Interesting show. Ben Platt and Zoey Deutch are so good! But everyone is LGBTQ+? Exaggerated ratio here, and this turns the show a little one-dimensional.
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I know your comment is from a little while ago but if you feel that the fact that there are multiple LGBTQ+ characters makes this show a "bit one dimensional," then you are not paying enough attention to the exceptional dialogue s and interactions of the characters.
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP99.5/10. Now this is more like it! Despite the fact we cut to various scenes involving Hogarth, Trish, and Simpson, in many ways, this feels like a bottle episode, in spirit if not in execution. The bulk of the episode centers on Jessica and Kilgrave in Jessica's old house. Sure, there are some fireworks here and there (and some clumsily executed flashbacks), but most of it just centers on their interactions, on exploring the two characters, independently and in relation to each other, and that makes it the most interesting hour of television this show has put together thus far.
In addition to the character development, I really loved the moral dilemma the episode put Jessica in. I wrote in my review of the last episode a lot about the idea of the greater good and how that concepts doesn't necessarily align with the worldviews of either Jessica or Trish. But here, Jessica at least struggles with the idea of what it would mean if Kilgrave could be made into a force for good, even at the cost of Jessica's own happiness, safety, and well-being. The choice she makes at the end is very much in keeping with her character (a point the dialogue underlines a bit too boldly), but the fact that she seems genuinely affected by the decision, that she actually consults Trish to try to figure out what the right thing to do is, elevates this episode.
I also appreciated the way the episode explored Kilgrave without condoning him. It's a fine line to walk between making a bad guy more three-dimensional than an old school evil-for-evil's-sake villain, but also not trying to make them so sympathetic that it becomes a cliche, or, as is the danger here, that you present it as a justification for the character's bad deeds. But in this episode, the details we learn about Kilgrave --his parental abuse and neglect as he was experimented on--make him more comprehensible in his personality, but his casual disinterest in the value of human life, makes him seem all the more terrible. It's a tough balance to strike, but the show does it incredibly well here.
At the same time, I was very glad to see the scene where Jessica actually confronts Kilgrave about raping her. Much of the series has presented Jessica's trauma (the broader mind control not just the sex) as a rape metaphor, and while making that metaphor explicit risks making the presentation of the theme too on-the-nose, here it's just right. The anger and hurt in Jessica's voice, and the nonchalance of Kilgrave in response, magnifies the horror of what happened in the right way, and creates a conduit for the pain and frustration we've seen Jessica sublimating and projecting up to this point.
By that same token, I thought it was an interesting twist that Kilgrave doesn't see himself as murderer or a rapist. His characters is in some ways a takedown of the "nice guy" trope. The fact that he's absolutely torturing people, commanding them to do terrible things, and taking advantage of people to get his way, and yet sees himself as blameless for those people's actions makes him a more interesting villain. Mick Foley once said that the best bad guys believe that their actions are right, and it's interesting to see that concept reflected in Kilgrave.
To the same end, I appreciate the episode building on the idea put forward in the last episode, that what interests Kilgrave about Jessica is that she is someone who could walk away from him. There's a world-weariness to him when he tells Jessica that she has no idea what it's like not to know whether people genuinely want to do what he tells them to or not. He is a spiritually deadened man who fixates on the one person, the one facet of his life, he cannot truly control. That's what makes his character so frightening, disturbing, and compelling.
And Jessica too is never more compelling than she is in this episode. The way that she's cornered, trapped into living in this waking nightmare in the hope that she can use it save Hope or at least keep Kilgrave from hurting anyone else is rich material for the character and Kristyn Ritter. Her utter disgust for Kilgrave radiates in every moment they share the screen together, and yet the moment where Kilgrave uses his powers on the loathsome neighbor, you can see the slightest crack in Jessica's facade, the briefest hint of guilty appreciation that she just as quickly reverts from when Kilgrave touches him. It's a tremendous character moment that sets up the broader conflict for Jessica in this episode.
There's a lot of talk here about wiping the slate clean, about atoning for past deeds. That is, in many ways, the core of Jessica's character -- a sense that she is laden with guilt, but also trying to take some steps to make good on her promise in the world. This episode takes that idea to an extreme and is all the better for it.
And, god help me, I even love the Hogarth-Wendy storyline here. Part of that is that Carrie Anne Moss and the actress who play Wendy do a great job in conveying their characters' feelings--Wendy's open wound, and Hogarth's more reserved but still palpable regret. Frankly, apart from all the superhero stuff, I would gladly watch an episode devoted to the quiet domestic drama between the two characters, because there's a lot of interesting ideas of a good relationship gone bad at play there, and it's compelling even as it seems tangential to the main plot of the season.
There is, of course, the big blast and cliffhanger at the end of the episode, which, along with Kilgrave's brutal treatment of his servants, suggests whatever a force for good Kilgrave may be, he may be unredeemable. But for once I'm excited to find out where they're going to go from here.
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That's a lot of writing, son.
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP99.5/10. Now this is more like it! Despite the fact we cut to various scenes involving Hogarth, Trish, and Simpson, in many ways, this feels like a bottle episode, in spirit if not in execution. The bulk of the episode centers on Jessica and Kilgrave in Jessica's old house. Sure, there are some fireworks here and there (and some clumsily executed flashbacks), but most of it just centers on their interactions, on exploring the two characters, independently and in relation to each other, and that makes it the most interesting hour of television this show has put together thus far.
In addition to the character development, I really loved the moral dilemma the episode put Jessica in. I wrote in my review of the last episode a lot about the idea of the greater good and how that concepts doesn't necessarily align with the worldviews of either Jessica or Trish. But here, Jessica at least struggles with the idea of what it would mean if Kilgrave could be made into a force for good, even at the cost of Jessica's own happiness, safety, and well-being. The choice she makes at the end is very much in keeping with her character (a point the dialogue underlines a bit too boldly), but the fact that she seems genuinely affected by the decision, that she actually consults Trish to try to figure out what the right thing to do is, elevates this episode.
I also appreciated the way the episode explored Kilgrave without condoning him. It's a fine line to walk between making a bad guy more three-dimensional than an old school evil-for-evil's-sake villain, but also not trying to make them so sympathetic that it becomes a cliche, or, as is the danger here, that you present it as a justification for the character's bad deeds. But in this episode, the details we learn about Kilgrave --his parental abuse and neglect as he was experimented on--make him more comprehensible in his personality, but his casual disinterest in the value of human life, makes him seem all the more terrible. It's a tough balance to strike, but the show does it incredibly well here.
At the same time, I was very glad to see the scene where Jessica actually confronts Kilgrave about raping her. Much of the series has presented Jessica's trauma (the broader mind control not just the sex) as a rape metaphor, and while making that metaphor explicit risks making the presentation of the theme too on-the-nose, here it's just right. The anger and hurt in Jessica's voice, and the nonchalance of Kilgrave in response, magnifies the horror of what happened in the right way, and creates a conduit for the pain and frustration we've seen Jessica sublimating and projecting up to this point.
By that same token, I thought it was an interesting twist that Kilgrave doesn't see himself as murderer or a rapist. His characters is in some ways a takedown of the "nice guy" trope. The fact that he's absolutely torturing people, commanding them to do terrible things, and taking advantage of people to get his way, and yet sees himself as blameless for those people's actions makes him a more interesting villain. Mick Foley once said that the best bad guys believe that their actions are right, and it's interesting to see that concept reflected in Kilgrave.
To the same end, I appreciate the episode building on the idea put forward in the last episode, that what interests Kilgrave about Jessica is that she is someone who could walk away from him. There's a world-weariness to him when he tells Jessica that she has no idea what it's like not to know whether people genuinely want to do what he tells them to or not. He is a spiritually deadened man who fixates on the one person, the one facet of his life, he cannot truly control. That's what makes his character so frightening, disturbing, and compelling.
And Jessica too is never more compelling than she is in this episode. The way that she's cornered, trapped into living in this waking nightmare in the hope that she can use it save Hope or at least keep Kilgrave from hurting anyone else is rich material for the character and Kristyn Ritter. Her utter disgust for Kilgrave radiates in every moment they share the screen together, and yet the moment where Kilgrave uses his powers on the loathsome neighbor, you can see the slightest crack in Jessica's facade, the briefest hint of guilty appreciation that she just as quickly reverts from when Kilgrave touches him. It's a tremendous character moment that sets up the broader conflict for Jessica in this episode.
There's a lot of talk here about wiping the slate clean, about atoning for past deeds. That is, in many ways, the core of Jessica's character -- a sense that she is laden with guilt, but also trying to take some steps to make good on her promise in the world. This episode takes that idea to an extreme and is all the better for it.
And, god help me, I even love the Hogarth-Wendy storyline here. Part of that is that Carrie Anne Moss and the actress who play Wendy do a great job in conveying their characters' feelings--Wendy's open wound, and Hogarth's more reserved but still palpable regret. Frankly, apart from all the superhero stuff, I would gladly watch an episode devoted to the quiet domestic drama between the two characters, because there's a lot of interesting ideas of a good relationship gone bad at play there, and it's compelling even as it seems tangential to the main plot of the season.
There is, of course, the big blast and cliffhanger at the end of the episode, which, along with Kilgrave's brutal treatment of his servants, suggests whatever a force for good Kilgrave may be, he may be unredeemable. But for once I'm excited to find out where they're going to go from here.
loading replies
That's a lot of writing, son.
