Jessica Jones / Sorry Face

 Imagine you actually stop Sallinger, a serial killer, finding him after the discovery of seven victims in severed body parts in a train car but he will be set to walk because his DNA is nowhere to be found on any of the evidence. He's very good at making sure no ties to him are linked to his victims. Sallinger holds Erik hostage at an old restaurant where someone he planned to murder--a "shitty chef", a fraud gourmet cook, a "cheater"--once worked, prepping to take his "death picture" as a trophy. He considers Erik unworthy of his "gift", his abilities as an empath. I liked how Trish described Erik as a "mood ring". He gets really sick around people whose souls are black, whose behavior is evil. Sallinger just touching Erik causes him intense pain. When Sallinger grips Erik with both black-gloved hands, this causes him to scream and bleed from his eyes. This kind of evil just exhausts Erik, zapping him of any strength. Even when Erik breaks from the tape wrapped around his wrists, he isn't strong enough to fight off Sallinger, much less escape. But Jessica is a damn good private detective. She convinced Detective Costa (John Ventimiglia) to give her the names of the victims so she could figure out who the eighth face was of Sallinger's list of face pics. She locates that eighth face...alive. He's a chef that thought Sallinger was a kinky gay man into binding guys, to secure control of them and have his way with them. The chef is lucky to be alive. He kisses Sallinger and that so freaks him out, Sallinger just rushes off. The old restaurant is where Sallinger holds Erik. 

The episode furthers the dynamic of Jessica and Trish. Jessica wants Trish to give up the "superhero life", but even an emotionally potent talk with Dorothy fails to go anywhere. Trish does unleash on Dorothy about the life of a child/teen star, the past where she was "pimped" off to maintain her career, wanting to be a hero little girls could look up to. Dorothy's gig for Trish involving the fashion cable show gave her one last chance to enjoy a partnership with her daughter. Dorothy walks away hurt that Trish finds her at fault for a lot of past trauma. DeMornay knocks it out of the park...despite some serious moral issues with how she handled her daughter's career, DeMornay still is able to make Dorothy sympathetic to a certain degree. Despite Trish being a profitable figure to her, Dorothy saw this partnership as a way for mother and daughter to remain close. It is warped considering what Trish went through, though, with power figures in the industry wanting their own "payment" for her stardom. Having an issue with Dorothy is understandable, for sure.

Erik's pain is very much a major part of the episode's power. Sallinger is so evil, Erik's body reacts with great agony. Sallinger even takes portraits of Erik's face after his eyes bleed. Sallinger does believe he's in the right and that Erik, Jessica, and Trish are undeserved of their powers. They are cheaters who deserve to perish. Sallinger sees himself as the weapon to dispose of them, to be the hero. That he causes Erik's eyes to bleed is enough proof that Sallinger is anything but a hero. Erik tells his "aspirin", Jessica, who lays down with him, that Sallinger considers them "pain to his power". 

With Erik a blackmailer who would at least need to go away to prison for a year, Jessica could only get Sallinger for kidnapping charges. Detective Costa holds Sallinger on trespassing, but that would only hold him for 24 hours. Erik knows that there is no way he could go to prison where there would be so much evil around him, his condition just couldn't take it. Being a human mood barometer that is repelled by evil is not exactly a gift; for Erik, going to prison would be a death sentence.

Trish just can't allow Sallinger to get away. As she walks away from Jessica, I think any viewer recognizes that she would go the extra mile to make sure someone as evil as Sallinger couldn't just walk. Jessica makes it a mission to do everything right, by the book. But Detective Costa tells her that there just isn't evidence available that would keep him locked up. That hopelessness is felt. You can just see how defeating it is to be Jessica and Costa. They want to do what's right, but the evidence isn't there. Sallinger is very smart.

Jeri and her team go to work to keep all their clients, but a partner from her past drops a bombshell...she is going to lose 2/3rds of her clients. So how can she survive? When Jessica goes to her with a question about Erik and how to stop Sallinger, a serial killer who left behind bodies in a train car, it does seem to inspire something in Jeri. She asks her assistant to give her all the information available about the victims found at the train car. I'm anxious to see where this goes. 4/5

***Malcolm getting some revenge on the pimp of Erik's sister cracked me up. He just pounds and pounds on that creep. The guy's name is Gor and Malcolm just unloads on them. Malcolm has that shiner, but Gor sure gets it much worse. Erik's sister taking an interest to Malcolm obviously makes me uneasy because he has a love interest off trying to help Jeri keep her clients at the firm.***