Ensign Lestat's TV Log 26.12.2015
It's funny, but a few weeks ago, after completing 'Jessica Jones' I turned to my sister and said, 'Well that's hardly memorable'. Yet, I find myself still thinking about Jessica (Krysten Ritter) and just how much she's changed the landscape of superhero television.
I watched the show simply because it was a Marvel property. That's it. I didn't even know anything about her. My only brush with her was a few panels in the Civil War comic series, when she's preoccupied with protecting her child from the warring heroes. And arguing with her husband Luke Cage about joining the fight.
It seemed the kind of retirement that you'll only ever see reserved for female heroes. I wasn't wholly impressed, though she was given some astute and evocative dialogue.
I was concerned about the show, honestly because I'd read a few articles outlining the finer points of the central villain. The Purple Man is a problematic character to bring to the screen simply because he is atypical of comic book writers' idea for a bad guy - he's a rapist. More precisely, he's an abusive, scheming and manipulative telepath who uses his powers to be a rapist. That is not something anyone wants to see in their superhero show...
...But then neither is that nonsense we were given in lieu of a Black Widow back story this summer. That's unfortunately the main reason why Jessica is still on my mind. Because the show's creator and writers wrote an entire storyline about a rapist yet never described the rape nor showed it. They did however spell it out. There was no stepping around what had happened to the characters, they said it out loud and frequently to the guy who did it. This unfortunately is still considered revolutionary in 2015 television.
It helps, I think, that the show was created by Melissa Rosenberg (shockingly the writer of the 'Twilight' films). A woman just knows how to tell this kind of story and she vehemently opposed any reason to include showing the rapes. She did however emphasise the impact the act had on the different characters. PTSD is a central theme in Jessica Jones, with virtually all main characters suffering different stages of it.
It's hard to love Jessica Jones. Not because it isn't good but because it is. It feels nothing like a Marvel show, having been created by Netflix it is much closer in feel to its sibling show 'Daredevil'. But unlike Daredevil, Jessica Jones dares to have a laugh from time to time. The show also has several female characters, all of whom are in a variety of careers and competencies.
So who is Jessica Jones? Essentially she is a terribly vapid-looking minor superhero from the comics called Jewel. I have never even heard of Jewel and a joke about the silly code name and even sillier costume would have slipped by me had I not caught several articles with an image of the comic book character. I'm really glad they ditched the costume and name and stuck with the Bendis and Gaydos comic series about Jessica's time as a PI in Alias Investigations.
The initial tone of the pilot is like the noir films of yore. A resigned voice pronounces each thought of our jaded PI as photographs of philanderers and embezzlers are taken. It's a beautiful vibe made all the more unique by the sound of a woman's voice as the protagonist.
It's weird to say that a story, essentially based on rape, is somehow subversive on many accounts. Yes, it could have been even more so, but given the source material the show is based on it does an incredible job of tackling a touchy issue without making it titillating or sensational.
The show follows Jessica as she tries to make a meaningful life out of extortion and blackmail. She follows the money and it usually leads to insidious affairs. This goes on till the Shlottmans turn up talking about their missing daughter. Hope (Erin Moriarty) is a gifted young track athlete and she's done a runner which is unusual for her.
It seems like a regular case when it becomes evident that the Shlottmans didn't just accidentally come to Jessica. They were sent to her... by someone specific. It isn't clear who the sender is but since promos are wont to give details away the viewers already know. Add to that we have Jessica's constant nightmares about a mysterious figure and we know what Hope has got stuck in.
Jessica rescuing Hope is at once too easy and far too difficult. The writers eke out the details of the villain and his abilities. What happens at the end of the pilot will take anybody by surprise.
Part way through the first season I just couldn't understand why the storyline relied so heavily on Kilgrave and his unhealthy obsession with Jessica. It's also not clear why he remains so fond of her as opposed to the many other newbies. One can surmise that the fact that she left his powers of her own volition confused and angered him. Also, one could have believed that he wanted to torture her because she indirectly caused him to be injured in a bus crash. Injured so much he had to recuperate for over a year.
Jessica literally only gets a year to recover from her own experience with this psycho before he ropes her back in by harming another girl.
Let's just put it out there and state clearly that this show does not cushion the blow of what Kilgrave has done. Nor does it place him in a sympathetic or likeable light. What I find truly remarkable is that they cast David Tennant in a role that frankly most leading men would turn down. I'm no fan of Tennant. I neither like nor dislike him. I've seen too little to have an opinion. His Doctor was extremely popular however and I know he would have attracted a lot of Brits to the show. That's great actually, because Tennant for the most part is brilliant as Kilgrave. He is petulant, manipulative cold and leering all at different and sometimes the same time. When the meat is good he excels. At other times his acting shines a spotlight on the poor writing. He isn't downright evil - not to himself anyway. And the show through Jessica and the other characters reserve their judgements on him throughout.
When he tries to garner sympathy he does so wholeheartedly. Yet through Jessica's cold aloofness we listen to his tall tales through a think lens of scepticism.
This is one of the reasons why I humbly eat my words about the show not being memorable. It's because the show doesn't believe in nice guys. Everyone has their moments and everyone is a shade of gray. That doesn't mean we can't like some of them and hate the others.
Not everything clicked in the series which is a real shame because if they had I believe this show would have sat much higher on people's must watch lists. Some of the writing really lets down the overall theme of the show. I don't know if I can blame the directing as much since the directors would just have to put together essential cogs in the wheel. I also wonder if some of the poor writing also comes from studio pressure to include extended storylines. We know how well that turned out for 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' - which really was the biggest mess of the year. Oh no wait that was 'Fant4stic'.
The negatives were certainly the Simpson (Wil Traval) storyline. I wasn't too pleased with how he was introduced as a Kilgrave crony sent to kill Jessica's foster sister Trish (Rachael Taylor) and then, when he himself is recovering from his experience with Kilgrave, he and Trish get together. That I felt was too much of a leap, and a tad out of character for Trish.
Then of course his bizarre turn into a psycho killer because of some medication threw the entire show off kilter. It's evident they wanted to tie in some new storylines but it didn't work at all. It was too much of a jump and not enough of a preamble.
Also the sub-plot about the neurotic twins was just clichéd. Ruben is conveniently in love with Jessica and Robyn hates her guts and is overprotective of her brother. It was annoying and yet again attempts to showcase the otherness of twins. We're shockingly not all that different from regular humans, people!
Another huge mistake has to be the death of the copper, Detective Clemons (Clarke Peters). It hasn't gone unnoticed that two similarly written black characters are both killed off in their respective Marvel Netflix shows. And Jessica simply doesn't have enough diversity in its cast for something like this not to grate.
Diversity is in fact a huge issue. I don't know why more of the characters couldn't have been black, Asian, Hispanic or other nationalities. I love that there are quite a few women, but at the end of the day the diversity scales are propped up simply by the hot black boyfriend and the drug addicted black neighbour.
The only other person of colour who shows up is the night nurse, Claire. I think it's a real shame to say that Rosario Dawson had more character arc in the one episode of this show that she was in as opposed to the several others she appeared in in Daredevil. She was wasted in Daredevil but shone here.
She comes in essentially to save Luke Cage's (Mike Colter) life. She does an admirable job while bantering with Jessica. I can't recall the last time two female characters bantered in this fashion. It was fun and funny and I'd love to see more of it. It's like they'd each met their match with each other.
Despite the insane lack of diversity, the show tries to do a few different things. I couldn't believe that Carrie-Anne Moss' character was originally a man in the comics. She owned the part - Jeryn was cold, calculating, vulnerable and desperate. She also happens to be a lesbian divorcing her wife so that she can be with her younger blonde secretary. It's fantastic how well the makers of the show played this card. How one little change makes this sub-plot intriguing and enthralling.
Aside from Moss I quite enjoyed watching the character of Trish. I love that the show brings together foster sisters and makes them so close. They aren't rivals, instead they fuel and strengthen each other. In the end, when they're facing off against Kilgrave, Jessica stands side by side with Trish. Far too often movies and shows conveniently drop the characters' known female acquaintances for unknown male ones. Not so here. Jessica does enlist Luke's help, but not at the cost of Trish.
I also like the fact that in the show both Trish and Jessica are completely in control of their sexual encounters. They're shown enjoying and controlling these situations which really doesn't happen much on celluloid for some reason.
What really makes this show work is that it unabashedly promotes its female protagonist. It also does its best to humanise her and make her a rounded character. The show boldly explores the symptoms and side effects of PTSD, but this time without the histrionics.
It's hard to imagine that superpowers were involved in the storyline. It seems so insignificant and that's what makes the overall writing so brilliant. It doesn't matter that Kilgrave is a telepath, or that Luke Cage is indestructible and Jessica is super strong, they're all suffering and succeeding in their own little ways. They're all trying to make their own worlds a better place.
I actually am looking forward to a second season. I worried that the first season relied too heavily on Kilgrave, but it ended high enough to make us look forward to a season or seasons without his shadow looming over us and Jessica. Other bads are out there. And people are calling Jessica to help them and save them. Will she pick up their calls? Hopefully a second season will answer that question.
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