# Jessica Jones - A quick, I think, quesstion. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179 "2016-07-06T01:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/1 "2016-07-06T01:13:05Z")
I have been watching Jessica Jones series on Netflix. I never read any of the comics so I am having to look up a lot of references. The head bad guy is Zebediah Kilgrave who, in the comics, is purple and wears purple clothes. His power is to make people instantly obey his commands (except Jessica, now, for some reason). Strangely, I think, in the series, although, he wears purple clothes, they didn’t actually make him purple (skin and stuff). I hardly think that the production people forgot to read the comic and am just wondering why they didn’t finish the character? If anyone knows, of course. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/2 "2016-07-06T01:20:50Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > I hardly think that the production people forgot to read the comic and am just wondering why they didn’t finish the character? Realism. Kilgrave wears plenty of purple in the show as a head nod. But it would take plenty of the audience out of the story if you made him purple. He’s an otherwise completely normal person who controls minds - that’s terrifying. A cartoonishly purple colored person is so comic-y that it’s hard to take serious. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/3 "2016-07-06T03:25:39Z")
The MCU, especially the Netflix shows, are more grounded in reality than the comics. The Purple Man would not fit with the aesthetic. It also wouldn’t fit well with the plot - it’s a lot easier to have people dismissing his powers when he looks normal. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/4 "2016-07-06T13:53:12Z")
Kilgrave and the way Jessica fought him was the best goddamn part of the show. Making him purple would have been ridiculous. I also knew nothing about the comic but you don’t have to, that’s the point. They show, not tell, and they show enough that you never need to look up anything. The thing about Kilgrave that was terrifying was that he never thought he was in the wrong, not once. He was convinced that he was the poor little abused boy, who was given the power to reach out and take whatever he want, so why wouldn’t he? Making him purple - I would have laughed myself silly. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/5 "2016-07-06T16:53:12Z")
Spoiler for the last couple episodes: After taking the injections to increase his power, his veins start to turn purple. Which also fits with the Netflix shows where new characters generally get their “costume” in the last couple episodes of each season ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/6 "2016-07-06T17:10:22Z")
Part of the appeal of the Netflix series is that it doesn’t feel at all comicbooky. I doubt either my wife and I would have been drawn in to the show if the bad guy ran around in purple skin, or if Jessica wore a cape. The show works as a sci-fi thriller that explores the nature of abuse and recovery and doesn’t need costumes. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/7 "2016-07-06T17:19:01Z")
It’s interesting to compare the original Kilgrave with the one in the NetFlix series. It’s not just the skin that changed, but the entire backstory. He works only because of all those changes, so kudos to the writers who remade Kilgrave. ---
**Author:** ![OHS201](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@OHS201](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OHS201)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/8 "2016-07-07T18:41:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Part of the appeal of the Netflix series is that it doesn’t feel at all comicbooky. I doubt either my wife and I would have been drawn in to the show if the bad guy ran around in purple skin, or if Jessica wore a cape. The show works as a sci-fi thriller that explores the nature of abuse and recovery and doesn’t need costumes. I second that. Also to note, one of the major plot elements is the disbelief in his powers, Jessica has to convince everyone they’re real. If this was a “superhero” world with dozens of folks running around in tights and capes, that wouldn’t be so hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/9 "2016-07-07T18:52:56Z")
Well I would quibble there. It is a superhero world. Near the beginning when she lifted up some guy’s car so he couldn’t drive away he says “you’re one of those”. Both Netflix series occur in the Marvel universe. But yes, if he was purple then people would have been much easier to convince that he was a mind control villain. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/10 "2016-07-07T19:23:47Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well I would quibble there. It is a superhero world. Near the beginning when she lifted up some guy’s car so he couldn’t drive away he says “you’re one of those”. Both Netflix series occur in the Marvel universe. But yes, if he was purple then people would have been much easier to convince that he was a mind control villain. Yes it’s the same universe as the movies. There are offhand remarks about the damage caused in the first Avengers movie. But it’s the grittier more realistic corner of that universe. The corner where Daredevil gets the everliving fuck beaten out of him nightly. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/11 "2016-07-07T21:41:54Z")
He cold have been purple-ish, like someone with a congenital heart condition. Knew a guy like that in college. Didn’t live long afterward. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/12 "2016-07-08T00:39:54Z")
> [@OHS201](#): > > I second that. Also to note, one of the major plot elements is the disbelief in his powers, Jessica has to convince everyone they’re real. If this was a “superhero” world with dozens of folks running around in tights and capes, that wouldn’t be so hard to do. Good point, Jessica essentially has to deal with people who don’t believe she was legitimately raped. Speaking for myself, the first time someone shows up in a cape, I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/13 "2016-07-08T00:51:51Z")
[People can be purple in real life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria). I do think it would’ve become somewhat comical and offputting if they made Tennant purple. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-jones-a-quick-i-think-quesstion/759179/14 "2016-07-08T01:17:40Z")
This thread had more legs that I would have thought. I was going to end it by suggesting that we didn’t see Kilgrave as purple because he ordered us not to. Bob