Jessica Jones 1x07 Review: Live Bait

“AKA Top Shelf Perverts”
Written by Jenna Reback and Mica Schraft
Directed by Simon Cellan Jones
 
The Story
Kilgrave comes poking around Jessica’s office/apartment one night while she’s out. Very unfortunately, weird neighbor Reuben comes to the door before he leaves, and he tells Kilgrave he loves Jessica. The reason Jessica is out is that she’s getting extremely plastered while tailing Hogarth’s soon-to-be-ex, because Hogarth wants her to get Wendy to sign the divorce papers. Jessica scares the crap out of Wendy, and then makes it as far as the elevator in her building. Malcolm drags her the rest of the way to her bed. When she wakes up, she discovers Reuben’s very bloody corpse lying there next to her. This freaks her out so bad that she decides the only way to get Kilgrave is to get herself locked in supermax prison so she can be bait. Malcolm, Trish, and Simpson all agree this is insane, so they get rid of all the evidence of Reuben’s death. Not to be deterred, Jessica finds the body in the river and rips the head off to use as proof that she needs to be locked up. But then Kilgrave comes to the precinct and has all the cops inside point guns at their heads. He confesses his undying love to an extremely disgusted Jessica. He’s decided having her because he forced her to stay with him is empty, so he wants her to come with him of her own free will. She does, to save the cops. They go to her old house, which he’s been having redecorated to look just like it did when she was growing up. Also, Simpson saw her going inside with him.
 
Things I Liked

• Jessica accidentally dropping Wendy in front of a train for real because she got a bit too drunk on this stakeout
• “You don’t get credit for doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.”
• Brett Mahoney!

 
Things I Didn’t

• Kilgrave peeing in Jessica’s toilet
• “You’re the first thing—‘scuse me, person—that ever walked away from me.” Such a great line that expresses one of the main things wrong with him.
• Absence of Luke

 
The Characters
Jessica doesn’t just want to be locked up to be bait for Kilgrave, she also wants to not have to deal with any of this crap anymore, and she can’t bear to be responsible for yet another death. Someone whose instinct is to help and protect people will automatically take the blame for deaths that are even tangentially connected to them. Reuben’s death was not her fault. Nor were Hope’s parents’ deaths. Not even Reva. She is not responsible for Kilgrave’s obsession with her, but it doesn’t really make her feel better to tell herself that. If one of this season’s themes is whether it’s worth it to be selfless, then another one is definitely accountability.
 
We’re finally getting more clues about Trish’s backstory and why she felt it necessary to turn her apartment into a fortress. Also why she wanted Krav Maga lessons but didn’t think to get a gun. It’s all to convince herself she’s safe from her mother even without Jessica around.
 
Kilgrave is a complete psychopath. Fisk is a concentrated ball of suppressed fury, but Kilgrave just can’t handle not getting things he wants.
 
Overall Rating
5/5