(This review may contain spoilers).
Having been on a Marvel ‘kick’ for a while now, I was intrigued when I saw the trailer for Jessica Jones… more so when I realised I recognised the lead actress in it. I did think I would get Jessica confused with Chloe… but when I started watching, I felt that Jessica’s character was so vastly different, I could have mistaken the actress for a different one.
It was very obvious quite early on that Jessica had a lot of problems. I really liked seeing her interacting with Trish… and it was nice to see some flashbacks to when the two of them were teenagers. I thought it was interesting to see the effects of Trish being a celebrity, but that she also dropped everything the moment Jessica needed her.
I liked the fact that the Kilgrave storyline ran right through all of the episodes. Kilgrave’s character made my skin crawl… I think David Tennant is an awesome actor; but Kilgrave was just disturbing. But played really well. There were times I wavered and almost felt a bit of sympathy for him. Of course, that did fade quickly.
It was interesting to see the morally grey areas through this series. I liked the fact that the characters could and did get hurt… and I was never sure who was going to survive.
I did have a strong dislike for Hogarth for a lot of the episodes. She came across as quite a hard person and I really hated that she was cheating on her wife. Fall out of love with someone and in love with someone else? Fine. But having an affair is totally wrong. I could understand how Wendy was feeling completely. And although Pam was an interesting character… she was still the other woman and knew Hogarth was married.
I really liked Malcolm. I felt sorry for him at first, but as the series developed, it was good to see him evolve. I liked the almost redemptive-arc storyline… and how he was protective over Jessica.
I have some mixed feelings about Simpson. I really liked that he felt bad about what he’d done while being controlled… and I enjoyed seeing him form a relationship with Trish. But by the end of the series, he just made my skin crawl.
I liked Hope, too. She was a really sympathetic character and I was able to empathise with her a great deal. It was nice to see her and Jessica bond.
There was a lot of violence in this series, as well as lots of gore and instances of drug use and alcoholism. It definitely isn’t a family-friendly show, but it’s gritty and real. The connections between the characters feel real and there are some good tie-ins with the rest of Marvel. I would definitely be interested in seeing a second season of this show… along with Luke Cage’s series. I really liked his character and I felt he had a lot of depth to him.
Ink of Blood 