Producer: Netflix
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg
Director: SJ Clarkson
Featuring: Krysten Ridder, Mike Colter, Rachael Taylor, Erin Moriarty, Eka Darville, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Tennant
Release date: OUT NOW!

First lines are important and here, like all the writing in the series Jessica Jones, the dialogue is smart: “New York may be the city that never sleeps, but it sure does sleep around.”

The noir narration in Jessica Jones immediately tells you super-strong, super-deductive and super-broken Jessica’s slice of the Marvel Universe is nasty, brutish and short. In the opening scenes, Jessica Jones demonstrates her anger-management issues by throwing a client through her glass door. “Then there’s the matter of my bill,” she says.

Above all Jessica Jones is a detective drama complete with jazz music, and the unhappy, lonely, detached, supercilious, alcoholic Jessica is as violent as the Continental Op and observant as Sherlock Holmes. The show keeps the action personal and intimate, where it needs to be, and avoids clichés.

A cornucopia of emotional problems including guilt, PTSD and intimacy issues keep Jessica from finding joy and meaning in her life. Even the momentary pride of tricking information out of a source is quickly dashed when Jessica realizes the toilet paper roll is empty. It’s only when she meets bar owner sexy and unbreakable Luke Cage (Mike Colter) she starts to have actual feelings. “I’ve never seen a dive bar this clean. It’s because you care about it.”

Jessica takes a missing girl case and relives a nightmare in the form of Kilgrave (David Tenant – Dr Who, Broadchurch, Gracepoint) who has the power to control anyone and is targeting her. In desperation, Jessica Jones turns to her estranged step-sister and radio personality Trish Walker (Patricia or Patsy Walker from the comics, now grown up) (Rachael Taylor). Jessica wants to run, but Trish wants her to save the girl. But there are no good choices and the shock ending of Jessica Jones episode 1 is deeply horrifying.

Jessica Jones is a powerful, adult drama, demonstrating the diversity of the Marvel universe.  Jessica Jones Season 1 Episode 1 AKA Ladies Night from production to the writing, to the acting, to the music, to the direction, is handled with due care and attention. If you wanted a reason to get NetFlix, well, look no further.

 

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker