“AKA It’s Called Whiskey” is far and away the best episode so far of Jessica Jones, for many reasons. First and foremost: it’s genuinely disturbing. This episode gets under your skin, and really shines a light on the truly horrifying, insidious nature of Kilgrave, who is rapidly shaping up to be one of Marvel’s best villains.
But a good villain can’t exist in a vacuum, and Jessica Jones would be massively disappointing if Kilgrave was the best part of it. Thankfully, the cast is so goddamn good that this is never a problem. Do you know how cool it is to see a performance like David Tennant’s and know that it’s just one of several on this show? It’s great, guys. It’s great.
My favorite scene is probably Jessica and Luke having a frank conversation about their “gifts.” Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter have great, believable chemistry together, and they brilliantly, subtly convey the heartbreak inherent in being one of a kind. Jessica reveals her origin: “Accident. You?” Luke responds: “Experiment.” Once again, Jessica Jones does a great job of hinting at some deeply disturbing backstory that we’re not being shown. (The “less is more” approach doesn’t apply to the sex scenes, though, which are the most physically and emotionally raw of any show at the moment.)
Another thing Jessica Jones does a marvelous job of doing is showing its long memory. The Hope Schlottman case makes for an excellent framing device, and it gives us the treat of seeing more of Erin Moriarty’s great performance. When she breaks down over simply hearing Kilgrave’s voice on the phone, it’s a truly chilling moment. Plus it gives Jessica an actual excuse to go hunting for Kilgrave, while going about it in exceedingly unlikable ways. Not a lot of shows would have their heroine use their heroin-addicted friend as a distraction so they can get their hands on some surgical anesthetic.
Trish finally gets her due as well. In my review of “AKA Crush Syndrome” I bitched that her and Jessica’s relationship wasn’t developed enough for me to give a damn about. While that isn’t completely fixed, “AKA It’s Called Whiskey” is a low-key great episode for Trish (who canonically becomes the heroine Hellcat). There’s some trauma in her past that’s made her turn her penthouse into a fortress and get seriously into Krav Maga. But that doesn’t really help her when a brainwashed cop comes to kill her at the behest of Kilgrave.
And it’s at this point that “AKA It’s Called Whiskey” crosses the line into a genuinely upsetting hour of television. The full scope of Kilgrave’s abilities is nothing short of nightmarish. Once Hope admits, in a radio interview with Trish, that she was aware that she was being controlled, Kilgrave takes on a new perverse dimension. His abilities are invasive and penetrative, and the way he’s talked about and feared makes him sound almost like a sexual predator. Watching Kilgrave casually tell the cop to throw himself off the balcony is a gut-wrenching moment, eliciting the kind of queasy dread that Jessica Jones excels at. It gets even worse when Jessica discovers a room full of pictures of her, including two mural-size collages of her face. Kilgrave is sick and cruel, lacking Loki’s malevolent glee or Thanos’s cosmic ambition. He’s content to use people and then ruin them, and in many ways he might be Marvel’s best villain yet.
Kilgrave is as menacing as he is because he preys on damaged people. People like Jessica and Trish and Luke are damaged to the point of being broken, and it’s that dimension that lets Jessica Jones so ably straddle the line between slick noir and existential tragedy.
A Few Thoughts
- I’m starting a new feature: Jessica Jones Doing Sleazy Shit. Our first entry: trying to use Jeri and Wendy Hogarth’s divorce to strongarm Wendy into giving her anesthetic
- Nice use of Luke Cage’s catchphrase “Sweet Christmas”
- I am truly impressed by the confidence and ease with which Ritter approaches her fight scenes
- I can’t wait to find out why Kilgrave had Jessica kill Luke’s wife Reva. Seriously guys, Jessica Jones dabbles in some dark shit with all this mind control business
- This is a minor issue, but if you asked a cashier for their cheapest bourbon, you would not get Wild Turkey. You’d get Ancient Age or something like that
- Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Remember to get a whole mess of sweet potatoes and throw that shit directly in the garbage where it belongs. Or eat them, you fuckin child
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