Yes, the sophomore follow-up to the smash-hit that was Daredevil earlier this year is Jessica Jones, a private dick (without the dick) in Hell's Kitchen who uses her wit, intelligence, smart mouth and super-strength along with the ability to fly and consume copious amounts of liquor to solve whatever case needs to be solved. Just imagine Veronica Mars with super-powers and a bad drinking habit. When distraught parents hire Jessica to help find their missing daughter, this reluctant superhero with severe PTSD becomes caught in a deadly cat and mouse game with a man known as Kilgrave, who has the ability to control anyone with just a few simple words.
Filled with the grit and darkness that had Daredevil leaving all other comic book TV series looking slack-jawed, Jessica Jones ups the dark tones with some really disturbing concepts and scenes touching on domestic abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm and all those other feel-good, happy-fun time themes.
One of the great things about these Netflix series is that it’s a lot like watching one 13 hour long comic book movie, so we aren’t dependent on having the “freak of the week” approach to the storytelling that you often get in other shows like The Flash, Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We essentially have one long overarching narrative that’s sprinkled throughout with supporting character’s stories that for the most part serve a genuine purpose. Often one of the biggest cliches in comic book TV series and movies is the “will they/won’t they?” trope; The Flash does this, Arrow does this, Iron Man did this for three films, but with Jessica Jones, the big question is “will they/won’t they stop f*cking?” which is so incredibly refreshing as it is good to see a real adult relationship fleshed out in the superhero genre (no pun intended).
One of the strongest elements of the show is its unflinching portrayal of abusive relationships and how the strong female characters handle and react to these situations. Kristen Ritter and Rachel Taylor are perfectly cast and bounce off each other so well; you can see a genuine friendship and what is also refreshing is that at no point are any of the female characters pining for men or succumbing to other negative stereotypes associated with women in leading roles in TV and film. The show also really comes alive whenever Mike Colter’s Luke Cage or David Tennant’s Kilgrave are on screen, but both for completely different reasons: Luke Cage is calm and confident, not to mention indestructible, but in a surprise gender-reversal he plays the femme-fatal to Ritter’s hard-boiled detective. Whereas Kilgrave is skin-crawling creepy, incredibly funny and yet able to, on occasion, make you feel sorry for him despite some of the horrific things that he does.
The show itself is not perfect. Admittedly the slow burn approach can sometimes be a little too slow. There is a sudden and dramatic character change for one of the supporting cast which really comes out of left-field and is never really explained and doesn’t really make sense when you think about how that character was first introduced. The show, much like Daredevil, is continually building to several things including a final confrontation but unlike Daredevil, none of these things really pay off come the end of the final episode. The show teases everything from flying, to the “Purple Man” to “The Man Without Fear” just to name a few, but I honestly wouldn’t hold your breath for many of these things.
Overall Jessica Jones is an absolute train-wreck of character but with some great humour, charm and strongly positive feminist messages this is definitively the show you should be watching right now. It may not quite reach the lofty heights of Daredevil, but the tension this series ratchets up throughout its thirteen episode run really does give the other hero of Hell’s Kitchen a run for his money.
Jessica Jones gets Four and Three Quarter Stars out of Five (What are you doing? You need to be watching this show now!! Already watched it? Watch it again!!)
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