Jessica Jones tv series

[Totenkindly]

We might have discussed Season 1 in the "general show" thread.

It has been taking me some weeks to get through Season 2. With the conclusion of the Kilgrave plotline in Season 1 and Luke Cage not showing up in Season 2 (so far), the series kind of had to rebuild what it is going to be about.

This is more of the "origin" season, and it was pretty damned slow in its first third, which was why I took so long to progress.

I'm happy to say as meandering, inconsistent, and somewhat meh the third or so of the episodes were, things take a different direction in the middle of the season -- I've now finished Episode 9 (after watching four episodes in just two days or so) and the last few episodes have been markedly better. we also get a much better understanding of why Jessica is the way she is, where some of her sardonic personality comes from, the way she used to be, and Kristen Ritter just does a great job at providing that transition and some nuance. There's even some moments when we wonder if Jessica might finally be growing up, she's definitely changing and learning to open up in some respects.

I'm not really sure where the Trish plotline is going, although it looks like they scavenged one potential plotline to set up Trish to go full Hellcat or something like it. I like the interplay between the sisters (well, Jessica is the adopted sister), you get this definite sense of an extroverted feeler sort vs an introverted sister with more grounded rationality, even if it's a bit clumsy. But it seems pretty consistent throughout the series.

Jeri also has her own remarkable plotline this season that is great and reminds everyone why Carrie Anne-Moss is very talented. She really first grabbed international exposure as Trinity in the Matrix series and easily was a standout in a film known more for its action sequences because she's simply a good actress, providing depth and gravitas... and she does that here for a non-powered character who ends up showing quite a range and some nuance of emotion as things progress.

Anyway, I'm mainly worried that the final third of the season (2) will not rival the middle sequence, considering how aimless the first third seemed to be. Cross your fingers, I guess. But there's some great character work done for Jessica in the middle of this season, at least, especially between the girl she once was and the woman she had become... and perhaps the woman she will be in the future.

 

[Population: 1]

I binged watched the second season and Krysten Ritter is really awesome. It’s definitely not easy playing a character who suppresses their emotions except anger and bitterness and still make them very likable. Krysten shows just enough of the ghost of pre series Jessica to warm you up to her personality. You can catch glimpses of pre trauma JJ. She does get to show a lot more range in the second season with the back story. Carrie Ann Moss is also terrific because I really don’t like her character and yet I found myself growing to like her through watching her struggle with what happens to her. I enjoy the series because the characters are all flawed and though it revolves around a woman with super powers she and the rest of the cast are very relatable.

 

[Totenkindly]

yeah, that bit about Jeri -- I don't "like" her either, yet on some level I find that I admire her.... her skill, her competence, her relentlessness, and there's also some humanity that occasionally peaks out from under it all which is both surprising and enticing, I can connect with her on the level of her fears and potential losses at least. Moss generates some level of pathos for this tough and aggressive but seemingly amoral woman.

 

[Population: 1]

I don’t necessarily dislike Jeri for her aggressive nature it’s her lack of respect for others. She’s undergoing a transformation herself. I think every character is this season. Now that I think about it Jeri is a sort of warning to Jessica. About the consequences of being completely detached from others. The lonely at the top message. Here’s a woman who has all this prestige and power and a fancy lifestyle but has no friends and no life beyond her career.

Trish is another example of someone who had fame and fortune and yet looks at Jessica with a combination of admiration and envy because power in and of itself does not equal contentment. I’m really looking forward to what happens with Trish next season.

Jessica is the one with real power because of her abilities and yet it’s a massive responsibility to be a super hero even if she’s a very reluctant one who is understandably terrified of the potential to fail. If she fails people die, potentially lots of people. Still I like where the character is going even if the story is a bit unsure of the overall direction. Season one was about her being paralyzed by past events and eventually overcoming that paralysis and season two seems to be about reclaiming parts of her that were deeply buried but not dead. I love a complex character and Jessica definitely fits the bill.

 

[highlander]

I like this show a lot. Watched the whole first season and am in the second one now .

 

[Forever]

Second season blew for the most part the ending made up for it. Felt like a filler season to me unfortunately even though of course it’s rich in plot.

Pros: way more relatable
she kicks even harder
funnier

cons:
mom sucks
trish’s side story was boring and actually disappointed on her fate
other characters seemed more douchey than ever before

 

[Magnus]

I like this show a lot. Watched the whole first season and am in the second one now .

I'm the guy in the room who enjoyed both seasons. The second season was a little slow to get rolling but it's a pretty decent ride. Enjoyable. Trinity has a storyline that isn't totally aggravating, which is a plus.

 

[Fluffywolf]

I enjoyed watching the first season, I know I started watching the second, but I cant remember if I finished watching it, but I think I did. In fact I dont seem to remember much of anything about it. It was an unremarkable experience.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished the finale over lunch. My overall assessment is that the first half of the season was kind of hard for me to get into, the second half drew me in obsessively, and then the finale was okay but not quite as good as the rest of the episodes leading up to it. It felt pretty small. But I did like the last ten minutes, I like how Jessica is struggling so hard to rid herself of self-loathing, and maybe she'll allow herself to find some joy and peace.

- The whole Trish thing... I mean, okay, so it's pretty clear she got dex powers because she's going full Hellcat eventually; but as far as her character goes, man, she's so one-note and messed up. Like, why on earth would she do that and think everything would work out between her and Jess? That's just crazy thinking. She's as insane as her mom... although maybe that's the point. Both leads have kind of whacked moms and are somewhat like their moms and are trying to find a better place for themselves to exist in mentally.

- Jessica's becoming more "hero-ic" in some ways, although her ability to just play with crime scenes without really batting an eye is a bit unnerving... whether it's staging a suicide or so quickly just taking responsibility for her mom's murder in order to exonerate both Trish and herself. She thinks very RATIONALLY but not necessarily ethically in the abstract, although Trish is all about her own brand of ethics without much rationality at all from what I can tell.

- That's Rebecca de Mornay? How did I miss that for two seasons??? I can kind of see it now, but I guess I haven't seen her for so many years, she doesn't look like I remember.

- I really love the one-episode ongoing cameo with David Tennant. It felt a little out of the blue -- like, she should be experiencing that voice more regularly, realistically, rather than loaded into one episode, which was likely a logistics thing -- but the interplay was just great. Great line deliveries, great lines.

- For playing an ex-drug addict, Eka Darville cleans up real nice. Damn. I mean, I like his relaxed tee look, but even with the haircut and suit, he's pretty good on the eyes. as far as the character goes, he's got the most moral compass out of everyone, so it's funny he's associating with Jeri now. Million dollar question is how much she paid him for that job.

I'm the guy in the room who enjoyed both seasons. The second season was a little slow to get rolling but it's a pretty decent ride. Enjoyable. Trinity has a storyline that isn't totally aggravating, which is a plus.

I think the Jeri storyline is actually one of the best of the season, considering it mirrors the overall themes and is true to character.

I really love that she is a smart sharp woman who was still snookered by con artists, because she is still human; and in response to the way they preyed on her in her vulnerability, she immediately turns around and crushes them in return in typical Jeri fashion, and moves on with life without batting an eye. Carrie-Anne Moss is pretty remarkable. I love how she pushed back so hard against Jessica for suggesting she might have been taken advantage of, then went home and fell to pieces.... what a painful scene.

 

[Totenkindly]

Marvel's Jessica Jones, Punisher canceled at Netflix | EW.com

Not a surprise, but...

.... holy motherforking shirtballs. What a bunch of duckbags.

 

[Totenkindly]

Jessica Jones Season 3 released yesterday -- the final season of this.

watched two episodes.

My thought is that some of it can feel redundant, and the seasons are typically too long for the amount of story. (We don't really need 13 50-60 min episodes of this, either shorter episodes or shorter seasons would be good.) All the Netflix Marvel series were this way IMO, even Daredevil (although not as pronounced).

But the thing is, even when the writing and plotting are average, I still happen to really like all the characters and it's fun to watch them. I laughed a number of times throughout the first two episodes -- in a good way. Krysten Ritter is just always good. Even Rebecca DeMorney as Trish's mom -- she can become overbearing and annoying, because she is a bit over-used -- can be funny to listen to because of DeMorney's performance; and it's understandable why she is involved... because she's impossible for make go away, and she actually is protective of her kid(s) [Although mainly because she has a hole in her OWN life and needs to find something else to do with her time], and when life is difficult, even when your mom is too invasive, it's still good to feel like someone is in your corner and will do whatever they can to help you succeed.

There's even a good moment when Patsy is trying to find a disguise for herself and one of the outfits she nixes is pretty close to her traditional comic book "Hellcat" outfit. This is all stuff viewers might not know unless they are aware of backstory. (LIke Simpson in Season 2 -- he was an important character in one of the Daredevil plotlines years back....)

Anyway, it's the last hurrah for Jessica, which is sad since the show was well-cast; and it was nice to have someone with powers who was just a very normal human being struggling with real feelings of alienation and nihilism, yet trying to do the right thing. On the other hand, even as the "best" of the Netflix MCU shows, it doesn't really approach the best MCU movies.

 

[Tina&Jane]

I can't get into this season, I've only been able to make it through four episodes. I was looking forward to the Trish story line the most, but even that's not keeping me invested. I don't think it's that the season itself is bad, but just that I'm not as interested in the characters as I once was.

 

[Totenkindly]

It can feel kind of like a rehash of other seasons from the character perspective. Most are the same, I feel like only Malcolm has a bit of an arc.

I finished episode 6. Still feeling like I should be closer to the end of the season, but I haven't even hit midpoint yet. It's just too long for the story content.

 

[Tina&Jane]

It can feel kind of like a rehash of other seasons from the character perspective. Most are the same, I feel like only Malcolm has a bit of an arc.

I finished episode 6. Still feeling like I should be closer to the end of the season, but I haven't even hit midpoint yet. It's just too long for the story content.

Yes, that's what it feels like to me, very repetitive. The characters still feel the same and like they haven't made growth from the first season. I'm still on the same episode and don't think I'll be finishing this season. Jessica was such an interesting character in the first season, and while they've shown brief moments of her trying to connect with others and break through the cycle she's in, she never actively tries to heal from all the trauma she's been through. I guess it's realistic in the sense that a lot of people never overcome what they've dealt with and end up continuing to spiral, but in this case it doesn't make for a very engaging show.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished the last three tonight, since it got more interesting.

I still think the season is too long (# of episodes + length of episodes) for the amount of actual story they had, they could have condensed a bit.

But it ended up being a decent example of how traumatic experiences / bad childhoods can fuck someone up long after they think they've broken free from it, the lessons get ingrained and color one's perspective, which can lead to a series of bad decisions.

Also, while it felt more repetitive in the beginning, Jessica's story was one of more nuance. She's still very much the person she has always been... but it's like these small cycles she goes through where changes accrue over time and I felt like there was movement towards a better self for her in the latter half of the season even if she's still Jessica.

Also -- and it's important -- I thought the last 10-15 minutes stuck the landing. It wasn't big overt drama, it was more subtle and realistically nuanced. I felt like all the characters ended up where they were supposed to be, and the last two minutes was really great, even highlighting a difference between Trish and Jessica in terms of maturity and learning how to recognize the "wrong voice" in your head... separating your best self from the self you've been + all the influences that might have been layered into you over the years.

It totally felt right that Jessica would try to leave town. It's too much. She can't deal. She did the right thing, and now has this hole in her heart where Trish was. She tells Eric she knows he's good but can't [yet] trust him... there's a sense she could, if she had more time. And she closes shop, and hands the keys to Malcolm. And then after watching Trish off, she decides to leave the country, to get as much distance as possible.

And then she hears the Purple Man telling her yes, yes, it's the right decision. She should go.

And she realizes it's not what she should do. She needs to stop running. She's got this. And she turns around. the whole series ends with this hopeful note despite how hard it will be. But Jessica now believes she can do it... that she's a good person... and that she can make hard choices.

Compare that to Trish, who had her mother's voice in her head and regularly succumbed to it to be whatever her mom had shaped her into.

Also, and this was kind of neat -- I continue to love how Jessica is actually a good INVESTIGATOR. She does a lot of things in the latter half of the season that shows she knows exactly how to do things to make them stick and get them done using her abilities more as a tool but her brain is her real focus. her strength is useful but it's just another tool.... unlike Trish, who sees her powers as what gives her the ability to provide justice.

It's kind of cool how she suckers Trish into positioning herself in the obvious vantage point while distracting her by pretending to beat up Salinger in his apartment... while her actual goals were to (1) find Salinger's camera and (2) set Trish up to be caught by Malcolm and Eric.

Likewise, she doesn't reveal Trish's identity because it would make her flee the country... until it's clear trish will probably try to flee, and then she outs her to use the public network to find her quickly.

She also completely suckers Salinger -- using herself as bait pretending to be helpless, and eventually gets the confession she needs before basically proving she doesn't need her strength to beat him. She tricked him fair and square, when he thought he was the crafty one.

She also does everything within the law (although sometimes she cuts it close).

So with Trish out there doing the "hero" thing, not using her head, using her powers as a club and getting pwned regularly, Jessica shows the wisdom of all her years as an investigator to do things in a way that gets the results she wants without needing to break the law per se.