Jessica Jones season 2 episode 2 review: With great powers comes great mental illness
Remember Will Simpson?
After a bit of detective work on his own, Malcolm learns that the IGH building was leased to Dr. Kozlov. Trish found a whereabouts for him but couldn’t get him to talk, so Jessica figures she will give it a try. When she gets to his house she sees that she is actually at a memorial for Kozlov and that he died in a freak car accident, but after talking to one of the guests she learns that not only was it not an accident, it was caused by Will Simpson – Yup he’s back! Not only is he still alive, but he knew Kozlov well since one of the things the good doctor was known for was distributing a “combat drug”, like the one that made Simpson go nuts the first time around… kinda of like the mirikuru on Arrow if you watch that show. After Kozlov rehabilitated him, Simpson stole another drug and took off. Seems that Kozlov is not the only person on Simpson’s list – We know that The Whizzer was killed and Trish is also being followed by him.
The Whizzer
With The Whizzer being dead, and Simpson on the loose, Jessica decides to look deeper into The Whizzer and his connection to Simpson. She heads to his apartment and finds a video diary that reveals he hurt himself badly at 18, ended up in the hospital and afterwards he was changed, complete with super-speed, nightmares and pain. One of the best lines from this episode was a play on the old saying “with great power comes great responsibility”: With great power comes great mental illness. This has been a theme through out a lot of Jessica Jones season one and we are glad to see that they have not strayed from such an important topic. There are not a lot of shows out there that deal with mental illness and in the superhero world there is only one other show that we’ve seen whose whole focus is on it and that’s Legion.
So what was the connection? It’s Trish! The Whizzer had been listening to Trish’s talk show and her commentary on people with superpowers, reaching out to her multiple times to come on and be a guest. He wanted the world to know what happened to him. With Simpson stalking Trish it’s likely he also saw the public videos that The Whizzer left for her. Everyone that Trish has been in contact with, The Whizzer, Kozlov – they’re all dead.
Trish’s “Me Too” moment with Max
Because Jessica would have some choice words for Max, Trish decides to ask Malcolm for a favor when she gets a lead bringing her directly to Max. When she has a chance to talk to him she asks to borrow his clout at Metro General Hospital, saying that she wants to do a segment on the hospital and is dealing with a lot of red tape. He refuses and she tells him that if he doesn’t help her she’s going to go public with what happened between them – That while she was 15 and he was 40 he started a sexual relationship with her, which is another very relevant topic happening right now with the Me Too movement and people coming forward telling their stories of being harassed, taken advantage of sexually and worse, many times with the victim being underage. Jessica Jones has never been a show that’s afraid to take on these topics and in season 2 they are really diving in head first.
During this conversation Malcolm records it all and later breaks Max’s nose for what he did to Trish. We know that Trish is with Griffin and we like him, but is anyone else out there hoping for a Trish/Malcolm hook up? There’s such an organic chemistry between these two that we just can’t get enough of.
Trish runs into Simpson and after bullets don’t stop him, Trish goes missing. Jessica learns that Trish went to see Max on set and shows up looking for her, but only finds her handbag that she dropped. After following the trail of blood Jessica finds Simpson tied up and Trish interrogating him. Simpson tells them that he’s not on the same drugs as before, and that what he’s taking now doesn’t make him lose control, but makes him strong enough to protect Trish from the IGH who are after her. Not only that but that he’s not the person behind killing Kozlov or The Whizzer. He also reveals that Kozlov was not the person doing the experiments at the old IGH lab, but that it was someone else that Kozlov was arguing with on the phone and that person wanted Trish out of the picture, but because of Simpson she really has been protected from it all.
When someone with superpowers shows up everyone thinks that they are there for Trish, but they instead kill Simpson and jump over Trish to escape. What is this person really after?
Related – Check out our Jessica Jones episode 3 review!
CarterMatt Verdict
So far Jessica Jones has really been about giving us character backstories. The premiere gave us more about Jessica, her superpowers and her family’s death and this episode dove way further into Trish’s past than we’ve ever gone before. We’ve seen some reviewers out there complaining about the slower pace and lack of compelling villain, but for us this is exactly what Jessica Jones has always been about – internal struggle, mental illness and finding a way to cope.
What did you think of the Jessica Jones season 2 episode 2 and do you think this is shaping up to be just as good as season 1 was? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts. We will have episode reviews of all of Jessica Jones season 2 so be sure to check them all out at the link here.
If you want to keep up to date with all of our Jessica Jones scoop a great way to do that is to join our official CarterMatt Facebook page. (Photo: Netflix)