Jessica Jones - season 1 - x2

With a second season of Jessica Jones on the way I decided to watch the first couple of episodes again... and ended up watching the whole series.

I'd remembered roughly what happened, but that didn't detract from a second viewing at all. If anything I probably enjoyed it more, because I wasn't endlessly speculating about what might happen and just enjoyed what was there.

The way that the villain is introduced so slowly is one of the highlights of the writing. The uncertainty of whether the Purple Man has really returned, combined with the general disbelief of the people around Jessica, and Jessica's fearful recollection of the past, all ratchet up the tension.

It's a good job that they got an actor as good as David Tenant to play Killgrave. Because by the time you actually see him he needs to be properly creepy... and he is, bigtime. (even for an Englishman like me, who normally chuckles at the American stereotyping of the English villain ... BTW you know Tenant is Scottish, right?)

Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Jones. She is beautiful ... in that gothic way that makes you think she could quite easily punch you in the mouth if you say the wrong thing. Maybe that's just me. I also liked the contrast with her "sister" figure Trish - the more conventionally "pretty" blonde, who turns out to be more violent given half a chance.

Opening doors by breaking the lock never gets old. The only effects that seem cheep are the jumps, which are mercifully rare, because they are a bit unintentionally comical.

Luke Cage is in it more than I remembered. I probably wont watch his season 1 again (the first half was good but it quickly ran out of steam) and definitely wont watch any more Iron Fist (apart from in The Defenders) as he is just annoyingly stupid.

But I digress. Jessica Jones. One thing I got again was the sense of devastation that all the victims of Killgrave felt. Some of them had been made to do terrible things; and even though they wanted to believe that they had no choice, there always seemed to be remorse and doubt that they weren't actually to blame. And a terrible fear that he might control them again.

Many people fear losing control. Losing control and being aware at the same time would be horrific. This show portrays that very well.

A new question that popped up on second viewing was why did Kevin become so nasty? This one is hard to answer, because Killgrave puts on an act for Jessica which is hard to penetrate. While he is trying to win her, you don't know if he genuinely sees the light during the hostage scene, or if he is just saying what he thinks she wants to here.

There is a great example of his wickedness when he is being hassled by a guy selling magazines in the park. Killgrave is looking thru the mags and the guy wants to know if he is going to buy one. Instead of just telling the guy to be quiet he makes him throw a cup of hot coffee into his own face.

The skill of the writers is to just give you enough doubt that Kevin is really bad; then you are all the more horrified when he does something else terrible.

So even though I knew the ending. Taking the journey to it a second time was just as interesting as the first.