User Review

So, the Marvel/Netflix alliance ends here, not with a bang, but with a bit of a whimper. Jessica Jones (Kristen Ritter) is a Private Investigator, a functioning alcoholic and a misanthrope. She's also, thanks to some illegal experimentation, unworldly strong, resilient and tough. She struggles with the responsibility that comes with being "powerered" and is haunted by death of her family, which occurred in a traffic accident years prior. The first season of Jessica Jones was excellent. Mostly because, unlike some other seasons of both this show, and the others in the extended universe, it had an excellent and charismatic villain in David Tennent's Kilgrave. Without having the same levels of action set pieces, this first season still is as good as anything that "Daredevil" or "Punisher" could produce. The season also introduced us to Luke Cage, which then spun into his own series and Mike Coulters chemistry with Ritter is excellent. Unfortunately, unlike "Daredevil", there was a pronounced drop off in quality for the second season, and that run had a dull villain from Jessica's past played by Janet McTeer. Drifting away from the private eye type story and into more soap elements didn't help this run either. We also started to spend even more time with the shows supporting characters, such as Jeri Hogarth played by Carrie-Anne Moss. Though she was great, the show feels watered down when we're spending time with these characters and it's not related directly to what's happening to Jessica. The second and third seasons also suffer from the "Netflix" problem of making 13 episodes, when you have enough story for 8, so plot points are hit over and over again. The third season is better though. Jessica is back with a case to solve involving a Serial Killer played by Jeremy Bobb. There's more action and intrigue, although it still doesn't match the heights of the first season. It would be easy to see why their hearts wouldn't be in this run, as the cancellations were announced long before this was released. Overall, I feel like the first season of this is "must see" but the remaining two aren't essential. The show isn't as consistent as "Daredevil" but is generally a cut above "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage".