Not Binge-Watching Jessica Jones
This past Friday, Netflix dropped the second Marvel series in their planned lead-up to a Defenders miniseries: Jessica Jones. All 13 episodes are available to stream, in keeping with Netflix’s binge-watch model, which their data has told them is how people enjoy watching TV series these days.
Don’t get me wrong; I love the model. But what I enjoy is the access and availability, not necessarily the binge-watching itself. Back in 2001, I binge-watched the first season of The Sopranos with some friends. We fired up Season 1, Episode 1 at 8 a.m. and emerged from my father’s basement twelve hours later, unwashed, blurry-eyed, and ravenous from eating nothing but chips and drinking nothing but Mountain Dew for 12 hours straight. While I enjoyed the experience, these days I have a full-time job, hobbies, and other commitments that prevent me from sitting in front of a TV screen for 13 straight hours. (I said it on Twitter, the worst part about Jessica Jones’ timing is that it dropped during NaNoWriMo.) Given all my other time commitments, I’ll likely only watch one or two episodes of Jessica Jones a night. I may not finish it by tomorrow, but I will finish it soon. So here’s an episode-by-episode review of the series, as I watch each one. Each new review will contain spoilers for that episode only, but nothing further, to avoid spoiling the series itself. So here goes…
Episode 1: “AKA Ladies Night”
According to Netflix’s own research, it takes several episodes of any television series to hook viewers into watching more. This first episode won’t break that trend, but it does set up possibilities for the rest of the season. We open on Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), a tired, washed-up alcoholic suffering from PTSD, living in a rathole apartment in Hell’s Kitchen and squeaking out a living as a private investigator. We also meet her friends—or acquaintances, rather, since Jessica doesn’t have any friends. There’s Malcolm, her downstairs neighbor, Trish, an ex (?) with her own radio talk show, Jeri Hogarth, a prominent lawyer who hires Jessica to work on cases but disapproves of her methods, and the friendly bartender around the corner, who takes a special liking to Jessica. The goal of the first episode is to introduce and set up these relationships, which it does perfectly. This isn’t an origin story; Jessica has known most of the people before and has a past with each of them. The audience gets to play catch-up with the little bits of information we’re teased.
Little of Jessica’s superpowers are revealed in this first episode. We see that she’s super-strong; in one scene she lifts a car to prevent it from getting away. But Jessica isn’t all-powerful. She’s haunted by memories of a man named Kilgrave, who made her do things once, the previous year. What sorts of things we’re only given hints. Kilgrave’s power seems to be mind control; the main detecting plot point involves a woman he’s kidnapped and forced to do things against her will. Kilgrave only appears in flashes, whispers. Like Wilson Fisk in Daredevil, his presence is teased; the better to build him up as a villain.
The episode is a slow burn of characterization and I love it. The audience is given just enough information to follow along with the plot, but what we’re given leaves us wanting more. What else can Jessica do? What did Kilgrave make her do? Who is the mysterious bartender? Lawyers are usually evil; is Jeri? Thanks to Netflix’s release-it all strategy, I know these answers will all be revealed, as soon as I want to know.
While I’m only one episode in, I’m already impressed with the cast, characterization, and writing. Those of you have been clambering for a Black Widow movie that may or may not happen should watch Jessica Jones, because so far this series has given me everything I want in a Black Widow movie: realistic, strong female characters and three-diamensional characterization. Ritter’s Jessica is as flawed a main character as Matt Murdock or John Constantine. Series creator Melissa Rosenberg has given me a character I want to root for, and for that I can forgive that Rosenberg is also the screenwriter of the Twilight saga.
Having only appeared in comics since 2001, Jessica Jones doesn’t have the long storyline of an Iron Man or a Daredevil. But it is important that audiences get introduced to the character the right way, and a 13-hour Netflix series is a great way to go about it. Because the character and the series is a slow burn, it needs time for the story to unfold, which is better served on the small screen than the big one. Having watched all of the first season of Daredevil and now the first episode of Jessica Jones, I’m impressed with this direction Marvel is taking with its lesser-known characters, giving them time and room to breathe.
And there’s still twelve episodes to go…
