There’s always been a long standing issue about Marvel heroes facing off against villains who have the exact same powers as them. Iron Man has fought numerous people in competing metal suits, Captain American regularly squares off against other super soldiers and even Ant-Man faced a baddie with shrinking powers in his his first outing – but while it’s always carried a certain amount of thematic sense, I was always impressed that Jessica Jones’ first foe was someone with a completely different power set.
Matching super strength (and a hearty appetite for trauma quashing booze) against mind control, the show managed to up the ante when it came to TV based, MCU villains – but in the wake of David Tennant’s vanquished Kilgrave, it initially seemed like a step back for season 2 to give Jessica’s latest antagonist the exact same powers that she does. However, while the MCU tends to use mirrored powers as sort of a training ground for its fledging heroes, Jessica Jones opts to use this trope in an impressively smart way.
While a shadowy, super-strong maniac with the habit of twisting heads around still stalks the streets of New York, the team of Jessica Jones and Trish Walker work diligently to uncover the identity of the murderer after she brazenly posed as a doctor for IGH. Figuring out that this female berserker was wearing a wig when they met face to face, they delve into Trish’s old contacts, first to figure out where she got the wig from, and then to check out some restricted IGH files from Metro General Hospital. However, to do the latter means that Trish has to confront sleazy director Max Tatum once more to threaten the info out of him.
But while Trish and Jessica creep ever closer to discovering an identity for this “monster”, Jeri Hogarth is getting ever more anxious about her ALS diagnosis, and starts to look into painless ways to out opt out of the degenerative effects her illness will ultimately cause. This also leads her to drop Cheng’s lawsuit against Jessica, which angers him even more, but while the rival P.I. looks to score dirt on our heroine, Jones catches a rare break when her building’s superintendent drops his eviction order after she saves his kid from falling out of a window.
However, after digging up the name “Inez Green” Jessica and Trish discover that rather than uncovering the killer, they find a former IGH nurse living rough who can give them vital information on who they seek. But while Jessica is finally making some headway, two things seek to trip her up. One is that Trish is becoming addicted to the IGH inhalant she got from the deceased Will Simpson, and the other is that the murderess is seeking to frame her pursuer by ripping one of Cheng’s employees to shreds after he breaks into Jessica’s office looking for dirt. In more ways than one, this killer is everything Jessica is terrified of becoming and she’s just gotten arrested for one of her crimes.
If Jessica Jones does something far better than most of her peers, it’s that the writers have the talent of being able to link her up emotionally with whatever arch villain she’s up against. In the first season, she had to finally face her abuser in the form of Kilgrave, a mind controller who once used her as his plaything for months, and it proved to not only be the best thing about the season, but proved to be one of the most intriguing hero/villain relationships in the whole of the MCU. There was a worry that with Kilgrave gone, the show would struggle to equal that gripping chemistry, but even though we still haven’t discovered the true identity of Janet McTeer’s neck-snapping wild card yet, “AKA God Help The Hobos” manages to forge an impressive connection between the two women.
Jessica’s always been a no-kill kind of woman, mainly due to the tragic acts she was forced to perform while under Kilgrave’s thrall, but this new threat seems to physically embody everything Jessica is terrified of becoming. Super strong, created at IGH and seemingly wreathed in uncontrollable rage, it all hits incredibly close to home to a woman who, even at her best, constantly has impulse control issues that sees her invoke great danger to those around her. In fact, the final shot of Jones getting arrested while muttering “That’s not me” while staring at the mangled body she’s been framed for proves to be the exact moment when the season truly lays down its full intent. The result is the best episode of season 2 so far, and while the installment finally lays out the emotional resonance between its tormented hero and the deranged woman she’s chasing, the episode also makes sure everybody else is well served.
Also facing her greatest fears is Hogarth, who is already contemplating assisted suicide in order to wrestle some sort of control over her life. But a moment where she freezes at the sight of a physically infirmed woman collapsing in the street is yet another powerful example of a character being presented with a sobering glimpse into a possible future. But elsewhere, the plot piles on issues to keep the rest of the cast busy – with the main one being that Trish’s desperate desire to be special has led her to use Simpson’s power enhancers in order to literally keep up with the Jones. While her gradual addiction will no doubt gain precedence as the season progresses, it waits in the wings alongside Malcolm wanting to be taken more seriously by his peers after turning down a work offer from Cheng and the thawing of Oscar, as feelings – both sexual and otherwise – build between him and Jones.
In many ways, “AKA God Help The Hobo” strikes up the perfect balance that Jessica Jones requires. The super hero stuff is ever-present, but remains nicely balanced with the detective work that our lead has to creep through in order to get the job done, and the show even adds some of that all-important instances that has Jones striking a blow for downtrodden women by physically threatening a director who targets fifteen year olds. But it also never forgets that our Jessica is something of a fucked up soul too, who fights every day not to be consumed by the more negative aspects of her personality, and the opening scenes of her doing her best to stomach a meeting of rageaholics anonymous is just as important to the show as the bitter wisecracks, gritty tone and occasional superheroics.
With it’s fourth episode, Jessica Jones’ second season well and truly pulls the entire Defenders Saga out of the slump it was threatening to slip into. Perfectly balanced and utilising its themes to their full potential, it’s especially gratifying that the show has been able to whip up symmetry with yet another villain in the aftermath of Kilgrave’s death. While it still remains to be seen if the show can manage to keep it up once we find out who the villain actually is, Jessica Jones continues to fly higher the closer her nose is pressed to the cold, wet, concrete.
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Where to watch Jessica Jones – Season 2, Episode 4: AKA God Help The Hobo: