Jessica Jones - I Did Something Today

Jessica listens to Erik's "do-good" story

 I do walk around in my house and while working from home wear my Jessica Jones shirt proudly for episodes such as "I Did Something Today" where Krysten Ritter really lets us see her character's real weight on whether or not she can afford to lose one of the last remaining people in her life or dare remove key evidence (hairs found on a murdered boy's body that would implicate Sallinger finally) in order to make sure Sallinger doesn't release a picture of Trish in his home assaulting him. Jessica knows that Trish would not fare well in the "prison for supers". And losing Trish to that prison, with few remaining friends or loved ones in her life, seems a far greater loss than finally seeing serial killer, Sallinger, get away yet again. This episode has some big developments that seem to show unfortunate trajectories for almost all its characters, with Trish certainly on a bad path. So, a bug up Geri's ass is who that masked vigilante (Trish) is and why Malcolm, an employee of hers, would let that thief just take sensitive information out of the office. Well, Geri realizes a computer screen might just capture the face of the vigilante...and, sure enough, that face reveals Trish. So Geri has the one responsible for nearly killing her client. So will Geri pursue Trish and reveal her identity to the police? 

Jessica and the bitter pill for Trish

Jessica actually removing the hairs from the police department is the great Catch-22 predicament and moral quandary that plagues her in the episode. Jessica was the one who figured out the means to discover evidence against Sallinger and because of Trish's rage, properly fueled by Sallinger's torture and murder of her mother, Dorothy, she is ensnared in a difficult problem. So does Jessica allow Sallinger to implicate Trish or rescue a serial killer certain to kill someone else? Ritter's work cannot be understated. I have noticed a lot of critics consider the third season a major disappointment. I don't, obviously. Because Sallinger uses human nature against those who oppose him -- supers with superior powers than him -- he's an adversary willing to expose potent emotional response due to horrors he's willing to commit. Sallinger brutalized Dorothy, leaving her bloody and violent corpse for her loved ones to find. Sallinger knew Trish would respond violently. And because he knew Trish would respond, he had a photographic trap set up to snare her. He needed those hairs removed from police custody...and played on Jessica's love for Trish. While Sallinger just can't measure up to Kilgrave (let's be honest, who can?), he still has been responsible for making the lives of this show's cast a living hell. Sallinger drove a further wedge between Jessica and Geri by hiring Geri (who was desperate for a high profile case), capitalized on Trish's obsession with being a force of good in her city and desire to use violence if necessary to right wrongs often thwarted by the frailty of the process of law, and using Jessica's love for Trish to his own advantage. Jessica, no doubt, has been a big thorn in Sallinger's ass.

Look, like a lot of others I think Jessica and Luke Cage were KAPOW together, but that wasn't the direction the show's team went. Is Erik the ideal mate for Jessica? He has his flaws but I've seen Jessica smile and actually show affection to someone, actual romantic feelings. And as someone who avidly loves the character, believing she deserves some actual happiness, it was nice to see Jessica not completely and totally miserable. I LOVE her grit, fight, sarcasm, attitude, and clear desire to do some good, even if she self-mutilates herself because she feels she doesn't deserve happiness and actual good things happening to her. But there are people in Jessica's life who want her to be happy. Erik does, so I can't dislike the guy. In fact, he brings up a use of his nauseating power, that causes him actual physical illness, in regards to revealing his father's molestation of his sister...how doing so didn't bring about the results you'd think such good will might. The sister didn't want that secret out (long term molestation) and the mother overdosed on pills. Sure the father is taken away and paid for what he did...but at the cost, Erik couldn't feel any satisfaction. This was a father he looked up to that did this horrible thing. So if he could help Jessica in her quest to protect Trish, even as Sallinger might get out of a deserved arrest and conviction, Erik was willing to do so.

Det Costa is taken off the case due to "missing evidence"

A cop named Nussbaumer (Larry Mitchell) is very dirty. Erik has been blackmailing him. Erik realizes Nussbaumer is up to his old tricks and is even worse. Erik uses Nussbaumer to get Jessica a badge so she can get into the police department, dick around with the sewer main so shit would pollute a certain evidence lab, and remove the hairs. Obviously, Trish isn't happy at all with Jessica's actions, but Jessica makes the point that she can't lose her friend. It's a mess. Trish seeing her mother's body sure doesn't make the situation any better, knowing that Jessica removed the hair that would have imprisoned Sallinger. So imagine the jollies a serial killer like Sallinger got from getting away with the murder of the mother of the person who badly assaulted you. Scot-free. 

At the end of the episode, you have detectives visiting Jessica's apartment, wanting to question her about the death of a cop...Nussbaumer. Did Erik kill him? Just when Jessica tries to salvage one or two difficult situations, others emerge. Protecting Trish has become such a pain Jessica can't seem to stay ahead of. With Geri now aware of Trish's handiwork, Nussbaumer dead possibly by a man she has romantic feelings for, Sallinger free of the hair evidence that would have sent him to prison, Dorothy's death, and Trish's unpredictable behavior; Jessica has a lot on her plate. It just doesn't get any easier no matter how hard Jessica tries. So when critics take issue with the season, I look at this deck stacked against the heroine...Jessica has a lot to work through. And I didn't even bring up Geri's work to get Kith back, convincing her to be her attorney on a major financially stressful case involving a man named Demetri Patseras. Nor Malcolm's issues with Geri about Zaya and the masked vigilante. 4/5