Jessica Jones
AKA 99 Friends / AKA The Sandwich Saved Me / AKA You’re A Winner! / AKA Top Shelf Perverts / AKA WWJD? / AKA Sin Bin
As with
Daredevil I find the stories more gripping and compelling with each passing episode. I’m thoroughly enjoying the twists the story has taken and the little cliffhangers that keep me coming back. Most episodes manage to end with or otherwise include something that feels like a game-changer.
Jessica spilling the beans to Luke about killing Reva seemed to come very early. I thought that would come towards the end of the season and I really admire that this series isn’t afraid to play its hands early and build on it. Incidentally, the staging of the scene - with Jessica screaming the truth from behind Luke as he walked away - reminded me very much of the infamous “You ain’t my muvva” scene between Kat and Zoe slater in
EastEnders.
Another surprising move for me was the death of poor Ruben. And all for confessing his love for Jessica. I really liked him as a character - who wouldn’t want a cute, naive little stalker baking them banana bread? It felt as though he was set up to be a longer-term supporting character, and this makes his death pack a punch. Likewise, the great CCTV reveal of Malcolm meeting Kilgrave felt more important because we’d already accepted him as part of Jessica’s world.
The power struggle between Jessica and Kilgrave has been great fun. Each time Jessica seems to get the drop on him it feels conclusive which makes it more frustrating/surprising/satisfying when he escapes to continue. The possibilities with his literal power of persuasion are pretty broad and many avenues have been explored.
I have a strange viewing relationship with David Tennant. I first heard of him with Doctor Who and was put off by the adulation his role brought. I don’t care for his frenetic, overly energetic, über-intense performance with the overacting and wild eyed stares and whatnot, because it feels rather attention seeking and needy. He seems to be a natural upstager (which, of course, can be a very desirable thing in a leading actor and has no doubt served him well). Watching interviews with him, I find him very engaging and charming and witty, but he also feels kind of like a stand up comedian type with the quick comebacks and funny line for every occasion, and I find that quite exhausting. While I generally avoid anything with his name attached I have found him watchable in the couple of roles in which I
have seen him. That’s very much the case here. Kilgrave is another memorable role for him. In many ways it captures many of the reasons I don’t care to watch him (right down to the fake English accent that wavers between contemporary RP and Estuary English). But there’s no denying that he’s turning in a good performance, rising to each new emotional extreme. I can understand why many would be thrilled by it. He’s not my favourite thing in the series, but I can accept him in this role.
Perhaps it’s the Victorian in me, but I’m finding the sex scenes a bit much. There are some shows where more frank sexual depictions have felt organic and natural (I’m thinking Nineties British shows, such as
This Life and
Queer As Folk). Here it feels more as though it’s here simply to give the series a USP in the “mature” department.
Daredevil had the violence.
Jessica Jones has the sex. Will Simpson going down on Trish was bad enough, but then there’s a scene of Pam squirming on the desk while forcing Jeri to puppeteer her fanny that felt as though it went on for about five minutes of soft core porn. And nobody washes their hands afterwards. Trish and Will went straight to the kitchen afterwards and were raiding the fridge for food.
I think the transatlantic thing doesn’t help, because even such sexual scenes have the typically American modesty where the women either have blankets covering their boobs or remain fully dressed (as was the case with Jeri and Pam). There may be the occasional flash of bum or boob, but there’s no question of full frontal and so it ends up feeling at odds with itself as well as as overly staged. It’s like those moments in a Madonna concert where she does something supposedly daring that’s clearly very choreographed and ends up feeling very artificial. It’s a very strange way of doing it, but regardless of how it’s done, I really don’t think the sex adds anything anyway.
I suppose I'm not the core demographic for these scenes anyway. Most of them seem very much heterosexual male fantasy stuff, so there's no danger of me reaping the benefit of any kind of titillation. Perhaps that's skewing my viewpoint.
