Jessica Jones - I Want Your Cray Cray

 

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Alisa describes herself as a “botched experiment” when providing back story to her daughter, Jessica Jones, regarding Karl’s “cutting edge genetic cell technology, genetic editing”, successful in mostly healing her near dead body which had bone and tissue damage (we see her badly burned face before the five years needed to improve her appearance and cure a lot of her structural damage) with some “side effects”. Alisa is prone to outburst, becoming unhinged, violent, and when set off (with very little to trigger her rage) can lift you off your feet with ease, snap your neck with no trouble, and bash your head into a wall with very little effort resulting in brain and skull spattered on brick wall. In Facetime, Jessica had arrived at a house, located her mom, and didn’t realize (perhaps she should have) Dr. Karl from behind her with a sedative.

The back story features Jessica during a brief stint in college, in a club trying to sooth her misery with bourbon while Trish celebrates with friends (“leeches” who “mooch” off her celebrity through club-hopping, drugs, and booze) a popular music video and song (hence, the horrible title of this episode). Trish’s mom, (Rebecca De Mornay), has been ex-communicated from her daughter but, (as expected), is around the club to see how things are (and tell anyone who will listen that she’s Trish’s mom as Jessica scoffs at her gall). Dorothy (De Mornay) does meet Alisa—who escapes from the IGH facility having killed one of the nurses by breaking her neck, twisting it almost completely around, while injuring Inez by hurling her into a glass cabinet, leaving her in a heap on the floor with shards protruding from her back—without realizing she’s Jessica’s mom, told by her that she is a math teacher needing to reconnect with a former student. Alisa does follow her from a live-in boyfriend’s apartment—Sterling, a bartender Jessica meets at Trish’s club—to a bar, remaining at a slight distance as to not get too close too soon. Alisa realizes that Sterling—who owed money borrowed from hoods looking to collect, looking to start his own club called Alias (get it, Alias Investigations…)—has capitalized on Jessica’s incredible strength through various means. Jessica’s iconic leather jacket was stolen from a store window as we see in this episode for the first time and for a time she broke into ATM machines to supplement her lifestyle (and Sterling’s). Trish, succumbing to addiction to the point that she was about to give a flashy dealer a blow job in order to secure more junk, is bad need of rehab, as Jessica tries to keep her from falling too far. Jessica, though, is offended by Trish’s accusations that if it wasn’t for her wealth, JJ wouldn’t be able to go to college or function at all independently. So the two split for a while, ultimately reuniting after Jessica makes sure the dealer (pressing his face against the bathroom mirror) understands who is boss, with a conversation on top of a roof overlooking the city allows them to set aside their differences. Despite everything they often go through, no matter what, they are sisters (adoption might have brought them together but they are sisters through and through), always looking out for each other. That is a series constant: Jessica and Trish back each other up and love one another. Jessica can get angry, storm off (and vice versa for Trish), but she always returns because Trish is her family. When Jessica hugs Sterling’s neck after she pummels the thugs rushing into his crib looking for their cash (and interest), telling him he’s her family…Alisa murdering him (with the thugs arrested for the crime because they were last seen following him into the alley from the bar) was devastating to Jessica…you truly sense that he was very important to her. So with Sterling’s demise, we see why Jessica is so hesitant and resistant towards any new romantic relationship. And why Jessica is so protective of Trish, as well, stems from the loss of her parents and brother, and Sterling taken from her so soon, ruining real happiness (why is it so fleeting? This is part of Jessica’s tragic life). Alisa, realizing she’s a monster who simply can’t control herself, returns to Karl, humbled by seeing her daughter clutching the limp, dead body of Sterling, screaming for help, in hysterics. When Jessica slaps Alisa across a table, mommy understands all too well that her baby girl isn’t so easy to forgive her for Sterling’s death. Others took the wrap but Jessica isn’t about to just accept Alisa’s apology for the loss of Sterling…that hurt and the wound certainly hasn’t healed.

We see how soft and tender Karl is with Alisa, trying to use calm and gentleness with her, often unsuccessful because the experimentation created the fragile nerves and easily frazzled mental state making his breakthrough a dangerous weapon that can go off with very little provocation. Karl seems to care a lot about her, willing to take her back while the other staff members flee upon seeing her (and rightfully so!).

Good episode that offers some details previously unknown to us. It adds to the Trish/Jessica dynamic, provides insight into Alisa's story after the car wreck, and tackles the issue of Jessica's reticence towards embracing emotional connection beyond just cheap sex. Luke Cage was her first real attempt to sort of try again and we see how that went...