Lenore Warren, M.A.

She has an advanced degree in English Literature now, so everything she says is automatically right.
The Watcher's Diary
  • Blog
  • Contact

Jessica Jones 1x01 Review: Scraping a Living

10/31/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
“AKA Ladies Night”
Written by Mellisa Rosenberg
Directed by S.J. Clarkson
 
The Story
Jessica Jones is an alcoholic, asocial P.I with super strength and a perpetual bad mood. She’s barely making enough money to live off of, and definitely not enough to keep her apartment/office in good repair. She spends her down time spying on an exceptionally attractive bartender. The majority of her cases are catching cheating spouses and serving official documents, but then a couple from Nebraska hires her to find their daughter. In the middle of doing recon for this case, she goes to the hot bartender’s bar. They chat flirtily for a while, then head up to his place for some very rough sex. Then she finds a picture of a woman in his bathroom cabinet, which affects her powerfully, and she bails. She keeps on the trail of the missing girl, only to realize that the girl was abducted by the same man who destroyed Jessica’s life. She thought he was dead, but now he’s back. This realization sends Jessica into a complete panic, but her foster sister Trish (famous radio personality) tries to persuade her she can’t just flee the country while this girl is still in trouble. She’s halfway out of the city before changing her mind and going to the hotel she suspects the girl will be at. Her hunch proves correct, and she has to drag the girl out of there. Kilgrave’s power is mind control. For a moment, it seems like Jessica has successfully reunited daughter and parents and that she’ll be able to flee without any trouble, but then it turns out Kilgrave gave Hope a few more orders. Namely, shoot her own parents. She does so, then snaps out of it and crumples to the floor in horrified sobs. Jessica starts to bail because this is all too much, but then she grits her teeth and chooses to face this, because Hope is all alone now.
 
Jessica Jones has a fantastic tone. Very hardboiled/film noir-esque, right down to the score! Since that’s one of my favorite genres, I couldn’t be happier about it. The show, and the titular character, is incredibly cynical without being unlikable. This first episode is really about meeting Jessica and getting a view of her life. We see hints of her past trauma, but we don’t get the full story yet. It’s enough to make Jessica’s terror and reluctance to get involved again make perfect sense.
 
Things I Liked
  • THEME SONG
  • First person narration with cynical jazz in the background
  • Just, all the noir tropes. All of them.
  • Jessica pretending to be a preppy girl on the phone to get info, while she’s on the pot.
  • I know I probably shouldn’t enjoy a character’s alcoholism, but Jessica’s is excellent
  • Purple motif of creepiness
  • Jessica’s old-timey rotary phone ringtone
  • Jessica ripping the camera off that pretentious idiot’s head
  • The hotness of Luke Cage (not remotely sad about getting thirteen full episodes of that in his series)
  • How terrified Jessica is. Really builds up how scary this villain is.
  • Jessica going into the hotel to look for Hope even though she’s so terrified
  • The creepy music in the hotel room. It sounds like some of the sounds in it are backwards.
  • Unlike Supergirl, this show doesn't get in your face with the fact that it's a superhero show with a female protagonist. It just does its thing as if that's a perfectly normal setup, which it is.
  • That Jessica doesn't have a bottomless wardrobe like most TV protagonists
 
Things I Didn’t
  • The sex scene. I get that it’s important for showing how wrecked Jessica is, but I’d still rather fast-forward through it.
  • Hogarth
  • I will probably never like the color purple again
 
The Characters
If Matt Murdock is like Angel, then Jessica Jones is like Faith. I cannot wait for them to meet, and I really hope it’ll be just like the Angel/Faith bromance. This show is about facing demons of an entirely different sort than the ones in Daredevil. Fear and self-blame when you know you’re the victim. Jessica might have super strength, but what really makes her strong is her ability to turn away from that cab and go back inside to help Hope. I think the main reason Jessica is keeping all the people around her at such a distance is that she feels so damaged that she would only be a burden to anyone else.
 
Due to the aforementioned aloofness on Jessica’s part, and the first-person narration style, the other major characters didn’t really get much development of their own. Luke, Trish, Hope, Hogarth, Kilgrave, and Malcolm will probably all end up getting character analysis sections, but not yet.
 
Overall Rating
5/5
1 Comment
Kairos
12/15/2017 08:28:10 pm

You didn't like Hogarth? But...but...Trinity!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    The Watcher's Diary

    In this blog, I'll be reviewing, analyzing, and generally fangirling over excellent television. Exhibit A: the Whedonverse.
    Exhibit B: Marvel Netflix.

    Archives

    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Angel Reviews
    Angel S1 Reviews
    Angel S2 Reviews
    Angel S3 Reviews
    Angel S4 Reviews
    Angel S5 Reviews
    BtVS Reviews
    BtVS S1 Reviews
    BtVS S2 Reviews
    BtVS S3 Reviews
    BtVS S4 Reviews
    BtVS S5 Reviews
    BtVS S6 Reviews
    BtVS S7 Reviews
    Daredevil Reviews
    Dollhouse Reviews
    Dr. Horrible
    Firefly Reviews
    Iron Fist Reviews
    Jessica Jones Reviews
    Luke Cage Reviews
    Marvel Reviews
    Pushing Daisies Reviews
    The Defenders Reviews
    The Punisher Reviews

    Kairos's Blog
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • Contact