What to Expect in Jessica Jones Season 3

Jessica Jones season 2 sees its major characters hit some of their lowest points, and the third season promises dynamic transformations for each of them. Jessica, Trish, Malcolm, and Jeri are not the same people that they were at the beginning of season 2 - and season 3 promises to give them all room to grow into their newly discovered roles.

The first two seasons of Jessica Jones have focused on her trauma and her past. In the first season, Jessica must confront Kilgrave, an abusive mind-controller who tortured and raped her. The second season delves into the trauma of the car crash that robbed Jessica of her family - and the discovery that her mother is both alive and a super-powered murderer.

Given how season 2 ends, it seems likely that the third season will shift to focus on Jessica's future. In Jessica's final monologue of the second season, she reflects that, "I never learned how to live." But after losing her mother, rejecting Trish's friendship, and alienating Malcolm, Jessica does not shut down. Instead, she ends the season having dinner with Oscar and Vido, telling Vido the story of how she stopped a bodega from being robbed. If Jessica is given the chance to grow outward, instead of look inward, in season 3, she may be able to become the hero that Vido sees in her.

The other characters of Jessica Jones faced their fair share of trauma, but each one finds themselves in a powerful role at the end of the season. Jeri leaves the firm that tried to buy her out to create her own new firm. Malcolm becomes an associate at Pryce Cheng's firm. Trish discovers that she may have superpowers after all, promising the rise of Hellcat in season 3. All three of these former allies have distanced themselves from Jessica, and so in season 3 they could just as easily be friends as foes.

This Page: Jessica and Trish

Jessica

Season 2 showed how traumatic Jessica's past had been - even beyond Kilgrave's control and manipulation in season 1. Her entire family died in a car crash, she was experimented on without consent, and her college boyfriend was murdered (by her mother - although she only learns that as the season unfolds).

Jessica discovers that her mother, Alisa, is still alive, and has been living in hiding due to her superpowers and uncontrollable rage. Alisa is also in a relationship with Karl, the scientist who is responsible for experimenting on Jessica and giving her superpowers. While Alisa is prone to violence, and despite Jessica's interventions still continues to murder when provoked, Jessica can't let go of life without her mother. She lies for her, saves her, and even goes on the run with her with the invention of leaving her former life behind.

Jessica's willingness to help her mother drives a wedge between her and Trish and her and Malcolm, who is working as an associate for Alias Investigations. Malcolm eventually leaves Jessica to work for Cheng's rival firm, while Trish relapses and tries to use Karl's genetic editing treatment to gain superpowers. Neither Malcolm or Trish can understand why Jessica would protect her mother, but Jessica is overwhelmed by the prospect of having her family back.

There are clear parallels between Alisa and Jessica throughout the season, and Jessica fears that she may be more like her mother than she wants to believe. Killing Kilgrave at the end of season 1 opens a door that Jessica can't close; she's now a vigilante killer, even if she felt that she had no other choice. Jessica also kills Dale, an abusive prison guard who is harassing her mother, after she discovers that he is a serial killer who has murdered inmates. Dale attacks Jessica while she is snooping in his house, and in the ensuing struggle she accidentally hits him too hard with his nightstick, killing him. Jessica is horrified and, as a result, suffers a nervous break, bringing visions of Kilgrave back to haunt her.

For a while it looks like Jessica is going to leave with her mother, but then Trish shoots and kills Alisa. Jessica is unable to forgive Trish, and the two have a falling out in the final episode. Without Trish, Malcolm, or her mother, it would seem that Jessica is even more isolated than she was at the beginning of the season, but she chooses to go and have dinner with Oscar and Vido, signalling that she is trying to form new connections. She is trying to live her life, instead of just avoiding her painful past.

Trish

Trish's life at the beginning of the season seems perfect. She's got her own talk show, and she has an incredible journalist boyfriend called Griffin, who - we later learn - wants to marry her. Trish's life begins to spiral, however, when Griffin proposes to her. She realizes that she didn't want to marry him - she wanted to be him, and she decides to break off their relationship.

The truth is that Trish wants to be Jessica, too. She is both resentful of her own lack of superpowers, and angry that Jessica chooses not be be a hero. Trish is so hellbent on getting to the bottom of IGH that she puts her personal relationships with Jessica and Malcolm in jeopardy and begins to use Simpson's inhaler, getting high on performance-enhancing drugs. At first she wants to break the story... but after the inhaler runs out, she decides she wants to become the story. While Jessica is dealing with her mother, Trish uses Malcolm to get to Karl. She then stashes Malcolm in the trunk of her car and threatens Karl if he does not conduct a procedure to give her powers.

Trish's desire to be "super" costs her her relationship, career, and friends, and puts her health in jeopardy. Jessica interrupts the procedure, and Trish is furious as a result. Initially, it appears that the procedure has had no effect, and Trish blames Jessica for this. In the final episode, Trish shoots Alisa in the head, telling Jessica that she is protecting her. Jessica is mortified and betrayed. When Trish later tries to reconcile with her, Jessica says, "I look at you now and all I see is the person who murdered my mother."

In her final moments of season 2, however, Trish discovers that she may have agile super-human reflexes after all. By her own standard, she may be better off, even after losing everything. It's not clear if her alter-ego will appear in season three as a hero or a villain, but either way, season 3 will surely include the rise of Hellcat.

Jeri

For most of the season, Jeri is more vulnerable than ever before. She is diagnosed with ALS, and her law firm partners try to use it as a way to force her out. Struggling with her diagnosis, she hires prostitutes and sleeps with Inez, an IGH nurse whom Jessica has asked her to keep safe. In her desperation to find a cure, Jeri is also conned by Inez and Shane, who pretend that Shane has super-powered healing. The pair use Jeri to get Shane out of jail and then proceed to ransack her apartment. However, Jeri gets her revenge; she tricks Inexz isn't believing that Shane has just been using her, and then gives her a gun. She watches through the window as the couple fight, and after Inez shoots Shane, Jeri calls the cops on her.

Thanks to Malcolm, Jeri gets the upper hand by learning about her law firm partners' illegal dealings. She blackmails them, splitting off to create her own firm, and getting a large severance package. Jeri's weakness becomes her power, because she is a woman with nothing to lose. In season 3 it's likely that Jeri's diagnosis will still play a role, but she ends the season more powerful and power-hungry than ever before.

Malcolm

Malcolm spends season 2 working as Jessica Jones' assistant and associate. His addictive personality changes its focus to sex instead of drugs, and he studiously tries to learn from Jessica about being a private investigator. Malcolm also pursues a relationship with Trish, a fellow addict, but their relationship quickly becomes unhealthy when she offers him Simpson's inhaler... and then stuffs him in the trunk of her car.

Jessica becomes increasingly distant in season 2, and she blames Malcolm for Trish's reckless behavior. After repeatedly falling out and firing Malcolm, he finally quits. In the final episode, Malcolm uses the information he found on Jeri's business partners to leverage a hefty paycheck from her and an associate role in Pryce Cheng's firm. Because Jeri has hired Cheng for some shady business, in the final episode Malcolm agrees to help Jeri and Cheng do their dirty work in season 3. Jessica's former friend has become her competition.

Who Will Be the Main Villain in Season 3?

Kilgrave died at the end of the first season, but that didn't stop him from returning for a one-episode comeback in season 2 as a hallucination. Actor David Tennant's return added some much-needed energy into the second half of the second season, and given his popularity among fans of Jessica Jones, it seems very likely that he could return in some capacity.

Related: Jessica Jones Season 1 Recap

Alisa, Jessica's mother, was killed in the final episode of season 2. With all other members of IGH, including Karl, dead, there is a certain amount of closure to Jessica's past. However, Alisa and Karl, like Kilgrave, could still return to haunt Jessica in delusions and dreams.

Other characters could grow into the role of the main villain of season 3. Minor antagonists from season 2, Pryce Cheng and Inez, could return as more formidable antagonists. It also seems possible - if not likely - that Hogarth, Malcolm, or Trish could become Jessica's enemies, if not outright villains, in the next season.

Who Else Could Come Back in Season 3?

Luke Cage was Jessica's main love interest in season 1, and the two characters recently reconnected in The Defenders. Jessica is not expected to appear in the upcoming second season of Luke Cage, but it's possible that they could end up back in each other's lives.

The second season ends with Jessica having dinner with Oscar and his son, Vido. Oscar is the super of Jessica's building and a master forger. Considering that Oscar's relationship with Jessica seems to be going well, it's likely that he'll come back in season 3.

Trish's British beau Griffin was last seen in a Syrian war zone, but it's possible that he could resurface. Given Trish's poor taste in men, however, it may better suit season 3 to give her a new villainous boyfriend.

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Jessica Jones season 2 is available now on Netflix.