By: Robert Murphy
After the surprising turn around I had experience when I watched Netflix's adaptation of the Daredevil series I had much more faith in the potential for more series like it to come down the road. I personally thought that Daredevil was one of the darkest adaptations among the new super hero style shows but Jessica Jones would take things to a whole other level. Based off of the hit comic book series Alias, Jessica Jones follows the exploits of a tough as nails private eye with some secret super powers to help her along the way, but she is elsewise haunted by her mysterious past. The whole thing is very film noire in it's initial presentation and depicts a darker side to the superhero world, one not filled with fame and monumental exploits such as saving the world from aliens, and letting you know there are other types of heroes than that.
Jessica Jones (Krysten Ridder) spends most of her days photographing those sneaking spouses who say they're working late but are actually putting extra hours in with another sort of business. It's a thankless and rather depressing way to make a living but because of her unique abilities she's become quite good at it so she sticks with it, possibly so she can do some small good with her powers after her ill fated attempt at the cape and costume life. She is deeply plagued by the events of her past and spends her nights staying up and prowling the city until she passes out from drinking too much. Despite all of this hardship though Jessica still wants to be a hero deep down and through her gruff exterior you constantly get glimpses of her true self underneath. Krysten Riddler does an excellent job of showing both these sides as she scowls her way through scene after scene. She has the ability to appear like this dark and grungy sort of girl but at the same time be a kind hearted person who won't let anything stop her from protecting those around her.
This gritty approach however was laid on a bit too thickly right from the get go. I would call the noire style of presentation a cliche at this point but here it really isn't any issue. Jessica's side job as a private eye is used softly at the start to introduce characters and the plot and isn't delved too much into, the same goes for her growing drinking habits. Where it all becomes a bit too much is when you're throwing around elicit sex scenes every couple of minutes just for the hell of it. Jessica is obviously a damaged character and I can get behind that but when you're going from damaged loner one minute to complete horny school girl the next then you've lost me. This bit also pops up for a few other characters as well along the way but it was particularly irksome to see it happen with Jessica because it's so out of place for the character.
The story finds it's footing again though once the main villain comes into the limelight. Flashbacks and memories of a mysterious purple man subtly tell the story of whatever it is that happened in Jessica's past that has led her to become the person she is today and it serves as great tension for the type of villain that viewers will see throughout the story. Kilgrave (David Tennant) is a man with the ability to control anyone he chooses with the simplest of commands, he says it and they do it, but his villainy isn't all that grand when you get down to it. Kilgrave is just a simple man who goes after what he wants and takes it but he does leave a bloody murder spree in his wake and there in lies the danger. So one minute you have this charming and unassuming man standing before you and the next you could be stabbing your own eye out for refusing him the simplest of requests. Its all handled brilliantly by Tennant who moves between the refined gentleman and psychotic mind controller with ease.
As for our supporting cast members, Jessica Jones introduces a mixed bag of some good and bad cast members with it's story, but one definitely outweighs the other. In Hell's Kitchen you never know the type of characters you will end up meeting and that is especially true here. For instance you have Malcolm (Eka Darville) who plays Jessica's drug addict neighbor who she is constantly helping and despite his minimal role early on he remained a solid character all the way through. Harper (Carrie-Anne Moss) who is vicious shark of a lawyer that controls people almost as well as Kilgrave does just without the powers but at one point she definitely makes it clear she would like them. She has her own motives as well as some unappealing side drama throughout the show but her cold calculating character was a great addition to the story and she could have almost been an interesting villain in her own right. And finally you have Luke Cage (Mike Holter) who is the man responsible for those elicit sex scenes with Jessica I mentioned early on. While at the start the two's relationship was nothing but a booty call and something I still criticize, his later relationship with Jessica and his purpose to the overall story made him grow on me.
A special note does have to be given to Erin Moriatry's role as Hope who plays the tormented girl that is abducted by Kilgrave just like Jessica was just a few years before. She represents everything that Jessica use to be before Kilgrave got ahold of her and changed her life forever. You still see brief moments of Hope's innocence weigh in the balance early on and that is why Jessica spends the entire story trying to save her with such reckless abandonment. Hope basically says everything that Jessica has thought or still thinks to this day and it is a great correlation to see throughout the entire series, even greater was the culmination of it all that made the ending so much more powerful.
As for the rest of the not so stellar cast things do not fair so well. Will Simpson (Will Traval) plays an unfortunate cop who gets mind controlled by Kilgrave to kill Jessica's best friend Trish "Patsy" Walker (Rachael Taylor) but is eventually stopped. Rather than his character be cut out there though he is brought along for the ride and ends up having a relationship with Trish, this going back to my irksome sex scene problem with the show since the guy almost kills her character and a day later they do it. His character involvement does hint at some interesting ideas for next season but it really wasn't worth it to deal with this guy. As for Trish, her character is constantly berating Jessica early on for her choices and for shutting herself down to her help and involvement in her life. Jessica and her do have wonderful chemistry together and some of the scenes weren't terrible but Trish is just one of those character who doesn't understand she is way in over her head and constantly goes back to pouting about her inability to help Jessica in any big way.
By far the worst among these side characters though was the inclusion of another bizarre neighbor in Jessica's building, Robyn (Colby Minifie). Her involvement in the story was minimal at first as her and her fraternal twin Ruben (Kieran Mulcare) bickered in the upstairs apartment from Jessica. The two later become an intricate part of the story however and one episode even involved Robyn to being part of many of the shows key moving points. Her character is so unbelievably abrasive that it almost made the episode unwatchable.
This dark decent into the world of Jessica Jones was certainly a bold one to say the least as many topics of Jessica's life can be hard to swallow. The series does the comic book character right in terms of both the hero and the villain by never shying away from the subjects of rape, murder and some other hard hitting topics. Things do get out of hand with the grungier aspects of the show however as it feels that it wasn't all done to service the story and was just added for shock appeal. In any case Jessica Jones does hit plenty of high notes, especially with Tennant's Kilgrave, and there is plenty of potential to be had in the second season.
Good:
- Ridder as Jessica Jones and Tennant as Kilgrave
- A well told and darker story element to the Marvel universe
- Some solid side characters especially Moriatry as Hope
Bad:
- Majority of main side characters were lack luster
- Minifie's Robyn character was especially poor
- Thrown in sex scenes and flashes of skin that seemed added just for the flesh appeal
Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10
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