Jessica Jones, Season 2
Season two of Jessica Jones dropped, and even though I didn't intend to binge it, I pretty much did. Watching the entire series in under a week is binging for me.
There's still plenty of violence and death, but not as murder-y as last season was. It also addressed concerns I had from season one: is she going to get any real cases that pay the bills (even if they aren't the focus of the episodes), and is she going to give in to the villain to save the life of a person who's just going to die in the next episode anyway. (Pet peeve of mine: I hate that, and my hate grows exponentially when that gets repeated.)
So there were a couple of jobs, or at least references to getting back to work, before the series arc kicks in. I won't say too much about it because of spoilers, but there's another "experiment" just like Jessica out there, but meaner. The season is definitely a "novel for television" or "mini-series" or however you want to define it. There are episodes later on that only work in context of the episodes around it. (This is fine if you're binging, but not if someone comes over while you're watching and sits through one.)
Many of the characters from the prior season are back, but not Luke Cage or Claire Temple, which probably makes this the first Marvel Netflix series I've seen without Rosario Dawson in it. She seems to be the glue. On the other hand, Jeri Hogarth shows up and has the B-plot for the series. I wished it tied in at some point, but it was mostly an extraneous, keep-her-on-the-payroll story, unlike in Series 1. Her character did develop, so there's that, and she managed to work in a reference to Rand Enterprises (from Iron Fist). She also shared one scene with "Foggy" Nelson, late of Daredevil who was hired by Jeri at the end of that show's second season. Foggy also had a brief scene as Luke Cage's attorney when he was released at the beginning of The Defenders. He could have been used more here, but, alas, that wasn't the case.
(Quick check: Dawson wasn't in The Punisher, either, but that had other characters from Daredevil.)
One spoiler, because you probably know, David Tennant will eventually show up as Kilgore, but he's still dead. No resurrection spells or anything like that here (but giving all the "experiments" going on in the Marvel universe, how long with that last?)
Anyway, enough digressions. Season 2 gives us more back-story about Jessica Jones herself. Who she is, where she came, what actually happened to her, and how did she became the way she is. And, likewise, how one of the main villains became the way she is. You get more details on her family, before they died.
If I had to finger a problem with this part of the story, it's all the back and forth with the people in Jessica's life between saving them and wanting nothing more to do with them and then saving them again. Are people totally good or totally bad -- I don't know but do you have to keep flipping back and forth?
Also returning is Trish Walker who is trying to expose a story for her audience, and thus making herself a target. She also discovers "drug are bad" when she get a hold of a drug from the same nefarious source as Jessica's augmented powers. Trish was a drug addict back during her acting career, and she gets hooked on the IGH substance that temporarily augments her. She becomes more of a hindrance than a sidekick.
In the end, the season was enjoyable. It moved some characters around, which you might need to know if they turn up on other programs. However, I'd like to see Jessica work an actual case next season, even if super-villains are involved in it. Girl's got to make a living and pay the bills.
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