Jessica Jones, Season 1
Before it premiered, Jessica Jones was just a name to me. I had no information about the character other than what I picked up from others. I guess she's after my time with comics. What I did know was that this one was definitely more adult-themed. For starters, I knew that she had previously been under someone else's mental control and now living with the after-effects. I didn't know, prior to viewing, what those were, and if that control was magical, physical, psychological, or psionic in nature. And I knew she was going to be a private eye, and that David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor, for anyone counting) signed on to be the Big Bad for the season.
For anyone knowing as much as I did, Tennant plays Kilgrave who was able control Jessica Jones, and anyone else, simply by talking to them and given them an order. The person would have to comply. Jones broke from him and thought he was dead, but he's made a comeback.
Jones is a private investigator, working in Hell's Kitchen, and Daredevil does get a shout-out, but not by name. Likewise, mentions are made early on to let you know that we're in the Avengers universe. We soon learned that she's "gifted", which could be a term used because they can't say "mutant" (That's actually a legal thing.) or if it's a broader term because people can pick up powers. From what I could tell, she's superstrong and can jump and fall pretty far without getting hurt.
We see her crouched on fire escapes with a camera, taking pictures of a cheating spouse having a rendezvous with her lover on the side. She's later hired by a couple, just arrived from the Midwest and referred to her office at a police station, who are looking for their college-aged daughter who has disappeared. They've lost "Hope", which is the girl's name, but that theme comes up a bit.
Jessica realizes soon enough that Kilgrave has a new victim, and she's determined to rescue her. It doesn't go well, and ends with Hope in prison for murder. Jones is ready to run, but instead needs to save Hope. The only way to do this is to prove that mind-control really exists and that Kilgrave can control someone to do something. This drives the series. Moreover, since Kilgrave is needed alive to prove Hope's innocence, he can't simply be shot or killed to end it. Not that Jessica would do this.
Jones is conflicted throughout, and you wonder if she could kill him or anyone, other than one person she killed when under Kilgrave's control. Not that killing him is easy, as Kilgrave tends to have contingencies in place so that other people will die should something happen to him, but as the bodies start to mount up anyway, you start to wonder when is it time to cut your losses. Except that the answer is never, so the villain escapes so that two or four others can be rescued, and then a few others will die anyway who might have lived. Plus, if he dies, an innocent woman rots in prison. Weigh that against the high body count.
Krysten Ritter, despite having a long list of credits, is a new face to me, as new as her character. That makes this more of a delight for me. If you've followed her in other shows before you got here, then you already know going in how good she's going to be.
As soon as Mike Colter's character was introduced as "Luke", I knew his full name was going to be Luke Cage, so it seems that I chose to watch these shows in the correct order. Cage isn't a one-note character to move an episode along. He's around for the duration, assisting with the case. His story and Jessica's are intertwined but I'll leave out exactly how. You'll see.
I enjoyed seeing Tennant, and he has fun with the little cat-and-mouse game he engages in to catch Jessica. Kilgrave, in some sick twisted way, loves Jessica and thinks he can persuade her to love him as well. Or he could just make her, but he'd rather not. And she uses that to her advantage when she can.
There's a whole slew of characters to round out that cast, more than I'd care to mention her in a short review. They make it worthwhile, even if one or two might be annoying or just do stupid things. To be honest, the story could have been wrapped up in fewer episodes and while the latter ones aren't filler, some plot twists seem designed just to stretch the story out not to move the plot along. It might've been helped had Jessica had another actual case or two in earlier episodes to pay the bills while hunting for her adversary. However, time was of the essence since an innocent girl is rotting in prison, feeling guilty for what happened, whether she was in control or not.
But for the moment, you are in control. Make yourself watch the series. Overall, you'll be happy you did.
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