TRAILER: Jessica Jones

The Jessica Jones trailer has been released! I repeat, the Jessica Jones trailer has been released! And what do we think of it? Well, first, you should check out the full trailer and see for yourself. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

 

 

Before we begin the in-depth review, I’m going to go ahead and list the reasons why people should be excited for this series:

– This is one of the first installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a female central protagonist. (EDIT: female super-powered protagonist)

– This is going to be a Netflix series riding on the success of the critically acclaimed Daredevil.

– It looks dark as f*ck, departing from Marvel’s supposed “kiddie” tone that people like to complain about.

– David Tennant and Krysten Ritter.

Those are the main reasons as to why this show could end up being a major success, but there is so much more to it. Let’s begin, shall we?

If you’re not familiar with Jessica Jones, all you need to know right now is that she’s a former super-heroine who gave up her life of crime-fighting to become a private investigator. In the comic world, she eventually joined the New Avengers, however, I don’t think this will happen in the MCU since Marvel Studios claims they want to keep the Netflix series and the film series fairly separate with little connection. Then again, we shouldn’t completely rule out her joining the team sometime in the future, possibly during the upcoming Infinity Wars.

Krysten Ritter seems to be a fantastic choice for our lead hero. I mainly know her from Breaking Bad, but after hearing about her casting, I looked a little deeper into her previous roles to see what she was all about.  I watched a few episodes of Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, which demonstrated her comedic abilities, but I wanted to learn more about her more serious roles. I checked out Gravity, and it gave me a little more of what I was looking for, but not exactly Jessica Jones material. I believe this role will be Ritter’s darkest yet.

Anyway, Jessica Jones looks like it will follow the titular character’s stint as a P.I. rather than her super-heroine career, which is completely fine seeing as the Netflix series like to stay more grounded in reality. But as we saw from the trailer, there will be moments where Jessica’s powers will come out, allowing her to kick some ass here and there.

One of the people who discovers Jessica’s hidden powers is Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter. In the comics, Luke Cage is another superhero who often goes by the moniker Power Man. His power? Unbreakable skin and super strength. Luke Cage is a major badass, and he’s actually set to have his own series after Jessica Jones and Daredevil Season 2. If you’re not excited for Jessica Jones, then at least be pumped for Cage’s solo series, which will hopefully arrive by this time next year.

My question is whether Cage will have his powers yet in this series? I think that Marvel Studios wants this to solely be about Jessica, so I can understand if they keep Cage as a normal human for the majority of the show. Is it possible that he gets his powers in the season finale, thus setting up his solo installment?

The big bad of the series will be Kilgrave, portrayed by David Tennant. Whovians might be a little upset to see their beloved 10th Doctor playing the role of a villain, but after watching the trailer, you have to admit that he looks and sounds great. Kilgrave, aka the Purple Man, is one of the most vile people in all of Marvel. He’s a sadistic rapist who gets his jollies off by torturing people. His power is the ability to manipulate people into following his commands. That’s absolutely terrifying. He can force people to do virtually anything. In fact, that’s where the correlation between him and Jessica comes in; he actually used to control Jessica in her youth and forced her to carry out his dirty work. So this vendetta with Jessica and Kilgrave is much more personal than the one between Daredevil and Kingpin, which means it’s going to be much more entertaining to see unfold.

As excited as I am about this show, I do have some reservations. Mike Colter seems like an odd choice to play Luke Cage. I, like thousands of other people, would’ve loved to have seen Terry Crews in the role. I can’t complain since we’re at least getting to see Luke Cage in live-action for once, but I would’ve personally preferred a different actor. That doesn’t mean that I think Colter will be bad at all. For all we know, he could kick this role’s ass. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Also, I think the choice of executive producer is a bit questionable. Melissa Rosenberg was involved with Dexter, The O.C., and Birds of Prey. She also helped write the screenplays for the Twilight films. So she doesn’t exactly have the most impressive resume. But like with Colter, I’m not going to say she’s a bad choice. After all, has anyone else seen Peyton Reed‘s resume prior to Ant-Man? Rosenberg deserves a fair shot, especially since she’s the first female director/executive producer for a Marvel Cinematic Universe entry. Jessica Jones is going to be a major step forward for diversity in the MCU, both in terms of characterization AND production.

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of the character of Jessica Jones before; you don’t have to be an expert in comic lore to appreciate a good show when you see it. Do you think everyone who loved Daredevil knew who he was before the series? Don’t think so. All I’m saying is, give Jessica Jones a chance when it comes to Netflix on November 20th. From what we’ve seen so far, I highly doubt it’ll be a disappointment.