Jessica Jones (Netflix) (1 Viewer)

[Nigel P]

Beat me to it. It does indeed look very dark.

 

[Sam Favate]

Looks great. It seems there is no stopping Marvel.

 

[TonyD]

Is the preview up on NF?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

http://www.netflix.com/title/80002311

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Netflix's brief episode synopses for the upcoming first season have allegedly leaked:

Spoiler

AKA Ladies Night: Jessica Jones is hired to find a pretty NYU student who's vanished, but it turns out to be more than a simple missing persons case http://www.netflix.com/title/80002312

AKA Crush Syndrome: Jessica vows to prove Hope's innocence, even though it means tracking down a terrifying figure from her own past. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002313

AKA It's called Whiskey: It won't be easy to acquire or deploy, but Jessica thinks she's found a weapon to use against Kilgrave. Luke and Jessica bond over their similarities. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002314

AKA 99 Friends: A new case demands attention as Jessica tries to find out who's spying on her for Kilgrave. Trish's radio show yields unexpected consequences http://www.netflix.com/title/80002315

AKA The Sandwich Saved Me: Despite Jessica's objections, Trish's new friend Simpson gets involved in the hunt for Kilgrave. Jessica recalls a pivotal moment in her life.http://www.netflix.com/title/80002316

AKA You're a Winner: Luke hires Jessica to help him find someone who may have skipped town, but she fears he'll learn too much about her history in the process. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002317

AKA Top Shelf Perverts: Malcom, Simpson and Trish go rogue to prevent Jessica from carrying out an extreme plan to outwit Kilgrave. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002318

AKA WWJD: Jessica experiences a strange homecoming courtesy of Kilgrave. Hograth's conflict with her estranged wife reaches a tipping point http://www.netflix.com/title/80002319

AKA Sin Bin: Just when Jessica has Kilgrave right where she want's him. Hogarth's involvement complicates the situation. Details of Kilgrave's past emerge. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002320

AKA 1,000 Cuts: A discovery has the potential to change the entire game -- if Jessica can refuse Kilgrave's offer. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002321

AKA I've Got The Blues: Jessica searches morgues for clues. Trish goes all out to keep Simpson from getting in Jessica's way. Malcom has an epiphany. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002322

AKA Take a Bloody Number: The hunt for Kilgrave reunites Jessica with Luke. Trish receives some unexpected information about Simpson and Jessica. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002323

AKA Smile: Jessica and Luke get help from someone else in the neighborhood. Kilgrave gears up for a major test of powers against Jessica. http://www.netflix.com/title/80002324

 

[Sean Bryan]

Can't wait to check this out next Friday.

New trailer

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm definitely trying to keep the weekend clear.

 

[KevinGress]

So, does she have powers, or some fraction of them? I thought that they were going along with the comic version where she actually lost all of her powers and was strictly human?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So, does she have powers, or some fraction of them? I thought that they were going along with the comic version where she actually lost all of her powers and was strictly human?

She has superhuman strength, superhuman stamina and she can fly (albeit poorly). She is also far more resistant to injury than ordinary humans, but unlike Superman she is not invulnerable. She is also an alcoholic grappling with significant post-traumatic stress disorder.


I don't believe she lost her powers in the comic either; instead, the extremely traumatizing events that occurred forced her to hang up her tights.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Deadline interviews ‘Marvel’s Jessica Jones’ showrunner Melissa Rosenberg

 

[dana martin]

I have to avoid this thread for a few days,

 

[Sam Favate]

The first episode was terrific. Lots of intensity, great character moments and genuine surprises. Is it too early to green light season two?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm three episodes in and totally engrossed. This is a true star vehicle for Krysten Ritter, far more than "Daredevil" was a star vehicle for Charlie Cox. I think Ritter is in just about every scene. And while she's played a lot of different notes in previous roles I've seen her in, nothing ran the gamut like this role does.


All of the press emphasized Jessica as a boozer and a brawler, and while neither label is inaccurate, they don't represent the core of who this character is. She uses alcohol to self-medicate, and she fights because it's necessary -- and because her abilities seem to have short circuited the instinct to avoid confrontation.


And while it's obviously been no secret that she's a private investigator, I'm really pleasantly surprised at just how central the investigating is to the show's narrative drive. Large stretches of screen time pass where no superpowers are involved at all, with her using the kind of techniques real world private investigators would use. For the "Good Wife" fans out there, Jessica has had quite a few Kalinda moments in these first three episodes, and that's a good thing. But what you get here that you didn't get with the divided screen time of that show is the methodical way she pursues her investigations. She's an alcoholic with serious post-traumatic stress disorder, but first and foremost she's an excellent investigator. If she wasn't really good at her job, her shortcomings would make her pathetic instead of complex. Instead the show brilliantly showcases her intellect, her sarcasm and -- at crucial, startling moments -- her sincerity.


There have been mind control villains of the week on shows like "Smallville" and "Heroes", but never have the implications of such a superpower been as terrifyingly illustrated as they are here. The way the show is shot and edited, and the way Jessica surveys the strangers around her in public, you really feel the sense that Kilgrave could be reaching out to get her through anybody. And so far, there isn't a single redeeming quality in Tennant's performance as Kilgrave. Some people are true monsters, and I really appreciate that the show (at least so far) hasn't tried to color him in shades of grey.


The circumstances that caused Jessica's life to cross Luke Cage's life add a dark undercurrent in a show that is already unrelentingly grim. Mike Colter (terrific on "The Good Wife") is perfectly cast here as the man with indestructible skin. You feel the weight of the life that this man has lived, the multitude of past experiences that shaped him before Jessica walked into his bar. And for those of you who've always wondered what sex between two people with super strength would look like, this show provides an answer.


I love how fully realized a character Jery Hogarth is, as played by Carrie-Anne Moss. She is not especially good or especially evil. Her defining characteristic is competence. She has a better handle on things than anybody else in the room, regardless of the room. She feels more like a real lawyer than the vast majority of film and TV lawyers.


Erin Moriarty is astonishing as the Kilgrave victim at the center of everything. For an actress that wasn't old enough to drink legally when she was cast, it's remarkable how viscerally she captures Hope's sense of violation, immense guilt and recurrent horror. The rape parallels are strongest with her character, but the horrifying nature of what Kilgrave compelled her to do pushes it even beyond that. So far Moriarty hasn't had a single false moment.


Eka Darville was fine but not particularly noteworthy as one of the henchmen vampires in the first season of "The Originals". Here, he proves that he's an actor capable of giving a real performance, as Jessica's addict neighbor. It is a sympathetic but unflattering role; it's not so much that you condone his character as you feel that he's done so much self-destruction that it feels cruel for anybody else to pile on.


The noirish undertones of "Daredevil" are made explicit here, complete with Sam Spade-esque voiceover narration and a door with her detective agency's name etched on the glass. But while the goings-on of "Daredevil' always felt geographically specific, there's an even greater sense here of how the various locations in Jessica's life connect to each other.


The one flub I've caught so far: Various shots of Manhattan feature the Pan Am building, complete with the "Met Life" logo in capital letters. Since this show takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that should be Avengers tower instead.

 

[Sam Favate]

Episode 2 was also very intense. It took me until this episode to get that Trish Walker is Patsy Walker, a/k/a Hellcat.


Tennent's Kilgrave is indeed terrifying. His introduction at the end was disturbing.


EW has a nice recap: http://www.ew.com/recap/marvel-s-jessica-jones-season-1-episode-2/2?iid=sr-link1


It also occurred to me watching this show that the Marvel Universe is more expansive than even I thought, and even more expansive than the Star Wars universe, which Disney also owns.

 

[Quentin]

I'm 10 episodes in. I'll finish today or tomorrow. This show is spectacular stuff. Way better than Daredevil in nearly every aspect. Kilgrave is the nastiest villain in the MCU, bar none.


The one flaw I would call out is that it seems to not quite have enough material for 13 episodes. They're filling it out with Nuke, etc., but while that stuff isn't bad I don't feel it is nearly as compelling as the core stuff.


And, who isn't super excited to see Colter in Hero for Hire?! His Luke Cage is great!

 

[Sam Favate]

Here's a teaser with a nod to Daredevil:

 

[mattCR]

I'm going through this quick. Frankly, the two best "new" shows I've seen this season are both streaming (this and Man in a High Castle)..


Kilgrave may be the most terrifying bad guy I've seen on TV. He's not a some super-human blow everything up, more the kind of evil you can actually imagine and his ability to turn people.. holy hell

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Finished the last episode late yesterday. I thought the first eight episodes, through "AKA WWJD?", were among the best television of 2015.


The show lost me a tinge when Jessica pressed the button to shock Kilgrave's cell, and nothing happened. It just felt too convenient. It won me back when it was revealed that Hogarth cut the wire as part of deal with Kilgrave to force her ex to sign the divorce papers. But then, as Quentin said, it began to feel a bit padded out to stretch the remaining story to 13 episodes.


Worse, it seemed like the show manipulated some of its supporting characters in implausible ways to really just pile on the misery for Jessica. Simpson shooting Clemons in the head after extracting the needed intel was one such moment. Ruben's unhinged sister turning the entire support group, especially Malcolm, against Jessica was another. Hope carving open her own throat to push Jessica into killing Kilgrave was a third. It just got the point where it seemed bleak for the sake of being bleak, and undermined the reality of the story, just a little bit.


I also thought the climactic confrontation with Kilgrave in the last episode was going to be a bit more epic after all of the build-up.


So: episodes 1-8 are a solid A+ for me. Episodes 9-13 are still in the B+ to A- range; very good, but not quite exceptional.

Kilgrave may be the most terrifying bad guy I've seen on TV. He's not a some super-human blow everything up, more the kind of evil you can actually imagine and his ability to turn people.. holy hell

I agree completely. As imposing a physical threat as the Kingpin was in the "Daredevil" series, he was kind of a pathetic personality when you get right down to it. Kilgrave is an unrepentant psychopath who has mastered the artistry of destroying people's lives. Kilgrave was still a shadowy presence at the point where I stopped for my first post, but I have to say David Tennant really knocked it out of the park with this role. He's tremendous and terrifying and unreadable. We're all so familiar with him as the Doctor that it's easy to forget that his breakout role in Harry Potter was playing a villain.


I also thought Elizabeth Cappuccino was brilliantly cast as the teenage Jessica Jones. Krysten Ritter has a pretty unique look with that ghostly pale skin and jet black hair and big round eyes, and it's rather remarkable that they found someone who not only possessed those physical attributes but also also could pull of Ritter's dry snark as well as she did.

 

[Sam Favate]

Episode 4 for me last night (99 Friends), and the show is just crackling with suspense, energy and excitement (who didn't love the scene where Jessica trashed the room after that couple tried to shoot her?).


Here's hoping they get word of a season two soon. Melissa Rosenberg has said there is a timetable for the other shows, including the Defenders, and that they need to happen by a certain time. But, like the second season of Daredevil, hopefully another season of JJ can be done in short order. Obviously, there is a lot of work that goes into these episodes, so who knows.


I continue to be impressed with Marvel's ability to get just the right creative team for each project.

 

[Nigel P]

I always enjoy reading your write ups Adam and you have summed up a lot of how I felt about the show.


I didn't enjoy it as much as Daredevil overall. The action was a part of it, not that the show didn't have as much which was expected, but what was there wasn't as consistent in quality. The thing it did get right was the investigating side of things. From the music and the voiceover in episode 1 it is clear what you are getting. I thought Daredevil was light on showing Matt Murdock doing his thing in court so I hope we get some more of that in the second season. Jessica Jones is a great character, and is really well portrayed by Ritter, you can really feel the effects of the decisions she has made and things she has done weighing on her. Luke Cage was also really good, that scene and line at the end of episode 6 was just killer. I thought parts of the final episode could have been better executed, but I did like were the characters ended up and want to see where they go from there.