**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE FULL 13 EPISODE SEASON**

When the lineup for the Netflix-Marvel partnership was announced, I was most intrigued and even worried about Jessica Jones. It was undoubtedly going to be based off of the Alias comic, and I was curious as I'm sure many were, as to what would make it in to the show. While it's a pretty good adaption for the most part, there's elements that bog down the show and ultimately keep it from being excellent.

In comparison to Daredevil, Jessica Jones is a character piece. Examining the character of Jessica and how she is reconstructing her life after being abused and manipulated by Killgrave. At the end of the 13 episode run, it's about how Jessica rebuilds her life and it's very interesting to see this play out on-screen.

Jessica is not alone in her quest to bring down Killgrave; she's accompanied by Luke Cage, Trish (or Patsy Walker), and Jeri Hoggarth. These characters all are interesting in that alongside helping Jessica, they are also affected by Killgrave in some fashion. Whether this be Luke suffering the lose of his wife,  Trish being Jessica’s best friend and having help her rebuild her life, and Jeri who sees Killgrave as a means to an end. It’s interesting that Killgrave means so many things to so many people on the show.

On the note of David Tennant’s performance as Killgrave, he absolutely owns the role and the show. His presence is felt from the first episode up to the last. He’s always there, always lurking and scheming.

Aside from the aforementioned villain and other characters mentioned. There’s also various side characters; Malcolm, Robyn, Ruben, Jeri's ex and new flame all bloat the story with their appearances and subplots. There were more than a few occasions where the show was drifting along with one plot point or another. One scene in particular, showing Robyn and Malcolm paying respects to Ruben was completely unnecessary.

The worst of these isn’t Robyn or Ruben (although they are definitely up there). It’s Will Simpson, who we later discover is Nuke. His plot is extremely underwhelming and never explained properly. He’s taking pills and next thing you know he’s attacking Trish and Jessica. Then there’s no other follow up to his character. You can assume he’s coming back, but the show never quite explains anything about his character well. Which is a shame.

With all these subplots and character arcs that prove to be unnecessary and pointless; the show is redundant in showcasing various scenes that show just how deprived Jessica is, or how sadistic Killgrave is. It’s too much at times and is unnecessary.  It would be fine if there was some character development, which Jessica at least benefits from. Killgrave on the other hand, all his mind control moments are mainly there for shock value.

Minor points:
There’s a lot more MCU references then there were in Daredevil which I liked.
Will Simpson as ‘bargain bin Steve Rogers” as my Wife puts it.
I like how they made jokes about the Jewel costume and persona.
The end fight was better than Daredevil’s. With the moment when you realize Jessica isn’t mind controlled feels great!

Ultimately while I did enjoy the core story of Jessica going up against Killgrave, I thought there was too much stuffed in to make this fit a 13 episode order. It feels like it should’ve been maybe 8 or 10 episodes with a much more focused story. With that in mind, I award this season of Jessica Jones:

300,000
/
1,000,000
Uncle Joeys