Jessica Jones season 2 episode 7 review: AKA I Want Your Cray Cray

The killer reveals her origin story and Jessica Jones looks back on a pivotal relationship in season 2’s best episode yet.

Jessica Jones is not her mother.

There are similarities between Jessica and her mother, Alisa, as emphasized in AKA God Help the Hobo. They are both incredibly strong and struggle with anger management. The difference is that Jessica never fully dissociates when she experiences fury; she recognizes when she’s crossing the line.

When Alisa becomes enraged, her super strong body goes on destructive autopilot. Basically, the distinction between the two Joneses comes down to control. Jess more or less always has it, and Alisa doesn’t.

Jessica learns as much when Alisa tells her story in AKA I Want Your Cray Cray, the events of which mostly take place pre-Kilgrave. The ep’s final moments cut back to the present but its vast majority is set in a time when Jessica was younger and happier, and Alisa was being rebuilt after the catastrophic effects of the car crash.

It’s no secret that I love flashback episodes, but even without my bias this is one well-done hour of television.

Much of the episode serves as a tension-building waiting game. We know Jessica and Alisa are going to cross paths at some point, and we know it’s probably not going to be the cathartic reunion Alisa wants so badly.

AKA I Want Your Cray Cray wastes no time in unveiling Alisa as the monster Jessica remembers from IGH. The car wreck left her severely burned and injured, and Dr. Karl was only able to save her by using genetic editing. Karl calls his work and Alisa’s recovery “revolutionary,” but her quality of life is anything but. Alisa is poked and prodded, experiences terrible mood swings, and is sedated whenever the nurses or Karl think she’s over excited. Five years go by before Alisa is even updated about her kids and husband.

So, you can empathize with Alisa when she gets fed up with Karl and his reassuring-bordering-on-paternalistic platitudes. When she learns she was legally pronounced dead and Jessica was adopted by another family, Alisa hoards her meds and escapes, snapping Luanne’s neck and nearly killing Inez in the process.

Jessica meanwhile is busy going to and dropping out of college, temporarily breaking with Trish, and falling in love with Stirling. He had her when he compared Dorothy to a snake.

It’s disarming to see Jessica enthusiastic about anything, let alone enthusiastic about a guy, but I think Jessica Jones made a smart move with this plot detail. It highlights the damage Kilgrave did. Before he came into Jessica’s life, she was a completely different person. She was sarcastic in an April Ludgate kind of way, not universally alienating; a little socially awkward, not in self-imposed exile; and drank socially, not as a way to get through the day.

Jess was also capable of needing another person in a way we haven’t seen before. She doesn’t just love Stirling in AKA I Want Your Cray Cray. She believes in him and his clichéd dreams, trusts him enough to share her secrets and past, and wants to help him however she can. It’s sweet, yet tragic. It’s lovely to see Jessica content — but we know it doesn’t last.

Even if Stirling hadn’t met such a tragic end at Alisa’s hands, it’s likely his and Jessica’s relationship would have imploded due to his sketchy business dealings and possible willingness to capitalize on her powers and connection to Trish. But since it didn’t implode, and he died while the two were still in the honeymoon phase, Jess has idealized him and her love for him over the intervening years.

Suddenly her post-coital coolness with Oscar makes more sense. She’s not afraid of being physically intimate with men, but emotional intimacy is another story. That unfortunately reminds her of Stirling and what she had with him.

Honestly, I think the novelty of seeing the Jessica Jones who could have been is the reason I enjoyed this episode so much. Before Kilgrave, before Alisa, Jessica was getting on with her life.

She obviously was still very much affected by her family’s death, hence her refusal to tell Stirling her middle, which is also her mother’s maiden name. But Jessica wasn’t broken, not by a long shot. If Past Jessica had been given the chance to see her mother again, I’m sure she would have leapt at it. But the hard truth is Jess’ life probably would have turned out better if Alisa hadn’t returned.

Next: Jessica Jones S2E6 recap: AKA Facetime

Misc.

• That being said, there’s plenty about Stirling and his connection with Jessica that isn’t on the up and up. I think he truly does care about her, but he seems a bit too impressed with her shoplifting, ATM-cracking, and bully-scaring skills.
• Dr. Karl’s ponytail is a travesty.
• Luanne might have stood a better chance at surviving if she hadn’t referred to Alisa as “this barracuda.”
• This time in Jessica Jones’ possible Marvel references: “I can handle a little venom.” — Stirling, talking about Dorothy.
• The ep’s title comes from Trish’s hit single “I Want Your Cray Cray.” I really don’t know what’s more obnoxious, the name or the song itself.
• Further proof that Jessica Jones is my Marvel avatar: “Anything after midnight is considered a snack.”
• Alisa on Dr. Karl’s cutting-edge “procedures”: “Experiments. Let’s call a spade a spade.” Guess we know where Jessica gets her lie detector from.
• Open questions: Who is the boy who cures Inez? How does Dr. Karl reconcile his saint complex with framing Dave for Luanne’s murder? Did Alisa recognize Jessica in AKA Sole Survivor? If so, did she hurt Jess on purpose?