Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so I'll give you two today.
Marvel’s
latest Netflix offering is a darkly fascinating story of incredibly earthbound
issues told through a superhero lens.
With complex, compelling characters, one of the best villains Marvel has
ever had, and a feast of really interesting relationships, Jessica Jones is definitely another check in the “win” column for
this franchise. (Premise spoilers.)
Spiky,
self-destructive Jessica Jones has taken herself out of the superhero
game. Oh, she has powers, no question
about it – super strength, increased durability/healing, and flying abilities
that tend to more closely resemble jumping and/or falling – but she’s not
trying to do the hero thing anymore. Her
last encounter, with a mind-controller named Kilgrave, was traumatic and
violating, all but destroying any idea Jessica ever had of herself as a
hero. As she endeavors to live a more
unremarkable life as a PI, however, she’s pulled back in by the very nightmare
that pushed her out. Kilgrave is back,
and there’s only one thing he wants:
her.
More
than any other superhero story I’ve seen, this show really feels like one where
the characters’ powers are practically incidental. Yes, Jessica can stop a (slow-)moving car and
punch through walls, and the many demonstrations of Kilgrave’s power are
absolutely sick (sooooo creepy, holy
crap!) At its heart, however, this is a
story about a survivor being again confronted by her abuser, working through
her own trauma in order to protect others from being hurt by him. This could have easily begun its life as a
“real-world” story and then had the superpowers worked in for a more intriguing
slant. The way the show deals with
Kilgrave’s power and Jessica’s PTSD from her abuse is so honest, so real. One of my favorite scenes in the entire
season is a conversation between them in which Kilgrave is legitimately
confused by Jessica saying he raped her.
It’s a horrible conversation, obviously, and Kilgrave makes my skin
crawl, but this is so vital because it’s
what some people actually think.
“You loved it.” “You wanted
it.” “You were begging for it.” “You didn’t say no, so…” “I didn’t use force,
so…” “It can’t be rape, because…” I
commend the show for addressing these issues so explicitly, and even more, I
applaud it for exploring the psychological aftermath of sexual abuse without
actually showing any sexual
abuse. We all know it happened, and we
all know it was horrifying. There’s no
need to see it.
Krysten
Ritter (Jane from Breaking Bad)
knocks it out of the park as Jessica.
She’s a mess of misplaced guilt, she makes bad decisions, and she’s way
too insistent about going it alone, but she’s also tough, determined, kind (in
her own way) despite everything, and monumentally brave. David Tennant’s Kilgrave is so freaky that I
had to mix some Tenth Doctor episodes into my viewing to wash out the creep
factor. Carrie-Ann Moss has a featured
role as a shark lawyer, and while I’m not very familiar with the rest of the
cast, there are some fantastic supporting characters here being played by some
excellent actors. I’ll single out
Rachael Taylor as Jessica’s best friend Trish – that sounds like a throwaway
part, but trust me when I say that Trish is amazing – and Eka Darville as Jessica’s
neighbor Malcolm.
Warnings
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