**This review will include minor spoilers**
While not packing the superhero action and themes of the “Daredevil” TV series, “Jessica Jones” is quite entertaining thanks to its leading lady and primary villain. If you’re expecting the typical superhero saving the day storylines, you won’t get it. This show is more about a private investigator, who just happens to be able to be strong enough to rip a car door off its hinges.
While the heroes aren’t focused on being super, the villain is. His mind-control abilities are used in the most frightening and depraved ways possible. His obsession with Jessica, which creates her obsession with stopping him, is the plot of season one.
As far as the plot goes, it’s a creepy game of cat and mouse. There are some points where it seems to be spinning its wheels and there are some story points that never pay off, but the stakes are high enough to stay invested, even if much of Jessica’s plan is based on some shaky logic.
The cast is what makes this show work. Krysten Ritter is perfect as Jessica Jones. She makes the hard-drinking, foul-mouthed and anti-social Jessica likable. There’s a heart of a hero under all her baggage, and despite her bravado her vulnerability is always just below the surface. And even though she’s not afraid to use her super-strength, Jessica’s greatest asset is her mind. She’s very street smart and can bluff her way into and out of some tough spots.
The other star her is David Tennant as the villain Kilgrave. He is one of the most charming sociopath’s you’ll ever encounter. And as vile as he is, there’s just enough pain to allow you to almost feel sorry for him.
The rest of the cast is solid. Rachael Taylor as the best friend Trish and Mike Colter as the love interest Luke Cage both do their best to balance out Jessica’s self-pitying mentality.
Meanwhile, the rest of the characters are a mixed bag. The kooky upstairs neighbors feel out of place, while the drug addict Malcom falls in and out of the storyline. There’s an odd dynamic with the police officer Will Simpson, which only truly pans out for comic fans who recognize him as a version of the super-villain Nuke. And then there’s the almost pointless love-triangle/lesbian domestic drama that never truly pays off.
A solid season, with a fantastic villain. But the question is, where do they go for season two? Kilgrave gave Jessica a reason to focus everything she had to try to become the hero she hoped she could be. I don’t know what threat they can throw at her to continue that journey.
**** out of *****