'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 13: "AKA Playland'

The second season comes to its end.  As is befitting of a season finale, this episode manages to cram in quite a lot.

While Alisa may have initially taken Jess hostage, it isn't long before Jess is coaxed into going along with the plan.  Even with everything that has happened Alisa is still convinced that the two of them can work together for the greater good.  Jess is skeptical, even invoking a similar plea from Kilgrave (something Alisa seems to take offense to), but the episode gives us another example of the two actually working quite well together as heroes when they save a family from a burning car.

Alisa is even convinced that the two of them can go to some other country to feed the hungry or bring supplies to the sick.  Jess gives an odd look, but it was an oddly heartwarming moment.

It's enough to put Jess' two worlds at war.  She's reluctant to leave her life, but at the same time, she wants to reunite with her mom.  Similarly, Jess' old life isn't too keen on seeing her leave.  Both Acosta and Trish take it upon themselves to try and save Jess from the situation, even if she is on board with the plan.  It even seems like Alisa herself is second guessing the plan.  She has a nice moment with Jess where she's

Alas, things aren't meant to be as Trish's actions result in Alisa's death.  On a somewhat related note, Trish is a freakishly good shot.  Anyway, as you can imagine, Jess does not take too kindly to this.  Trish's pleas and reminders that she had Jess' best interests aren't enough.  Just as it was with Malcolm, Jess' connection to Trish seems irrevocably severed.

You'd think that this would give the episode a dark, downer ending.  Impressively enough, it actually ends on a more positive note.  Jess decides to start living her life and she has a nice dinner with Oscar and Vito.  The resolution is bitter sweet, but considering how much crap Jess has thrown at her, it's nice to see her get a nice moment like that.

All in all, this was a strong ending for the season.  It managed to tie up a lot of the season's loose ends and still sow some seeds for the next one.  Granted, it'll be a while before we get to that, as there are a few other Netflix MCU shows to cover, but it'll be interesting to see where the show goes and how it all wraps up.

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'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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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 11: 'AKA Three Lives and Counting'

While Jessica is able to regain her composure enough to make the death of the prison inmate look like a suicide, there's no doubt that the act has taken a toll on her psyche.  Even the fact that the guy was a serial killer who was about to add her to his toll does little to assuage her guilt.  Said guilt is so extreme that an imaginary manifestation of Kilgrave even returns to enable her darker tendencies and generally be a nuisance to her.

I'm kind of surprised that it took this long to use the "Kilgrave haunts Jessica" concept.  While it would have been cool to see it pop up throughout the season, having it happen now in these circumstances works quite well.  Tennant himself is fun to watch.  He seems to be having fun with it.  There's a bit of ham, but he can still bring the character in darker directions when the situation calls for it.

It presents an interesting psychological conflict for Jessica as she is forced to come to terms with who she is and what she's been through.  It's not a physical adversary, but it is an imposing one nonetheless.  The episode does a good job of escalating things so that it all culminates in the climax.  Kilgrave starts off as a pain, but eventually, it snowballs into something much more dangerous.

I did find myself wondering who the third life was.  Kilgrave and the guard make two, but for the life of me, I don't know what the third life was.  I probably wouldn't put so much focus on it, but it is the episode's title.  It also plays a big part in Kilgrave's assertion that she's good at it and is getting used to the idea of murder.  I don't think she killed anybody over the course of "The Defenders", but I can't think of any other circumstance where she would have.  On the other hand, the show has gone to great lengths not to mention that chapter in the Marvel Netflix saga, so who knows?

We also get some progression on other fronts as Trish continues her endeavor to get superpowers. It was a little weird to see Mal act so nonchalantly about getting knocked out, tied up and kept in the trunk of a car.  He seems more beat up over the fact that he didn't see Trish's turn coming.  Having Jess rip into him hardly helps matters.

The show had made something of a running gag out of Jessica firing Mal, the show makes it feel like a big moment when Jess cuts all ties with him.  It even covers itself by having Mal declare that he quits.  Granted, the trio had their ups and downs, but it does feel like a "breaking of the fellowship" moment.

It's unclear what's going to happen to Trish.  She's not in good shape by episode's end and things get worse when Alisa finds out about Malus' death.  They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and the episode' final sequence, where a rage filled Alisa busts out to wreak mad vengeance shows that in spades.  It also makes for a great cliffhanger.  It's looking like things are going to get more intense in the season's final episodes. This also works timing wise as the third season is just around the corner.  It'll make for a smooth segue.

All in all, this was a strong episode.  It was very character driven and the plot moved along at a brisk pace.  It never felt like it dragged and made for an engaging episode.  We're down to the final two episodes; it'll be interesting to see where things go from here.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 10: 'AKA Pork Chop'

With the killer caught and Hogarth healed, one wonders where this episode can go.  I thought that having four more episodes to go would result in unnecessary padding.  While this episode does move a bit slower, it still brings some interesting developments to the table.

There isn't as much forward plot progression, at least not initially.  However, the episodes makes up for it with more emotional moments.  Jessica is still devastated by her mom being locked away and becomes determined to do everything in her power to keep her from being sent to "the raft".  Life in prison is a given, but at least Jessica would be able to see her.  Unfortunately, the presented deal means turning in Karl, and Alisa just won't do that.

At first, I figured Jessica's best course of action would be to turn Karl in.  Interestingly enough, she knows that this is a bad idea and instead arranges to have him moved to another country, thus making Alisa's confession useless insofar as the government wouldn't be able to get to him.  For his part, while Karl is initially skeptical of the idea (he doesn't want to leave Alisa), Jessica is able to convince him to go with it.  While it's been talked about, I think this episode has done the best job showing how committed these two are to each other.  These are some of the most extenuating circumstances imaginable and these two just refuse to give up on each other.  It's oddly, nice.

Speaking of nice, Hogarth's sudden cure has given her a new lease on life. She's more optimistic and wants to do more good for the sake of good.  Not only does this give her earlier depictions a much better payoff, as it was setting up her growth here, but it also makes the later plot twist that much more heartbreaking.

Karl reveals that he never experimented on anyone named Shane or ever gave anyone healing powers.  My first thought was that maybe he was an inhuman.  It would've been a cool way to integrate the extended MCU (much like how one episode of "Agents of Shield" had a character use a Judas bullet).  Even putting that aside, it isn't like IGH is the only source of metas in the MCU.  Alas, it turns out the whole thing was a con.

The sequence of Jeri coming home to an empty apartment was indeed breathtakingly heartwrenching, I'm not so sure about the twist itself, though.  I know placebos are a thing, but I have a hard time buying that nothing happened or that there weren't earlier signs that something was amiss.  In any event, it'll be interesting to see Hogarth unleash her focus and fury on the pair.  What once was her greatest weakness in earlier episodes could become something to look forward to in episodes to come.

While we're on the topic of focus and fury, Alisa's stay in prison doesn't go so well.  One of the guards turns out to be a little extra-sadistic. At first it seemed like he was just dishing out payback for Alisa raging out and spooking him, but we later learn that staging prisoner suicides is his thing.

The discovery comes courtesy of Jessica, who finds his trophies while investigating his house.  This scene was a little telegraphed.  With the voiceover spelling it out, you knew that he was going to pop out and confront her.  Sure enough, he does.

The element of surprise turns out to be a game changer as he manages to subdue Jessica rather easily.  She really hasn't fared well in skirmishes as of late.  She barely held her own against the Hand, she lost every encounter with her mother, she got beaten pretty badly here; poor girl needs a win.

She does manage to land a single blow in the end.  It's bittersweet, however, as it was a fatal one.  You can see Jessica's horror and sadness plain as day on her face.  Killing a person is harrowing enough, but it's also clearly bringing back memories of the Kilgrave confrontation.  It makes for a strong ending.  It isn't really a cliffhanger in the traditional sense, but it does leave you wanting to see what happens next.

I'm a little iffy on the Mal/Trish subplot.  Mal cutting ties and saying that the two were no longer friends was actually a heavy moment.  It's sadly undercut by the fact that the two hookup again later.  It's nice that the two have more than just a friends with benefits thing, but I think they could've held the tension on that one a bit longer and shown some emotional turmoil over the severing connection.

While I rather enjoyed the tense confrontation between Trish and Alisa, I did find myself struggling to remember how these two even have such animosity for one another.  The scene works well, McTeer is especially strong; and if you think about it for a few minutes, little details will come back to you, but it still seems like a plot aspect that went undeveloped.  Maybe that's something that you gain from binge watching as opposed to watching sporadically as I have been doing.

It does look like Trish is attempting to get superpowers for herself.  Some have called this out of left field, but I always remember Trish wanting them.  She encouraged Jessica to take a crack at superherodom back in the day and it was also one of the reasons she started using Simpson's drug.  I'm not sure where her plot will go from here, but we'll have to see.

This episode wasn't quite as strong as the ones that came before it.  There are problems here and there, but there's some good stuff to be seen as well.  A lot of it comes from the character moments, but I also think the episode did a good job of setting up future plot points for the remaining episodes to explore.  I wasn't sure what else could be done before, but now there's enough fodder where I can see what the next couple of episodes can explore and examine.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 9: 'AKA Shark in the Bathtub, Monster in the Bed'

This episode rewards the binge watcher as it picks up right where the last left off, showing the last moments from the sniper's perspective.

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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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 8: 'AKA Ain't We Got Fun'

This episode chronicles the shaky reunion between mother and daughter.  After being separated for 17 years, the two have some things that need to be settled.  Suffice it to say, Jessica is quite angry about the situation, for a myriad of reasons.  Oddly enough, the fact that Alisa killed her old boyfriend never comes up.  It just shows you how many issues these two have to settle.

The scenes between Ritter and McTeer are great.  It is in large part due to their respective performances, but it also strikes a balance between showing genuine character development (notably Jessica's conflicting desires to turn in the killer, but also protect her mother,) but also mining some light comedy from the situation.  The interplay between the two snarkers naturally leads to a few one liners, but Jess' constant attempts to keep her mother's violent impulses under control borders on comical at certain points. 

Speaking of comics, I did like the nod to the larger MCU with the mention of The Raft.  It was just one line, but it was nice to see the show remember that it is still under that franchise umbrella.

Also impressive was this episode's ability to give Hogarth a good showing.  She'd had a bad run this season, but we see her return to form here.  Not only is she hopeful for the first time in a long time, but the scene where she pitches a deal to a healing meta shows what made her such a standout character to begin with.

Credit to the writers for allowing Malcolm to quickly pick up on the fact that Trish has a drug problem.  I remember that being a concern in an earlier episode, but it gets addressed admirably here.

All in all this was another strong showing for the series.  I don't know if I'd rank it as high as its predecessor, but it was well paced, well acted, and well written.  We're coming down to the final few episodes of the season, so hopefully the show can keep the momentum going.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 7: 'AKA I Want Your Cray Cray'

Rather than pick up where the last episode left off, this one decides to jump to the past.  We see what happened to Alisa, Jessica's mother, after the car accident; and see how she progressed to where she is now.  Given the reveal, it makes sense, but it also gives us a glimpse into Jessica's history as well.

It turns out that Alisa had tried to make contact with Jess a few years back, but suffice it to say, it didn't go well.

This look at a younger and slightly less cynical and closed off Jess proved to be one of the major highlights of the episode.  She's hardly happy go lucky, and she seems to have no qualms with stealing or breaking things, but she does seem to be in much better spirits.  It was nice to see, though it only adds to the tragedy that is set to come later on, both in the episode and in Jess' overall story.

Even in these seemingly brighter times, Jess' life has some degree of darkness.  Her falling out with Trish is appropriately heart-wrenching, but it makes their mending of fences at the episode's end that much more heartwarming.

Speaking of heartwarming, Jess' relationship provides more than a few crowning moments.  It's impressive as the character is only introduced this episode, but the two had great chemistry and it really sells the bond that the two had developed.  Had it not worked, the downer ending wouldn't have worked, but it does so very well as a result.

Some of the "origins' are a little on the nose.  Did we really need to see how Jessica got her jacket?  The bit about the "Alias" name worked better, if only because it works as a retroactive tribute to the guy.

I said before that the reveal about Jess' connection to Alisa expanded the parallel, but this episode takes it further by showing that Alisa is hardly a monster.  While she does kill people, it's out of desperation and/or her newfound uncontrollable anger.  She's rightly horrified by what she did and willingly goes back into seclusion for further testing because she knows that she's not in a place to reconnect with her daughter just yet.  There are also several scenes that involve her about to give in to the rage, only to take a mental step back and keep it in check.  It makes the antagonist much more three dimensional and sympathetic.

Acting wise, pretty much everyone hit it out of the park.  Ritter was fantastic and McTeer also shined throughout.  They deserve massive kudos for their performances here.

For those who wanted to see a follow up to the cliffhanger from the previous episode, we do get about a minute of story set in the present.  Alisa asks Jessica for forgiveness (one can assume that this was her telling Jess the story though there's very little voice-over and you have to wonder how she knows about events she wasn't there for, but I think the MST3K rule applies.)  Jess....does not grant it.  If you were interested to see how this reunion would play out after the wham line, Jess throwing her mother across the room only increases that anticipation.

This was likely the season's best and could stand as a contender for the show's best episode to date. It's not without flaws, but everything it does, it does really well.  There was a lot of great character moments and development, I already cited the acting but it bears repeating, and the episode moved along at a smooth pace.  It never felt rushed or like it was dragging.  I highly enjoyed this one.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 6: 'AKA Facetime'

I noted before that the last episode's "cliffhanger" tried to make a big deal out of something that wasn't.  It turns out that I was, more or less, correct.  While we do see people fleeing the aquarium, the only real effect of the implied tsunami is that Jessica's phone is messed up, preventing her from taking a photo of the car as her targets make their getaway.  Even that is quickly dealt with via the old "bag of rice" trick.

From there, the episode proceeds to move onto several other issues.  The most prominent is Trish's addiction to Simpson's drug.  When we first see her, she's just itching for a fight; but once she's cut off, she starts to show the standard symptoms.  You'd think Jess or especially Malcolm would start to notice that something's up, but both remain oblivious.

Jess does get to show off her loyal, kind-hearted side.  Not only does she offer a shoulder/sounding board for Trish to vent about her romantic woes, but she even offers to act as nurse when Trish falls ill.

This seems to have positive ramifications as her romance with the landlord takes a step forward.  It seems his hangups about things moving too fast are no longer a concern.  Not only do the two hookup, but he paints her while she sleeps.  A little creepy, not going to lie.  I'm sure he meant it to be romantic, but some better judgment could have been used there.

On the flip side, she also relapses in regards to giving into darker impulses.  You see this mostly in terms of her investigation.  She breaks into a country club to pump a guy for information and when that doesn't work, she accosts his son.  She does acknowledge it via a voice over, but it seems her desire to be better has been put on hold. 

Said investigation does yield some results.  She manages to obtain the name of the IGH scientist responsible for the experiments: Karl Malus.  It's quite close to the name of the big bad on "Legends of Tomorrow".  Were these not two completely separate and independent shared universes from rival comic book companies, I'd say a crossover might happen, but I doubt it.  Would be interesting to see, though.

The other big development comes in the episode's last five seconds as the killer's identity is finally revealed.  It turns out that the woman is Jessica's mother.  It explains the parallels quite well and does add a more personal stake in the established conflict.  You'd think that this would come off as eye-roll worthy, having the villain be related to the hero is a rather old trope at this point, but it seemed to work here.  I think that Jessica's shocked reaction being what reveals it helps a little.  Normally, it's the antagonist who makes the declaration. 

Unlike last episode, this ending has more umph.  The conversation between the two should be interesting, to say the least.  Where things go from there remains to be seen.

It'll also be interesting to see what comes of the Malcolm/Trish...fling?  The idea that Malcolm has been pining for Trish does come out of left field.  The two just came off as good friends.  Yeah, Trish is gorgeous, so I can understand some degree of attraction, but the idea that he's been in love with her this whole time raised an eyebrow.  It does give Trish something to manipulate once she gets her drug fix in.  It also puts a whole new spin on the term "crack pairing".  At the very least, it adds a more literal element to it. 

All in all, this episode was OK.  Pacing was an issue; I did find myself checking the remaining time more than once.  Still, there were seeds planted that could lead to interesting plot development down the road.   

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2019 Docket and Goals

Happy New Year everyone!  It's that time where we try to lay down a plan for what's to come in the next 365 days.  As noted before, a lot of what was supposed to be done in 2018 wasn't.  As such, a good chunk of this year's docket is just carry over, but we'll go through it anyway just for the sake of record.


Stephen King


Back log

Hearts in Atlantis
Castle Rock Season 1
Sleeping Beauties
Strange Weather
The Outsider
On Writing
Secret Windows
The Plant
Dreamcatcher
Black House
Cell (movie)
Mr. Mercedes series
The Dark Tower movie


New additions

Castle Rock Season 2
It part 2
Elevation




Brad Thor

Backlog

Path of the Assassin
State of the Union
Blowback
Takedown


Netflix

Back Log

The Punisher Season 1
Daredevil Season 3
Jessica Jones Season 2

New Additions

Luke Cage Season 2
Iron Fist Season 2
The Punisher Season 2



Legends of Tomorrow


Back Log

Season 3


New additions

Season 4- Once again, I'll have to wait for this to hit Netflix in order to watch it, but the plan is to binge it when it does happen.  It may not be current, but I'm going to make a point of getting through it quickly this time around.



Anime

Back Log

Attack on Titan season 3
Rurouni Kenshin (?)


Archive restoration (?)

Reviewstream

Back Log

Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition rule books
JLA trade paperbacks


The dividend income reports will continue and I will also continue to post the latest episodes of "Let's Get it Right".



Oh, and I, of course, aim to finally finish "The X-Files".


Goals


Savings challenge

I neglected to mention it in the 2018 review, though I did bring it up on Twitter, but this year I completed two savings challenges.  The 52 week "dollar a week" challenge and the "penny a day" challenge.  These were two that I had started back in the day when I was still trying the whole "self employed content creator" thing.  With my new station, I was finally able to put those to an end.

This year I plan on keeping the momentum going by taking on the extension of the first challenge.  It turns out that some people push the weekly challenge to two years.  Rather than stopping at 52, they just keep going, putting aside $53, then $54, then $55 and so on.  For all intents and purposes, I'm doing this challenge twice, as the plan is to move the slated amounts to my primary savings account, as well as the online savings account.


Bring dividend forward income to $400

Right now, my forward income sits at about $70.  I wanted to find a number that was feasible, but still somewhat challenging.  With purchases and DRIP, I think that this meets that criteria.  If I break it before, that's awesome, but right now, that's where I'm setting the goal post.


Max out IRA contribution

When I first opened the IRA, I mentioned that the odds of me doing this were slim.  Truth be told, that's still the case.  This is more of a mental thing.  I figure, if I set my sight on that, it will push me to get as close as I possibly can. Even if I don't hit the goal, I think having this mindset will still be beneficial in the long run.



$300 in Side Hustle

This is something that I haven't really talked about, but I want to add it to the itinerary anyway.  Right now, my main side hustles are Apptrailers, Epoll, and Reviewstream (there's also the Patreon, ad revenue, and the Amazon affiliate links, but they haven't really brought in income so they're side hustles in name only....SHINO.)  Epoll will bring about $60 at best.  App trailers is nice, but if I'm going to pull this off, Reviewstream will have to be a factor.  This should be a motivator for me to write more and make sure I cross that threshold.  Again, I think that this is a goal that's feasible, but will still present something of a challenge.


Car


As of now, I am without vehicle.  It's something I am aiming to remedy.  I've given serious consideration to getting a bike, which is odd as I've only ridden once since elementary school.  It's cheaper, better for the planet, and everything is fairly close by here.  It makes a lot more sense now than it did when I was living in Maryland or Kansas, but I figure I'd still need to get a car at some point.  I'm not looking forward to adding two more monthly expenses to my cash outflow, but if I can knock the car payment out quickly enough, it might not be that bad.


Walk the Year Charity Miles Challenge

I'm a big fan of the Charity Miles app.  I plug it frequently and was even going on daily 4 mile walks for a while.  I haven't been doing a good job as of late and I'm hoping that this will get me back on the horse.

Fun fact, we're one day in and, because I didn't walk today, I'm already behind schedule.  Auspicious.


Read 26 books

I noted before that I got no reading done.  I really want to amend for that this year.  I know that 52 books is the average, but I figure that starting small will work out better.  There's another reason I only have this many books coming into play, the next goal.


Read 26 graphic novels/trade paperbacks

I've been trying to get back into comics lately.  Rather than go back to the individual issues, I want to shift my collection to trades so that I can show them off on a bookshelf.  Rather than argue about whether these count as books, I'm putting them in their own separate category so that I can get the best of both worlds.


Swagbucks

I had heard that this was a great side hustle, but it hasn't really panned out for me.  The site brings my computer to a crawl (my laptop is a little on the old side,) which means I only log in when I have to.  As that hasn't worked, I want to try to put it to use in order to up my philanthropic game.  You can donate points to different causes and organizations.  Since I have the account anyway, I figure this will at least put the account to better use than it has up until now.  As the point cost isn't as high as the other rewards, I'll be able to "cash in" more frequently.



3 year goal

Oh, we're going beyond just the year.  I want to try to think in the long term, and as such I've got some goals that go beyond.

For this one, I want to bring my forward income to $6,000 a year.  This will bring my dividend income to Spoony's Patreon income level. It's important that I hit this goal as soon as feasibly possible.   I have my reasons.

It sounds lofty, but I'd like to think that I can pull this one off.





5 year goals


House

I've only ever been a renter, but the idea of being a homeowner has really grown on me.  That down payment scares the crap out of me, but I figure with enough prep time, I can take it.


3x Salary Saved for Retirement

Back in January, MarketWatch posted an article stating that, by the age of 35, you should have twice your annual income tucked away for retirement. Millenials....did not take kindly to this information.  While it was mathematically impossible for me to hit this goal after discovering it, I did resolve to hit the next marker, which is having 3 times your annual income tucked away by 40.

Funny thing is, I'm quite confident that I can pull this off.  Technically, I am still behind, but I have been viewing these past few months as a "head start".  I'm maxing out the 401k and pumping money into the IRA, both of which will generate increasing amounts of income as time goes on.  Add to that the fact that my birthday is in March and that gives me three more months before the 5 year challenge technically even starts.

Now, you might be asking where the stock portfolio fits.  It does and doesn't come into play as far as my retirement is concerned.  The dividends are designed to help finance and carry me through my golden years, but I'm not counting the portfolio into the overall total.  I could use market value, but that's way too fickle a beast.  As such, I'm viewing it as its own thing that is only tangential to the overall goal.


I'll admit that this is a lot, but I'm confident and fired up.  2019 is going to be huge.  2018 had its perks, but this is where I push myself to my limit, and then break past it.

'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 5: 'AKA The Octopus'

In a surprise twist, Hydra is revealed to be the mastermind behind everything!

Actually, that's not true.  That's not true at all.  Would've been a hell of a twist, though, if for no other reason than it would help fuse the currently fragmented MCU.

Never the less, this entry in the series stands as a pretty strong one.  It keeps things moving at a brisk pace, gives the wide cast things to do, and provides more than a few highlights for the season. Heck, even Hogarth is tolerable.  Considering how she's been depicted this season, that in itself deserves massive kudos.

It was surprising how long it took to clear Jess' name in regards to the murder of Pryce's flunkie.  Even Jess notes that it was a sloppy frame up (or possibly an unintentional one?)  I guess that's just bureaucracy at work, though they do justify it a little by saying that some of the cops have a grudge against Jessica for past actions. 

Or maybe they have a grudge against "vigilante superheroes" in general.  The idea has been brought up before in prior Netflix shows and one of the cops does make a crack about how "those people" like to team up.  Jessica does seem to gain an ally in one of the cops.  It makes for some further character development and gives the apparent plot cul-de-sac some longer lasting impact.

On other fronts, we learn about Griffin's true intentions.  I have to say....I called it.  It turns out all his mysterious conversations were about planning an elaborate engagement proposal event.

I did find it weird that her response was "thank you", and not necessarily a yes.  You'd think that the fact that she put the ring on her finger would be enough, but Griffin is smart enough to pick up on the fact and does discreetly follow up by making a more private inquiry later.

Trish's response is a bit odd.  It doesn't really mesh with what we'd seen of their relationship up to this point.  Maybe it's supposed to be a sign that the drug is having an effect on her psyche (it is clearly shown to have effects on her physically even after it's "worn off") or maybe it's a fear of commitment, I don't know.  It's still strange.

Whether this is the end for Griffin remains to be seen.  Maybe this jilting is the beginning of a face-heel turn?  It wouldn't surprise me, but hopefully, the show avoids going down that road.  It has bigger fish to fry.

One such fish is the main villain, whom Jessica continues to tail by pursuing a new lead: the man in prison for another one of "Leslie"s murders. 

He's not all too helpful, nor is he particularly menacing.  It subverts the old "Silence of the Lambs" dynamic a bit and gives Jessica a chance to show her compassionate side.  More than once, she knows when to back off when her interrogation seems to be doing more harm than good. 

It's a decent enough scene, but I couldn't get over how they kept referring to "octopuses".  I thought that was one of those faux-words, like irregardless, but maybe not.  I still found it cringe inducing every time a character said it, as I thought that "octopi" was the correct term.  Doing some light googling, apparently, it isn't.  I still say that "octopuses" sounds weird, though.

We also get some brief development about the antagonist.  Apparently, she's learning to play the piano.  It sounds trivial and mundane, but it does put the villain du jour in a different light.  She also has an overly cheerful neighbor who brings her baby over to hear said music. 

You can tell that the woman is trying to be pleasant, but when the neighbor's baby starts crying, it's only a matter of time before the anger issues bubble up to the surface.  Thankfully, the family books it before they can become the target of her rage.

This scene does present something of a contrast to Jessica, though.  Sure, it's meant to highlight their emotional issues, but Jess largely deals with it by being in a perpetually sour and snarky mood.  This woman, on the other hand, seems to take her cues from the Hulk.  She's initially more pleasant, but is more prone to going into "Smash!" mode.  That poor piano never really stood a chance. 

The episode's big ending is a bit of a let down, however.  While Jessica does discover a figure from her past and does run into the woman again, the confrontation is cut short when the two book it.  Why she's running when she's stronger than Jessica is beyond me, but she does break the aquarium glass. 

The cliffhanger is supposed to imply some tsunami type flood coming Jessica's way, but I don't think the tanks were that big.  I just see it cutting to Jess' POV and seeing the water spilling out onto the floor creating a puddle across the room.  I mean, the animals would likely die and that would be tragic in its own way, but it doesn't really have the same umph that the producers might have wanted it to. 

Still, this was a solid entry and a good point to get back in.  After the haitus, this managed to move things along in such a way that it didn't take too much mental effort to get caught up.  It also raises enough questions that I'll want to sit down and watch the next episode a lot sooner.  I might not be able to binge, but I can at least get into a steady viewing pattern as we move closer to the show's halfway point.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 4: 'AKA God Help the Hobo'

One of the frequent criticisms leveled against the Netflix MCU shows is in regards to pacing.  That flaw rears its ugly head here as the show hits its fourth episode.

You'd think that this wouldn't be the case.  The season is well underway and Jessica has just confronted what appears to be her "big bad" for the season.  They even have a picture of her.  There should be momentum, but before that we have to touch on several of the various sub-plot threads that have been introduced.

The result is very strange.  Things do happen in this episode.  The status quo is shaken up on a few fronts, but as you're watching it doesn't feel like anything is happening for the longest time.

One of the bigger shake-ups involves Jessica's landlord turning from antagonist to love interest.  It's a pretty drastic turn (something even he himself lampshades when Jessica starts to get a little frisky,) but that bonding scene they shared was rather well done.  After she saved his kid (who was admittedly being an imbecile) not warming up to her would have been bizarre.  His initial reaction was kind of irritating, but at least he owns up to it later.

Speaking of antagonists, Pryce makes a return.  He calls out Hogarth on her lackluster efforts regarding the civil suit (rightly so) only to be told that his grudge is about a fragile male ego or something?  I'm pretty sure if he were assaulted by a man, his reaction would be the same.  That whole speech Hogarth gave was stupid and she should feel stupid for suggesting it.

In fact, Hogarth is one of this season's major flaws.  I feel bad for Carrie-Ann Moss.  She's turning in a very strong performance, but the character just sucks now as a result of the way she's being written.  Given her condition, I feel like I should sympathize, but the script goes out of its way to make sure I don't.  It's very bizarre.

Pryce also pays a visit to offer Malcolm a job.  He makes a solid pitch, offering Malcolm a chance to help people and to be better appreciated, but the offer is (of course) rebuffed.  Enlisting Malcolm would have stung, no doubt, but Pryce is a tricky one and it appears his visit had another purpose, as we'll see later.

This episode also gives us a bit of follow up on Griffin's supposed nefarious intent.  While he and Trish are able to sort out the snafu regarding her alleged new beau, he does take a post-coital call where he says that "she doesn't know and he doesn't want her to find out" after she's out of ear shot.  Yeah, I smell red herring (that's two in a row!)  He's planning to propose or take her on some grand vacation or something innocuous.  I can feel it.

Not so innocuous is the killer, who makes a brief appearance at the end of the episode to dispatch of a goon that Pryce enlisted to rob Jessica's office.  It's, not surprisingly, quite gruesome and it makes for a more energized finale.  The fact that Jessica is now implicated only makes things worse.

The episode as a whole really hammers in the parallel between Jessica and the killer.  It's a bit blunt force, but after so many "dark mirror" villains in the MCU, it's nice to see that the connection is being looked at in a more in depth fashion.  Normally, it's only given lip service, but the similarities really rattle Jessica as she finds out more about her new adversary.  You can especially see it at the end, when Jessica is telling the police, "that's not me" as she's being detained.  Obviously, she's saying she didn't do it; but to the viewer, it's equally obvious that she's reminding herself that she's not that person in a more figurative sense.

This episode was a slow burn.  Some may appreciate that, while others will think that it's just slow.  I do have to say I fall into the latter.  It does end on a high enough note to keep the viewer engaged, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of these plot threads come to an end.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 3: 'AKA Sole Survivor'

I don't know if you've noticed,but I'm more than a little behind on quite a bit.  Hopefully, we can begin to remedy that by diving back into the second season of 'Jessica Jones'.

After the hiatus, this episode was actually quite easy to jump into.  It picks up more or less where its predecessor left off, with Jess and Trish having to dispose of Will's body lest Jess become implicated.

While you'd think this would act as a motivator to put Jess' investigation into focus, the story is somewhat sidelined by other plot points, such as Jess being evicted.  On the one hand, it's frustrating, as it seems like it's killing the show's momentum.  On the other hand, the characters are all likable and sympathetic enough that you enjoy their various interactions.

Even Jess is able to walk that fine line of "snarky and aloof, but still relatable to the audience".  I thought for sure that her attempt at hypnotherapy would have been an unmitigated disaster.  OK, the doc ends up bailing, but she gave it much more of a chance than I thought she would.

Sadly, not every character gets that same benefit.  I should have felt sorry for Hogarth.  I mean, she's really sick and now her partners are trying to force her out of the company.  Unfortunately, her one scene with Foggy pretty much robs her of any sympathy.  You almost want to see her partners win this particular case.  Even Jess isn't having any of it when Jeri comes to her and Jess wasn't even there for that scene.  To her credit, Hogarth does earn some points in the following scene when she opens up to Jess about her condition.  She still owes Foggy an apology, but at least she dodged the hate sink.

Griffin is an interesting case. Up until now, he seemed like the kind of character who was so good that they had to be up to something.  It's a common plot twist.  It seems like this episode lays that to bed, with Jess saying that she looked into him and he essentially checks out.  It isn't 20 minutes before he's doing something shady after coming across Trish's video file of the Whizzer.

Now, maybe this is a fake out and Griffin really is on the level.  If it isn't the case, the show might have done better to let that simmer for a while.  Let the audience drop their guard and think that he's an ally before dropping that twist.  Right now, it's too soon to tell.  A part of me is hoping that it goes the other way and that Griffin really is just a guy who's trying to be helpful.  We'll have to see. 

Even IGH gets something vaguely resembling development.  It would have been easy to cast them as the nefarious shadow organization, but from what "Hansen"s dialogue suggests, they were trying to save people's lives.  You'd think that they were attempting to create an army of metas or something, but it appears that was just an unintended side effect.  IGH's methods are obviously still suspect, but it does create some ambiguity, making for a potentially more interesting adversary.

"Hansen"s speech could very well have just been typical villain motivation speech, but she does seem legitimately appalled when Jess suggests that she would have been better off dying with her family all those years ago. How soon she forgets that she put an end to Kilgrave's reign of terror and helped bring down the Hand. Those are kind of big deals. 

I was surprised at how much humor the episode managed to get in.  It isn't at the expense of the more serious and dramatic elements, and it feels like it still fits.  It's mostly dry quips, but they still pull some legit laughs from the viewer. 

Tha handful of Marvel nods were also a nice touch.  Jess being asked by her super-intendent's son if she knows Captain America was amusing (though also a bit sad as it seems like the movies and shows will remain forever segregated).  I'm not sure if Jess describing Trish's investigation as "cloak and dagger" was supposed to be a nod to the show of the same name.  That could honestly just be a coincidence. I still need to check that series out now that I think about it.

Overall, this was a solid outing.  The slight pacing problems are offset by the fact that the cast plays really well off each other.  The script also gives the cast plenty of great material to work with.  As such, you the viewer are kept engaged in even the more mundane elements of the story. It also ends with a big enough wham note to hook you for the next episode.  It should be interesting to see where things go from here.

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 2: 'AKA A Freak Accident'

This is one of those instances where the gaps in my episode viewings proves to be a detriment.  It took me a while to remember just what everybody was grappling with.  I got caught up eventually, but it did make the early sequences a little head scratching.

This is especially true with Hogarth's subplot.  I remember that she was affiliated with that rival PI who Jess beat up, but at the same time, I wasn't sure what prompted the downward spiral into drugs and lesbian orgies with prostitutes*.  Even the PI asks her what's going on when he pops in for a quick follow up appearance, so maybe there's something else going on that we as viewers aren't privy to as of yet.  As much focus as he got last episode, it was surprising to see him relegated to a cameo, but the episode has its hands full dealing with bigger issues.

The focus, instead, is put on both Jessica's and Trish's respective investigations into IGH, Jess' origins, and the death of Whizzer. 

Jessica's investigative methods perplex me.  On the one hand, the writers both here and on the Defenders have done a decent job of showing Jessica doing actual detective work: following leads, collecting evidence etc.  Then, we have sequences where she's just googling stuff.  You can buy it when she's looking up stuff on Will, but the Whizzer?  Your first instinct is to roll your eyes, but the strange thing is that it totally works.  Her internet search actually does give her a pretty crucial piece to the puzzle, so I guess there's something to it.

Just as the last episode felt very "comic book-y", so too does this one.  There's no speedster, but Jess does have to contend with a guy in a wheel chair and a mongoose.  They both make sense in context, but there is some definite mood whiplash considering some of the serious emotional issues that come into play.

We also have a couple of Spider-Man references.  They added a bit of levity and stood out as highlights for Marvel fans.  I know that they're intentional from the writer's perspective, but this being the MCU, I can't help but wonder if the references are even intentional in universe.  I suppose it depends on whether this takes place before or after "Civil War" and "Homecoming", but I'd like to think that it was.  It helps make the MCU feel more cohesive that way. 

The episode does follow up on the super-killing monster that's on the loose.  While Jessica is aware that the threat is very real, she never considers calling on Luke or Danny for backup...weird.

The idea that Will is the one responsible is thrown out.  It would have made sense to have him act as the "big bad" given the set up from season 1, but it also felt a little anti-climactic as he was likely the viewer's prime suspect.  At the very least, you'd think that the show would want to toy with it before just tossing the info out without care in the world.

As quickly as the idea is thrown out, I actually started to suspect that there was something else afoot.  I mean, we are only in the second episode.  Sure enough, Will pleads innocent and says that something else is loose.  For what it's worth, he seems to be on the level, as they are indeed attacked by something else.

Sadly, we don't have Simpson and Jones confronting the thing side by side.  The prior does make an attempt to keep Trish safe, though, by attempting to take it on and allow the others to escape.  Suffice it to say, it doesn't go well.  Now, could this be a fake out too?  I don't know.  At this point, it seems like what happened will remain intact, but a plot twist or two could easily change that.

For the first half, it didn't seem like the episode was moving all that much.  I know the Netflix shows operate on a slow burn, but it didn't seem like there was that much going on.  The episode made up for it in the second half.  It advanced the main plot, but we also got some great character development as well. 

Most notably, we get some more background on Trish.  Granted, we knew that her child star status gave her some issues, but this doubles down by revealing that she fell victim to the casting couch concept.  Yeah, everybody's got major traumas to deal with this season.  It's made worse by the fact that she was 15 at the time, so while we this season is working to integrate into the Marvel setting, it isn't doing so at the expense of the grit and street level atrocities that the Netflix shows were intended to portray. 

As to what that has to do with the main plot, it seems the director's a major donor.  I'm not sure donors have access to medical records.  Sure, they get perks, but I'm pretty sure that's not one of them.  I think the writers could have done a better job making that connection, but we'll see where it goes.

Even Malcolm is put off by the revelation, so much so that he accosts the guy and punches him in the face.  Can't really blame the guy, especially when the director tries to pin it on her. 

Just as Jess did last episode, Trish shows some "broken bird" traits here.  Even though she more or less got what she wanted, you can tell that the confrontation has left her rattled and you can't help but feel sorry for her.

This episode wasn't quite as strong as its predecessor, but by the end, it did manage to keep me interested in what was happening.  The main villain got to show itself...sort of, and things did eventually start moving forward on multiple fronts. 






* Reading IGN's review of the episode, it seems to be connected to the quick scene where she got some dire medical news. Not gonna lie, I totally forgot about that. 

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'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 1: 'AKA Start at the Beginning'

The Defenders return!! Well, a defender returns.  Yes, the second season of Jessica Jones hit Netflix  a while back and we're finally diving into it.  Much like with Daredevil, we're starting from the second season because the second season of that show is when these write ups started to begin with. 

The second season of this series gets off to a rather strong start.  True, Jessica starts off feeling a bit flat just because she's still drinking and pushing those closest to her away.  Thankfully, over the course of the episode, her arc starts to begin in earnest.

The first season used IGH as a sequel hook and this episode hints that it will be the main focus.  Not only is it a good way to escalate things, but it also allows us to explore Jessica's origin.  We know the jist, but it seems like there's more to what happened. 

This gives Jessica a more personal stake, gives us more info on her background, and also allows her traumatic past to come to the forefront.  Ritter brings her A-game here, as Jessica is frequently shaken and even teary eyed at various points in the episode.  Either because she is that adamant about letting the past stay buried (despite Trish's well-intentioned protests), or because she saw a fellow super get crushed to death.  While Jess is acerbic and isolationist, it allows the viewer to connect to and feel for the character, as her emotional anguish is palpable. 

That said, this episode is also the most comic book-y to date.  Jessica encounters another powered person who says that something is hunting them  Some may like it, others won't.  I thought it made it feel more established in the MCU, but it is kind of jarring going from Jessica's binge drinking and denial to a goofy chase around the office with a paranoid speedster.  I totally get the argument that it's out of place in this show, but we'll see where it goes.  I'm OK with the show playing into the setting more.  Frankly, it's always weird to see people skeptical of things after everything that's happened since Tony Stark first made his debut as a superhero. 

Speaking of superhero, the episode devotes a lot of time to showing Jessica outright denouncing the title.  It's a bit weird that everyone used the exact term "vigilante superhero".  I'd think people would lean towards one or the other, but it does make for some nice character moments.  Jess doesn't really fit the "superhero" profile, clearly, and her offense at being called a vigilante makes sense.  While she doesn't always succeed, she does try to work within legal parameters.  You even see it in "Defenders".

As far as plot, there is the IGH stuff, but beyond that, the only real antagonist is a rival PI who offers to buy out Alias Investigations.  He's smug, but you can't help but feel like he's in the right when he talks about suing Jessica after she beats him up.  Yeah, he provoked her, but at the same time, it seems like a winnable law suit.  He's also not wrong in pointing out that the slap on the wrist was a bit too light. 

Even though Cox's name wasn't in the credits, it seemed like it would've been a great cameo to have him be the one representing her.  I guess they figured it would just be a rehash of how they met, but it still seems like a missed opportunity. 

Speaking of, Rand gets name-dropped and there's one mention of "the others" (re: vigilante superheroes) but there's no real mention of the Defenders.  On the one hand, the public at large wouldn't know about those events so I kind of get it, but you'd think that Trish would point out that Jessica saved the city not too long ago or that Jess' ego would get a boost.  I mean, taking down an ancient cult of ninjas is a pretty impressive feat. 

Overall, I found this to be a strong opening.  It had a nice balance in regards to tone.  The stakes seem to be both higher and more personal.  The writing and acting are also more impressive.  The characters and story are able to take what worked in the first season and build on it to become more compelling and developed.  I'm looking forward to seeing where Jess' story goes from here. 

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