Marvel’s Jessica Jones Episode 2 Recap: AKA Crush Syndrome

Episode two of Marvel’s Jessica Jones, “AKA Crush Syndrome,” picks up right where the first episode left off. Jones is dealing with the backlash from Hope murdering her parents in her elevator. After deflecting some of the attention away from her with the police, she has to go try and smooth things over with Luke Cage after the police find photos of him in her office.

A brief but heated run-in with Cage is followed up by a powerful scene where Jones meets with Hope in jail. Hope gives up details of their “relationship” and that Kilgrave plans to torment and torture Jones for leaving him to die after his accident. We get some details of the accident during the episode where Kilgrave is hit by a bus while pursuing her.

Then we get to see where Jones’ heart is. Trish Walker shows up, clearly concerned about Jones, and they have a brief exchange. It is clear there is a past here between them and those wounds are not closed. Walker offers to have Jones come live with her, but Jones says that she’s can’t put her at risk and lose her.

After a scene where Cage dismisses the married woman he’s been sleeping with and Jones quiets her noisy upstairs neighbors through her usual brand of intimidation and threats, she makes her way to the hospital where Kilgrave was taken after the accident. She finds some relevant info from that night, but no mention of Kilgrave being treated at the hospital at all.

More from TV

It’s clear that Jones has all the subtlety of a runaway train. I’m okay with this heavy-handed approach, so long as the writers continue to balance it with more scenes that use her wit and charm. She’s an easy character to get on board with either way, thanks to Ritter.

Jones continues to dig and finds that one of the ambulance drivers that worked the accident went missing for a time, and Jones easily puts it together that this is what happened with Kilgrave. She goes to his home to find him living with his mother, suffering the effects of a severe stroke.

Apparently, he donated both of his kidneys to Kilgrave upon his orders. He asks Jones to kill him by scribbling it down on a notepad, she declines, and she quickly photographs the dialysis machine that was “donated” to him to hopefully pick up the trail of Kilgrave before leaving.

Then we get the first big fight of the series, and it is awesome. Jones finds out that the husband of the married woman Cage was sleeping with was on his way to the bar with his rugby team to work Cage over. Jones heads there to try and help, and we get to see Cage’s powers on screen. he and Jones work these guys over with minimal effort, and essentially out themselves to each other. However, neither pursue it at this time, but you can just envision the upcoming episodes with these two taking down bad guys together.

Jones continues to investigate, and tracks the dialysis machine to a former brilliant transplant doctor now teaching at a university. She sneaks into his class, but he recognizes her and makes a run for it. When she catches him, the doctor reveals that he was under Kilgrave’s influence and he did the double transplant and is now in hiding. He also reveals that he did without general anesthetic at Kilgrave’s request, and Jones puts it together that Kilgrave’s weakness in his powers lies in the chemicals in the anesthetic.

This information convinces Hogarth to take Hope’s case. We then get to see the softer side of Jones again for a moment as she gets back to her office and finds the new window for her door that Walker made, and she calls her. Jones tries to make plans, but when a drop of blood falls from her nose into a glass of water, she takes a raincheck. We see Walker head to a training room where she’s practicing how to disarm a gunman.

Next up is our first real taste of Kilgrave. He casually enters an apartment and takes control of the family with nothing more than his words. He has the kids go into the closet, so he has to neither see or hear them, and the parent are preparing him a meal. We still don’t get a clear look at his face, but he is definitely more than just her imagination. After that little bombshell, we get to see Jones and Cage together again, and the episode closes with Cage confronting her about her strength. She tries to play it off, that he can’t handle it, but then he shows her by way of a power saw to the abs, that he is, as he puts it, “unbreakable.”

Next: Jessica Jones Episode 1 Recap: AKA Ladies Night

So far so good for the latest Netflix offering. This is a perfect follow-up episode to such a frenetic (in a good way) pilot. You can tell the writers have taken hints from other successful shows like this in their style. Bringing in a cast of characters around Jones, at least one with gifts, and you see the team blueprint coming into shape. With a central big bad and the weekly branching dust-ups, it is textbook. Add in the dark, more mature theme and things are looking great for this series.

Home/TV

Marvel’s Jessica Jones Episode 2 Recap And Review: AKA Crush Syndrome

By Curt Popejoy | Nov 20, 2015