Jessica Jones Season 2 Review

Marvel's Jessica Jones is back on the case. Last week, Season 2's debut was an International Women's Day gift to superhero fans everywhere. With improved pacing and strong character work, Jessica Jones Season 2 is a competent followup to an electrifying debut season. It takes everything Jess fans loved about the character and her world and improves upon it. Though the series isn't without its flaws, it should suck most viewers right back into the grim, gritty world of Netflix's corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For many of Marvel's Netflix shows, the 13-episode count actively works against the story, often creating frustrating mid-season slumps. This is not the case with Jessica Jones Season 2. The season gets off to something of a slow start, but that ultimately works in its favor. The opening episodes lay the groundwork for what comes later, carefully establishing where our characters are and how far they've come since Season 1 -- just so they can get torn back down again in subsequent episodes. With this set up out of the way, the show is able to build a steady momentum all the way through to its tense, inevitable conclusion.

That isn't to say the first few episodes are a slog. It's a slow burn, yes, but one peppered with enough mystery to get its hooks into the audience. In due time, the first three episodes introduce all of the moving parts, which prepares the audience for what comes later on down the line. The pacing problems of the first season have been efficiently resolved for Season 2; this time, the action doesn't feel as though it drags on to fill a prescribed number of episodes.

The story picks up the pace with the introduction of Janet McTeer's mysterious character, who plays an integral role in the rest of the series. McTeer is a wonderful addition to the cast who can take just about anything that Krysten Ritter's Jess Jones can throw at her -- literally and figuratively. McTeer's character effectively presents a problem that Jess can't snark or punch her way out of; she is the immovable object to Jess' unstoppable force and the dark mirror that forces Jess to confront the parts of herself that she tries to drown in whiskey. With a role couched in extremes, McTeer demands a top-notch, emotionally resonant performance from Ritter and both characters benefit wonderfully from it.

Thanks to McTeer's arrival, Ritter turns out the best performance of her character to date. While the essential aspects of Jess' character -- the forced apathy, the repartee, the trauma, the heart of gold -- remain, Ritter adds new layers for an even more nuanced take. Like the other characters in the season, Jess is stripped to her bare essentials here, her hidden self exposed like a raw nerve. This puts Ritter's range on full display, as Jess grapples with guilt, resentment, sorrow and even -- for a fleeting moment -- happiness. As Jess comes to new realizations about herself, Ritter gives the scenes a gravitas deserving of such a complex, important character.

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Jessica Jones' supporting characters also find themselves broken down to their very core as their lives collapse around them, and their respective actors pull off these emotional spirals with aplomb. Rachael Taylor's Trish Walker steadily loses her cool sense of control and drifts away from her role as Jess' rock when her true intentions come to light with a violent, desperate anguish. Likewise, Carrie Anne Moss gets to bring a vulnerability to Jeri like we've never seen before, in a way that plays true to the broken character. And loyal Malcolm (Eka Darville) undergoes a heartbreaking transformation as his faith and trust are completely shattered. J.R. Ramirez's Oscar makes a welcome addition to the cast, offering a glimpse of a "normal" life within a world filled with superheroes and alien invasions.

Even David Tennant's return as Kilgrave is delightful -- for all the wrong reasons. The season dedicates enough time to each character that, regardless of their flawed choices, each performance resonates.

One of Season 2's greatest strengths lies in the fact that there is no villain in the traditional sense. Sure, there are a handful of antagonists that make life difficult for our heroes, but Jess is far and away her own worst enemy. Just about every character wants to make a difference and help others: Jess makes great personal sacrifices for the general good, Trish aims to make a difference in tackling real-world issues through her show and other means, McTeer's character wants to protect the people she loves and Karl Malus hopes to change the world through radical science, just to name a few motivations. Each character is a hero in their own story -- until they're not. Jessica Jones Season 2's journey of self-awareness makes or breaks its characters. That is something seldom seen on superhero television, which makes it feel complex and unique.

For Season 2, Jessica Jones hired a slate of all-women directors to great effect. In a show that deals with trauma, particularly of a sexual nature, it's crucial that the main female character isn't objectified by the camera. Jessica Jones allows its protagonist to take charge of her sexuality and the point of view emphasizes this. The camera -- and the women behind it -- respect Jess as a character in a way that feels natural and sublime.

However well Season 2 handles its pacing and characters, it is not without flaws. While the show continues to break ground with its white female protagonists, it hardly boasts any women of color; worse, those who we do meet are never fleshed out or treated with the same nuance as characters like Trish and Jeri. The few that appear act only to move the plot along, create conflict or exhibit a bias against powered individuals, which is cringe-worthy at best. On the heels of Black Panther and Luke Cage, there is really no excuse for a show like Jessica Jones to ignore or alienate a whole community of women (and not to mention potential viewers).

Marvel put Jessica Jones through the wringer again in Season 2 and the character -- and her supporting cast -- has emerged better for it. The show presents a deeply layered take on Jess and her friends in a post-Kilgrave world. Though it doesn't quite capture the lightning in a bottle of Season 1, Season 2 capably expands on the character with a twisting, turning narrative that's sure to satisfy Marvel Netflix fans.

Streaming now on Netflix, Jessica Jones Season 2 stars Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Carrie-Anne Moss, Eka Darville, J.R. Ramirez and Janet McTeer.