1x09 AKA Sin Bin

This was a thrill ride. While I would have liked the dynamic between Jessica and Kilgrave in the prior episode, her finally getting him into the hermetically sealed chamber, and trying to generate enough evidence to acquit Hope was a great premise for the episode, and the way it managed to rope in almost every character into that room made it very interesting.

I was especially interested by Hogarth. She's always seemed fairly mercenary, and there's been a lot of interesting set up for her seeing a potential in Kilgrave's powers that Jessica, having been violated by them, finds instantly repugnant. The implication--bolstered by a weird scene where Pam goes kind of Lysistrata on Hogarth to get her finalize the divorce--that Hogarth would be willing to make some kind of deal with Kilgrave in order to get what she wants is a pretty wild factor to throw into the Kilgrave equation here. Their scene together was superb, and putting the two best actors on the show together was a good choice. There was a real Hannibal vibe that worked.

And I also appreciated that the episode used the character to comment, however hand-wavingly, about how insane this plan is. It's hard to believe that any court or law enforcement organization would countenance a confession or demonstration where the perpetrator was so clearly under duress. But at the very least, Hogarth points this out, and she and Jessica try to take steps to make up for this. (Including Detective Cool Lester Smooth, who's always a welcome presence.)

And the idea seemed so crazy because the end goal seemed impossible. Krysten Ritter was pretty stellar when Jessica was trying to manipulate and goad Kilgrave into using his abilities on camera, figuring that she could hit on a nerve to the point that he'd slip and reveal himself. But even then, it seems obvious that Kilgrave could just say "Stop that" or "Go away" or "Please don't hurt me," or "Please let me out" and achieve his goal without showing anything crazy or supernatural on the screen.

That, however, is what makes the twist of bringing in Kilgrave's (sorry, Kevin's) parents pretty ingenious. Sure, it's a little convenient that they're in town and findable (Jessica Jones is no Veronica Mars in her abilities as a P.I.), but there's a plausible enough reason for it, and seeing them confront him was a heart-pumping moment.

I'm going to run out of ways to say how great the character of Kilgrave and the actor portraying him are in this. His shock, anger, and the other panoply of emotions Kilgrave displayed when seeing his parents for the first time since childhood was impressive. Again, the show does a good job of making the audience empathize with Kilgrave, and understand how he became what he is, without ever trying to justify him or make them sympathize with his view of things.

That mirrored viewpoint idea is one of the show's best tools, especially in how it contrasts Jessica as someone who is blameless but riddled with guilt, whereas Kilgrave is the cause of untold pain and misery and considers himself faultless for it. The focus on their own conflicting narratives for how things have happened is an interesting key to the series.

To the same extent, it was nice to see the parents get explored a bit. While the whole "virus" detail of his powers strikes me as a little too "midichlorians", I like the idea that they were trying to help him, that things got out of hand, and that they ran out of fear. Kilgrave, understandably, sees it as abandonment, but everyone in this show having a reasonable (or at least internally consistent) view of events, even as they differ markedly, is one of the show's strengths.

And yet there's also something disquieting when Jessica beats the hell out of Kilgrave in that cell, or when she shocks him as he stands in ankle-deep water. He deserves punishment, and how a victim confronts their abuser is rich thematic material. But make no mistake, this is torture, and that makes it disturbing to some degree even if Jessica has as much moral right as anyone to take revenge on Kilgrave and attempt to use these methods to save Hope. To some extent, you just have to say "it's a TV show" and appreciate that we're talking about comic book stories here, but still, putting it all in flesh and blood on the screen makes the violence uncomfortably real at times.

But then that ending, where so much comes spilling out all at once. The shock of Kilgrave's mother stabbing him. The turn of him telling her to stab herself. The realization that Hogarth (probably) disabled the shock mechanism. Trish unwittingly freeing Kilgrave and almost being forced to shoot herself in the process. The struggle to save Kilgrave's Dad and the detective. And, of course, the twist that Jessica is, in fact, now immune to Kilgrave's powers. It was a heart-pumping finish to what was likely the most intense hour of television this show has offered thus far.