For the next few days, I’ll be watching the Jessica Jones series on Netflix and reviewing them for The Mass Invasion. There will be spoilers.
The long awaited Jessica Jones series has finally been released on Netflix and some of the reviews are in. It’s spicy, dark, and gritty: a present day noir that’s different from the Daredevil series we’ve been privy to.
Jessica Jones is more down and dirty New York than polish, which works for this series. Krysten Ritter’s portrayal of the down-on-her-luck super hero-turned-private-eye is not cliche or uncomfortable to watch. The story line is very much in line with the “Marvel Max” content, where the “Alias” title (Jessica Jones’ agency) was birthed from.
If you’re not one for sexually based content, you might as well walk away from this, since the opening scene involves two people fervently screwing in a back alleyway and later, in the backseat of a car, while Jessica Jones takes pictures of them in the distance for the husband of the philandering wife.
The introduction of Kilgrave (The Purple Man) just kills off any warm, fuzzy feelings you may have still harbored for David Tennant as The Doctor (particularly when he licks the side of Jessica’s face); he’s that greasy in this. The scary thing is at the end of the first episode, we bare witness to the true power of Kilgrave, and it’s understandable why people should fear him. Think Sherlock’s Moriarty with mind control.
The one thing you realize about this episode… again, a lot of sex or prelude to it. They also make no bones about the nature of Jessica Jones’ relationship with Luke Cage (Power Man, played by Mike Colter), since we’re brought straight to their bedroom after some flirtation. All the while they’re at it, the audience realizes there’s just no emotion there, it’s just strictly carnal.
The adaptation of Krysten Ritter’s power as Jessica are implemented without cheese. Her conscience occasionally shows through, in between her hangover existence and her need to make a buck, with the occasional Kilgrave flashback that shocks her back to stone cold sobriety. Needless to say, the writers fleshed out Brian Michael Bendis’ work pretty well on screen.
The introduction of the character Trish Walker (Rachel Taylor) begs to question whether Hellcat will make an appearance in the series and if there will be any other Mavel superheroes like Jean Gray, Spider Man or any of the Avengers that will make an appearance, since they play prominent roles in the Jessica Jones Max story arc.
Only in time we will see where Jessica Jones leads, but currently, we’re still willing to follow.
