Jessica Jones

Starring: Krysten Ritter (39 episodes), Rachael Taylor (38 episodes), Eka Darville (35 episodes), Carrie-Ann Moss (34 episodes), John Ventimiglia (14 episodes), David Tennant (13 episodes), Rebecca De Mornay (13 episodes), J.R. Ramirez (11 episodes), Janet McTeer (11 episodes), Wil Traval (10 episodes), Benjamin Walker (10 episodes), Jeremy Bobb (10 episodes), Tiffany Mack (9 episodes), Rachel McKeon (9 episodes), Mike Colter (8 episodes), Leah Gibson (8 episodes), Susie Abromeit (8 episodes), Aneesh Sheth (8 episodes), Erin Moriarty (7 episodes), Sarita Choudhury (7 episodes), Robin Weigert (7 episodes), Kevin Chacon (7 episodes), Nichole Yannetty (7 episodes), Terry Chen (6 episodes), Callum Keith Rennie (6 episodes), Hal Ozsan (6 episodes), Jessica Frances Dukes (6 episodes), Jamie Neumann (5 episodes), Michael Siberry (5 episodes), Maury Ginsberg (5 episodes), Lisa Tharps (5 episodes), Colby Minifie (5 episodes), Ryan Farrell (5 episodes), Paul Pryce (5 episodes), John Benjamin Hickey (3 episodes), Rosario Dawson (1 episode), Elden Henson (1 episode), Rob Morgan (1 episode)
Directed by: Stephen Surjik (3 episodes), Jennifer Getzinger (3 episodes), Uta Briesewitz (2 episodes), Rosemary Rodriguez (2 episodes), Simon Cellan Jones (2 episodes), S.J. Clarkson (2 episodes), David Petrarca (2 episodes), Mairzee Almas (2 episodes), Neasa Hardiman (2 episodes), John Dahl (1 episode), Deborah Chow (1 episode), Krysten Ritter (1 episode)
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Action, Drama
2015-2019

Seasons Seen:
Tim: 1 - 2 - 3

Summary: Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) tries to leave her brief superhero career behind as she works as a private investigator in New York City.

Review:
Tim: "Jessica Jones" was such an uneven series that it's hard for me to summarize my thoughts on it. The first season, with Kilgrave as the villain, was one of the greatest seasons of any show I'd seen. It rivaled the first season of "Daredevil". It was a wonderful introduction to this very different superhero. The second season of "Jessica Jones" was nearly unwatchable. It was an absolute, sluggish mess. I hated it and it took a long, long time for me to suffer through the inanity of that story. The third season was a marked improvement, but still flawed. It was fine, decently entertaining. So, in three seasons, this show delivered one of the best seasons, one of the worst seasons, and a decent one. How do you categorize the series as a whole?

I do want to talk about the first season a bit. David Tennant's Kilgrave is one of the greatest antagonists in any Marvel series or movie. He's dark, psychopathic, frighteningly powerful. I can still hear how he said "Jessica" reverberating in my mind. Krysten Ritter was never better in that first season, too. She was wonderful- subverting all our expectations of what a superhero is and how they conduct themselves. Seeing the two of them clashing for a season is a highlight I have a hard time describing. It was so damn good. Everything about that first season was great (other than it being too slow at times, a complaint you can make for every single Netflix Marvel series). It was incredible, though.

I'm still not sure what happened with the second season. Not featuring Kilgrave obviously factored into it. The new antagonist(s) were beyond lackluster. The drama the show was going for never materialized. I was utterly bored and disconnected throughout the entire season. I shudder when I think about how difficult it was to sit through it. It was so, so bad. The third season was definitely better. The antagonist(s) were more interesting, and Rachael Taylor's Trish Walker got a legitimately interesting storyline. It was still too slow and many of the subplots dragged episodes down, but it was watchable at least.

I really enjoyed Krysten Ritter as Jessica. She embodied this character so well. She was believable in her skin and every episode she delivered. It wasn't Ritter's fault that the story and the scripts were often beneath her. She was great. As mentioned, David Tennant will always be Kilgrave to me. His performance was chilling and unforgettable. I liked Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker. Trish's character felt a bit up-and-down. There were times when I loved her and times when she was unbelievably annoying. The writers didn't do her a lot of favors, because she could definitely get on your nerves. Eka Darville was really good. The writers again did some weird things with his character, but it felt like he had more of an arc than most of the other characters. Darville is someone else who showed up every day and made the series better. I'm a big fan of Carrie-Ann Moss and I loved seeing her here. Her Jeri Hogarth was formidable. You'll notice a common trend here, but the writers didn't always know what to make of her character. She was involved in a lot of subplots and not all of them were interesting or panned out well. Rebecca De Mornay did a really good job of playing an annoying character that you couldn't help but sort of like. She toed that line wonderfully. There were a lot of other characters who showed up for periods of time, but they didn't make as big of a mark as they should have. This series felt like it had a number of forgettable characters (played by forgettable actors).

I'll never quite know what to make of this series. I mostly try and focus on that first season. When the Netflix Marvel shows started to get cancelled, I was legitimately sad about "Daredevil" and "The Punisher". I was so thankful that "Iron Fist" was done. I wish we could have gotten more "Luke Cage". And, I wasn't sure how I felt about "Jessica Jones". I was glad I wouldn't be subjected to another season like the 2nd and the 3rd season didn't leave me wanting more. I mostly felt bad that this series that launched with so much potential ended its run with me shrugging my shoulders. I wouldn't ever say I disliked this series because it delivered some fantastic moments. However, it's obvious this is a series that hit its high early and could never get back there.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Series, We Recommend: Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher