Netflix’s second series for Marvel’s MCU kicks off with a bang.
Meet Jessica Jones. She’s an alcoholic, short tempered, anti-social, and slightly neurotic private investigator with a few super powered tricks up her sleeves. We start off the episode with Jessica tossing an unhappy client through the front door of her office / apartment.
Jessica pays a visit to Jerri Hogarth, and badgers the lawyer for a case. Hogarth calls her out for unprofessional behavior, but asks her to serve a subpoena to a difficult to catch nightclub owner. Jessica lays the groundwork for catching him and heads off to bed, but can’t sleep. Instead she complains about cases you can’t let go and photographs a couple having sex before having a short anxiety attack and heading home.
The next morning Jessica wakes to her upstairs neighbors fighting, the drug addict next door raiding her fridge, and a concerned couple from Omaha begging her for help finding their daughter. She takes the case and starts tracking her down, discovering that the missing girl has been running out with a new boyfriend.
After a show of strength, lifting the nightclub owner’s car, she completes the job for Hogarth and goes back to spying on the guy she was photographing the night before, visiting his bar. He catches her there, unaware of her intentions, and invites her in for drinks. They chat and flirt a bit before hooking up, but when she visits his bathroom she finds a picture of a woman in his medicine cabinet, nearly breaks into tears and leaves with a quick “sorry”, having more flashbacks and anxiety attacks.
Further investigation into the missing girl, Hope, leads her to a familiar restaurant location, and the story of a man ordering food served at the place that used to be there, a demand that was followed without question. Panicking, Jessica tries desperately to leave town, but is unable to get the money from Hogarth’s latest case, and can’t afford a ticket. She visits her only friend, popular talk radio host Trish Walker, convinced that “he” is back, and determined not to let him take her again, citing that “he” is using the same routine on Hope’s one month anniversary that he used with Jessica. Trish tries to convince Jessica that Hope needs her help, but she’s terrified.
On the cab ride home, Jessica changes her mind and decides to go to the hotel room that was the final stop for her anniversary with “him”, and in the process finds Hope laying in bed, refusing to move because he told her not to. She grabs the struggling girl and calls for her parents to meet them at her office. She tells them that his control over Hope will wear off with time and distance and instructs them to return home as quickly as possible, but as they get into the elevator Hope pulls out a gun and unloads it into her unsuspecting parents. Sickened by what has happened Jessica begins again to leave town, but decides at the last minute that she has a choice, and she’s going to do something about him.