My general goodwill towards Marvel is now dead, and I will no longer blindly watch and accept everything that they throw out for us. I will evaluate each instalment on its own merit and appeal. It has taken a long time for me to take off the rose tinted glasses. No matter how much I had loathed the Spiderman movies, my love for The X-Men tainted my views on how Marvel can do no wrong.
Thankfully, I had managed to jump off the merry-go-round with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. After not watching it, I felt as though a veil had been lifted, and I was no longer walking around with a fanboy mentality and excitement. With a new found freedom, I ventured into Jessica Jones. And boy, does she not live up to the hype.
The first venture into a female protagonist in the Marvel Universe is sadly one where the actress is unable to portray anything other than bitch. Jessica Jones (the person) is highly unlikeable, and this first series is two episodes too long. Jessica Jones is a show which takes itself way too seriously and yet, manages to screw up its own suspension of disbelief. You can’t have it both ways. I mean, it’s trying desperately to mimic the gritty tone which Daredevil offered, in a world where ‘gifted’ people exist, along with Gods and aliens, yet, the idea of a mind controlling gifted person is out of the realms of possibility? Come on! This is the same universe that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D exist.
Jessica Jones is a minor character in the Marvel Universe, after all, you can’t give a major character their own TV series, that’s what movies are for. Jessica is damaged, she’s had it tough, very tough, and you can understand why she is the way she is. She’s tough, resilient and isolated from the world around her. You can understand why, given what she’s been through, but, at her core, she’s a good person. She’s a hero, a protector of the innocent. She wants justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3UYWK2jeX0
Sadly, the Bitch from apartment 23 is unable to portray such a complex character. Krysten Ritter prances around like an annoyed teenager who has a problem with authority. She’s bitchy and rude to everyone, without exception. She’s just unlikeable.
It is rare that we have a protagonist who is so unlikeable, you don’t even love to hate her. There is something about Jessica that you just don’t like. You want to like her, you want to root for you and you want her to win, but a part of me kind of wanted to see her meet her demise. That would have been a plot twist, the protagonist dying, with the next season following the continued exploits of Kilgrave, if they had not developed him to the point of no return in this season.
Perhaps it is because I binged, and couldn’t tolerate her annoying voice, which sounds as though she’s on the verge of tears and screaming, or it’s because Will Simpson’s blond hair made me want to smack his face in, I just couldn’t quite enjoy this series as I did Daredevil. And I so badly wanted to love it.
I had always thought Krysten Ritter was very pretty and had a certain appeal about her, even in her Gilmore Girls days, she was a standout to me. But, alas, her ability to portray a complex character is just not there. Jessica is one dimensional, and that is sad. When she was rude to the adulterous Pam, I found myself rooting for Pam. I was often rooting for the other person at the receiving end of Jessica’s snide cattiness.
Daredevil delivered some of the best action scenes I had seen on television in a long time. The fights were incredibly, they were well choreographed and filmed, they were dirty and I found myself at the edge of my seat. It also made me want to go to the gym and hit the bag. Bring out the ninja.
With Jessica, I wanted to bring out the fast forward button. The fighting sequences were basically her throwing people around and getting thrown around. It’s actually quite dull. I guess she’s just super strong and not much else? I thought that she could fight, or at least, she thinks she could fight. But it doesn’t seem like it, she just throws. The best fight scene actually goes to Trish Walker.
Thankfully for Jessica Jones, the supporting characters are mostly great. Rachel Taylor is good as Trish Walker, the ever supportive best friend. Mike Colter is enigmatic as Luke Cage, I look forward to see his series and where he finds himself after his encounter with Jessica. But most impressive of all is David Tennant as Kilgrave. I found myself looking forward to his scenes.
Kilgrave is an excellent villain, he’s a sociopath who has one objective. It’s insane and fits perfectly. He’s a genius who is intriguing. And his demise is nothing but warranted and justifiable.
The Marvel-Netflix affiliation has breed some amazing villains. They’re able to portray villains in a much more interesting manner than the movie counterparts. These villains are three-dimensional, they’re complex and we learn more about their background. We understand these villains, how they came to be, and why they are so interesting.
Heroes are heroes because they are either making up for a tragic past, or just want to do be good, but villains, there are so many reasons why they want to be bad. Money, power, self-delusion of grandeur, bad childhood, bad parenting, born inherently evil, or they just got in with the wrong crowd. Ultimately, the reasons are endless. And it is with these endless reasons that make them so compelling and interesting.
Rating: 6/10, Jessica Jones is not a title lead character, she is definitely more suited to being an ensemble, which annoys me, because I want a cool female hero with her own show. A woman who is flawed, powerful, resilient and independent. A woman who knows who she is, and isn’t apologetic about it. A woman who kicks ass and is flawed and human. A woman who is likeable. Maybe I’m being too harsh because I had such high hopes?
Watch the next series: Maybe, it will depend on which new characters will be introduced to beef up the plotline.
Worth my time: No, this series is not a must see, it’s rather neither here nor there. But then again, watch a few random episodes and see how you go. You may not find Jessica annoying.
Talking points: bad action sequences and the idiotic look of Sergeant Simpson. Why everyone else seems to love it, but me.
Annoyance factor: 8/10, the more I watched, the more annoyed I got with Krysten Ritter’s voice and Jessica’s lack of development. Jessica is just not likeable as a person, no matter how well meaning she is, or how she is the protector of the innocent. She’s just not likeable.
Ranter & Banter 