Let me start off by saying that I hate myself a little for putting the full working title in this post. We get it Marvel, it's your show! Sorry, where was I? Oh right, I was going to talk about Jessica Jones, the latest Marvel TV show created exclusively for Netflix. This means I felt anticipation and an equal obligation to watch this show. Would it be a labor of love? Or would it be a drag like Agents of Shield. Sorry, I had to say it.
Anyways, I'm not going to tell you right off the bat! I'm going to make you read my possibly long post. You have to earn it.
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Okay, Okay. Don't click away. I really liked this show. I didn't like it as much as Daredevil, but it's still really good.
I just finished the series a few minutes ago, so I'm coming into this fresh without letting it marinate. I'll try to keep from going too stream of conscious on this. As I was watching I did have a few major points in my head.
I will start with this. If you thought Daredevil was too violent or too adult, you better stay away from this show. This show is definitely more mature. I guess the idea with a Noir-ish detective show is that there will be sex and violence. I would say this show is more than that. What you have here is a show that is deeply psychological. The threat of violence is equal to the actual violence. That is what permeates through this whole show. The threat. It looms larger than anything else. It builds a whole lot of real tension.
I'll get more into the story, but I want to first talk about the actors. I've seen Krysten Ritter in other shows before and I knew she would be the perfect person to have the snark of a Private Investigator that I like in my stories. I clearly underestimated her as she is excellent in this show. At times, her character is borderline unlikeable because of how prickly she can be. Really though, she has gone through a lot of trauma and she wears it like her leather jacket. I'll be honest, I was afraid we'd have a lot of episodes where she doubts herself and someone has to constantly pick herself up. It happens a handful of times, but in her defense, she goes through a lot of stuff in this series. It's all understandable. I hate to sound like a critic, but over the years, I've become a fan of how actors portray emotion with their eyes. There's such a sadness in Jessica's eyes at many points in the show and you feel for her. You can relate because maybe you've been there before., She may not do it the right way, but she is trying to do right by people. What I'm saying here is Ritter was fantastic.
Any hero would not be worth their salt without a great villain. David Tenant plays the villainous Killgrave with such gleeful, sadistic flair. I'm glad that they do give him some back story that actually informs who he is. He is incredibly creepy, but Tenant plays it well as he bounces from annoyed, to smug, to happy, to afraid, to just wanting someone to love him. This is important for a guy who never gets his hands dirty. In this era of comic book movies and shows, it's refreshing to see a villain who doesn't actually fight with his fists, but with full on psychological warfare. You can't actually lay hands on him without there being consequences. It makes for compelling television.
I won't spend time talking about the rest of the actors as I've spent a lot of time just getting going. Mike Coulter as Luke Cage, Rachel Taylor as Trish Walker, Carrie Ann Moss as Jeri Hogarth and Eka Darville as Malcom were all great. I will say this, there was real chemistry between Luke and Jessica. The friendship between Trish and Jessica felt genuine. If there was one character I didn't like, it was the character Will Simpson, played by Wil Traval. He was all squinty eyes and smirks. You just want to punch him in the face. His character was a drag on the show.
Before I get into the story, I want to first mention some decisions made with the look and feel of the show. Jessica can fly, but they have her doing it in rare occasions, so she's not flying all over the screen. The cynic in me could say it was for budget reasons, but I feel like you lose the feel of this show if you have a heroine that can just fly all over the place. So it had to have been a conscious choice to use it very sparingly. Everything looks real gritty. I haven't been to New York, but this felt pretty authentic to me. Calling Killgrave by his real comic book name, "The Purple Man" would be really silly. So I like that they make nods to that by always having him in a shade of purple. It's also a nice touch to show Jessica having tinges of purple around her memories at the beginning of the show. I really loved that touch, but I am glad they didn't do it the whole way. It's a gimmick that is more effective when used sparingly.
The only real gripe I have with this show is the narrative arc that they take. The first few episodes build the mystery of Killgrave and then before we're even at the halfway point, Killgrave and Jessica have already met up. I felt like having this meeting so early on gave away the big showdown and then the show would have to tread water the rest of the way because it already peaked by giving you their confrontation early. In this case it worked because you then have a game of cat and mouse and more escalation between the two until the conclusion. Let's face it, the two play off each other well.
I'm a fan of serialized television, but I wish they could have spent more time showing Jessica being a P.I. The first handful of episodes start off with that and then they completely abandon that concept. I'll say this again because I want to be clear, the character of Will Simpson was a drag on this show. I didn't like his little side story, his relationship with Trish and his involvement in the grand scheme of things. I'm glad he wasn't around to ruin the climax because I was sure he'd factor in.
Hang in there because I am almost done. I finally want to chime in on a few little Marvel Easter eggs that made me smile. I will just bullet point those:
- Luke Cage saying his trademark line, "Sweet Christmas". It totally worked here!
- Trish Walker = Patsy Walker = Hellcat! C-List character getting her due.
- The nod to and making fun of Jessica Jones' alter-ego, Jewel. I love that they name dropped it and showed her costume, while simultaneously making fun of how lame it is. Because it was.
- Jeri Hogarth (a man in the comics) has close ties to Iron Fist. The show that will come after Luke Cage. Just her inclusion here is another nod.
- References to other Marvel characters. The "big green guy" or the "Flag wearer" indeed.
- Night Nurse from the Daredevil series makes an extended cameo. I was more excited about this because I love me some Rosario Dawson. And her comments about knowing "other" heroes.
- The aforementioned use of color for Killgrave, aka "The Purple Man"
Bottom line, this was a very adult, compelling television show. You could write a book about all the psychological trauma that went on in this show. I've already taken up enough time here, but this show is worth the binge watching you will inevitably do. It's that good.
Marvel is knocking it out of the park with their Netflix shows. I can't wait for Luke Cage next!
