Managed to catch quite a bit of Jessica Jones yesterday, the next of Netflixās series set in and around the Hellās Kitchen area of New York. Iāve never read the comic before, so I was both at an advantage and disadvantage to this adaptation. I knew quite a bit of the Daredevil universe, knew who the major players were, so I spent much of that series box-ticking. Does he have the right power set? Are they making compromises for the adaptation? Are they massively deviating from the source material? With the exception of killing off one of the main supporting characters in DDās world, I had no real complaints. It is nice to be watching a show without having to do that.
Jones, played by the quirkily lovely Krysten Ritter, is a powered individual that ādoesnāt hide, doesnāt advertiseā in relation to her abilities. Sheās physically strong, but not that strong.
āCan you stop a moving car?ā
āI can stop a slow-moving carā
ā¦is about the size of it. She makes her living collecting dirt on cheating spouses, and brings a few of her skills to that profession. Sheāll jump 40 feet in the air to hit a fire escape for a good shot. Sheāll break padlocks and bust doors with her bare hands.
Now if any of these powers sound understated or underwhelming, I think itās because theyāre meant to be. The other powered people in the show are similarly simplistic. Minor spoilers, but Jones very quickly runs into Luke Cage, someone thatāll soon have his own Netflix series. His super-power is simply being unbreakable.
The other power of note is Killgrave, the showās chief villain, who can simply get people to do whatever he wants. David Tennant inhabits this role with a sense of indifferent menace, continuing to make a complete mockery of Christopher Ecclestoneās statement that doing more than a season of Doctor Who would make you typecast. Since leading the TARDIS, Tennant has done some very decent stuff, doing a broad range of acting. He brings a chilling immediacy to his powers. Heās the sort of bastard thatāll just tell someone in the street to throw coffee in his face, then not even bother to look as the guy self-scalds.
Jessica herself is a great character. Fiercely independent, but not doing particularly well at that, drinks a lot of liquor and has little time for smalltalk. Sheās extremely perceptive and resourceful, and not afraid to bung some scruples in the bin to get what she needs. She tries to leverage both sides of an acrimonious lesbian divorce to achieve larger, more altruistic objectives.
She also has a lot of sex. If Bear were to watch this show, he may be inclined to review it as such.
āJessica Bones! 11/10! 
ā
So far, I donāt think Iām too far off the Metacritic score of 8/10. Like Daredevil before it, the makers know that people are going to watch it in a big block; it seems made for that format. The arc is all-important; the individual punch of each episode somewhat less so.
Marvel and itās cursed ācanonā is a bigger threat to Western culture than ISIS.