Jessica Jones

So, the Marvel/Netflix alliance ends here, not with a bang, but with a bit of a whimper.

Jessica Jones (Kristen Ritter) is a Private Investigator, a functioning alcoholic and a misanthrope. She's also, thanks to some illegal experimentation, unworldly strong, resilient and tough. She struggles with the responsibility that comes with being "powerered" and is haunted by death of her family, which occurred in a traffic accident years prior.

The first season of Jessica Jones was excellent. Mostly because, unlike some other seasons of both this show, and the others in the extended universe, it had an excellent and charismatic villain in David Tennent's Kilgrave. Without having the same levels of action set pieces, this first season still is as good as anything that "Daredevil" or "Punisher" could produce. The season also introduced us to Luke Cage, which then spun into his own series and Mike Coulters chemistry with Ritter is excellent.

Unfortunately, unlike "Daredevil", there was a pronounced drop off in quality for the second season, and that run had a dull villain from Jessica's past played by Janet McTeer. Drifting away from the private eye type story and into more soap elements didn't help this run either. We also started to spend even more time with the shows supporting characters, such as Jeri Hogarth played by Carrie-Anne Moss. Though she was great, the show feels watered down when we're spending time with these characters and it's not related directly to what's happening to Jessica. The second and third seasons also suffer from the "Netflix" problem of making 13 episodes, when you have enough story for 8, so plot points are hit over and over again.

The third season is better though. Jessica is back with a case to solve involving a Serial Killer played by Jeremy Bobb. There's more action and intrigue, although it still doesn't match the heights of the first season. It would be easy to see why their hearts wouldn't be in this run, as the cancellations were announced long before this was released.

Overall, I feel like the first season of this is "must see" but the remaining two aren't essential. The show isn't as consistent as "Daredevil" but is generally a cut above "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage".

Jessica Jones is a part of the darker adult dystopian Marvel universe of serial killers, addicts, malevolent narcissists and various other deviants. Cast is excellent. Ritter as the world weary , cynical lead is great as are all the supporting players. Rachel Taylor , Mike Colter, and the brilliant Carrie Ann Moss are standouts. The writers performed above their weight class in a show that could easily have have been a short lived ride to oblivion. Sure handed direction, editing, and technicals on a budget is never a given. Honorable mention to the musical score by Sean Callery, whose moody jazz and techno elements blend perfectly with the urban landscape. My two complaints are the show could have expanded into a larger universe and worse, the premature ending was a betrayal of how we know the characters would have behaved. At the last, the writers dropped the ball.

When we first meet private investigator Jessica Jones(Ritter, snark personified), she's a recovering rape survivor. She has PTSD, as we see from the coping mechanism of naming her childhood home's streets, and her symptoms. These include trouble falling asleep, and even when she does, such as on the subway(which gives you an Idea of how badly she needs to rest. The smell and noise of it alone seems like it should be enough that you could never catch Zs, not to mention how many people around you don't trust being vulnerable near) she almost immediately comes to. The reason for this is simple. Whenever she starts to lose consciousness, immediately it feels like her abuser is right behind her, whispering in her ear, licking her(!). Her trauma is taken seriously, and it's put front and center.

That man is Kilgrave(Tennant, making a meal of it). He literally does not have empathy, and it is explained why. His power? Others have to do anything he says, which basically means that he can either get everything he wants, or he can carefully think about every word that comes out of his mouth. You can probably guess which he chooses. An emotionally stunted narcissist, he literally can compel others to fulfill his lightest whim. And he claims to actually love our PI, and want her to be happy. He carries out what he believes are grand romantic gestures. Not seeming to understand that while he apparently did think of her as someone that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, she wants nothing more to do with him. She was his prisoner. And if he legitimately wanted to know if she felt the same, all he had to do is tell her she had to be truthful, and ask. And yet he didn't. Maybe he knew the answer. Perhaps it was just too big of a risk to take. Either way, it ended up with him forcing her. In reality, there are no people who can force *anyone* they talk to, to do what they want, Make them think they want it, make them go along against their better judgement. But there are lots who can do that with a select few. It's called gaslighting, and it's something we need to put a stop to.

She's not alone in fighting him. Her adoptive sister, former child star and current radio personality Trish Walker(Taylor, spot-on). She used to be known as the titular star of kid's show "It's Patsy", which is also how a lot of people greet her when they recognise her. Every so often, we'll get another titbit of it, like hearing the theme song, sitting in on the tail end of a table read, hearing someone describe one of the plots. They really got it exactly right. I know that I watched stuff just like it when I was growing up. She's a lot more stable and dependable, at least these days. She definitely wasn't always, and we will see her struggle. She feels a strong drive to make the world a better place, and may not always feel like she is doing enough for that.

Add to that, next door neighbor Malcolm Ducasse(Darville, exactly right) starts out addicted to drugs. Occasionally, he needs minor assistance, he gets it, and that's basically it. At first, people don't really think much of him. And neither does the audience. Which makes for a very effective turn when he quits cold turkey And becomes sober. He becomes a full person in our mind - as he in reality of course always was. We just didn't look past the veneer. It forces us to confront that maybe we Accidentally did this in real life as well. This also greatly encourages empathy for sex workers, the unhoused and ethnic minorities. It has a lot of emotional intelligence in discussing these immensely relevant issues. And it manages to make everyone complex.

Someone she sometimes works with, without either of them particularly liking the other(It is very much a case of mutual respect for the other's abilities and intense distaste for personal choices), is Jeri Hogarth(Moss, impeccable). She's a lawyer who worked hard to get to the top, And we watch as her life starts to come apart around her. On a show full of trainwrecks who make lousy decisions that end up hurting themselves, she may well be the one who has made the most mistakes and stands to lose the most. It would be easy for this to devolve into finger pointing, so it's very impressive that it never does. After she grew up poor and bullied, she put immense effort into gaining and maintaining complete control of the circumstances of her life, and most of the problems she faces are specifically because of selfish choices rather than things that she simply couldn't do anything about. Hers is a tragedy of fighting to escape one extreme only to end up at another.

This is a noir story. That means that it has shadows, silhouettes(well, a lot of the time, the cinematography is not that adventurous), sax music, investigative work, conspiracy and corruption. When it features sex, it isn't shot in male gaze(in fact, occasionally, it will be distinctly female, with a focus on fingers and lips, rather than legs and curves), it isn't there just for titillation, it establishes and grows characters and their interpersonal relationships. There is a distinct effort made to avoid anyone on this coming across as disposable, and it rarely fails. This was shot on location in New York and it adds a lot of texture. Essentially, the only criticism I have is the pacing. Like the other Netflix shows, each season is mandated to be 13 episodes and they just don't have the right amount of story for that.

This features bloody, gory, graphic violence, disturbing content, and strong language. I recommend it to any fan of complex narratives. 9/10.

If for nothing else, watch Jessica Jones for David Tennant's performance as Kilgrave. He is better than any other Marvel movie or TV villain ever seen before. He is truly terrifying but oddly hypnotizing. He can make you do whatever he tells you to. Not only does David Tennant's charisma make this believable, but the writers use it in a lot of cool ways. As a villain, he's right up there with Heath Ledger's Joker.

Krysten Ritter (Jesse's girlfriend from season 2 of Breaking Bad) plays the lead. It's great to see a Female Marvel lead, and she delivers a wonderfully understated performance. The show starts off as a gritty detective show with dry humour and not much of Tennant. However, as the show goes along, it evolves into something much cooler. It gets darker but also funnier, and Tennant's involvement becomes larger.

In conclusion, Jessica Jones is a very binge-able show with a memorable villain and a great lead that doesn't need much prior knowledge despite tying into the Marvel universe. In my opinion, it's even better than Daredevil.

This is just a general review of what I felt overall having just finished the finale.

The first season was brilliant, 8/10. If you haven't watched JJ then just watch S1.

The second season was rubbish and so was the third, 5-6/10. Hence I downgraded my overall rating from 8/10 to 7/10.

Trish Walker was such a lame character and the fact that she features more prominently in the plot for S2 and S3 probably explains part of why the show went downhill.

S3 was the end for the show just in the same way as Daredevil which itself was a brilliant show and didn't really dip the way JJ did (blame Netflix/Disney).

JJ for the average viewer can feel like a bit of a drag so bare that in mind, but again it's worth it in S1 as the whole premise is she's a private investigator dealing with a bad guy/girl over the series.