's address and finds out that the young woman has run off with a man, but there is more to who this man is than meets the eye.  Visiting a restaurant where Hope dined, Jessica finds out who the man is and it brings back issues from her own past.  Knowing that there is something sinister happening, she begs Hope’s parents to leave the state before they get pulled into the same scenario that she had to fight off six months ago.

On Jessica’s other life front, she is picking up odd jobs from Jeri Hogarth, a lawyer who needs some additional help on the hard cases.  Being able to deliver summons and find the dirt on anyone is Jessica’s strong suit and she always delivers.  But the jobs never end and when she is out of booze and cannot sleep, Jessica takes to the New York streets to find out what the filth around the city is up to.  She gets called out by a dive bar owner for her actions and Luke Cage is no joke when it comes to getting what he wants.  Hooking up, Jessica finds a picture of someone from Luke’s past and has to leave after a fun night, breaking his door as she always does when she is frazzled.  Tough nights with booze, investigations and now a blast from the past, Jessica is forced to relive some of the torments that she has had to face and needs to find a way to forget them once and for all.

This is a great opening to the series and although you don’t get to know too much about Jessica Jones just yet, there are seeds being planted that will come into play later.  With her new friend Luke Cage, Jessica does not know where the relationship will go, but she does know he is keeping his secrets and will be a tough nut to crack.  When finding Hope Shlottman, her memories of dealing with Kilgrave come front and center and even though you do not see what he has done to her, you will surely be seeing him more often.  There is also a relationship with Trish Walker, who runs a talk show that gives you a little bit of insight of what the two women meant to each other in the past and when Jessica tries to run, Trish calls her out on what she is running from.  I cannot wait to see what happens next and get a little bit more insight as to who Jessica is and what she is running from, besides, this episode has one of the finest endings I have seen in a long time. 

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