I intended to watch the Netflix Marvel TV series in chronological order, but failed to do so when I watched both seasons of Daredevil before watching the first season of Jessica Jones. The chronological order is Daredevil season 1, Jessica Jones season 1 then Daredevil season 2. I’m actually glad that I made this mistake because the great contrast between the series’ tone and content made me appreciate Jessica Jones more, especially after the huge drop of quality of season 2 of Daredevil.
Jessica Jones is a grittier, more realistic take on the superhero genre and New York after the events of The Avengers. It is more of a mashup of genres: the comic book super hero with film noir detective except it directly confronts the idea of the femme fatale by casting the detective as the woman who leads people into dangerous situations and a victim of the real femme fatale, a homme fatale (we need a better alliterative term), a man with a power to mesmerize his victims, literally mind control. The series is also subversive because the titular character, this woman detective/victim, is unusually strong, which one would think would make her immune to victimization, but it makes her a target. She does not realize the source of her real strength until late in the first season. The sardonic, ongoing twist of this series is that it is easier for people to ignore or rationalize her physical powers and see her as a victim or a siren who is to blame for all the disaster around her instead of seeing her as a hero.
The first episode of the first season sets the tone for Jessica Jones. Even when she experiences heroic moments, they are usually undercut by another tragedy. There are no decisive victories in this series, and there is always another shoe that has to drop. Jessica advises, “Saving someone doesn’t mean unkilling someone else.” Triumph is usually quickly followed by death or pain if she is lucky. In contrast to Daredevil, even though she is physically more powerful, her moral dilemmas are way more complex while she is more certain to face consequences for anyone’s actions regardless of what she decides is the right course of action. He is predominantly concerned with the health of his own soul whereas she is more concerned with other people’s lives while recognizing that her solution will be inadequate because the trauma has already occurred and ruined people’s lives, including her own.
This trauma makes it easier to accept when people do stupid things instead of getting frustrated with the storyline. They are reacting poorly to their sudden epiphany of powerlessness while facing a seemingly insurmountable obstacle by scapegoating the safest person whom they can blame, Jessica Jones. Victim blaming is easier because it is more feasible to blame someone who does not want to hurt you than someone who already has. Jessica usually agrees with them except when the real perpetrator tries to shift the blame from where it rightfully belongs.
There is an intriguing subplot of consent and rape because the villain’s ability to victimize is endemic to his life, not always a conscious decision. Kilgrave shouts, “How am I supposed to know.” Kilgrave constantly wants to be seen as victim and hates the mention of rape, but is quite comfortable with causing actual harm and is regularly shown doing so. For the rapist, words are more harmful than actions. Later on, after being told exactly how he is supposed to know, he knowingly begins to repeat his actions again, which proves that his earlier excuse is a lie. The series shows both the victim and the rapist’s perspective, but shows that the victim’s narrative is rooted in reality no matter how unbelievable whereas the rapist’s story is subjective and emotional, and society sides with the rapist by dismissing the existence of his power and characterizing the victim as crazy or making up her story. It is a great sci-fi treatment of a real phenomenon of whom society sides with and how society rationalizes this definition of credibility.
Jessica Jones consistently subverts traditional narrative cues in this fashion even in passing moments. A black woman doctor yells at the white male nurse for messing up when he fails to put a needle in a patient’s vein, but when Claire, the nurse from Daredevil, also can’t do it, they objectively know that something strange is going on. The issue of who gets the benefit of the doubt and credibility is flipped.
Jessica Jones is required viewing if you plan to see Luke Cage, which I have not seen yet, but it is next in the queue. He was a helpful character to have in the series because he helped me realize how strong Jessica actually was because she usually is so casual with her feats of strength that I take it for granted, but because he looks strong, when they confront each other, and she can hold her own, I’m retroactively impressed. I’m not sure how Heroes avoided this problem because I always believed that Niki Sanders was strong without Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s accompanying acrobatics. Season 1 cleverly teased the possible next villain of season 2, which may explore systematic institutional child abuse. On a lighter note, we also may get super soldiers!
I really enjoyed the entire cast. Krysten Ritter completely transforms herself and erases her usually sunny disposition. Carrie-Anne Moss gives House of Cards’ Robin Wright’s coldness and manipulation as Kilgrave’s lesser foil. I think blonde women actors need to avoid ABC, which makes them into interchangeable, bland forgettable characters. It was nice to see Rachael Taylor get a chance to showcase her talent, which was in hindsight woefully neglected when she starred in 666 Park Avenue. Rosario Dawson’s brief guest stints made me hope in vain that she would become a regular since she seems to be the only one capable of being Jessica’s friend without the baggage. Wil Traval deserves special props for managing to play Simpson and making him likeable when he keeps doing hateful things. It does not hurt that he is also attractive, but I’ve written off hotter characters for doing less.
Serious frivolous question: is David Tennant objectively hot or not? Jessica Jones is the first time that I have seen him perform, and he is playing the villain so it is natural to find him not attractive, but usually the British accent counters that instinct. His accent did not help. My opinion depended on the shot angles. It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode called “The Strike.”
Jessica Jones is a sober, subversive take on the comic book genre that was absolutely riveting, but could be triggering to victims of abuse depending on levels of sensitivity. There are explicit sex scenes early in the first season so don’t tune in if that is a deal breaker. Until I see the second season of Jessica Jones, I would declare it substantively better than Daredevil, but Daredevil has better fight scenes if that is your interest in the genre.