Netflix ‘Jessica Jones’ season 1 review: Krysten Ritter, David Tennant and season 2 hopes

There’s a lot to like about the new Netflix series “Jessica Jones”, but it had a few stumbling blocks as well and moving forward into season 2 we are a little worried for the show. Let’s take a look at the entirety of season 1 and what they did right and what they could improve on.

What the series did right: No one does villains quite like Netflix. Wilson Fisk over on “Daredevil” and Kilgrave on “Jessica Jones” are easily the scariest villains (and most layered villains) we have ever seen on a superhero TV series. Kilgrave’s speech about what he was going to do to Jessica if he ever got her back under his powers was absolutely terrifying. David Tennant was a perfect cast for this role and will be giving us nightmares for years to come.

Luke Cage was another positive for this show and Mike Colter did a beautiful job of playing tough and tortured. He had a nice chemistry with Krysten Ritter on screen that made him someone that was easy to root for. The episode where he was under Kilgrave’s control was executed so perfectly by him that we could feel every punch coming through our TV set. We can’t wait for his own series to come out on Netflix next year.

The story is also the star of this show – the writers did a fantastic job of putting an abused woman at the center of her own pain and taking control of her own life instead of what we’ve seen many times over on other shows where we see a woman abused and her man takes revenge. Although this was a difficult heart wrenching story, it was one that needed to be told from a woman’s perspective and the writers, creators and Netflix deserve high praise for taking a risk and letting this story unfold the way that it did.

The problems: We know that we are not in the majority with what we are about to say, but Krysten Ritter just didn’t fit the role for us and while we found that she did an good job as Jessica Jones, she over acted a little too much for us and because of that we had a hard time with her as the lead. That being said her chemistry with Luke Cage was great and her chemistry with Kilgrave was outstanding. Any scene that had Jessica and Kilgrave in it together was a slam dunk, so now that Kilgrave is dead we worry that she is not strong enough to hold up the show without him. The first few episode of the show were only so-so for us, but once Kilgrave was there, the Jessica character was infinitely better.

Let’s talk about Kilgrave’s death: We think killing him off was a huge mistake and are hoping that he has some sort of secret healing ability. Kilgrave is Jessica Jones’ worst enemy and killing him off in season one leaves no room for a second go around in season 3 or 4 when the show is going to need a shot in the arm. There was still more story to be told there and the moment he died there was a pit in our stomach telling us that the show may be in trouble for season 2 if they can’t find a villain (or actor) as strong as him.

Our last problem with the show was the Will Simpson character. We had a cop under Kilgrave’s control, that turned himself around and was trying to do good and then all of a sudden he’s taking magic red pills that turned him into a hulking super monster intent on killing everyone but Kilgrave and now he’s missing. We never cared about the Simpson story, and it really got away from the writers. We are fairly worried that he’s coming back in season 2 as the big bad.

Overall rating: B+ As we mentioned we are a little worried about season 2 of this show. Luke Cage will have his own series on Netflix by then so we don’t know how much we are going to see him on “Jessica Jones” season 2, and Kilgrave is gone, so we are left with some small supporting characters who did a decent job and Ritter who needs some help. By the end of season 2 we would like to see some hope that Kilgrave isn’t really dead to get us pumped for season 3 and since this is the superhero universe, anything is possible, right? If they really are done with Kilgrave we would like to see a story focused on Jessica growing from the situation and moving into a more positive light. We don’t ever expect her to stop drinking and be all smiles, but with Kilgrave dead it would be nice to see her opening her heart a little more to the idea that she is a good person.

What are your final thoughts on Netflix “Jessica Jones” season 1 and what would you like to see happen in season 2? Leave us a comment in the box below and let your opinion be heard.