The Complicated Ending To 'Jessica Jones' Season 2 Has Everyone Worried About Trish
Jessica Jones Season 2 took off once the show hit the seventh episode and we got a glimpse of the past — Jessica and Trish were living their lives in college while Jessica's mother was still trapped at IGH as a lab rat. But the show had been setting up Trish from the get-go this season to become consumed with jealousy of those around her who she views as more successful. Those feelings came to a head by the end of the season, when Trish and Jessica's mom found themselves heading for a showdown. Warning: Spoilers for Jessica Jones Season 2 follow.
Unlike the reveal of Janet McTeer as Alisa Jones, Trish's storyline, though heavy-handed and irritating at times, at least had the benefit of filling all 13 episodes this season. Though her short-lived relationship with Griffin Sinclair seemed mostly pointless, it was actually part of what drove her to become addicted to Will Simpson's inhaler and to force Dr. Karl to attempt to give her superpowers.
The problem with both of these, of course, was that they are beyond dangerous. Whatever was in that inhaler was only temporary, and could have easily killed Trish. (Or Malcolm, for that matter.) But the idea of actually letting Dr. Karl full-on attempt to inject her with whatever horrendous formula to give Trish permanent superpowers? That was just insane. It almost killed her.
The irony was that only Alisa recognized Trish's act and that her claims to want to "bring Karl to justice" were just a load of hooey. Alisa was the only one to see through Trish to what she really wanted, and what a danger that represented to her beloved Karl.
To be fair, Trish didn't really want Dr. Karl to die, as Alisa feared. She just didn't care what happened to him after he experimented on her, and that was enough to make her dangerous. When Jessica arrived, Trish was dying, and it was Dr. Karl who was to blame. There was no way this could end well.
Jessica might have stopped herself from killing Karl with her bare hands. But Karl saw himself as the monster he was and ended it. Once he was dead, there was no reasoning with Alisa. She broke out of prison. (Because, let's be real, that prison was only holding her because Alisa was agreeing to let it.) And she went after Trish herself.
It was only Jessica's pleas that kept Alisa from killing Trish. Too bad when the tables were turned, Jessica couldn't plead with Trish not to kill her mother.
Let's be clear about this: No matter what the Kilgrave voice in Jessica's head says, she's not a murderer. That's she's killed three people so far in her life is not her fault. Kilgrave forced her to kill Reva. Kilgrave (basically) forced her to kill him. Dale was an act of accidental self-defense.
Trish knows this about Jessica. She knew that Jessica, for all her faults, could never bring herself to kill her own mother. At every turn, she would try to help her mother escape. She would throw away her own life, her career, her friends, her world, and go on the lam, Thelma-and-Louise style before she took her own mother down.
That's why when Trish got the chance to take the shot, she took it. Someone had to take Jessica's mother down, and if it wasn't Jessica, there were gonna be a whole lot of dead cops who failed to do it. Trish got lucky. Jessica and Alisa weren't looking, there was no one around. It was quick, easy, and done.
Part of Jessica's rational mind clearly understood this was the best way it could have played out. She took the gun from Trish and made it look like she'd done it herself, rather than have it be a messy murder case involving Patsy.
But that didn't mean that Jessica was going to be able to forgive Trish. Not right away, anyway. Maybe one day, maybe when Season 3 comes around. But until then, Trish has a very powerful enemy sitting at Alias Investigations. Good thing she's not the killing type.