Jessica Jones Season 2 explores the aftermath of Kilgrave and Jessica's quest to understand her own origin. The season begins with Jessica attempting to move on from trauma, but her past refuses to stay buried. Her mother, Jessica Stryker, appears—not dead as Jessica believed, but resurrected.
Jessica Stryker is a complicated figure. She was Jessica's mother, and she died in the same accident that gave Jessica her powers. But Jessica Stryker has been resurrected and enhanced, and she has spent years consuming other people to sustain her own existence. She is a woman who has lost humanity in her pursuit of survival.
The season explores the question of whether you owe loyalty to people who brought you into the world, regardless of what they have become. Jessica must confront whether her mother's humanity can be recovered or whether Jessica's mother has become something so damaged that saving her is impossible.
Luke Cage is the central relationship of this season. Jessica and Luke are both powered, both damaged, both trying to navigate what it means to have strength in a world that needs that strength. Their relationship is complicated by attraction, trust, and fear. The season shows that being together is both healing and dangerous.
The season introduces Trish Walker more deeply. Trish is Jessica's foster sister and has become a vigilante in her own right. Trish's desire for power conflicts with Jessica's reluctance to wield it. The season suggests that power is seductive, and that people often want it for reasons that do not serve them well.
By the season's end, Jessica has confronted her mother and must make decisions about loyalty versus survival. She has also deepened her connection to Luke while understanding that this connection puts him in danger. Jessica is learning that having power means making constant choices about how to use it, and that avoiding those choices has consequences as damaging as making them.