*sigh*
I don't know where to begin, I'll just start by saying I didn't like the show. Right now I'm a bit tired since it's late but I can't really sleep so I feel like rattling off my thoughts on the show. I'm going to try to keep them as organized and literate as possible but I'm really just going to be free flowing from here on out, you know just writing random thoughts that pop in to my mind when I think about the whole show. Let's go:
If I can describe the show in a single word it would be boring. Now, some comic fanboy asshole will swoop down and say something incredibly dumb like "you just don't like the show because it's slower paced." To which I will reply, "who let you use your parent's Netflix account? And, how can you fly?" But seriously, I love slower paced shows especially filled in a TV world, especially comic TV world, of faster paced narrative where characters aren't really allowed to breathe. Jessica Jones is not slow paced, it is boring. Breaking Bad is slow paced, Fargo is slow paced and both are excellent at displaying this, JJ wants you to think it's complex and daring but it's shallow and unimaginative. Fargo is a good example because it can create mind numbing tension just from two regular people talking, you just have this eerie sense that anything can happen at a moment's notice and you become especially scared when a character is outside by themselves in the stark, open wilderness.
I don't think JJ knows what it wants to be. Now, I want to preface this all by saying I've never read any JJ comic and I don't plan to ever read one so if this show plays out exactly like the comic I don't care, that just tells me the comic is also bad. I'm not a comic reader but I've seen just about everything in the MCU, but even that doesn't matter because a good show is a good show regardless of the source material. I never gave two fuck alls about Daredevil and always found him to be a "boring" hero, a dude who is slightly not blind. Buzz off. However, the Daredevil TV show is pretty darn good with some excellent cinematography, action, acting, and plot. Now, I'm not some crazy individual who thinks it is the second coming or the best TV show of 2015, I would rank it near Arrow S1 or S2, but it was a decent show that kept me engaged. JJ, on the other hand, never kept me engaged.
For starters, despite being a private eye JJ isn't really about "detective" work or any sort of mystery. By the very first episode we know who Kilgrave is and what he is capable of and by the second episode we are formerly introduced to him. The rest of the series is a drawn out back and forth game between Kilgrave and Jessica with zero mystery or build up. He gets to her, she gets to him, he runs away, he gets back at her, she gets close to him again, etc, etc. Boring. Hey, how about instead of shoving Kilgrave into our face we have him toying with Jessica for the majority of the show, Hannibal style? You know leave a string of murders and cases at her feet that she has to piece together to find him? How about he uses his power to get to those closest to her so that she can no longer trust anyone but herself? Perhaps we can mirror Kilgrave's overt use of control with Jessica's own use of subtle manipulation to get what she wants? How about some actual psychological thrill?
Instead, JJ is content with using Kilgrave in the most uninspired way possible as this mustache twirling villain, obsessed with Jessica, who only seems to know how to use his power to kill people and occasionally spy on Jessica. There is absolutely no subtly or originality to his power usage, we're talking about a guy with the ability to control people's minds and the most original thing he can think of is "I'll let all these people kill themselves if you don't do as I say." A threat he uses pretty much every time he is on screen so that it immediately becomes boring. Oh and that threat that anyone can be a Kilgrave sleeper agent is quickly turned into a joke, relax guys he's not going to play some long con with Jessica if someone is mind controlled by him they will immediately try to kill her or someone close to her. Phew, thanks for removing all that tension.
The cast of supporting characters are even worse, not just with their inability to act, but also the uselessness of their characters with side plots that often go nowhere or are dropped for long stretches. Luke Cage shows up early on as this kind of love interest as Jessica really loves dudes with blank, expressionless faces, but he's dropped quickly and isn't seen again for a long stretch of episodes until the plot suddenly needs him again to play the "damsel." Hogarth is probably the worst character on the show, a powerful woman who just so happens to be a lesbian (surprise, a ruthless woman at the top of her game has to be a homosexual) whose wasted in a terrible sub-plot involving her ex-wife. There really isn't a single point to this sub-plot and Hogarth is presented as a person with zero redeeming qualities, hell the show does a good job of stepping on her good qualities as a lawyer. Screw you Hogarth, stop trying to help your clients and help Jessica, NOW! You see there could have been this interesting theme being conveyed through her character about the nature of power in a relationship and the need for total control, again an attempt to mirror Kilgrave but this never surfaces.
Every other side character is also equally wasted especially that Simpson dude who shows up strong for the first few episodes and then falls by the wayside because the plot no longer demands him only for him to surface again near the end for reasons. I assume he's some dude big in the comics as his reappearance just felt like a painful chore to setup stuff for the future since it was in no way relevant or necessary.
"Ugh, Jessica Kilgrave needs to die!"
"I know, we are in total agreement."
"I'm sorry, I have to kill you because you won't kill him."
"I just said I would."
"No, no, you can't fool me the only way to kill him is to kill you."
"Simpson if you really care then why don't you just leave me alone and go kill him?
"Arrggh, stop making sense and die."
Yes, he's influenced by drugs or whatever it doesn't make that whole scenario not incredibly stupid.
Again, I just have to circle back to the fact that the show is just boring. There is no mystery to solve, no clues to track, no hidden villain, no moral choices, no build up to a tense face-off. Instead, everything is just kinda there at the start and then it just sort of ends. The final show down was really pathetic because they tried to build up the fact that Kilgrave was getting stronger, that his mind control could reach new levels and range. However, none of that happens in the final show down. Killgrave basically tells Jessica where he is and then uses the same basic version of his powers he's used throughout the show. He stands next to a crowed of people and tells them to do stuff. He doesn't control someone through a telephone or shot on a megaphone for all of NY to kill themselves, he just does the same thing he's always done and then Jessica snaps his neck. Game over. Boy, oh boy, what a tense showdown that was built up throughout the entire series. Oh wait...
I just didn't get what the series was trying to convey, what was the theme and who is Jessica Jones? I believe this is supposed to be an origin story for her character so what exactly is Jessica Jones? Is she a private detective solving cases? She didn't actually solve the Kilgrave case, she didn't use much detective skills to catch him she just eventually got tired and snapped his neck. Why do people suddenly think she's a hero now for what she did at the docks and want to hire her? Again, what is her character, what does she do? I have no idea.
Further stray thoughts:
-Why is Kilgrave's sexual abuse basically glanced over? You can show him have a man put his head through a wall or force people to stab themselves to death but you can only have his sexual abuse "shown" through the hushed whispers of victims and then never really talked about again.
-Why is JJ's power so inconsistent? She can help out with ease during a bar brawl with a group of men but a later group of dudes easily beat the shit out of her with tasers? Why can she knock some people out with one punch flinging them across the room but other times regular dudes take 20 hits to do gown?
-What's the point of Reuben?
-Why is the cinematography so inconsistent to being outright bad at times?
-Why does the musical score suck beside the intro?
-I found the dialogue often really clunky and not very good.
-Must she always wear the same jacket and scarf thing?
