It turns out that the sniper is none other than Pryce Cheng. You'd think he'd be targeting Jessica, as he had beef with her, but it turns out that he was, in fact, trying to take out Alisa. As you can imagine, she does not take kindly to this.
While Cheng's urge to cheese it is understandable, I did find it weird how he forgot he had a gun. You'd think that he would at least try to use it to keep some distance between him and the crazed woman pursuing him, but he instead lets her get close enough to toss him around like a ragdoll. She would have killed him had it not been for Jessica's intervention.
This does, to some degree, wrap up the cliffhanger, though this does put the two characters into the prisoner debate. Alisa wants to kill him so that the two can get away, but Jessica's a bit too lawful for that and decides to keep him tied up in their bathroom until they can figure out a plan.
Once again, the show thrives off of the performances of both Ritter and McTeer. Said performances are bolstered by solid writing. The episode manages to bring plenty of emotional drama, but also throws in more than a few great one-liners. It doesn't get to the point where the comedy undermines the more serious material, but it does keep it from falling into the "grimdark" trap. It makes for a much more entertaining episode overall.
It's a shame that the show couldn't get these two together sooner, because it really has added a whole new level to the proceedings. The dynamic, just as it was before, is fascinating to watch.
This episode is also probably the most "superhero" episode to date. Seeing Jessica and Alisa chase down, and subsequently stop, a bus was a crowning moment of awesome. The cherry on top was the Stan Lee "cameo". It's a blink and you'll miss it thing, but when you see it, it's fantastic.
It also gives Alisa a sense of pride, knowing that she helped people. Like Kilgrave before her, she puts forth the idea that she can use her powers for good. She theorizes that repression is the problem and that maybe by embracing it, she can channel it better. It does have some psychological merit and it's not too dissimilar to what they did with Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Sadly, the episode doesn't get to explore it too much, but I do love the prospect.
Similarly, Trish is filled with an urge to do stuff. After seeing her ex doing a report in Syria, she becomes vexed by the state of the world and rips into a guest on her talk show for putting focus on seemingly superfluous matters like gluten when there's war, sex trafficking, and crime.
Oddly enough, she doesn't bring up any MCU Earth problems. You know: aliens, ninjas, killer robots, Hydra, villainous metas. It seemed like a prime opportunity for some mythology nods, but I guess the writers thought it would be more powerful to keep it realistic.
Trish does rage quit, but it seems that another network liked her approach and wants her to go on the air regularly with that. Alas, her inhaler is empty, we've seen how she takes to withdrawal, so this is a problem to say the least.
On a brighter note, Hogarth manages to convince that healing convict to do his thing. He notes that it shortens his own lifespan (which is why he was so reluctant to do it) but is ultimately swayed by what Hogarth is putting on the table.
Inez is convinced that this would mark the end of her tryst, props to her for being skeptical about Hogarth's intentions, but it seems that the latter may indeed pursue a legitimate romance. It could still go sour, but so far, it looks like Hogarth was playing this one straight.
Sadly, the episode ends on a serious down note. It's shown that Alisa still isn't ready to be out in the world. On the plus side, she allows herself to be arrested; but, as Jessica herself notes, she's lost her mom again. That one line of voiceover packed a hell of a punch and it was a great way to end. It wasn't a cliffhanger in the traditional sense, but it still made an impact.
I do wonder where the show is going to go from here. The killer is caught, Hogarth is cured. I can see there being one episode of epilogue/aftermath, but the only lingering plot thread is regarding Trish's addiction. I don't see that being 4 episodes worth of plot for the season. Honestly, it could have even worked as a sub-plot hook for the next one. I suppose they could go after Karl, but even that isn't enough to fill four hours in my opinion. We'll have to see where it goes, I guess.
All in all, I rather enjoyed this one. As was the case with season one, it seems like the show really gets into its groove in the tail end. So far, the show has seemed to find said groove, here's hoping it keeps up.
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