Marvel's Jessica Jones S01E07 "AKA Top Shelf Perverts" Recap

Ruben goes to visit Jessica and deliver some banana bread but he meets Kilgrave instead, who was lurking in her apartment. Jessica is out drinking her guilt and sorrows away. Jessica's still drunk when she follows Jeri's wife Wendy into a subway station and tries to force her to sign the divorce papers, as she promised Jeri that she would do whatever it took to make her sign them. Jessica dangles her over the edge of the subway track and gives a speech about guilt and shame. But since Jessica is still drunk, she accidentally drops Wendy on the track just as a train is coming. She jumps down and throws Wendy back onto the platform and stares at the oncoming train for a moment, seemingly contemplating letting it hit her (we've seen prior indications that Jessica struggles with thoughts of suicide) before jumping back onto the platform herself.

Jessica returns to her apartment where Malcolm finds her sitting drunk in the elevator. He helps her back into her apartment, a parallel to all the times Jessica has helped him back to his place when he was high on drugs. The banana bread is in her kitchen, but she doesn't notice it. She goes to lay on her bed where she finds some blood and turns over to find a dead Ruben with a knife in his hand, seemingly having cut his own throat. Jessica is devastated that there is more blood on her hands, a heavy symbol of the guilt she continues to carry for all of Kilgrave's actions and the responsibility she feels at needing to stop him. Jessica spots a footprint and realises that Kilgrave was there and responsible for Ruben's death. Malcolm considers calling the police till he realises that this is the third death that Jessica is connected to and she'd be blamed for it despite her innocence. Jessica becomes resigned to end things so she devises a plan. If she gets sent to a supermax prison, there will be countless layers of security that Kilgrave won't be able to indirectly send people through to retrieve her so he'd have to come himself and get caught on camera using her abilities. Jessica calls the station in search of Clemmons, the lead detective of Hope's case, and decides to turn herself in as soon as he will come on shift. Jessica tells Malcolm he needs to disappear, as she won't be able to protect him anymore. She only has until 8PM to wrap up all her loose ends.

Jessica calls Trish, who is too busy having sex with Will to answer the phone. When Jessica calls again, Trish ignores it because she doesn't want Jessica to convince her that everything going wrong with their plan to capture Kilgrave wasn't her fault. Trish has devised her own plan to find Kilgrave, which involves tracking the new security detail he hires to protect himself. She informs Will of this lead.

Jessica visits Jeri to get information on how to best strategise getting sent to a supermax prison. Jessica visits Luke's bar but he isn't there. Jessica asks the elderly bartender to tell Luke that the right people will pay for what's been done. Jeri is later confronted by Wendy while Pam is present, and demands 75% of her assets due to Jessica's threatening and nearly killing her. She also has e-mail correspondences ready to use to blackmail Jeri that would expose her of bribing a juror in one of her old cases. Wendy also warns Pam that all Jeri does is lie but Pam claims she already knew, though afterward Wendy leaves she berates Jeri for not confiding all of her dirty secrets to her too.

Jessica pays a visit to Trish's mother Dorothy, who was also Jessica's guardian after her family died. Dorothy was an abusive stage mother that forced Trish into show business to play a child-star character "Patsy" and Trish became addicted to drugs in the process. Jessica is angered by Dorothy's refusal to take any responsibility for her actions, as Dorothy makes excuses for all of what went wrong such as the doctor "overprescribing" medication. Dorothy and Trish haven't had any real contact in three years, save for an accidental encounter in the city or the odd drunken voicemail. Jessica threatens Dorothy to remember their agreement and stay away from Trish, adding that no matter where she is, even if that's behind bars, she will find out and come for her and hurt her. Dorothy claims to have changed but also loses her temper when Jessica goads her with the reminder that she still profits from Trish's royalty checks.

Will has been following Kilgrave's security detail and updates Trish with lies, claiming not to have found any trace of Kilgrave all while watching him instruct movers at Jessica's childhood home. Trish goes to visit Malcolm after he called her. He shows Trish Ruben's dead body and informs her of Jessica's plan to get sent to a supermax prison. When Jessica returns to her apartment, Trish is waiting for her. Malcolm had already gotten rid of Ruben's body and now Trish is ready to confront her about her plan. Jessica and Trish come to an impasse, as Trish won't be able to stop Jessica from going through with her plan. Jessica then tracks down Malcolm at the docks where he has disposed of Ruben's body. She dives in and retrieves Ruben's head and heads to the station where dumps it on Clemmons' desk, insisting that she be arrested. She fires Jeri when she arrives and tries to get Jessica off from these charges. Jessica wants to push through the usually drawn out process of getting charged while Clemmons wants to keep questioning her. She breaks free from her restraints and folds up her chair to demonstrate her strength and push Clemmons to put her into supermax. Another officer comes in and undoes Jessica's cuffs still dangling from her wrists and tells her she is free to go.

Jessica storms out into the main area of the station, believing that Jeri has interfered and gotten her off from her charges only to find the entire station full of people frozen with their weapons pointed either at each other or at themselves. Kilgrave emerges and tells Jessica he's been keeping an eye on her but doesn't want to control her. He wants her to come with him of her own free will and claims to love her. Jessica confronts him about killing Ruben and Kilgrave claims that Ruben was annoying and interrupted him while he was leaving Jessica a present that she didn't even find. Jessica offers to go with Kilgrave but he doesn't like that she is only offering to save the people in the station as opposed to out of genuinely wanting to. Kilgrave says that Jessica leaving him to die was the first time someone he wanted walked away from him and gave his his first experience of yearning. Now Kilgrave wants her to choose him just as he chose her and claims that they are "inevitable". He has the police station erase the security footage indicating that either of them were ever there. He leaves the station with Ruben's head and tells everyone in the station that in thirty seconds they'll all realise this was all a big joke and will allow Jessica to leave. He tells Jessica to look for his present and claims that he'll see her at "home".

Jessica returns to her apartment and discovers the box that Kilgrave forced her to dig up the night of Reva's death. Inside, she finds a black book with a post-it bearing the message "Start at the beginning".

Jessica packs a bag and is prepared to leave but is interrupted by Robyn who demands to know where Ruben is. She is apologetic for her disagreements with him and highly worried about Ruben's well-being. Jessica has nothing to offer her about Ruben's whereabouts and leaves to catch a taxi to her childhood home. Standing outside, she recalls a flashback of her with Dorothy Walker as a teenager right after the accident. Teenage Trish is shown to have a large bruise on her neck, presumably from the abuse of her mother. In the present, Kilgrave emerges from the house and welcomes her inside while Will is shown to be spying on the entire encounter.

Marvel's Jessica Jones is available for streaming on Netflix.