REVIEW: Jessica Jones Season Two
It’s finally here! After two and a half years, season two of Marvel’s Jessica Jones has premiered on Netflix. Still, after a less than stellar season of The Defenders, is this one a pickmeup or another sign of the decline in these shows? While nothing will ever beat the drag that is Iron Fist, Jessica Jones season two unfortunately fails to reach the heights of its first season.
First, a brief recap for this gap. After successfully taking down Kilgrave, Jessica has reluctantly become a local hero with people, including her best friend Trish and her new assistant Malcolm, eager to get her some action to help others. Of course, Jessica is still dealing with the traumas of her past which quickly catches up to her when the elusive IGH corporation rears its ugly head and a powered person is murdered. As the group dives deeper into this mystery, more revelations are discovered, leading to nearly an entire shift in Jessica’s life.
If that plot seems vague, that’s because it’s more than vague. It’s hopelessly aimless. While season one told a clear story about overcoming a past trauma, this season goes for past trauma, mystery, addiction, right vs. wrong, and everything in between those issues. They are admirable, sure, but without one stable narrative, it becomes hard to track down exactly what the season wants to say. Or even what the characters want to do.
And there’s the obvious elephant in the room. Despite the show’s best efforts, there is just no replacing David Tennant as a villain. His cameo in the eleventh episode proves how much presence he had in the series alone. I single this out specifically because the season never really has a clear antagonist. There’s the rival private investigator, but he’s taken down rather quickly as a threat. IGH has potential, but their representative Karl Malus isn’t after anything or causing any trouble besides what he’s already done bringing Jessica and Alisa back to life. Alisa has all the threat and power of a potential villain, but then she ends up being Jessica’s mother. We had three chances at a new villain, and none of them rise to the occasion.
The other plots don’t fair that well either when put under scrutiny. The plot twist of Janet McTeer being Jessica’s mother turns overly sentimental pretty fast, and Trish goes from earnest to crazy in record time. Plus, did we really muster up enough consideration to be sad that Jeri has ALS? These are hardly to top-tier roads for these characters to travel. Sadly, the rest of the season shows just as much effort in the other stories.
So I’m criticizing and moping about the season all over. Are there any upsides? Jessica still shows us why she’s singlehandedly the best Netflix character with her snark, sympathetic edge to help others, and constant verbal and literal jabs to the head. Even if the 13-episode length still goes way too long, Jessica is an interesting enough character to carry a plot, and well worth the series in general.
Plus, despite the fact that I am not a fan of where the characters are going, I at least admire giving them substantial material. Trish is fricking nuts by the end, but it is driven from a real sense of drive that half the Netflix characters don’t seem to have. Same with Malcolm, though I am a fan of his final look.
In addition, there is also definite material available for another season. Trish clearly has some latent instincts kicking in now. Malcolm is making a name for himself. But most importantly, Jessica is becoming a person again. This season is nowhere near as dark or grim as the first, but that’s a good thing. No matter what happened, it’s hard not to smile at Jessica telling Oscar’s son about how she stopped a robbery at a liquor store. Much like Jessica’s mindset at the end, we can glean some good working to the future.
Jessica mentions at the end of the season that “everything changes and nothing changes.” It’s a line that is somewhat meaningful but really just means nothing goes forward for any real impact. I think that describes the show. It has this sense of gravitas just from being the second season, but hardly anything interesting happens in the meantime. Another season after this would certainly have some originality to it, but that doesn’t matter now. They had their chance, and their missed their mark. Have a drink to that.
