Saturday, July 2, 2016

Jessica Jones Recap: "AKA Take a Bloody Number" (1x12)

Trigger warning: This show is rated TV-M because it deals with realistic portrayals of sex, abuse, violence, swearing, and PTSD. Be warned before reading this recap or watching this show. 


This episode begins with a bang--quite literally--as Luke's bar explodes. Jessica and Luke discuss that Kilgrave commanded Luke to blow up both himself and his bar--and to make sure Jessica saw it. We flash back to two days ago, the day Hope Shlottman died. Luke had followed Jessica to the restaurant, and instead of seeing her, he met Kilgrave.

Kilgrave: "Tell me what you want. Quickly!"
Luke: "To kill you."
Kilgrave: "Well take a bloody number."

Kilgrave commands Luke to get in his car with him. Once in the car, Kilgrave deflects the blame for Reva's death, and Luke reveals that he and Jessica were lovers. (Why would Luke tell him that?) Kilgrave asks Luke if Luke messed up his chances with Jessica.

Luke: "No. You screwed that up yourself."


In the present, Luke grieves over the loss of his bar since that was the only tangible thing he had left of his wife. Luke says Kilgrave doesn't know about his unbreakable skin and thus, Kilgrave thinks he's dead. As a police car pulls up, Luke starts to flee the scene, saying that the police won't know he was connected since Reva didn't put his name on any of the paperwork. (Sounds like a weird thing for Reva to do, but okay.) Luke says he doesn't know where he's going, and Jessica hops on the motorcycle with him, taking him to her apartment, which is still trashed from the fiasco with Simpson.

Jessica: "Sorry about the mess."
Luke: "At least it's not on fire."
Jessica: "Guess we're both lousy renters."
Luke: "Do I need to know what happened here?"
Jessica: "Nope."

Luke wishes he had believed Jessica more about how dangerous Kilgrave was, but Jessica says she wasn't trustworthy and takes part of the blame. She sits down next to him and tells him, haltingly, that killing Reva severed the hold Kilgrave had on her. She tells Luke he can't control her anymore, and Luke grapples with the fact that his wife's death might have helped Jessica become free from Kilgrave's control. They both realize that Kilgrave kept Jessica alive and wants to hurt her rather than kill her. Jessica says she's planning to kill Kilgrave, and Luke asks to help, but Jessica says he needs to be free from Kilgrave for 12 hours. She offers her bed to him because she wants to make sure Luke wasn't commanded to do something else by Kilgrave, something she didn't think to ask. She stays up listening to her police scanner app.

Kilgrave and Albert have tried to increase the distance that Kilgrave's control can reach with mixed results. They practiced in a church-like building with a room full of people, but Kilgrave couldn't quite reach the people at the back. (Much to Albert's barely-restrained glee.) In his frustration, he tells a random stranger to stand against a fence and stay there forever. (So vindictive.)

In the morning, Jessica takes a call from Trish, who's being released from the hospital.


Jessica says Trish needs to increase her home security, but Trish announces that someone has already gotten into her apartment, taken the dead guys, and cleaned the whole place up. Jessica mentions Simpson, and Trish maintains that he's a good guy, the drugs just messed him up. Trish then says she's been researching the corporation that Simpson's doctor works for, called IGH... and it doesn't exist. They agree to get Kilgrave before digging further into the corporation. (I bet this will come into play in season 2.)

After they hang up, someone approaches Trish's door. It's her mother, and things are seriously awkward.


Her mom expresses her concern, especially worried that Trish relapsed into drug use, but Trish assures her that she's fine. Her mom says that she'd listen to Trish Talk even if she wasn't her daughter.

Trish: "I don't need your approval, Mother."
Trish's mom: "Well, tough shit. You got it."
Trish's mom tries to make amends, but Trish isn't having any of it. Her mom admits that she was a bad mother back then.

Trish: "And not now?"
Trish's mom: "How would I know? You never gave me another shot at it."

Trish asks her mother to leave, and her mother does so reluctantly.

At Jessica's apartment, Luke has awakened, and Jessica tries to be hospitable even though her apartment is wrecked.


She says she has a theory, and Luke insists he's clean from Kilgrave's control since it's been 12 hours. He promises he'll leave if Kilgrave arrives. Jessica says he could leave right now and not be affected by any of it. She says she knows he's hiding stuff, but when you go after Kilgrave, there's no hiding. Luke insists he's with her until Kilgrave's dead, and they leave the apartment. (Jessica still bothers to lock the door even though her door's broken. It cracks me up.)

Jessica tells Luke her theory that Kilgrave's trying to increase his power so he can control her. (Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!) They run into Malcolm, and things are pretty awkward. He says that he's going home, away from Jessica. He says he'd rather face his parents' anger than "this loneliness that I feel around you." (Aw, poor Malcolm.)


Malcolm walks off, and Luke and Jessica get on Luke's motorcycle and leave.

They go to the hotel room where Albert and Trish were. It's deserted, but they have a look around and get caught by one of the hotel's staff. She's angry that he didn't pay his bill, and she's sold Albert's lab equipment on eBay. She says something about some chemicals, which perks Jessica's interest, and demands that they pay her $50 for them. That's no problem because Luke just picks her up and moves her out of the way.


Jessica takes stock of the chemicals, and the only thing that seems connected is an unpronounceable chemical that's used for genetic brain disorders. They trace it back to the manufacturer and try to threaten information out of one of the employees. It's confirmed that Kilgrave had been there and made the scientists work literally non-stop. Jessica and Luke take some time on a roof top to catch their breaths.

Jessica: "They say that... talking about a trauma... that it helps. That and jogging. Two things that make me feel like crap."

Luke talks about losing his bar and how he wanted to stop doing what Kilgrave told him to but couldn't. He then says he was wrong to blame Reva's murder on Jessica. She says it's okay but tells him not to apologize. Luke says instead...

Luke: "How 'bout... I forgive you. For everything. And I'll say it every day for as long as you need to hear it." 

(I'm not crying, you're crying.)

At Trish's apartment, Trish's mom arrives and convinces her to let her in by offering information about IGH. She says she overheard Trish say IGH and recognized the name of it from one of her files. Trish's mom says that she wants a relationship with her daughter and explains that this is her way of earning Trish's trust back. She hints that Jessica was involved somehow, and Trish opens the file. It's Jessica's medical bills, which were paid by IGH. Trish's mom assures her that she didn't tell IGH about Jessica's abilities, under threat by Jessica, and Trish is incredulous that her mom never checked to make sure IGH didn't do something to Jessica. Trish's mom tries to entice her to come home and take a look at her files. Trish says she'd forgotten how good her mom was (at manipulation, probably) and asks her to leave. Trish's mom responds defensively, implying Trish should be more grateful for the money they earned with Trish in show business. She then says that the files will still be waiting for Trish if she wants them.

Luke and Jessica stake out the corporation that made the chemical, watching for Kilgrave. Jessica is asleep when someone arrives, and even though it's not Kilgrave, they follow him because he might be the courier bringing the chemical to Kilgrave. He leads them to a park, where Jessica asks Luke to stay behind so that he doesn't fall under Kilgrave's control. Jessica follows the man through the park and through a giant bubble.


She loses the man and only finds him right as he's about to fall on some gardening shears. His attempt is successful. Jessica takes a moment to grieve as bystanders gather, and when she looks in the guy's bag, it's empty--Kilgrave already got the chemical. Defeated, Luke and Jessica get into the elevator of her building and discuss the ramifications of what could happen if Kilgrave is able to control the whole of New York. When the elevator gets to Jessica's floor, they see Trish, where Trish and Luke finally are introduced. Luke leaves but only after telling Trish that his wife was a big fan of her show. Trish questions Jessica, realizing that Luke was Reva's husband, but Jessica deflects the subject and asks what Trish has in Jessica's bag. Trish then says she doesn't want to interrupt her and Luke, insisting that she knows Jessica and Luke like each other. She says even if Kilgrave wasn't involved, she knows that Jessica would still try to push him away.

Trish: "When this is over... when you win this thing... I hope you finally allow yourself some happiness."

Trish leaves, and Jessica takes in the battered state of her apartment, possibly looking for alcohol, while Luke informs Roy, his bar employee, about the explosion. Once he's off the phone, he offers Jessica some whiskey. Jessica pulls the yellow flash drive out of her drive and tells Luke it was Reva's. She says there were lots of files that she didn't open since it was meant for him. Luke says it was for security and to protect him, then goes to take a shower.

Malcolm locks up his apartment, glancing back at Jessica's apartment. He resolves himself to leave still, then hears Robyn shouting. Malcolm intervenes, barely stopping Robyn from attacking a delivery woman because she thinks she's one of Kilgrave's drones. It just turns out she was delivering a package for Ruben. Malcolm convinces the delivery woman not to call the police, and she leaves. Robyn opens the package. It's a new charger cord, and Robyn breaks down.

Robyn: "Ruben's chinchilla chewed through his charger cord two weeks ago. And I wouldn't let him pay for express shipping." 

Malcolm looks sympathetically at her and sits down, then starts talking about what a great person Ruben was.

Malcolm: "...and I don't know what he put in that banana bread, but it was like crack... Was it crack?"
Robyn: "Nutmeg." 

Robyn worries that no one will like her without Ruben and that Ruben would be disappointed in her. Malcolm just sits with her.

Elsewhere, Kilgrave has commandeered the apartment of a young couple for him and Albert to work in. Kilgrave is disappointed that his dad hasn't made more progress on extending the reach of Kilgrave's mind control. Albert expresses that if Kilgrave let him rest, he could focus better. Instead, Kilgrave tells Albert to go to the blender, turn it on, and lower his right hand into it, much to Albert's horror. (I totally forgot about this. My stomach is still churning even on my second rewatch.) Just before Albert's hand reaches the blade, Kilgrave tells him to stop and asks if he's focused. Albert nods and, at Kilgrave's prompting, says he doesn't need any rest. Kilgrave unplugs the blender. (Let's just all breathe a collective sigh of relief.)

At Jessica's apartment, Luke has gotten out of the shower. Clad in only a towel (which Jessica definitely notices)...


...he suggests the idea that Kilgrave might have done something to test out his new powers. Jessica searches Google and finds a video from the night Kilgrave practiced on the room full of people at the church. An eyewitness says a man got on the stage and said, "Shut up, you wankers." Everyone did shut up. Jessica says that room holds 600 people, so Kilgrave's efforts to extend his reach are working. She says they should check the security cameras to see if she gets any leads, and Luke tells her tenderly that he wants her to be safe.

Malcolm brings Robyn down to the water, and she thinks that he's either trying to drown her or trying to seduce her.


Instead, he tells her that she should talk to Ruben--this is where Malcolm dumped his body. She brings up that they were both Pisces and that the symbol for Pisces is two fishes swimming together in an infinite circle. She compares that to her and Ruben in the womb. Malcolm apologizes, but Robyn says she forgives him, which leads to a conversation about forgiving the people you love so that when they die, you feel love, not regret. Then she and Malcolm throw Ruben's charger cord into the water.

Robyn: "Goodbye, Ruben. I hope they have free express shipping in heaven."

Luke and Jessica locate the church where Kilgrave performed and, even though it's closed, decide to walk in. They pretend to be undercover and investigating reports of underage drinking, which earns them a pass to see the building's security tapes, but they have to get past the creepy manager first. When he goes to look at the security tape, it's been erased. Instead, we get live footage of Kilgrave downstairs on the stage. He's here.

They tell the manager to leave, and Luke leaves too. Jessica approaches him alone, and he tries to control her, but even after he commands her to, she doesn't stop walking towards him. Kilgrave says he wants Jessica to know he forgives her for everything, and he'll say it every day for as long as she needs to hear it.

Jessica: "You heard that?"
Kilgrave: "I wrote it!"

There's a pause as Jessica registers that everything with Luke for the past two days has been a lie and carefully engineered by Kilgrave himself. Then Luke punches her all the way across the room. (My heart is breaking, goodbye.) Kilgrave says he'd had Luke reporting on Jessica's activities even before his bar blew up.

Luke: "You really thought I could forgive you? You killed my wife."
Jessica: "That's him talking, not you."
Luke: "Shut up."

Kilgrave orders Luke to kill Jessica, and so they fight, unbreakable skin against super strength. In the background, Kilgrave creepily says that all the sexual tension and every tender moment shared between Luke and Jessica was actually scripted by him, and thus those moments were actually Kilgrave's moments. Jessica tries to run, but Luke catches her, and though Jessica tells him to try to push Kilgrave out of his head, he says he can't. (Can't or won't?) She manages to knock him down somehow, but then Kilgrave flees, so she chases after him. She ends up downstairs where she barricades herself in a room, ignores a call from Trish, and holds up a large metal object as a weapon. Footsteps pass her room but don't enter, and suddenly Luke reaches through the wall and pulls Jessica through it.


She tries to talk him down, but it doesn't work, and they end up fighting again, punching each other and breaking stuff.

Suddenly, after knocking Luke down, Jessica hears something and runs outside. The police are here. She tells them to run so they won't be commanded by Kilgrave or otherwise harmed, but they don't listen. Luke shows up and gets them out of the way, then attacks Jessica. She holds on to the police car door as a shield (it's very Steve Rogers-esque). They struggle with the police car door until Luke finally gets rid of it, leaving just him and Jessica. She tries to get into the police car, but Luke pulls her out... unfortunately for him, Jessica is holding a shotgun. She pleads with him to please stop. He tells her, "Do what you gotta do."


So... she does. She fires the shotgun up into Luke's head and collapses over him, sobbing.

Roll credits.

Have you seen "AKA Take a Bloody Number"? What did you think of it?

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