The humanity of being a Super: Jessica Jones Season 2 Review

(Season 1 Spoilers and Season 2 Hints ahead:)(Season 1 Spoilers and Season 2 Hints ahead:)

Marvel’s Jessica Jones returns to Netflix with a second season that sees the titular character questioning her place in society; even her own life.

As we begin to learn, albeit through shades which ads to the neo-noir feel of J.J., about Jessica’s past and interestingly how she regrets her powers and the life that was forced upon her, we get a glimpse into arguably one of Marvel”s more complex characters.

One who is constantly juggling any attempt at living a normal function life (having a relationship, running Alias Investigations) with her being “powered” and whether this is something she can truly run away from.This creates one of the running contentions of season 2 in Jessica’s interplay with Trish whose character arc leads her into some fairly compromising emotional and physical situations fuelled by a search for independence and, arguably jealousy.

The rest of the supporting cast create a richly populated, but not too crowded, second season with interesting sub-plots. Eka Darville‘s Malcom, who starts to go it alone although who does for some time stay posited as the assistant with a lack of agency, and Carrie-Anne Moss‘s Jeri Hogarth who equally is faced with consequences that undermine her high-flying lifestyle, intrigue.

Jessica Jone’s Kilgrave

However, its fair to say that J.J. suffers, like most Netlflix series from a bit of fattiness and takes a few episodes to really get rolling with any visible conflict. Having said this, it’s often at its best with the dark and shady P.I. investigations that lend atmosphere. J.J. is about addictions and origins and, without giving too much away, the antagonist of the second season is a good twist which further complicates the efficacy of having powers.

If conflict is a presiding theme then its also a pitfall of the show, as the “super stuff” could be a bit more interesting  as times, especially with Kilgrave being such a compelling villain in the first season largely due to the realism of his methods – he didn’t smash people into a pulp or try to take over the galaxy, but was much more insidious in making someone a drug addict just to spy on Jessica, or making people willfully try to kill themselves .

Yet, its  compelling to see a David Tennant reapparance and one that, perhaps tellingly, isn’t quite put to bed yet. It’s also a more deft way of dealing with the residual damage left by Season 1’s antagonist than simply “bringing him back”. Nevertheless J.J. is certainly bingeable and will hopefully see a third season as, villain-or-no, it is a series where the humanity of the titular character, and whether she ever gets a chance at closure and normality, as attempted at least in the comics, is what fuels the drama.

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