Ultimately, I think Jessica Jones was a little more ambitious than the quality of the writing. Make no mistake: Jessica Jones is a good show. If you're reading this and you haven't seen it, I recommend it. There weren't really any bad episodes, except one of them that strained credulity (which I hesitate to call bad - more on this episode later) And as far as superhero properties, this has more than a few "Fuck yeah" moments, which really isn't that why we all watch them and continue watching them even when we are bludgeoned to death with the 50th iteration of a superhero.
The star of this vehicle and no doubt the reason it's as good as it is is Krysten Ritter, a pitch perfect casting choice. If you've seen here in other things, you already knew this. If you've read a review of this before, someone has already told you this. But it's true. She's an antagonistic, sarcastic alcoholic who nonetheless very much cares about what happens to other people despite her best wishes. She's pretty much the ideal person to play a "don't give a fuck hardass who clearly gives a fuck."
Her casting also presents one of the necessary components of a good show, at least in my opinion: a sense of humor. This show isn't all darkness, all of the time. There are some funny moments sprinkled in and most of them come from Ritter's sarcasm. But the show is very dark. A brutal murder takes place at the end of the pilot that is hard to fathom.
The majority of Jessica Jones is Jones trying to prove the innocence of a young girl who was mind-controlled into doing something awful. The only way to do this is to capture - and not kill - Killgrave, the aptly named season-long villain. And after you capture him, you somehow have to get evidence of his powers or an admittance of guilt. Making matters more interesting and removing the question of why the villain doesn't just kill her, he wants to torture her through the people around her. There's more depth to him, but that would be a spoiler I will not spoil.
Pretty much the whole season revolves around Killgrave. This is one of the examples of it being a "bit much." The premise of this show - a hard-drinking private detective set in a noir setting - was barely utilized because of the intense focus on Killgrave. That's kind of what sold me on the show, so it was a bit disappointing in that respect. I hope in season two that there are more "case of the weeks" because I just want some good ole' private detective work, Veronica Mars or Magnum P.I. style. I'm definitely not asking for it to become a procedural, although this is certainly the first time I understand the artistic reasoning for why it's useful to have a case of the week at times. I think the show could benefit from that.
This show has a strong supporting cast, and my favorites aren't the obvious choices. The heart of the show is the relationship between Jones and Trish Walker. This isn't made evident for a little bit as they start off the series on somewhat rocky terms, but by the end, they are the heart. Another stealthy heart of the show is Malcolm, the drug addict neighbor. I am certain Walker will be there for season two, assuming there's a season two. I'm more hopeful than certain about Malcolm.
Killgrave, as I'm certain anyone mildly interested in watching this show already knows, is played by David Tennant. He plays him as an annoyed brat more than an overpowering supervillain. He definitely succeeds at that. You feel for him at times, and then he goes and tries to make someone kill themselves (I say tries like he isn't successful at it, but he very much is). I could go into more depth, but again I'm trying to avoid spoilers.
Lastly - and lastly because I don't want to individually talk about every important character - there's Luke Cage, who I can't possibly go without mentioning. Have no fears for his future TV show - he'll be up to the task. I was probably least impressed with Mike Colter out of the leads, but he was charming and he was menacing. I think he was less successful at playing righteous anger, but I appear to be mostly alone in that opinion.
Grade - B+
SPOILERS BELOW FOR EPISODES 9 AND 10
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SERIOUSLY STOP READING IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH THIS SHOW
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Ok I think that was a big enough warning
I had major problems with the tenth episode of the series, because it involved a ton of contrivances that basically seemed to exist so the writers could maneuver their characters from where they were to where they wanted them to be.
The first one, which I could forgive if it was on its own, is Simpson, the rogue cop. So in this episode, he decides to kill Lester Freamon (Let's face it; that's basically who his character is. Might as well just call him what he was hired to play.) and burn down the building. The show handwaved this away with the fact that he was on drugs and was willing to kill anybody who didn't want to kill Killgrave. Lester in no way impeded his ability to kill Killgrave in the way Jessica did. Killing him was stupid and so was burning the evidence. It made no sense. His further character detonation in the later episodes somewhat justifies this though.
Secondly, the support group is maybe the biggest contrivance of them all. So Malcolm decides to confess about Ruben's murder. Wouldn't happen. For some reason, Robin follows him to his support group even though he's been on her side this whole time. Ok fine she's crazy I guess. Then this crazy lady somehow convinces this group of otherwise reasonable people to go to Jessica's house and turn violent basically out of nowhere. Confront her? Sure. Start attacking her? Why? Then she gets taken down by Robin with a weapon she must have pulled out of her pocket because I sure as hell don't know how she got it. It's kind of bullshit that she's so hard to take down and then fucking Robin gets to take her down so easily.
Lastly, WHY THE FUCK DID HOPE KILL HERSELF? Ostensibly she kills herself to motivate Jessica to kill Killgrave, but that doesn't make any fucking sense. She didn't kill Killgrave because she wanted Hope out of prison. Mission accomplished. Hope is no longer a reason not to kill Killgrave. She kills herself because the writers went for shock value.
Oh yeah and there was that whole violent Jeri Hogarth subplot that seemed violent for violence's sake. I mean here's an episode where a guy kills a cop, a scorned ex-lover cuts her ex with a knife multiple times, the "other woman" knocks her dead on a table, four people try to commit suicide by hanging, and a woman slits her own throat. Seems excessive.
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