Written by: Kevin Berge
Clearly the films got all Marvel's budget. They couldn't even afford costumes. (Image Courtesy of: youtube.com)
Quick Take: Jessica Jones Season 1 tells a mature tale of a woman facing and overcoming her abuser with a degree of intense and brutal focus thanks to two enthralling lead performances only let down by attempts to step too far away from the central plot.
Marvel-Netflix Seasons: Daredevil S1 | Luke Cage S1
***The following is a review of the 2015 opening season of Jessica Jones and focuses primarily on introducing the reader to the ideas of the show at large. It will contain some allusions to events and characters, but it will not have any major spoilers.***
Comic book stories fall into two categories generally. Either they tell the tales of a superhero or use the medium to craft a singular story. Alias, the comic behind Jessica Jones, feels more like it is telling one story than exploring a superhero.
This is not to say that Jessica Jones is not a superhero, but rather that her story is not about using her super strength to overcome a trove of villains. Instead, her story is internal, driven by grief and loss that she must overcome all derived from one external source, the Purple Man.
This super strength heroine's power is almost an afterthought in her journey. It allows her to accomplish the mundane with ease and conquer villains equally as easily, but they cannot help her to defeat the demons that haunt her thoughts and dreams.
It is likely Netflix Marvel will tell many dark stories, but there will likely never be a more vicious and brutal chapter in the series than the first season of Jessica Jones as she faces the most intensely sickening villain ever placed on screen in a comic book-based story.
Even the first episode alone is hard to watch in the way it portrays the brutal power of The Purple Man to manipulate women physically, emotionally, and sexually. This is a man who can use his words alone to kill and make others kill on his behalf.
While good and evil can easily be shown to be an affair of black and white, it is never quite this clear and frightening. Even though the main protagonist is far from likable, it is impossible not to root for her as she fights such aggressive evil.
***The following is a review of the 2015 opening season of Jessica Jones and focuses primarily on introducing the reader to the ideas of the show at large. It will contain some allusions to events and characters, but it will not have any major spoilers.***
Comic book stories fall into two categories generally. Either they tell the tales of a superhero or use the medium to craft a singular story. Alias, the comic behind Jessica Jones, feels more like it is telling one story than exploring a superhero.
This is not to say that Jessica Jones is not a superhero, but rather that her story is not about using her super strength to overcome a trove of villains. Instead, her story is internal, driven by grief and loss that she must overcome all derived from one external source, the Purple Man.
This super strength heroine's power is almost an afterthought in her journey. It allows her to accomplish the mundane with ease and conquer villains equally as easily, but they cannot help her to defeat the demons that haunt her thoughts and dreams.
It is likely Netflix Marvel will tell many dark stories, but there will likely never be a more vicious and brutal chapter in the series than the first season of Jessica Jones as she faces the most intensely sickening villain ever placed on screen in a comic book-based story.
Even the first episode alone is hard to watch in the way it portrays the brutal power of The Purple Man to manipulate women physically, emotionally, and sexually. This is a man who can use his words alone to kill and make others kill on his behalf.
While good and evil can easily be shown to be an affair of black and white, it is never quite this clear and frightening. Even though the main protagonist is far from likable, it is impossible not to root for her as she fights such aggressive evil.
On the other hand, Netflix stole all the good villains, so really they win. (Image Courtesy of: themarysue.com)
While the Netflix Marvel shows have an impressive track record for casting their shows, Jessica Jones takes the cake with its central leads who are so completely enthralling in their roles that they certainly deserves award recognition.
Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) was born for this role, carrying the heavy weight of abuse on her shoulder that make her understandable but still unlikable. David Tennant (Doctor Who) is the likable one in the creepiest and most unsettling of ways, dominating the screen in a way that makes you want to root for him and hate him.
The rest of the cast are solid particularly Rachael Taylor (Transformers) and Eka Darville (Mr. Pip) who play the only friends Jones has with the more traditional conflicted but honest protagonist strength of will. Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) also makes for a compellingly complex gray lawyer character.
The main story is so brilliantly told that the show only falters when it separates itself from its leads particularly when it takes a detour with Trish Walker and her growing romantic interest in misogynistic policeman Will Simpson played by Wil Traval (Once Upon a Time).
Not all the side stories though were mishandled particularly the introduction of Mike Colter as Luke Cage who proved right away that he was worthy of his own spotlight. His chemistry with Ritter made the early slower parts of the season work.
There is a sense that the story should have been an episode of two less just to avoid unnecessary detour stories. Still, there is so much great work here that it already takes away particularly in the best episodes which include "AKA Sin Bin", "AKA Top Shelf Perverts", and "AKA Smile".
Forget this is a comic book story and just dive into the story of one woman facing her serial abuser, and you find one of the most enthralling, hard to stake stories told in a television season. Ritter and Tennant masterfully guide the needle on a story worth investing in.
Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) was born for this role, carrying the heavy weight of abuse on her shoulder that make her understandable but still unlikable. David Tennant (Doctor Who) is the likable one in the creepiest and most unsettling of ways, dominating the screen in a way that makes you want to root for him and hate him.
The rest of the cast are solid particularly Rachael Taylor (Transformers) and Eka Darville (Mr. Pip) who play the only friends Jones has with the more traditional conflicted but honest protagonist strength of will. Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) also makes for a compellingly complex gray lawyer character.
The main story is so brilliantly told that the show only falters when it separates itself from its leads particularly when it takes a detour with Trish Walker and her growing romantic interest in misogynistic policeman Will Simpson played by Wil Traval (Once Upon a Time).
Not all the side stories though were mishandled particularly the introduction of Mike Colter as Luke Cage who proved right away that he was worthy of his own spotlight. His chemistry with Ritter made the early slower parts of the season work.
There is a sense that the story should have been an episode of two less just to avoid unnecessary detour stories. Still, there is so much great work here that it already takes away particularly in the best episodes which include "AKA Sin Bin", "AKA Top Shelf Perverts", and "AKA Smile".
Forget this is a comic book story and just dive into the story of one woman facing her serial abuser, and you find one of the most enthralling, hard to stake stories told in a television season. Ritter and Tennant masterfully guide the needle on a story worth investing in.