Jessica Jones, Marvel’s newest Netflix series, is very different from many of the comic book and super hero stories to hit the market in recent memory. Jessica Jones is not a well known character at all. The street level private investigator with super strength doesn’t have the instant name recognition that Thor or Batman do, so why make an entire series surrounding just her? One of the strongest points of Jessica Jones as a series is that the audience is able to relate to her. She’s often overwhelmed and fighting against the odds.
Marvel took a shot with Jessica Jones, and it paid off. Besides Jones not being an A-list character, she is the first titular female character in the modern cinematic universe, beating out big names like Wonder Woman, Storm and Catwoman. The leading lady they chose to carry this torch is Krysten Ritter, most well known for playing Jesse’s junkie girlfriend Jane Margolis on AMC’s Breaking Bad. Ritter is absolutely brilliant as Jones, capturing the fire and determination that Jessica is known for.
Jones starts the series as a private eye; a job which she says mostly consists of “waiting in dark alleys for people to do it.” She is an emotionally distant alcoholic suffering from PTSD. The events that lead to her PTSD were her year spent in servitude to Kilgrave, the series’ persuasive villain, whom she believes to be dead. She begins to reach out to friends over the start of the series, only to push them away when she realizes that Kilgrave has returned.
The real jewel of Jessica Jones isn’t the leading lady though, it’s the sociopathic villain that she duels with. The Purple Man, known only as Kilgrave, has powers of persuasion. While mind control is nothing new in the MCU, Kilgrave’s particular brand is something different. Rather than becoming mindless zombies his victims believe everything is normal at first, simply having a singular desire to do whatever he says, to the letter. Many of them afterwards don’t know what came over themselves. This means that anyone could be under the control of Kilgrave, and you’d never know.
Kilgrave is played by David Tennant, best known for playing the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who. He brings his oozing charisma to the character, making the audience question whether he is truly evil. Marvel has been criticized time and time again for its poor, one dimensional villains, but Kilgrave will never be lumped in with the lot. He has clear and personal motivations, and is dangerous even without his powers. He also brings up a strange point; he never knows whether or not people really do want to obey him.
Another strong point in Jessica Jones is its side characters and sub plots. My personal favorite was the story surrounding Malcolm, Jessica’s neighbour. A down and out drug addict who Jessica is constantly helping out of trouble, Malcolm is able to turn it around in the middle of the series with Jessica’s help. The two of them flip-flop between saviour and victim for the rest of the show, constantly helping each other in a very sibling like way.
Jessica Jones also introduces Luke Cage, also known as Power Man. A super strong man with unbreakable skin, Luke Cage has been a staple of Marvel’s Avenger’s teams for many years. Cage is also a victim of Kilgrave, although he doesn’t know it. He and Jessica see each other romantically off and on throughout the series, and one of the most touching moments comes in the final episode, when Jones cuddles up to an unconscious Cage, talking about how she never thought of her future until she met him. Cage will star is his own Netflix series, which will premiere early in 2016.
The show is also beautifully shot. Using Manhattan as a backdrop for a neo-noir crime thriller, which just so happens to center on super powered individuals, Marvel scores a hit. Using the colour purple as a clear trigger for Kilgrave, audiences are always questioning where he’ll pop up. One scene in particular stands out from the rest. Jessica attempts to turn herself in to the police, but Kilgrave stops her by making every officer at the precinct point their weapons at one another and wait for his word. Really the only part of Jessica Jones that was disappointing was the finale. An underwhelming and predictable plot, which fed into an obvious sequel. Overall though I truly enjoyed Jessica Jones and recommend checking it out on Netflix whenever you have 13 hours to spare.
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