Rank: 4/5
Marvel’s latest Netflix-dumped show “Jessica Jones” is held together by Krysten Ritter.
Luckily, the strength of her performance is enough to elevate the show into something more poignant, a portrait of a broken woman trying to do the right thing.
The show chronicles Jessica Jones as she hunts for Kilgrave, a heinous killer who has the power of mind control. Watching Ritter as the title character is a delight, and the main reason to marathon the show.
Ritter has always been a charmer, displaying her great comedic chops in “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23.” Some doubted that she’d be able to take on the role of badass Jessica Jones, but she does so with ease. She has experience playing darker roles, like drug addict Jane in “Breaking Bad.”
In the character’s most vulnerable moments, Ritter is more than convincing. After “Jessica Jones” it’s clear she shouldn’t be confined to her own show, Marvel should use her as much as possible across all its platforms.
Another highlight is the chemistry between her and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage. Colter plays Cage with the perfect amount of quiet confidence and strength. It’s as if the character has lept off the comic book page and into the show.
During Ritter and Colter’s first scene together, the attraction was evident. Some of the best scenes on the show are the ones in which the two play off each other. The show is also refreshingly open about sexuality, and the sexual attraction between the two, which is rarely ever seen in superhero films.
Kilgrave, played by David Tennant makes an intriguing villain, but, as has plagued Marvel with its other villains, he’s a bit one dimensional at times.
If looked at as a character study of a woman’s demons, “Jessica Jones” is flawless. However, judging it as a show leaves quite a few flaws.
Every person on the show makes consistently terrible decisions. Every single one of them. At first, the bad decisions are tough ones that a reasonable person might also make under duress. But as the season progresses, it becomes apparent that no one on this show is of sound mind and it’s grating as a viewer.
Another flaw is how the show’s main “big bad” Kilgrave is handled. With episode after episode of him being a murderous psychopath, it’s no wonder why Jones doesn’t just off him like all of the other characters endlessly beg her to. Of course, she conveniently realizes that’s what she needs to do when it’s too late.
Jones herself is an issue because though she has super strength, we never get a sense of how strong she actually is. Some episodes she’s taking out six enemies with no help, and others she struggles with two bonehead flunkies.
Fortunately, the good things about the show outweigh the bad, and it’s worth watching. The storyline easily sucks the viewer in and doesn’t let go. Before you know it, 13 hours have gone by and you’ve watched the entire season.
The great thing about Marvel’s Netflix outings is that there is time to build characters up and knock them down. Between “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones,” Marvel has done well to create two distinctly different, dynamic main characters who viewers will care about and want to see more of.