Jessica Jones S02E05 Review: Engagement Party

Jessica Jones, Season 2, Episode 5: AKA The Octopus

A lot of my criticism towards the earlier episodes of Jessica Jones' second season is just how slow-paced everything is. And I get it -- every episode is just one leg in the investigative machine that is Jessica Jones's attempt to find out the mysteries surrounding IGH. And it's the journey, not the destination. I get that. But at the same time, you get an episode like this fifth one... and there's really nothing wrong about it. There's no real part where I can just point my finger and go "no, this sucks", because while watching the episode, everything tends to engage, but also feel somewhat detached at the same time. 

Most of the investigation on Jessica's end just takes her from point A to point B. Last episode she was hunting down a nurse involved with IGH, and she found it. Now after the brief moment of being locked down in the police precinct, she goes to investigate another nurse that was killed -- or rather, the mental patient that is serving time in place of the real killer, the woman with super-strength. There's a conscious effort to give Jessica a bit of a mini-character-arc in each of this episodes, and this episode is about her being nice and stop alienating everyone else, as Hogarth noted to her. So Jessica tries to be polite -- particularly to Malcolm, which is a hilarious exchange. She ends up smiling and not bashing Pryce Chang's face in, she tells the police most of everything she knows, she helps out the nice detective Costa who is one of the few NYPD members to remember Jessica's contribution against Killgrave, and she even held her tongue despite her obvious displeasure at the manipulation needed to 'pressure' Trish into accepting Griffin's engagement ring. Part of it is because of Jessica's own conscious attempts to not become like the Killer, and Jessica notes the similarities between the two of them. It's neat, and I do like how she's sort of rewarded at the end of this because her nicer attempts at trying to connect with the mental patient ends up giving her a lead. It's just that... it's really not enough to fill in an entire 50-minute episode. 

We've got a bunch of lesser plotlines, yes. Like the aforementioned Trish wedding, where her horrible, horrible mother keeps being the sort of horrible for-your-own-good piece of filth abusive parent. The writing doesn't pull any punches in making Trish's mother belt out one of her domineering "you don't know goodness when you see it!" Admittedly, part of the problem is perhapts with Griffin and his own self-professed "I'm trying to pressure you" engagement party by inviting everyone over... but at the same time, Trish is feeling the after-effects of Samson's superhero steroid inhalers, although clearly there's a lot of pent-up resentment between Trish and her mother. Not the most invested person in the Trish/Griffin romance -- mostly because, like Trish, I was sort of disappointed that we're led with false pretenses where Griffin is concerned. Of course he's not a supervillain or whatever, he's just rooting through Trish's contacts for her family and friends. 

Malcolm, meanwhile, is a helpful little bee as he has finally earned a bit of Jessica's respect, although he ends up playing babysitter to the TV-stealing Inez Green. I do like the neat bit of acting from Krysten Ritter where she's clearly pleased at everything Malcolm did -- even gave her a bar that's not in her desk -- but can't bring herself to really admit it. Malcolm did get a promotion, so everything's looking up for him! Meanwhile, Hogarth, while posing as an ally for Jessica, tries to get everything she can about IGH from Inez. Okay? As I mentioned before, Hogarth's storyline isn't the best. We get check-ins with Oscar, who helps Jessica to forge her fake doctor ID, and Pryce Cheng shows up just to menace Jessica a bit before being told to fuck off. 

As for our antagonist, we get our first long dedicated scene with the Killer. Apparently she hates crying babies, and spends her time in a random suburban house playing piano, and then smashing it apart with her super-strength when her temper gets the better of her. Okaaaay? So she's anti-social like Jessica, but a lot less restrained? Eh. I didn't believe it warranted as long of a scene as it did -- at this point in the first season, Killgrave's mannerisms, role in Jessica's past and his sliminess were already pinned down. We did get to find her hanging out with one Dr. Karl, the scientist that likes to see the octopus with the mental patient lead, who Jessica remembers from her flashbacks. Of course, The Killer smashes the aquarium walls as she and Dr. Karl escapes, leading to the cliffhanger (which really means nothing, since it's a Netflix series) of Jessica having to save people. 

Overall, it's an episode that, while it tries to give Jessica a running theme, feels so much like just a middle pit stop in a season. And I guess Netflix series do get a looser leeway since they're meant to be enjoyed as a long season, but it does make my review of this episode more ambivalent than positive. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Birch Psychiatric was last seen in the Marvel-Netflix universe in Iron Fist, where Danny Rand was sent earlier in the season. 
• Karl Malus is a mad scientist villain n the Marvel comics, originally a Spider-Woman villain who made a career of creating monster-like supervillains. This version of Karl Malus doesn't really have much in common, as I gather, with his comic counterpart.