Jessica Jones Episode Guide: “AKA Ladies Night” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Jessica Jones

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Credits

Original Airdate: 11/20/2015
Written by: Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by: SJ Clarkson
Created by Melissa Rosenberg
Based on the characters from the Marvel comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos

Cast of Characters

Starring

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones
Mike Colter as Luke Cage
Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker
Erin Moriarty as Hope Shlottman
Eka Darville as Malcolm
with
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeryn “Jeri” Hogarth
and
David Tennant as Kilgrave, the Purple Man

Guest Starring

Susie Abromeit as Pam
Robin Weigert as Wendy Ross-Hogarth
Kobi Libii as Zack
Joseph Ragno as Roy Healy
Ian Blackman as Bob Shlottman
Deborah Hedwall as Barbara Shlottman
Nedra McClyde as Gina
Juri Henley-Cohn as Gregory Spheeris
Nichole Yannety as Female Intern
Ruibo Qian as Mei
Manuel Joaquin Santiago as Raj
Jon Norman Schneider as Maitre’D
Peter Davenport as Man
Duvall O’Steen as Woman
Brian J. Carter as Doorman
David Lomax as Cabbie
Christopher Parker as Very Large Man

First Appearance: Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Trish Walker, Kilgrave the Purple Man, Jeryn Hogarth, Malcolm, Hope Shlottman, Pam, Wendy Ross-Hogarth, Zack, Roy Healy, Nicole/Female Intern, Gina

Synopsis

Jessica Jones is a private investigator, engaging in the regular day-to-day that PIs do, including tailing and snapping photos of a guy having an affair with his brother’s wife. Jessica shows the photos to the brother, who is obviously angry and distraught, and in a misguided way to make sense of the world, he blames Jessica. He tries to rough her up but she knocks him through the glass of her office door.

Jessica shows up unannounced to the law firm of Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz LLP, a frequent employer of her services, to see if they have any work. Jeryn Hogarth isn’t thrilled to see her, telling Jessica the firm hired a full-time investigator after Jessica turned down the job offer. Jessica makes the case for how Hogarth needs her services despite her rather unorthodox and unprofessional way of going about it. Hogarth says she needs a summons served on a Gregory Spheeris, owner of a number of strip clubs who won’t compensate a dancer suing for being hurt by a faulty pole. Cynical Jessica also gets Hogarth to admit that outside interests want to purchase the land and building of the club. At home, on the toilet of all places, Jessica tracks down Spheeris’ contact information and pretends to be a put-upon exec assistant for a business associate asking about a meeting they’re supposed to have. Spheeris’ assistant recognizes the name Jessica uses, but she flips into an “in” to get info about a drink gathering. Jessica slinks into her room, downing a glass of whiskey and dreading her bed.

In bed, Jessica can’t sleep. She packs a bag, fills a thermos with alcohol, and heads out into the night on an unsolved case. She superjumps onto a fire escape to stake out a building. She takes pics of a couple coming out of a bar and going up to an apartment above the bar. Moments later, the man steps to his window and solemnly looks out on Hell’s Kitchen. Jessica relates to his melancholy, but a persistent voice enters her mind, scaring her. She starts naming a number of streets to calm herself. The couple in the apartment across the way start to get intimate as Jessica takes a swig of her thermos.

The next day, passed out in bed, Jessica is awoken by the couple upstairs fighting. She superthrows her boot at the ceiling to shut them up. Checking her phone, she’s pissed to find she didn’t plug the charger in. She hears someone rummaging around in her kitchen and discovers her neighbor Malcolm eating some peanut butter, thinking its his place. As she throws him out, she runs into the Shlottmans, a couple from Omaha who are desperate to find their daughter Hope, who suddenly dropped out of college at NYU and has become distant. The police referred them to Jessica, which surprises her. She takes the case.

Looking into the rather normal family, she sees Hope was all about running track. She discovers a friend in a picture with Hope that might offer a clue. Jessica tracks down their apartment and finds out from the friend that she’d been seeing some guy. The friend assumes she went off with the guy. Jessica finds an envelope in a box of Hope’s things and leaves. Later, she waits outside a club for Spheeris, who is as douchy as one could image and driving a suped-up car. He drives away but Jessica quickly catches up to him and asks for directions. He jerkily dismisses her, but when he tries to drive off, Jessica grabs and holds the car. Spheeris freaks that she’s one of the powered people, and she jokingly threatens him with her superstrength and “laser eyes” to burn out his insides. She hands him the summons and takes a picture of it with her phone.

Passed out again at her desk at home, she has another vision of the terrifying man licking her, jolting her awake. Distraught, she begins naming streets again. Hogarth calls to say she got the pic of Spheeris Jessica sent. She mentions Spheeris’ attorneys called to complain about the powered girl who threatened him. Jessica laughs it off and asks for her payment. Hogarth agrees an ends the call to spend time with a female companion. Jessica avoids bed again and goes out to stake out the bar again. Outside, she runs into the man (Luke Cage) from the night before. He owns the bar and invites her to come in. Reluctantly, she does and closes the place down.

They have a charged conversation as they feel each other out, Jessica revealing she’s a PI and pointing out that the man has a personal connection to the bar with a secret but won’t share. She also labels him a ladies man who doesn’t want to have meaningful connections. He thinks she’s flirting, she all but says she wants him. They end up in bed together, having rough sex. He worries about hurting her, she assures him he won’t. They have a moment of connection, looking into each other’s eyes. Jessica flips over to not look at him as he continues on with business. Afterward, she stumbles into the bathroom to collect herself. She fishes through his medicine cabinet to see what she can take and finds a picture of a woman. It makes her cry. She goes back into the bedroom, quickly dresses and gathers her things as the man sits on the edge of the bed, shaken himself. She leaves, sheepishly apologizing to him. Outside, she throws up.

The next day, Jessica is woken on her couch by the couple upstairs and the phone. Mrs. Shlottman is asking about Hope and Jessica says she saw a number of charges on her credit card, which was only supposed to be for emergencies. Jessica investigates and finds Hope bought lingerie and men’s clothing. She goes to the location of a Japanese restaurant but eerily recognizes it as the spot of a former Italian restaurant. She shows the maitre’d Hope’s picture and he nervously admits Hope was there the past Tuesday. Jessica presses him about what happened, and the guy explains Hope’s companion insisted on a specific table that was already occupied. He says something in his mind forced him to kick the guests out so that Hope and her man could have the table. The man also asked for a $500 bottle of wine free and a dish from the Italian restaurant, which the chef inexplicably tracked down the recipe and made for him. Jessica is freaked out by the familiar realization. She has a haunting memory of the creepy vision man bringing her there to the Italian restaurant and ordering the same wine and meal.

Scared out of her mind, she runs to the Shlottmans’ hotel and asks them which cop gave them her name. They reveal it wasn’t a cop but a nice man with a British accent who was filing a report with the police and overheard them asking the cops for help with Hope. Jessica warns them to get out of town and head back home, talking to no one. She runs home, packs a bag, and tries to book a flight to Hong Kong using Hope’s credit card. The card is declined. She calls Hogarth to check on her money, but it takes a few days. She asks for a loan, but Hogarth won’t do it. At the office, Hogarth’s wife arrives in front of the young woman she was with the previous night, who turns out to be an intern or an associate at the firm. Jessica needs money and she decides to contact someone she’s been avoiding, her old friend Trish.

Trish Walker is a well-known and respected radio talkshow host. She’s trying to plan a show with her producers at home when she sees Jessica skulking outside on the balcony. She sends the others home, and reluctantly steps out to talk to her former friend. They haven’t spoken in six months. Jessica says she needs some money for a case, but Trish demands to know what’s going on. Jessica says the creepy man is back, but Trish can’t believe it. A year ago, the creepy man was killed and she is sure Jessica is still suffering from PTSD from whatever ordeal he put her through. She wants her friend to go to therapy, but Jessica says it doesn’t work and insists he’s back. She mentions Hope and how he’s doing all of his one-month anniversary rituals. Trish wants to call the cops, but Jessica assures her they can’t help. Trish recognizes Jessica wants to run, but she can’t fathom that she would leave Hope in his hands. Jessica pushes back, declaring that even with her abilities, she was never the hero that Trish thought she was and wanted her to be. Cut by the comment, Trish goes to get Jessica money.

Cash in hand, Jessica takes a cab to the airport. The Shlottmans’ voices ring in her head, and she gives in. She has the cab take her to the hotel that is part of the creepy man’s ritual. The doorman recognizes her. She steels herself as she slowly makes way to the familiar room. She pulls a fire alarm to get everyone out of the building. She enters the room and has visions of the creepy man as she searches for Hope, who is in bed obsessively watching a clock and keeping track of how long the creepy man, Kilgrave, has been gone. Jessica calls the Shlottmans and tells them she’s found Hope and to meet them at her office. She pushes Hope to get up to leave but Hope can’t move. Her mind won’t let her. She resists as Jessica tries to pull her from the bed, desperately clinging to anything to stop Jessica as she pulls her through the apartment. Eventually, she hits her head and is knocked at.

Back at Jessica’s, Hope explains how Kilgrave made her do things she didn’t want to do as Jessica tells her his grip will wear off over time but they need to leave and get far away. To calm her down, Jessica tells her about the street naming technique. She convinces Hope to say out loud that anything she did was not her fault. The Shlottmans arrive and Jessica tells them she got him away from a man who captured her. She drills in that they need to leave town and never come back. Hope hugs Jessica and thanks her for saving her life. Jessica grabs her bag, ready to leave her life behind.

As she walks down the hall, she sees the Shlottmans get into the elevator. As the door closes, a look on Hope’s face strikes Jessica. She sees Hope pull a gun from her bag. The door closes and the elevator descends with Hope firing the gun. Jessica races down to the bottom floor and opens the elevator to find the Shlottmans dead. Hope turns, obviously influenced by Kilgrave, and tells Jessica to smile. Dropping the gun, Hope suddenly comes back into her body and realizes what has happened. Her screaming brings other tenants to the elevator as a shaken and scared Jessica stumbles out of the building toward a cab. She stops, knowing she has a choice to make: run or stand up against Kilgrave. She chooses to fight.

Trivia

  • In the original Alias comics that form the basis for the show, Jessica’s best friend is Carol Danvers, who later became the Avenger Ms. Marvel and eventually took on the mantle of Captain Marvel. With other plans in place for Danvers leading up to the Captain Marvel movie, the show chose to use another hero, Hellcat, as a replacement.
  • Trish Walker is based on Hellcat, whose civilian name is Patsy Walker in the comics. Trish does not have a background as a hero in this adaptation.

Quotes

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