Jessica Jones- A review of the series on Netflix
Jessica Jones premiered this past weekend on Netflix. I
watched all 13 episodes and came away with some mixed feelings.
First, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this definitely
was not my kind of super-hero show. I
don’t enjoy content that has to continually slam sex in your face, as this show
did. I don’t care for ‘adult’ comics or super-hero content. It was, as a friend
put it so succinctly, ‘soft core porn.’ He was absolutely right. The first
three episodes seemed to do nothing but revolve around faux sex scenes. I think
the third episode had 2-3 sex scenes in it. Too much and definitely not
interested.
Another part of the series that rubbed me wrong was Carrie Ann
Mosses character of Jeryn Hogarth, who in the comics was a male lawyer for
Danny ‘Iron Fist’ Rand. Here, Jeryn Hogarth is a lesbian character with two
lovers and a few sleazy touching and feeling scenes. All totally unnecessary.
The character of Jessica Jones is, to me, unlikable at best.
She’s a foul-mouthed drunk, who happens to have super strength. She’s a sleaze
with very questionable morals.
But her backstory is where it begins to get interesting. She
has a history with an evil villain who can control minds with his words,
compelling people to do as he wishes just by saying it. Killgrave the purple
man would have been better represented had he been purple fleshed, as he was in
the comics. We have a green skinned Hulk, why not a purple man?
As the series goes on the sleaze factor seems to dry up and
the story finally comes to the forefront. Killgrave is a vile and terrible
villain without moral compass or center. He has other do whatever he wishes
just so he can get some sick, perverse pleasure from it. He is evil for the sake
of being evil. Along the way he horrifically, for example, kills his own
parents. He is an evil, terrible man portrayed masterfully by David ‘Dr. Who’
Tennant.
The other standout star of this was Luke Cage, a longtime
marvel hero with steel hard skin and super-strength. I felt the actor who
played him did so with a bit of honor. Mike Colter did a good job of bringing
Luke Cage to life. For me, he was one of the standouts of this thing.
Kristin Ritter, who portrayed Jones, seemed to almost sleepwalk
her way through her lines. She was there, but most of the time it didn’t seem
to matter. Almost as if she, for the most part, was a background character in
her own story. Perhaps it was meant to be that way; I don’t know.
There are other characters such as Patsy ‘Hellcat’ Walker,
who is Jones’ sister. A super soldier named Simpson, AKA ‘Nuke’ who has all kinds
of problems. A weird brother and sister who live down the hall from Jones and a
drug addict named Malcolm who Jones helps to beat his habit.
A lot of these people die horrific deaths at Killgrave’s
hands; some do not.
I will say that after the third episode the series began to
catch my attention, and for the most part held it. While I was looking for another
Daredevil, what I got was Silence of the Lambs with some super powers thrown
in.
Most if it takes place in a moody and dark Hell’s Kitchen at
night. It’s a dark and brooding series with flashes of brilliance amidst an all
too seedy storyline. I’d give it three out of five stars at best, with the fervent
hope that this was a one and done series. I know I don’t need any more Jessica
Jones. It's just too sleazy for my tastes.
As always all of my own books are available at http://RLAngeloJr.com or http://tinyurl.com/ralphsamazon
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