By: Johnny Wellens
Is Jessica Jones Season Two as good as Season One? No, I don’t think so. Not that you should let that impact checking it out. The first season set a high bar and is a tough act to follow. So let’s talk about what’s up with Jessica’s second season and why it’s fine...maybe good, but not great.
Let’s get this part out of the way because it’s been a consistent problem with all of the Marvel Netflix shows. It’s about 3 to 4 episodes too long. There’s not enough story to fill out 13 episodes and that negatively affects the pace. Some episodes drag on for far too long and you just want it to wrap up and move on with the story. There are episodes that I wanted to fast forward through.
I really liked Trish in the last season. I felt like she came into her own as the episodes went on, her relationship with Simpson was interesting and her friendship with Jessica helped to humanize the woman who pushes everyone away. But this season...oh man, in this season I HATED Trish. Everything she did made things worse. At a certain point I stopped empathizing with her and just wanted her to sit out for the rest of the story so Jessica could wrap things up without the constant distraction of Trish mucking around. She came across as selfish, dumb, and manipulative. A far cry from her depiction in Season One.
I’ve read several reviews citing the villain as a problematic area in this season and honestly I don’t see it. I thought the villain choice was very interesting. You could see it coming a mile away so when the big reveal happened I wasn’t in shock or disbelief. However, I quite liked the fact that Jessica’s mother was not a typical villain. I think it’s pretty inventive to create someone just for the show who doesn’t act like your average run-of-the-mill evil intentioned antagonist. As a viewer, I found myself trying to figure out a way for things to end happily. But of course, we know that can’t happen.
The best thing about this season has to be the acting performances. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t bring their best to their respective roles. I mentioned before that I hated Trish this season but I don’t want that to detract from the performance. Hating a character isn’t the same as hating a performance as Rachael Taylor is fantastic, maybe even the standout for me. Eka Darville’s Malcolm is wonderful and believable. Carrie-Anne Moss as Hogarth was excellent and I was engrossed in the character’s personal journey throughout the season. Janet McTeer as Alisa Jones aka Bipolar She-Beast has received some flak, but I enjoyed her. I felt for her when she was losing control which says it was portrayed effectively. Oh and I didn’t forget...
Kilgrave. We were told via official releases would be returning in some form this season. Whom was teased in several trailers. Whom showed up for 2 episodes (barely). Look, if you’re going to promote someone who is, objectively, the best villain in all of the Netflix MCU series, you have to give me more. There were so many opportunities to have him show up but they waited until almost the end of the season. Well acted, but poorly used is the best way to describe his “return”. If that’s the last we’ll see of him I am underwhelmed and disappointed.
I thought it would be funny to write an unnecessarily long 13 paragraph review but I’ll spare you! In summation, Jessica Jones Season 2 is fine, not great. Good performances but entirely too long and a disappointingly short return for David Tennant as Kilgrave.