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Thoughts on Jessica Jones through episode 8
As nice as it is to be able to marathon Netflix's original series, it also makes it a trifle frustrating to talk about them with people. Or basically go anywhere that spoilers live, such as Tumblr, until finishing the series. (Er, obviously "don't tell me about future events, please!" goes without saying here.) Not that I've actually been spoiled or anything; it's just that for me, there is a better feeling of engagement about being able to discuss a currently-running show with people as it goes along, rather than having to be all spoiler-avoidant till the end and then falling headfirst into a lot of discussion. YMMV. (Even though, yes, I typically wait for DVD and marathon things anyway, so I am being a ridiculous snowflake about it.)
So: still really enjoying it! Although, wow, this show does juuuuust teeter on the edge of what I'm able to take re: psychological manipulation. I have such a powerful do-not-want reaction to psychologically manipulative characters that I had to literally leave the room during some episodes of Lost. (Let me tell you about my loathing for Ben Linus. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT.) The reason why this show hasn't crossed the line is because Killgrave is obviously awful, and everyone knows he's awful, and even when he gets away with it, it's fairly obvious that he's going to lose sooner or later. It's the helplessness of their victims that gets to me about psychologically manipulative characters, and Jessica herself has been staying just on the "okay, I can still take this" side of being in control, even if 1x08 did push that close to my personal limits. What I really can't take is characters manipulating people and winning.
I really love how unpredictable I've found the show so far. While I've suspected a few things (such as Simpson's death -- I figured he was gonna die from the beginning, but never saw him becoming as much of a major player as he did) I've been consistently thrown by the episode-to-episode twists and turns. I love the character relationships, and I love the show's willingness to go psychologically dark; there have been a number of places where I've expected the show to pull back and then it hasn't. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy Hogarth, because she's awful, and yet she's awful in a ruthless, hard-edged way that women on TV, at least on genre shows, rarely get to be. I like how many of the show's minor characters or events have ended up being major components of the storyline, like Hogarth's divorce, or Malcolm (who morphs from a running joke into a wonderful ally) or Simpson going from Random Victim #4 to a major, if temporary, love interest for Trish.
I'm not quite on board with a few of the show's narrative decisions, most particularly Jessica being involved in (I don't want to say responsible for) Luke's wife's death. I know it had a major role to play in the plot, but I wish they hadn't gone there. I also had a few minor qualms about how things played out with Simpson, and with his and Trish's relationship. (There was a heavy-handedness to the writing in certain places that I felt was unnecessary.) Mostly, though, I've been really happy with the show's narrative decisions, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the last few episodes go.
ETA: Oh, I forgot to say ... I love how funny this show is. It's often bleak humor, or whiplashes suddenly from hilarious to tragic, but it makes me laugh a lot, which is something I wasn't expecting from a show this dark. ("Get out of the road, you stupid sandwich!" still makes me giggle every time I think about it ...)
So: still really enjoying it! Although, wow, this show does juuuuust teeter on the edge of what I'm able to take re: psychological manipulation. I have such a powerful do-not-want reaction to psychologically manipulative characters that I had to literally leave the room during some episodes of Lost. (Let me tell you about my loathing for Ben Linus. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT.) The reason why this show hasn't crossed the line is because Killgrave is obviously awful, and everyone knows he's awful, and even when he gets away with it, it's fairly obvious that he's going to lose sooner or later. It's the helplessness of their victims that gets to me about psychologically manipulative characters, and Jessica herself has been staying just on the "okay, I can still take this" side of being in control, even if 1x08 did push that close to my personal limits. What I really can't take is characters manipulating people and winning.
I really love how unpredictable I've found the show so far. While I've suspected a few things (such as Simpson's death -- I figured he was gonna die from the beginning, but never saw him becoming as much of a major player as he did) I've been consistently thrown by the episode-to-episode twists and turns. I love the character relationships, and I love the show's willingness to go psychologically dark; there have been a number of places where I've expected the show to pull back and then it hasn't. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy Hogarth, because she's awful, and yet she's awful in a ruthless, hard-edged way that women on TV, at least on genre shows, rarely get to be. I like how many of the show's minor characters or events have ended up being major components of the storyline, like Hogarth's divorce, or Malcolm (who morphs from a running joke into a wonderful ally) or Simpson going from Random Victim #4 to a major, if temporary, love interest for Trish.
I'm not quite on board with a few of the show's narrative decisions, most particularly Jessica being involved in (I don't want to say responsible for) Luke's wife's death. I know it had a major role to play in the plot, but I wish they hadn't gone there. I also had a few minor qualms about how things played out with Simpson, and with his and Trish's relationship. (There was a heavy-handedness to the writing in certain places that I felt was unnecessary.) Mostly, though, I've been really happy with the show's narrative decisions, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the last few episodes go.
ETA: Oh, I forgot to say ... I love how funny this show is. It's often bleak humor, or whiplashes suddenly from hilarious to tragic, but it makes me laugh a lot, which is something I wasn't expecting from a show this dark. ("Get out of the road, you stupid sandwich!" still makes me giggle every time I think about it ...)
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Also, let me just join you in EPIC DISTASTE for Ben Linus!! Apparently I know a lot of people who like him? And I just. No. (I only watched like ten episodes of the show--I was on a Babylon 5 kick so I saw everything with Mira Furlan/Danielle Rousseau in it, and then the last few episodes of the final season to tie it up. And still I hated that guy's guts. Partly because I was invested in Alex because Danielle, and partly because...what. a. jackass.)
But yeah. If this show had been less explicit in how thoroughly it rejected everything to do with everything Kilgrave chooses to be, it would have tipped it over from "dark, but really good" to "too fucking much for me, thanks." As it was...yeah, this is a solid show and I'm glad I watched it. And, yeah, those moments of humour. Superheroing as a fucking sandwich! :D