Marvel Studios has continuously raised the bar with everything they bring to the table. While occasionally they slip up a little (Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron), I think most of us can agree that Marvel knows what they're doing with their characters and are kings of entertainment. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is better than ever, Daredevil was a masterpiece, and now the half-hour MCU sitcom Damage Control is on the way. What a time to be alive.
While Jessica Jones may work as a television action-drama, all it does is piss me off as a Marvel fan. I have always been easily pleased by superhero movies. I love X-Men: The Last Stand and Spider-Man 3. I didn’t hate Green Lantern like everyone else in the world. And don’t even get me started on how much I adore the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From Iron Man and beyond, I have loved every production, and whilst I disagreed with a lot of their decisions, I still accepted it and enjoyed what was given. Almost always, the characters felt like they were ripped right off the page of a comic book. Even if they took many creative liberties, they still did it in a way that was respectful to the source material.
The same cannot be said for Jessica Jones.
There are two great big problems to this series, two things that really get under my skin. There are several little things that I take issue with, but didn't damage the series as much. Let's get started.
1). Misunderstanding Her Origin
This show is based off a specific run of Jessica Jones comics, called Alias. Alias was the grand introduction to the tough-as-nails private investigator, written by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis had a very unique way to introducing this new character to the Marvel Universe in that we got to see how she reacted to other characters we already know and love. On top of this he gave her a mysterious and traumatic past that was revealed further and further as the story progressed; whilst now she was just a powered person, she used to be a superhero.
In a world where Captain America leads a team of superheroes, Daredevil defends Hell's Kitchen and Spider-Man is apparently already swinging around, why in the god damn [frick]ing [frick]ed-up hell would you be afraid to show her as Jewel? They seriously treat it as a joke!
For the uninformed, Jessica got her powers in a car accident after being covered in chemicals that
resulted in her family's death. After that, she was in a coma for a long time, and was further bullied in school for being in a coma of all things. Life did not treat her very well. Think about how much it would have took for her, after all
that trauma, to put on her costume and be a superhero? It's a very heroic, dramtic thing for her. And then, as this superhero, she is captured by the
Purple Man. And then she goes through even further trauma, brought even lower.
I think it's very important to show that she had trauma before Kilgrave, and she still kept pushing. This would show that it was Kilgrave who broke her when she emerged as a different person on the other side. Instead, the TV series shows us that Jessica is essentially the same person she was before Kilgrave got ahold of her. She already drank at inappropriate times, was a jackass to people, and all-in-all wasn't innocent. When she finally got away from Kilgrave, she just continued these habits, albeit in a worse capacity. She has to deal with further trauma and PTSD, but there's not near as dramatic of a change.
2). Negating The Purpose of the Cinematic Universe
Let me tell you something I like to do. I like to read the source material for which Marvel productions are based on, to prepare for the movies and television programs. For Avengers, this worked great. For Daredevil, it worked even better. Even reading Secret Warriors and some Inhuman runs has helped me better understand what's going on in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But for Jessica Jones, I might as well have stuck to her Wikipedia page.
One of the greatest parts of Alias how this rough new character interacted with the already established Marvel Universe. Her and J. Jonah Jameson drove each other crazy. She had great chemistry with Scott Lang, the current Ant-Man. Matt Murdock was her lawyer (she even had feelings for him), and she made jokes about Thor in the first issue. [frick]ing Galactus and the Silver Surfer was in her comic, people. But in the TV show, it was like it was illegal to mention anybody.
No one besides her and Luke Cage, NOT ONE OTHER HERO is mentioned by name. And honestly, in the world that Marvel has created through it's other productions, it doesn't feel right. It is not natural to refer to the Hulk as "the green dude" or to Captain America as "the flag-waver." These are not only the people that saved New York, they are celebrities. Then there's Daredevil (who made quite a bit of noise in his own show), and he isn't name-dropped once. Several times throughout the series a lawyer is needed, and Nelson & Murdock isn't even brought up. That just doesn't feel right in the universe Marvel has established.
3). Other Shit
Okay, I can understand why he's not purple. That really didn't add anything to his character, it would have been a distracting, expensive and most likely meaningless subplot. What I have a problem with is how this series [frick]ing teased that appearance, but refused to deliver. Seriously?! Below is a screenshot from the last episode, AKA Smile, where Kilgrave receives an injection to increase his power and starts to go [frick]ing purple.
Listen, I ultimately had no problem with him not being purple. It made sense for the story. But why the hell would you tease something and then never deliever on it? While I didn't mind it, it would be cool to see. The next time we see Kilgrave, there's no purple. The closest we get is for literally two seconds when he yells at Jessica:
It's so unsatisfying and doesn't make a lot of sense. Why even tease him going purple to begin with? And while killing him off made sense for the story, I wish there had been another way to end his arc. Who wouldn't like to see him fighting Daredevil, or maybe even one of the film characters?
Kilgrave wasn't the only one with an inefficient conclusion. Will Simpson AKA Nuke, who I thought brilliantly mirrored The Dark Knight's Two-Face, was taken out of the picture with almost no explanation why. This guy murdered a cop and fought against his friends--that's how determined he was to put Kilgrave down. The show went out of it's way to make this clear, but then the government/military come and get him and he's never heard from again. I don't even think he's talked about again. It just leaves you scratching your head.
But I'd rather be scratching my head then yelling at the TV, which is what I couldn't help but do when the series ended with Jessica Jones sitting at her desk, as miserable as she was when the series began. Several people left her messages, needing her [frick]ing help, and all she does is hit delete. One woman has an abusive boyfriend, one man has a brother who owes money and he "doesn't know who else to turn to." Jessica Jones IS a superhero. This show should have showed her learning that, but she didn't learn squat. All she did was get revenge. It was just like when Peter Parker revealed to kids everywhere just how much of a douchebag he was:
Conclusion
However hard this show is for me to watch, I must admit there's a lot of great stuff in here, mostly the cast. Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Rachael Taylor, and David Tennent all kill it as Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Patricia Walker and Kilgrave, respectively. They all fit their roles almost flawlessly, and left me wanting to see more. I even liked Wil Traval as Nuke, though his departure was premature and I want him to adopt his supervillain moniker. (Anybody else feel he'd make a great villain for the Punisher?)
All in all, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed by this show. Several times I felt like I was slapped in the face as a comic fan, and they simply changed too much. But, after all, that is just my opinion. Let me know what you think in the comment section below!