(Marvel's) Jessica Jones

[hamhock]

Is anybody watching this? I love it, so far.
One quibble, and I reserve the right to change my opinion: I am not finding David Tennant to be that scary a bad guy.

[mementomori]

I love it so far. Suits my taste better than Daredevil. Sometimes Krysten Ritter reminds me of Eliza Dushku at her most awesome! And,um, Luke Cage is really, really, really sexy. Did I mention he was sexy? I think Tennant's effective as a creep.

[kostgard]

Kilgrave definitely gets worse as the series goes on. I didn't think he was that scary at first, either, but by the end he was pretty terrifying (because his power is pretty terrifying - he can make anybody do anything).

I finished the series on Sunday, and I really enjoyed it, and I really liked how the whole thing with Kilgrave is basically an abusive relationship cranked up to 1,000. I'll spoil this just to not ruin stuff for people who haven't finished yet:

Spoiler:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Kilgrave is every creepster, abusive boyfriend taken to the extreme. He wants to control Jessica, just like a creepster. He always tells her to smile, just like creepy guys all over the world do to women. But he's also charming/sad/sympathetic enough that a small part of you does want him to get better. Because Jessica is right - if he used his powers for good, he could change the world. And that's how the creepsters pull ladies in - they think they can fix him. But with Kilgrave it lasts for only a few moments before he's back to doing something horrible and Jessica is smart and only entertained the "I can fix him" idea for a few hours before deciding, "Nope. He's a psychopath. He's gotta go down."

They really played into that whole "you stop growing up at certain major events/when you stop hearing 'no'". Kilgrave is that psycho kid who pulls wings off of flies for fun cranked up to the extreme. He acts like a bratty child because since age 10 he never had to hear "no" (except from Jessica). He lashes out in tantrums - tantrums that usually end in mutilation, torture and/or death.

Some people complained that the ending wasn't big enough, but it fit to me. He really loved Jessica - in the only way his twisted mind could understand "love" and that was his weakness. If he was smart, he would have taken Trish and took off on the boat, either forcing Jessica's hand (if she was faking being under his control) or really sticking it to her if she wasn't faking it. But it was all about getting Jessica back. And as soon as he thought she was back in a place where he could "make" her love him, he practically came bouncing over to her like a puppy, promising that in time, she would come to love him for reals. Jessica wisely took that small window of opportunity to quickly and brutally end him. That's what you gotta do with people like him. Don't let them back in, cut them off (or snap their neck, as the case may be).

/spoiler

I really liked the relationship between Jessica and Trish. It took me a while to figure out exactly what their relationship was (slowly revealed in the show), but I liked that they were completely devoted to each other and Trish is the most important person in Jessica's life, not a love interest (though Luke is pretty darn hot and pretty important to her).

[kateln]

I think Kilgrave gets scary--I'm not a David Tennant fan (he's my least favorite Doctor) but he's great in this, especially if you've had a creepy, stalkerish, boyfriend.

I'm impressed with how complicated everybody in this show is. Everyone has these great really human layers. In very few instances is Kilgrave 100% evil, which might be why I found him so scary. The relationship between Jessica and Trish is awesome and realistic.

[kostgard]

Nov 24, 2015 20:59:02 GMT -4 kateln said:

I'm impressed with how complicated everybody in this show is. Everyone has these great really human layers. In very few instances is Kilgrave 100% evil, which might be why I found him so scary. The relationship between Jessica and Trish is awesome and realistic.

Completely agree. Kilgrave is frequently a little bit sympathetic, which makes his horrific moments that much worse. And I love Trish - every time she was in peril I was all, "Oh, no! Not Trish!" This show is dark enough that anyone could die. The only character I really didn't care for was Simpson.

And I really liked how almost every character got more layers as the series went on. Almost none of the characters were one-dimensional.

[Deleted]

The creator has been pretty open about wanting to create a feminist super hero show. She has discussed Jessica Jones as kind of a response to those shows that use rape as a trauma the male hero has to get past while ignoring the impact on the actual victim. A good interview here (some spoilers). Some interesting commentary on how Kilgrave commanding Jessica to smile is a comment on casual misogyny.

Nov 24, 2015 16:05:26 GMT -4 kostgard said:

I finished the series on Sunday, and I really enjoyed it, and I really liked how the whole thing with Kilgrave is basically an abusive relationship cranked up to 1,000.

I agree with this. Some spoilers just in case.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I also think you see it in the character of Simpson. In another show he would be the brooding hero trying to protect the poor women who had been violated by the bad guy. Here the women don't want his help at all and his inability to take control, to be made impotent if you will, drives him into a rage. Him and Kilgrave both want to control women. They are two sides of the same coin.

I really liked the show and I thought most of the cast was great. I especially liked Malcolm. The one exception is Robyn. I know she was supposed to be awful but she was really grating.

[Martini Girl]

I just finished it. I feel so spoiled when I can watch multiple episodes each night and finish off a series in a few days.

The Good:

--I liked the feminist slant a lot. These women like men, but they don't need them to do their bidding. They're complicated and unapologetic about it.
- The friendship between Trish and Jessica.
- Hot Mike Colter (Lamond Bishop from TGW)
-Sarah at Lainey Gossip had a great commentary about the series today. She talked about how rape is a main thread used throughout the show's season, but we never see rape. She talked about how Jessica isn't a victim and she's trying to recover from being violated multiple times by Killgrave through mind control, and what a powerful message it sends. She also talked about how difficult it is for women to be heard and believed when they say they've been violated, and the show reflects that. It also made me smile to learn the showrunner- Melissa Rosenberg- wrote the screenplays for the Twilight series, and Killgrave's a version of the creepy Edward Cullens boyfriend type. (I've always beieved that Edward is a pedophile and stalker, and that relationship was just wrong on every level.) She said the show was ultimately about Male Entitlement.
- The performances from Krysten, David, Mike, Rachael, Carrie-Anne and the guy who plays Malcolm.
-A diverse cast (But it is from ABC Studios... and that's kind of their thing).
- The opening theme.

The Bad:

- The twins grated bigtime. I was hoping Killgrave would just kill them every time they appeared on screen. In case you didn't catch that, I HATED THEM.
- The storylines weren't as tight as I thought they could be. I felt the series could have been 1-2 episodes shorter and not missed a beat.
- I felt Killgrave got away from Jessica far too many times, and they were dragging it out. I would have liked to seen more of Killgrave interacting with folks in every day life away from Jessica; not necessarily being creepy or throwing a tantrum, but showing the subtleties of male entitlement.
- The characters of Simpson and Jeri's soon to be ex-wife. I felt they were both one note players, and I fast forwarded through many of their scenes.
-Jessica's apartment getting trashed all the time.

[kostgard]

I agree that Kilgrave got caught and escaped too many times. I never thought about seeing more of him interacting with people, but since he was frequently funny, that may have been good (I loved him asking Luke if he - meaning Luke - had ruined his chances with Jessica. Jealous would-be boyfriend to the end. But seriously - you have your charms, David Tennant, but Mike Colter is super-hot).

Trinity's ex-wife was kinda terrible, but I completely forgot about her by the end, so she obviously didn't grate too hard for me. The twins were annoying, but they were meant to be so I thought they were effective. I just wanted Simpson to go away. I only liked his scene with Jessica behind the sound-proof glass.

[Deleted]

I agree the season could've been a little tighter. I find that is a thing with a lot of Netflix shows, OITNB, Daredevil (which I didn't finish). They tend not to be very propulsive. I didn't mind so much with JJ because I liked the characters but the main storyline didn't really start to gain momentum until episode 7 or 8.

I appreciated that for most of the season they showed Kilgrave's powers as creepy but weren't too explicit. The second half of the season got a little too stabby for my taste. I don't mind violence usually but I had to close my eyes a couple of times.

I was wondering for a lot of the season why Jeri's divorce was even a storyline. But I thought the payoff was pretty good. I mentioned this in the What are you watching thread, but I didn't recognize Rebecca De Mornay as Trish's mom at all. I can't figure out if it is bad plastic surgery or normal aging and a different hairstyle? But she looked like an entirely different person.

[save lilo!]

I loved this show and I'm watching Daredevil (or trying to) because I guess I don't want to miss out on anything in case the stories cross paths again.

I liked that Trish was take charge in making sure she wasn't ever abused again. Also hated Simpson and never trusted him.

I've been wondering why the actor playing Malcolm disappeared from Empire and now I see why!

I love the feminist angle and this is basically the movie I wanted Veronica Mars to be. The whole sleuthing narrator thing made me miss VM.