If the Avengers are Earth’s mightiest heroes, then Jessica
Jones may be Earth’s most frustrating one. Or at least that’s what I thought
after the first seven or eight episodes.
I just
finished watching the first season of Marvel’s Jessica Jones on Netflix. Yes, I realize that’s over two months
after most people have binged watched the hell out of it when it was released
back in late November.
However,
I liked it a lot, to the point that I wanted to even write about it (obviously,
if you are reading this). But I didn’t like Jessica Jones at all- certainly not
at first.
Why you
ask? Easy- I found myself unbelievably pissed off at her. She kept letting her
arch nemesis repeatedly escape so that she could save innocent people. I was
livid! How dare this so-called hero not even have the decency to rip her enemy’s
head clean off his body? I mean on several occasions the guy was well within
killing range and a couple of times even unconscious at her feet. In addition
to that, Jessica is usually confronted with the choice of taking out the
mind-controlling Kilgrave or rescuing those pesky innocents.
So rather
than end the life of this madman who had caused so much strife and devastation
to not only her, but to those around her as well as countless strangers, she tries
to save the lives of innocents, AND do the right thing! I know? Sickening
right?
However,
I ended up having a revelation while watching this show. Me, a guy who’s middle
aged, and seen just about ever superhero movie and show in existence since Lou
Ferrigno was the Incredible Hulk. Because of this I have been exposed to just
about every major super hero’s moral code- from Batman’s vow not to take a
life, to Venom’s “lethal protector” gimmick.
So I’m a
bit ashamed that I didn’t realize what I’m about to disclose earlier…
Being a hero isn’t just about getting the
bad guy.
Had
Jessica Jones opted to let those people die, she would’ve at best been a half-assed
hero, and at worse no hero at all. It’s her drive to do the right thing, to deliver
the total package of ass-kickery and protecting those that need it that makes
her admirable.
Building
on the theme of doing the right thing
it’s interesting that Jessica strives to carry out this enigma that is “the
right thing” – even when her humanity limits her ability to discern what “the
right thing” might even be. Not to mention, what consequences her actions or
inactions might have down the road.
This
leads me to why I was interested in the character in the first place. In a lot
of ways Jessica Jones is as close to
Watchmen as it can be, without ripping it off or seeming trite. Yes, Jones has
powers, but her is her biggest weakness is what makes her a great character: She’s
relatable because she’s human, and human because she is flawed. She’s
manipulative, rude, and drinks too much. Even though she has the strength to
throw grown men through walls, she more frequently builds them in order to keep
people at an emotional distance. All these things reminded me of Watchmen, as
the characters therein were also people with real, and often negative,
personality traits. That rings true to me because I believe that if we did live
in a world where individuals were equipped with superpowers, we’d have more Rorschachs
than Supermen.
One
last nice touch was that Jessica Jones faced the fact that other Marvel
characters do exist in her world. The series reminded viewers of the events
that took place in The Avengers films without rubbing it in or taking the focus
away from the microcosm of Jessica Jones’ own story. The fact that Jessica Jones lives in Hell’s
Kitchen (the same base of operations as Daredevil) is also touched on by the
series as well.
All in
all Jessica Jones impressed me. The
only drawback is that I now have another show that I must wait (impatiently) to
return.
