Jessica Jones season 2 episode 3 review: AKA Sole Survivor

Jessica and Jeri both question what it means to be alive, Trish’s love bubble pops, and Janet McTeer joins the cast in a melancholy Jessica Jones.

Let’s get the housekeeping stuff out of the way first: Why is Jessica Jones wasting our time on Trish and Griffin’s Doomed Love?

Three episodes in and the only thing I can retain about Griffin as a character is that he’s a handsome man with an accent. Oh, and that’s he’s “an actual decent human being,” per Jessica’s off-the-books sleuthing. The series apparently wants us to feel something when Griffin worries about Trish’s safety, and Trish asks him to stay away for his own protection while she and Jess look into IGH.

Well, I don’t.

The only reaction their B-list celebrity romance sparks in me is boredom. Especially since Trish and Malcolm have more chemistry in their phone conversations than Trish and Griffin have in person. Plus, Griffin is clearly up to something. At best, he’s trying to steal Trish’s IGH story; at worst, he’s an IGH crony. (Again, he’s boring, so I’m leaning towards the former.)

Now that that’s taken care of, we can focus on the emotional heart of AKA Sole Survivor. For different reasons, Jessica and Jeri are both struggling to comprehend life, the actual state of being alive.

Jessica is racked with guilt and anger because she is her family’s sole survivor. IGH literally brought her back to life after the car crash, but she isn’t sure if it was worth it. She’s not dead but her life has not really been her own. She’s been IGH’s guinea pig and Kilgrave’s bodyguard, not to mention has endured constant grief and survivor’s remorse ever since her parents and brother died.

While Jessica wonders if she would have been better off dead, Jeri is realizing that her life is pretty empty. We finally learn what is ailing Jeri in this episode: ALS. She’s not showing symptoms yet, but knows her future is “a horror show.”

Jeri’s also refusing to be bought out by her firm, despite the medical disclosure clause in her contract. She turns to Jessica for help blackmailing her law partners into letting her stay. The scene between the two is an incredibly poignant one, especially when Jeri confesses why her job is so important to her, even as she’s facing her own mortality:

"I’ve spent my whole life amassing this power and control, thinking somehow it would protect me … I’m alone. I’m estranged from my family. All I have are my clients, my firm and the respect of my colleagues. The only thing I will leave behind is my name on that door."

So instead of leaving her job and using her wealth to live life to the fullest before her time runs out, Jeri is hellbent on staying at the firm because she fears it’s the only thing that will keep her going.

Since there are such strong parallels between Jeri and Jessica’s stories in AKA Sole Survivor, I have a hunch Jeri will eventually cross paths with the woman posing as Dr. Leslie Hansen (Janet McTeer). We don’t know who McTeer’s character actually is yet, but we do know that she has at least the same powers as Jessica — super-strength and the ability to jump very high — and is a staunch defender of IGH’s methods.

The real Dr. Hansen was an ER doctor at Metro General who provided patients to IGH. She chooses people without families or loved ones, like Jessica and Simpson, ones who wouldn’t be missed if the experiments went bad.

Whoever McTeer’s Fake Dr. Hansen actually is, she’s unapologetic about IGH: the way she sees it, alive always beats dead, no exceptions. This sounds insane to someone like Jessica, who had destructive “abilities” forced upon her. Yet, I bet it would seem fairly reasonable to someone like Jeri, who is desperate to live and has nothing to lose.

Next: Jessica Jones S2E2 recap: AKA Freak Accident

Misc.

• Oscar also informs Jessica she will be evicted in 30 days in AKA Sole Survivor. She finds dirt on him so she can stay. Turns out he went to prison for forgery and is on probation — not that that is deterring him from kicking Jess out. He still doesn’t like her superpowers. She still doesn’t like his attitude. They’re destined to hook up by episode 10.
• Malcolm: “Next time you plan to objectify me, at least tell me first.” Jessica: “That’s not really how objectification works.”
• Trish’s quid pro quo relationship with Maury from the morgue gave me major Pushing Daisies nostalgia.
• This time in Jessica Jones‘ Marvel references:
  • Oscar’s son, Vido, shows off his Captain America action figure to Jessica.
  • Jessica describes Trish’s planned rendezvous with Fake Dr. Hansen as very “cloak-and-dagger.”
  • “Jessica might not want a sidekick but tonight she needs one.” — Trish, possibly foreshadowing her Hellcat destiny?