Jessica Jones

Back in the present, Jessica is shocked to hear all of this and cannot bring herself to forgive Alisa, especially since she is already having such a hard time believing the whole thing. Back in town, after Malcolm and Trish sleep together, he calls her out for being addicted once more, which Trish denies. Malcolm leaves her, deciding to dive back into work and work on Jessica’s case against Hogarth’s partners Chou and Benowitz.

He figures out that Benowitz is secretly gay and tracks him to a local gay bar, confronting him and claiming the man should just come out already, especially to his wife, and claiming he was hired by Chou to blackmail him but he cannot bring himself to do it. Malcolm offers to “help” the man in his dilemma and Benowitz, grateful, gives Malcolm blackmail material he can then use on Chou. Flush with success, Malcolm escorts Benowitz outside and after the man leaves, Malcolm is assaulted by a trio of homophobic street thugs. He is saved by Trish who overpowers them thanks to the IGH drug she is on. Malcolm’s injured arm is damaged in the fight and Trish offers him the inhaler to help him heal, which he reluctantly takes. Instantly recognizing the effects of being on a drug, which sickens and angers him, Malcolm flees telling Trish to stay away from him.

As for Hogarth, she manages to get into the prison with the IGH healer, Shane Ryback, but the man seems reluctant for her help. He does not want to heal her and seems frightened by her sickness when he touches her hands. Hogarth promises to get him out anyway and returns home to Inez, who has become her lover in light of all the help they have given each other (never a good recipe for a successful relationship).

While speaking to Malus and Alisa, Jessica manages to sneak away for a moment to get a message out to Detective Costas with the location of Malus’s house, which Alisa and Malus very quickly discover. Malus flees the home, while Jessica and Alisa remain within, waiting for the police to arrive. Alisa decides to stay with Jessica to prove she truly is her mother, despite having a new face, powers, and the rage side-effects. They escape the house right before the police arrive (which really angers Detective Costas) and flee back to Jessica’s apartment. While preparing for bed, a sniper begins shooting up Jessica’s apartment, one bullet grazing her back, enraging Alisa, who takes off to track down the sniper.

Of course, Jessica follows her mom to make sure she does not kill the assassin, and sure enough, the man with the gun is Cheng, intent on getting revenge on Alisa for the death of his friend without involving the police. Jessica manages to knock out and drug Cheng before Alisa can kill him. She then finds herself trapped in her apartment with her murderous mother and Cheng, who is tied up and passed out in the bathtub. Alisa helps dress Jessica’s wounds, extolling the virtues of simply killing Cheng to make life easier for them as they cannot hold onto him forever. Jessica thinks she can reason with the man once he wakes up, as she can also have him arrested for attempted murder, as he did technically shoot her. (Continued on next page)