Josie and I have consumed consumed the entire first season of Marvel's Jessica Jones in a little over twenty-four hours, last weekend. It felt both awful and oddly satisfying to commit such an act of juvenile and rebellious excess, despite the fact that I didn't know any of the characters before the viewing and don't really care about them now that it's over. It wasn't a bad series, but I thought it shoved its point down my throat more than once. I have a hot take on a hot new series, so let's not waste any more time, shall we?
Here are my observations on Marvel's Jessica Jones, now airing on Netflix everywhere around the world (or at least most places).
- The first season of Jessica Jones is a great allegory for an abusive relationship. Not only it features one, but the show also is a surreal portrait of how it must feel like to be in a relationship with an abusive spouse. The distorted perception that your ex can manipulate whoever (s)he talks to, including the authorities. The infuriating feeling of helplessness of talking to whoever haven't been with the ex in question because they don't know him/her like you do. It's one of the Marvel Comics adaptations that would work as a dark fantasy series without any allusion to superpowers.
- That said, I thought the antagonist Kilgrave was the most interesting character in Marvel's Jessica Jones. I had a couple debates on Facebook about whether or not he would've been an asshole without his superpower and he might've very well been, but he was fascinating to me because I figure that whoever has this power is basically condemned to become a gigantic asshole. Kilgrave has the power of persuading anybody to do whatever he feels like, which often leads to surreal and mind-bending scenes. If there are never any consequences to your choices because you can manipulate the outcome anyway, the very meaning of Good and Evil is basically up to you to define.
- What's up with Jessica and drinking? She drinks and drinks and drinks, and she never seems to get drunk. She falls asleep on her desk once early in the series and appears drunk at the start of episode 7, but that's it. She's like the social smoker of drinking. She does it because she likes the look of a bottle in her hand. Several people have wondered if her superpower doesn't give her inhuman alcohol resistance, but what would be the point of drinking anyway, then?
- Jessica Jones' baditude a problem for me. It is an issue best described as: "a foul, angry, or rude mood; negative personality; a term to describe a person who makes others miserable or is a drag to be around." It ties in to a bigger problem the series have with constantly making its point rather than telling the story. There's this useless scene in episode three or four where Jessica beats this random guy at a punching power machine. I knew she could punch through a freakin' wall by then and I knew what the outcome would be. Marvel's Jessica Jones is really insecure about what it wants you to understand about the series: that Jessica's in charge.
- One of my favorite moments in the series also was one of the most problematic one. * Spoiler, I guess * There is this reenactment of Milgram's Experiment involving Jessica and Kilgrave, where Jessica's in charge. It showed what kind of person Jessica is and what kind of message the series send. The episode is troublesome because Kilgrave is trying to manipulate his way out of the situation, yet having empathy for the test subject is the normal humane response. Not only Jessica doesn't struggle with her feelings one bit, but she vilifies and shuts down whoever does. I get it, Kilgrave is a psychopath and a rapist who must be stopped by any means necessary, but the Donald Rumsfeld it's-either-us-of-him approach to Jessic'a mindset lacked a bit of subtlety for me. Was I asking too much out of a Marvel series? Probably.
- I became mildly obsessed with the character of Wendy throughout the story. What has she ever done to anybody? She embodied my problems with the character of Jessica Jones. She needs her heartless lawyer Hogarth in order to put Kilgrave away, so Wendy just became someone who needed to be dealt with. In all honesty, she was an unnecessary wrinkle to the series, but she quickly became the Gil Gunderson of Marvel's Jessica Jones.
Fuck, perhaps I'm just not cut out for this semi-realistic, gritty Marvel stuff . I've enjoyed Jessica Jones on a conceptual level. It had great intentions and an highly original concept, but I thought the dialogue was plagued by insecurities and ended up making the protagonist come off like an angry 14 year old with superpowers rather than a compelling character. The nobility of her quest was not enough for me to buy into her depth.
What did YOU think about Marvel's Jessica Jones? Remember, I'd love to hear from you as long as you're polite and respectful!