Jessica Jones: Marvel’s Darkest Show Yet
Marvel Studios’ latest Netflix series, Jessica Jones, has finally arrived. Based on Brian Michael Bendis’ seminal comic series, Alias, Jessica Jones takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe to darker and more unsettling places than it has ever been before. The darker tone of the show is appropriate, considering the subject matter of the source material. Marvel’s new Daredevil series (check out PopGeeks’ review of Daredevil) showed that parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, at least where the Netflix shows are concerned, can go much darker, mature and violent than what we typically expect from the theatrical Marvel releases. Some complained, and even Warner Bros. poked at the Marvel films for being too jokey and not dark and serious enough. However, now the Netflix shows prove that is no longer the case, and Marvel can go dark where it is appropriate.
Jessica Jones follows the titular character, a “gifted” superhuman, Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) who gained her superpowers from an accident in her childhood. After a failed attempt at becoming a superhero, Jessica Jones was left a broken and damaged woman. In trying to pick up the pieces of her life, she has opted to put her talents to use as a private detective. She spends most of her time peaking around dark alleys, spying on cheating spouses, or she does the dirty, less than desirable, jobs of a corporate lawyer Jeryn Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss). Based on the bottles of liquor that litter her apartment/office, one could easily argue that Jones is basically a functioning alcoholic. However, soon Jones’ rather fragile grip on reality starts to unravel when she realizes a connection with an investigation to locate a couple’s missing daughter, Hope Shlottman (Erin Moriarty). Jones realizes that Hope is being preyed upon by another “gifted” human with superpowers from Jones’ past, Kilgrave (David Tennant). Kilgrave has returned, and all of his actions appear to be focused on mentally torturing Jones. Jones’ first instinct is to get out of town, but after seeing Kilgrave’s tragic actions against the Shlottman family, she decides to stay and fight back. Unfortunately, Kilgrave’s ability makes him downright untouchable. He can literally brainwash anyone and make them do whatever he pleases. This makes Kilgrave ,quite possibly, one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
If you thought Daredevil was dark and violent, wait until you see Jessica Jones. The show takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe into some very dark corners. There is a lot more sexuality in this show. The sex scenes are in no way explicit, but the show is not afraid to depict characters engaging in sex or having sexual desires. It is refreshing in the sense that Marvel films and shows can be downright prudish at times where sexuality is concerned. In addition, Kilgrave is quite possibly one of the most malevolent and malignant forces the Marvel universe has ever seen. In one of his earliest appearances, he situates himself into a family’s home. He then forces the family’s young children to lock themselves in a closet and to even go in the bathroom there. It’s a very creepy and unsettling scene as you watch it unfold. Kilgrave is a sociopath who is completely drunk on his own power. However, one wonders if many other humans would be tempted or seduced by the absolute power granted by such abilities. Was Kilgrave ever a normal, functioning member of society who walked over the edge of sanity after unlocking these abilities? The show really makes you wonder. The show is unafraid to portray the darker, uglier side of humanity of the Marvel Universe. On one occasion, Jessica Jones is hired by two people who are prejudiced against super-powered individuals, as they blame the heroes and gifted humans for the Battle of New York and the loss of their own loved ones in that event. In another instance, Jessica Jones finds one of the victims left shattered by an encounter with Kilgrave. The man was an EMT and left a near vegetable by Kilgrave. He writes a note to Jones begging her to kill him to take him out of his own misery.
Krysten Ritter puts in a fantastic performance as Jessica Jones. As a performer, she has a lot to work with and dig in here. You can tell deep down that Ritter’s Jessica Jones is a good person who wants to do good, but she has suffered more than a few very bad days that have left her life a mess. Early on in the show, she opts to take up the cause of Hope Shlottman and fight back against Kilgrave. However, Kilgrave’s abilities make him not only immensely hard to locate, but next to impossible to capture. The writers do an excellent job of expressing how fighting against Kilgrave is an almost hopeless situation. Any attempt to stop Kilgrave simply leads to Kilgrave retaliating and creating more victims and broken lives. Ritter’s Jones is a strong, well-rounded character who, in some ways, could be on the very edge of her own sanity; and it seems the only thing from pushing her over the edge is her drive to stop Kilgrave and spare his latest victims.
Over the course of the first seven episodes, Ritter also forms a connection and relationship with another familiar face to Marvel fans, Luke Cage (Mike Colter). The show effectively marks the introduction of Luke Cage to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When the audience meets Luke Cage at the start of the series, he’s a widowed bar owner, whom Jessica Jones has been surveilling. Jones’ narration suggests that Cage is part of an old case. However, the truth is actually something much darker. During the first half of the series, there is a major revelation regarding Jones’ past involving Cage, that is like an emotional punch to the gut. It is a secret that Jones fails to keep buried. The sub-plot is nicely layered, and the writers bring it to the surface in a very satisfying execution.
The show is not without its issues. Specifically, the action and fight choreography leaves something to be desired. Daredevil had some very impressive and mostly top-notch action fighting and choreography. The show still managed to bring some impressive action choreography to the table while still coming off in a dark and gritty fashion. The fight choreography here comes off a lot sloppier. The first fight scene involving Luke Cage was shot in a bit of a clumsy fashion. This is the scene that first shows that Luke Cage, in fact, has super powers through his unbreakable skin, but the execution of this scene fell a little flat. The action improves over the course of the show, but the fight sequences do not always effectively depict the super-powers and abilities of gifted humans, such as Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.
David Tennant is spectacular as the depraved madman, Kilgrave. The writers do an excellent job depicting the terrifying implications of his powers. Kilgrave often does not need to get his hands dirty because his powers allow him to make his victims perpetrators of his own crimes. Even Jessica Jones is terrified of confronting him. She is terrified by the thought of Kilgrave again brainwashing her. However, Kilgrave is now guided by an insane notion that Jones will submit to him of her own volition. Tennant’s performance of a man with no moral compass is very interesting. The show has not yet explored too much of Kilgrave’s backstory. As a result, one wonders if getting his powers destroyed his moral compass, or if he never had one to begin with.
One of the show’s lesser subplots involves Jessica Jones’ best friend, Patricia Walker (Rachael Taylor) and a New York police officer, Frank Simpson (Will Traval). Walker is Jones’ friend and confidante who knows all of her secrets. In addition, Walker also has a great deal of baggage of her own as a recovering child star who was under the boot of a manipulative and domineering mother. At one point, Kilgrave targets Walker after she publicly insults him on her radio show, and Simpson is brainwashed into attempting to kill her. Simpson is then made into an impromptu ally in the fight against Kilgrave, and he ends up in a relationship with Walker…after he nearly strangled her to death. The relationship is one of the weaker subplots of the series. It sort of comes out of nowhere, and it’s not very believable. Traval and Walker don’t exactly have the best chemistry either. Obviously, fans will recognize Simpson as the man who becomes Nuke from the comics. The show does not seem to be going that route, but Simpson is described as a former Special Forces military soldier. However, it appears he does not mind taking the Kilgrave matter into his own hands, even though Jessica’s aim is to bring Kilgrave in alive to free Hope Shlottman.
It is also more than a little weird how many are in denial over Kilgrave. This is a world where aliens invaded New York City. A sentient robot tried to drop a city from the sky to make the human race extinct. Captain America dumped all of SHIELD’s secrets on the internet. That means people could very well know about gifted humans with various abilities. Some of these ideas are referenced, but then characters are more than willing to brush aside Kilgrave’s threat and existence. Sometimes the show commits way too hard to gritty realism, despite the established rules and events that have already taken place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Regardless, Jessica Jones is a tremendously solid show. Overall, it does not surpass Daredevil in story and execution, but it is another example of how far the Marvel Cinematic Universe can go on Netflix. The characters of the Netflix shows will battle the nightmares and go to the grimy sewers where the Avengers dare not tread.