'Jessica Jones' Season 2,Episode 12: 'AKA Pray For My Patsy'

I don't know why, but this episode gave me problems.  They weren't so much in the episode's content, but in the fact that Netflix just did not want to cooperate.  I had to deal with repeated crashes and freezing.  The app didn't need to update and the phone still seems to work (as evidenced by the fact that I was able to watch an episode of "The Flash" with no trouble.)  I figure a lot of people are watching the new season, but I didn't have this problem with "Defenders", so I don't know what the deal was.

As a result, it was hard to really get pulled into this the way I, as a viewer would want.

Still, the episode brings a lot to the table.  It goes to great lengths to isolate Jessica.  Acosta, her cop friend essentially severs ties when Alisa kills his partner, Trish rips into Jess for not living up to the superhero ideal, and Dorothy (Trish's mother) tries to pin the blame on Jess shortly after offering an olive branch and assuring her that it wasn't the case.

Between trying to kill Trish and killing the aforementioned cop, it becomes clear that Jessica has to kill her own mother.  She doesn't come to this decision easily, even chastising the cops for adopting a "shoot to kill" approach to the situation, but ultimately there's no other option.  It culminates in a rather tense stand-off where our hero holds her mentally unbalanced matriarch at gun point.

It is a bit of an echo to Kilgrave, only Jess can't bring herself to do it.  While Alisa's pleas do fall on deaf ears, it's still a bridge too far.

It gives Alisa the window she needs to effortlessly knock out her daughter via pistol whip.  To Jess' credit, she does fare slightly better in an earlier confrontation.  When Alisa tries to use Jess' own arm to choke out Trish, Jess straight up punches her mother in the face and then throws her across the room. I still say she's in dire need of a win, but this episode at least threw her a bone.

Hogarth scores a win of her own, tracking down Shane and Inez and dishing out her own form of payback.  It was very much in character for her to set them up the way she did and it was something of a dark highlight for both the episode and the character.  Plus, it gave us a Turk appearance, those are always a highlight of any Marvel Netflix series. 

I'm ambivalent about the cliffhanger.  That final tracking shot of Alisa driving the RV to who knows where was ominous, though at the same time, it isn't like Jessica is in any real danger.  Still, it does leave you wanting to see what happens next. 

Being this close to the finale, it was bad timing for Netflix to flake out the way it did.  It kind of undercut things, but it'll still be interesting to see how things wrap up for this entry in the Marvel saga.

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