Jessica Jones season 2 episode 11 review: AKA Three Lives and Counting

Kilgrave returns to mess with Jessica’s head once more, and to inject some much-needed energy into Jessica Jones’ sophomore season.

By the end of “AKA Three Lives and Counting” Jessica Jones and her core family — Trish, Malcolm and Alisa — have more or less all gone their separate ways. Jess has tenuously convinced herself she’s not a killer. Trish is in the hospital fighting for her life and apparently well on her way to becoming Hellcat, thanks to Dr. Karl. Malcolm, sick of Jess’ mood swings and angry that she’s blaming him for Trish’s predicament, finally quits Alias. And Alisa squanders the goodwill she’s earned from an empathetic female guard and breaks out of her cell once she learns Karl has died.

At the center of it all is Kilgrave, whom Jessica hallucinates after killing Dale. Death has not changed the season 1 villain’s amorality, nor has it affected his sick sense of humor or fashion sense. Obviously, he’s the best part of the episode.

The Kilgrave of “AKA Three Lives and Counting” is a projection, so everything he says is a manifestation of Jessica’s conscience and inner monologue. Therefore, his insights actually do a lot more damage because they are coming from Jessica herself. Jess is contending with huge amounts of guilt, anger, terror, rationalization, and self-preservation throughout the ep — conjuring up Kilgrave 2.0 is how she sorts through it all.

Sometimes he’s the devil on Jessica’s shoulder and other times he’s a stand-in for everything Jess hates in the world (such as when he sings Trish’s “I Want Your Cray Cray”). He’s also a mouthpiece for all of Jessica’s insecurities and self-loathing.

Did I mention he’s as funny as ever? Don’t get me wrong: Kilgrave is a deplorable person and one of Marvel’s few actually terrifying villains. It’s just that David Tennant brings such glee, extravagance and wit to the role — Kilgrave is one of Jessica Jones‘ most dynamic characters. I didn’t need the line, “[Trish]’ll look better than you in tights,” but I’m sure glad it’s in my life.

More than anything, Kilgrave’s presence suggests that he will always affect Jessica’s life in some way. He’s taunting her when he declares, “I’m inside you forever,” but he’s not wrong. As much as Jess would like to forget Kilgrave completely, he fundamentally changed her. You just have to watch “AKA I Want Your Cray Cray” to see that. For all of Jessica Jones‘ false starts this season, the way it portrays trauma and recovery still hasn’t missed a step. Jess’ abuser is dead, but she’ll never truly be rid of him.

If only Trish had Jessica’s self-awareness. While the latter is able to call herself out on her own nonsense (via Kilgrave, at least), the former is as addicted to her own self-pity as she is to controlled substances. Trish tracks Karl down not to bring him to justice but to convince him to save his legacy by performing one of his highly dangerous experiments on her. She says she wants to help people like Jessica does, but I just don’t think that’s true. Jess made lemonade out of lemons, or is trying to. Trish is just demanding lemonade, the kind that could kill her.

Karl’s last experiment goes off the rails, of course, and Jess shuts it down, but not before Trish’s organs start to fail. This — and Jessica’s decision not to kill him — is apparently Karl’s wake-up call: he realizes that, no matter his good intentions, his experiments are destructive and ill-conceived.  Their benefits do not outweigh their costs. Even with Alisa’s support and encouragement, Karl can’t keep up the delusion that he’s a hero anymore. He’s just a friendly, arrogant idiot.

Jessica gets Trish out of the IGH clinic and Karl blows up the place, his research and himself. Jess didn’t murder him, but she still feels partially responsible, thanks to Kilgrave. Three lives and counting.

Next: Jessica Jones S2E10 recap: AKA Pork Chop

Misc.

• Thanks to the new guard’s decency, Alisa is able to watch TV occasionally. She sees the news coverage of Karl’s death, and assumes Trish is responsible. It seems Jess will have to pick between her mother and her sister before season’s end.
• Alisa: “Jessica was the one who turned me in.” Jessica: “Norman Rockwell didn’t paint that one.”
• Kilgrave’s dating profile for Jessica: “You can be JJ. 5’9″, athletic. Enjoys leather in all seasons, justifiable homicide and long walks on the beach to dump the body.”
• Jessica’s dating profile for Kilgrave: “And you could be KK. Bony, translucent Brit. Enjoys rape. Also, dead.”
• Other villains/morally ambiguous characters who remind me of Kilgrave: Harry Potter‘s Snape, Thor‘s Loki, Black Panther‘s Erik Killmonger and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Spike.
• The flashback scene between Alisa and Karl is lovely. Their power dynamic is extremely troubling, but there’s clearly real love between them.
• The ocean always puts me in a better mood, too, Alisa.