Jessica Jones - Season Two (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
21

I didn’t HATE it, but I didn’t like it much. There were a lot of problems.

First of all, I’m not a fan of Back From The Dead or Not Really Dead This Whole Time. It has to be done well and carefully. This just seemed like “Hmm, what drama can we stir up?” It didn’t feel organic. It felt like writing.

It also went on for way too long. I didn’t care and it was almost the entirety of every episode. At least in S1 we’d get occasional side cases. They may have contributed to the overall part, but I’m usually more of a fan of Monster Of The Week vs Season-Long Arc.

I loved Trish in S1 so her journey, them being driven apart rather than coming together… it was a no go for me. It’s not that they can’t fight or have bumps but it felt right from the start it was going to end with them as frenemies, if not outright enemies.

And it’s a minor, personal thing, but I hated the whole custody thing with the super and his ex. As a single, female parent, it guts me when it’s so casual that the mother is crazy, the mother is the problem, the mother goes too far. She was portrayed awful and I’m not saying from what we saw the kid shouldn’t have been with the father, but for a “feminist” show, I thought it was hard to watch. And it might be my own personal shit, but we all bring our personal shit in to what we watch.

I didn’t like the Sopranos cop or his partner. I have no strong feelings about the doctor, and that’s kind of a bad thing. I should feel SOMETHING.

But I did like more Malcolm. And poor Wizzer. Jerry was sometimes interesting, sometimes not. I thought the use of Kilgrave was excellent. One of the things I loved so much about S1 was the portrayal of her trauma and her hallucinations of him were a great follow up to that. It shows how her trauma has changed.

I’m not exactly disappointed because I thought it was going to suck even harder (I hated all of the related shows for the most part), but I do wish it had been better.

I also think a two-year break did it no favors.

22

Anyone recognize which old movies they had playing on the building sides seen from the rooftop?
The skills brought by the cast giving many of these characters depth and the production values almost saves this show, and makes it worth watching, but yeah, it dragged badly, had holes (of both plot and characters) too big to hand wave away, and at end of day had way too much stupid.

Highly skilled and experienced Pryce misses his shot, hitting someone else, with a scoped sniper rifle? An experienced cop hesitates to take a shot from not far across the room in hostage situation. But then Trish, whose past experience firing guns is pre-procedural and does not yet know she has new talents, confidently shoots
from ground level with a handgun to the head of a target swinging and moving at the top of a Ferris Wheel, who sitting right next to her best friend?

It also bothers me a bit that an alcoholic who has been having meaningless nameless sexual encounters lectures her friends about their addictions and their use of casual sex, without at least her friends calling her out on it.

Is this supposed to take place right after the events of The Defenders? It seems like some allusion to that should be made.

The season and multi-season arcs in this universe are getting muddled and less interesting.

23

Finished last night. My opinion is biased because it’s a mother/daughter story and, having a slew of “mother” issues myself, they tend to trigger me in Jessica-esque ways. Of course, I don’t act upon them because this is real life, not the Marvel universe.

Because this season is more of a mother/daughter story, it veers from the typical Marvel superhero plot, which I think is what’s flummoxing many people.

When an actor makes me want to reach into the TV and throttle his/her character, that scores a bazillion points in my book. Congratulations Rebecca DeMornay and Janet McTeer.

24

Curious about what could come from Trish’s new cell phone catching skills, I googled to see if she was based on a character from the comics. Saying that she has an extensive history is a bit of an understatement. She has been involved in frankly feminine foolishness since 1944.

(Edited to Godwin the thread.)

25

No, that’s not what’s “flummoxing” me. I loathe how they chose to destroy a strong female character like Trish, and to destroy her relationship with Jessica. It was pointless, badly executed and generally stupid.

26

Nah. Its incoherence as a mother-daughter story and otherwise is what flummoxes more of us I think. The Frankenmother-daughter theme could have been powerful to those of us who are not daughters and those whose mothers were not so manipulative as the moms here were. It just wasn’t.

In that context Fair Rarity’s complaint about the non-major mother gains more relevance. One suspects that the writers of this arc have some mother issues they are working through. One dad highlighted and his fatherly attachment was put in a positive light. Maybe his mother was a possible positive mother spin but that is it and she was more a prop than a character.

D.G. … yes the comment of her having used up two of her nine lives was apparently quite a tease to those who know the comic book character. Where are they going with Trish? She may be falling right now but one suspects they’ll have her land on her feet. :slight_smile:

27

I can’t tell whether you think that’s a good thing, or a bad thing?

“Destroy” how? Her characterization in Season 2 is pretty consistent with what it was in Season 1.

28

I believe it’s the opening credits for Touch of Evil.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4 about 35 seconds in. ?

29

As a matter of personal preference, I guess I like the Season 1 approach better.

By analogy, take COLUMBO: you see why a guy would want to murder someone, and you watch him commit what he sees as the perfect crime; and then the protagonist plays off him as they react to each other. And that grabs me: it’s approachable, and it’s interesting, and I still find it enjoyable all these decades later — and I can of course appreciate a story that isn’t structured that way, I don’t need that single thread to run through it and simplify; but, oh, it sure is nice.

30

Thanks. That’s quite an opening sequence! And reading its plot I see its foreshadowing significance. I figured there had be some.

31

No, she’s regressed from where she was in season 1. She’s become more selfish, more reckless, and like everyone else except Malcolm, she hasn’t learned anything from her experiences.

32

Hey, my niece had a part in season two, episode 9. She played Lila, per IMDB. I’ll have to ask her if she had a line or two.

33

She was a sit-in guest on Trish’s show. She had a few lines talking about gluten.

34

That opening sequence is legendary in film, a masterclass in editing and innovating on use of in-scene music sources. And it almost wasn’t seen since the studio fought Welles every step of the way and only when it was restored by Walter Murch based on a 58-page letter Welles wrote to advocate for his cut did people fully appreciate his vision. The story is amazing. And the movie is a classic for rooftop screenings for film nerds.

35

My daughter and I are 7 episodes in and so far are really enjoying it. We are frustrated by Trish’s stupid choices, but see it as part of how this story is unfolding. McTeer - a deeply, deeply respected theater actor (she’s 6’1" and known for her runs as Hedda Gabler and Shakespearean strong women) - has eyes that just look both crazy and like they are dissecting everything around them with her intellect. Just great casting as a mom to Jessica. The whole 17-years without seeing her feels waaaayyyyy to long, but they do a decent job of selling it.

Have to see how the back half of the season goes - since the reviews are Meh, I am managing my expectations.

The minor-est of nits: I love Krysten Ritter in this role, so let’s be clear about that. But watching her demonstrate the physicality of Jessica Jones is always a risk. Watching her throw that squeeze ball - or even watching her walk and run when she is doing so with super-purpose - well, let’s just say she’s no Gal Gadot when it comes to inhabiting the physical awesomeness of the character. :wink: Again, just a nit.

36

Wife and I are two episodes in and both bored to death. It’s hard to care about these characters anymore. I agree Jessica has regressed so far. Taking that dude in the bathroom stall? Seems, as someone else said, reckless and out of character. Episode two spent entirely too much time on the lawyer, Trinity (can’t even remember her character’s name). I think I’m ready to give up on it, and that’s too bad because the first season was my favorite Netflix-Marvel show.

37

I can’t stand Carrie Ann-Moss’ character. Didn’t like her in the first season, do not like her in the second. I can not help but predict(we are 8 or 9 episodes in) that she might be the main villain of the second season. I keep thinking she’ll gt an IGH treatment and turn full-blown villain. She already turned off the electricity holding Kilgrave in Season 1! Lady’s a villain!

I feel bad for Carrie Ann-Moss. She is better than the poor material she has received.

38

I agree with your nitpick. She’s not athletic enough for the part, and the editing for her feats of strength is really poor. My nit: Punch through the hood of a car: no problems. Punch through a wall: knuckles all bloody and torn. Is she supposed to also have super bones? Punching hard objects tends to bust knuckles.

Count me as one who is bored with this season. Mom as the super villain? Jessica’s perennial foul mood has taken on a whiny note. And I really, really, really don’t give a shit about the lesbian lawyer’s issues, and am no fan of Carrie Moss’s one-dimensional acting in anything I’ve seen her in. But my biggest complaint about this series is the constant theme of substance abuse by nearly all of the main characters.

39

Yeah, super strength without invunerability or an extreme healing factor should make you about as useful as Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Unbreakable.

Don’t agree about JJ’s muscle tone, though–what she is doing is impossible for someone built like Swartzineggar (or Loofa Rigno painted green) so it might as well be a skinny person as a muscular one. (Plus, of course, Jessica’s jeans are one of the stars of the show.)

40

I’m actually completely on the opposite side of this( except agreeing a little with Chefguy about inconsistency and suspect editing/effects ). I like the awkward, non-Wonder Woman approach to super-human strength and the total lack of combat skills. She wasn’t a warrior princess trained since childhood to kill a God. She’s just some random girl who got super-strong( which for all we know could be some sort of localized telekinesis instead of super-density or whatever )and wanted nothing to do with her powers.