REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E6: AKA You’re A Winner!

Oh man s!@$ is getting real now.  We found out that Hope hired her own cellmate to beat her up because she was pregnant with Kilgraves baby.  As you probably have already surmised, she purposely got beaten to force an abortion.  The show has really taken a dark turn and is starting to turn up the heat.  It’s really a credit to the writing and direction because they are clearly not shying away from presenting that Killgrave is a disgusting rapist and that when backed into a corner, people will do anything they can to free themselves from the pain.

Killgrave has so utterly destroyed Hope’s life that it is almost inconceivable that anybody come back from this hell with any modicum of sanity. Hope states powerfully and in a way that will sure to stir the belief system and reactions of many a viewer, “I want to live.  I want to have children.  But I won’t give life to this thing.” We can infer from this that Hope is beaten physically, emotionally and psychologically but not broken.

Continuing on into the episode Jeri, the lawyer who has Jessica on retainer and played by Carrie Ann Moss has given a Hope a pill to kill the fetus, decides that she is going to keep the fetus for herself.  She wants to keep the fetus because she wants to replicate Killgraves powers herself.

At this point in episode 6, I’m starting to see the dark undercurrent that runs through all these characters.  These are all dark, twisted individuals who have had to make some tough decisions to ensure their very survival.  It gives everybody such emotional depth that it makes other superhero television shows pale in comparison.  (Supergirl I’m looking at you.)

Luke Cage returns to the show with a case for Jessica. It’s a case that takes a turn for the worst for our heroine when Luke tells Jess that she is a piece of s#!% for killing his wife and having sex with him. Not only is it an especially harsh criticism for Jessica because she was either partially or fully under the control of Killgrave, it’s devastating because she may just be falling for him.

But before we see this, we are treated to a pretty cool fight scene in a criminal marijuana distribution center where Luke takes on two dogs and a room full of henchman that he gets to slap around for a while.  He even utters his trademark, “Sweet Christmas!” upon entering the room.  Straight up fan service right there and I’m eating it all up.

Jessica tells Luke what happened to his wife.

Finally, Killgrave continues to be a Creepy McCreeperson as he offers to buy a seemingly random house in the suburbs.  It’s interesting to note that he did not use his powers of persuasion and made it a legit sale.  But why?  Minutes later we see that the house Killgrave chose was not random at all, but was Jessica Jones’ childhood home.

What’s he got planned?

We’ll find out next episode.

Thanks for reading and see more of my Jessica Jones reviews here! (Only 7 more to go!):

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E5: AKA The Sandwich Saved Me

 

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E5: AKA The Sandwich Saved Me

In an episode full of flashbacks, we see Jessica as an office drone, using her exceptional detectives to deduce that her middle management boss embezzling funds to wear suits and take “vacations” far above his pay grade.  And in a scene that would have made Peter Gibbons proud (if you haven’t seen Office Space… 1. Shame on you, and 2. Go watch it as soon as you finish reading this review) quits her job and join Trish for drinks and a life planning session.

Jessica and Trish team up to try and capture Killgrave using the Sufentanil that she stole from the hospital earlier and Simpson as the triggerman.  The fact that they were so close to capturing him will have anyone on the edge of their seat gritting their teeth when Killgraves personal security team shows up to stop the kidnapping.  It’s almost heartbreaking really but we still have 8 episodes to go.

We see later in the episode that Trish (who has been getting some sack time with Simpson) tries to get Jessica to wear her costume from the comics when Jessica operated as her “Jewel” persona.  It wouldn’t make too much sense to put her in the costume considering the tone of the show, Jessica gives the perfect sarcastic response, “if I wear that thing, you’ll have to call me Camel Toe.”

“If I wear that thing, you’ll have to call me Camel Toe.”

 

Jessica Jones as Jewel

Killgrave still remains a diabolical villain, evil to the core and almost flippant in his disregard for human life.  I’m surprised and a little disappointed in myself for not putting David Tennant on my radar a lot sooner, but I am convinced after this episode that he was the perfect choice for the Purple Man.  He’s got that perfect mix of style and confidence without an overbearing sense of bravado and it is just painful to have watched Jessica be forced to take smiling selfies and send them to Kilgrave in order to placate his sick obsession over her.  Ugh.  I need a shower.

Do I need to keep saying, “Another awesome episode”? Because it was another awesome episode.

As usual see my other reviews for Jessica Jones here:

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

 

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

In this episode we get more backstory on Trish and her past “Patsy” persona (noting that her mom “blew half the jury” to make sure she got an acting award. Ew.) and the results of insulting Killgrave live on the radio.   Last episode Killgrave sent Simpson to her apartment to end her life and now both she and Jessica know that they could be watched by anyone at any time.  Simpson, apparently free of Kilgraves control for the time being, returns to Patsy apartment and upon seeing her alive is utterly confused on how he could do such a thing.

To get some of the heat off of them and hopefully calm the ire of the Purple Man, Trish is forced to go on live radio and offer a knee bending apology.  Having to apologize to a man as disgusting and depraved as Killgrave has to be utterly demeaning but hey, it’s better than being convinced against your will to jump off a roof or something equally as ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Jeri has been gathering clients/witnesses who have been a thrall to Killgrave and it’s clear that some people are making stuff up and some people have stories that are clearly horrific.

On a more humorous note, we see Jessica reference the MCU at large after being snookered into a trap by a client who claimed to be looking for her cheating husband.  In a room trashing scene almost as great as Citizen Kane, Jessica states that she lost count at 99 “gifted” individuals who live in that borough alone, “And they all hate attempted murder”.

Insert smiley face here.

Such a nice touch on the MCU that it just makes me love this show even more.

Finally, its revealed that Malcolm is the photographer was satisfying because we now start to see what his purpose is on the show

That’s my brief review of Episode 4.  I’ve already finished my binge watching session last Sunday, so now I’m just playing catch up with the reviews.  So stay tuned for more!

And see the other reviews here:

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

 

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

In another solid character building episode, we see Jess and Luke bump uglies several times! Full on bed smashing, sweaty coitus!

Sweet Christmas indeed.

We get more screen time with the recurring characters in this episode.  Carrie Ann Moss’ Jeri Hogarth, looks amazing (and a whole heck of a lot like Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood from House of Cards) is working her damndest to get Hope free from prison while dealing with the issue of an estranged wife.

It’s interesting to note that we learn that The Purple Man’s abilities can be suppressed by anesthesia, specifically Sufentanil and Jessica hatches a plan to deliver a dose and knock him out for good.  It’s interesting to note that in New Avengers #3, the Purple Man who was heavily sedated prior to a mass super villain escape was not able to extend his mind control for very long over a stressed out Luke Cage.

Luke Cage vs. Purple Man

Patsy shows off her Krav Maga skills to Jessica and boy those skills will come in handy sooner rather than later because our boy Killgrave is at it again.  After being insulted by Patsy on her radio show, Killgrave sends his newest henchman and our newest recurring character, Sgt. Will Simpson played by Wil Traval.  SGT. Simpson, under the control of Killgrave manages to trick his way into Patsy apartment soundly beating her down before Jessica shows up to save the day.  Jessica follows Simpson back to Kilgraves lair and stumbles upon his creepy room that is set up as an homage to Jones herself.

The Purple Man’s creepy hideout

In his lair we finally get a really good look as David Tenant.  I really like they how they portray Purple Man in this show.  He’s not the purple skinned weirdo from the comics, he’s more like a semi suave European huckster.  A man who without powers would be as nondescript as the rest of us.  But given the ability to control other people, well, he turns into a real dick head.

Fending off another attacker, Jessica manages to save a still mind controlled Simpson by faking a roof dive/garbage pile landing getting him far enough away from Kilgraves control to snap him out of it.

The binge watching continues….

See my other Jessica Jones Review here:

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

 

 

 

 

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

Jessica is still on the hunt for man that kidnapped NYU student Hope Shlottman.  Hope is now in prison for [redacted].  

We get a bit more screen time with Luke Cage and Trish this episode.

In episode 1, Jessica rolls out of bed after a bout of rough sex and has an awkward moment in his bathroom.   She sees a photo of a woman she recognizes in his medicine cabinet and proceeds to shamble out of his apartment muttering an “I’m sorry” before starting her walk of shame back to her apartment, stopping briefly to puke in a below ground stairwell.

Keeping it classy.

That’s part of the show’s charm though.

In this episode Jessica returns to Luke’s bar after sitting in a police interrogation room being questioned as witness to Hope’s violent crime.The police searched the contents of her bag and photos on her camera and presumably saw all the creep shots of Luke she has been taking.  Understandably, he’s not too thrilled when the police show up at his job and show him all her pictures. He is even less thrilled when she apologizes for taking the pictures and explains that his big booty cutie is in fact, married. And he is probably even less, less thrilled (can somebody even be less than less thrilled?) that she ran out out on him the night before and here she is the next morning with a bag full of trouble.

At one point in the series, Luke remarks that Jessica is a, “hard drinking, mess of a woman…” and he couldn’t be more right.  However, yet again, it’s part of her charm and we can’t help but eat it up.

Trish isn’t really given much to do in this episode except to be in scenes when Jessica is spouting exposition.  The overall plan so far is to expose Kilgrave, prove that Hope is innocent and get that poor girl out of jail.  Both women know how dangerous Kilgrave is, so Trish invites Jessica to stay at her apartment that is complete with a workout room, high tech security system, a front door to which not even the front desk has a key, a personal Krav Maga instructor and panic room.

No dice Patsy, Ms. Jones is gonna do this on her own.

Aided by some flashbacks, we find out on the fateful night that Jessica broke free of the Purple Man’s influence, Kilgrave was actually hit by a city bus.  Those memories help with her detective work as she finds out that Kilgrave suffered Crush Syndrome and used his power to make some poor guy carve out his own kidneys to perform a transplant.

Uh.. whoa.

Finally we get to see Mr. Cage in action.  Sparing the details, because it’s a pretty good scene, we definitely see his powers at work here in a bar fight.

What’s even more awesome is that this is NOT an origin story!  Nope, they are giving us what we want.  Like Daredevil on Netflix, Luke and Jess already have their powers and the show is not going out of its way to talk about how or show how they got them.

In the final scene, we see Luke show off his impenetrable skin  to Jessica by turning on a circular saw and putting the spinning blade right on his stomach and saying ” You can’t fix me, I’m unbreakable.”

 

See my other Jessica Jones Review here:

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E1: AKA Ladies Night

Jessica Jones is finally on Netflix and it’s one of the best things on TV.

I’m going to briefly review all 13 episodes pointing out some cool things I noticed, nods to the MCU and in Lowbrowcomics fashion, nods to the classic Marvel Tales featuring our heroes and villains.

Episode 1 – Ladies Night

One of the first things I noticed is that the music is done by Sean Callery.  Sean Callery composed the music for 24 (one of the greatest shows in television history) , Bones and Medium.  The music is mostly a low throbbing baseline, mixed with some light piano and mild synth tones. It never gets in the way and gives the show a old school detective noir vibe.

 

The synopsis of episode 1 is that Jessica is hired by the parents of a missing NYU student and track star.  After doing some research and detective work, Jessica realizes that the girl was “kidnapped” by Zebediah Kilgrave also known as The Purple Man.

Although never explicitly called the Purple Man and never fully seen in this episode except in a violet hued shadowy visage, Kilgrave appears in Jessica’s memories as flashbacks, ghostly after images and sometimes full on hallucinations capable of licking her face.  Ew.

In this episode we are introduced to Jessica’s best friend Patricia Walker.  Trish is a successful star of her own radio show, “Trish Talks”.  Trish has no powers of her own save for exceptionally deep pockets, dedication to the practice of Krav Maga, extreme patience for Jessica’s antics and requests for money despite not seeing her for the past six months.  We find out that Trish was apparently aware that Jessica was under the control of the Kilgrave in the past.

During her investigation Jessica meets local bar owner Luke Cage.  The term (insert air quotes here) “investigation” could be used very liberally because Jess is being a straight up  creeper by sitting on a fire escape across the street and taking pictures of Luke exiting his bar and entering his apartment with a big booty bar patron.

1970’s era Luke Cage aka Power Man

Curiously missing his 1980’s trademark tiara/jheri curl, gigantic chain link belt and golden silk shirt, Luke invites Jessica into his bar, telling her that tonight is “Ladies Night”.  They flirt a bit and i’ll let you guess what happens next.

Sweet Christmas, this isn’t your mom’s Luke Cage.  And thank goodness too. This is the current bald headed, goatee wearing bad ass version of the Harlem hero for hire, with a slightly altered backstory that is slowly unraveling as the show continues.

At the end, Jessica manages to find the girl return and return her to her parents.  As the episode is closing, something so shocking happens that sets the tone for the rest of the series (as well as jump start the plot with a bang) that I dare not spoil it here.  Just know that I was sitting there with my jaw on the floor as Netflix surreptitiously counted down to episode 2.  You just have to see it for yourself.

Man o man what a start….

 

 

 

See my other Jessica Jones reviews here:

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E2: AKA Crush Syndrome

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E3: AKA It’s Called Whiskey

REVIEW Jessica Jones S1E4: AKA 99 Friends

I’ll Be Your Guest – Marvel’s Jessica Jones – Clip 1

16 Smashing Luke Cage, Hero for Hire Covers!

A wrongfully charged inmate in Seagate Prison named Carl Lucas undergoes a scientific experiment. When a racist prison guard tampers with the machine, Lucas develops some supernatural side-effects! Namely, enhanced strength and bulletproof skin! Luke Cage is born.

When his Hero for Hire service falls short, Luke Cage goes looking for an office. While searching, he is attacked by hit men hired by Diamond Back! Luke Cage exacts revenge. If he can bring Diamond Back to the authorities, he may be able to wipe his record clean and live as a fully free man. But Diamond Back won’t go down without a really good fight!

Luke Cage is visited by Owen Ridgley, a man who informs the Hero for Hire about a terrorist plot. Gideon Mace plans on blowing up each bridge and power station in Manhattan! His goal? To shake the very foundation of the United States! And Luke Cage is running out of time.

A supernatural being dubbed the ‘Phantom of 45th Street’ creeps into the Gem Theater! Luke Cage wakes to a fight he cannot win. The following day, Cage is hired to investigate the Phantom by someone else who has also been haunted. Can Luke uncover the secret of the Phantom before another night of midnight mischief?

Luke Cage learns about a band of criminals led by a woman named Black Mariah. Mariah’s thieves pose as ambulance drivers and steal corpses to loot them of possessions! Disgusted by these acts, the Hero for Hire decides to give the city a criminal shakedown on the house.

Luke Cage is hired by Catherine Forsythe, a young woman who believes someone is trying to kill her wealthy grandfather. But when Cage travels to the Forsythe mansion in the country, he runs into deadly robots wearing suits of armor!

On Christmas Eve, Luke Cage puts the kibosh on criminal activity, all of which has been orchestrated by a mad man named Marley! And this Scrooge plans on detonating a nuclear bomb on Christmas morning! Can Cage prevent this detonation? Or will the blast steal Christmas and millions of lives?

Luke Cage is hired by a mysterious businessman to track a couple of thugs who have stolen technology from the client’s personal cache. Cage accepts the job, but quickly finds out the ‘thugs’ are actually robots! Caught off-guard, Cage struggles put up a fight! Plus, the appearance of a surprise super-villain!

Luke Cage breaks into the Baxter Building, but the Fantastic Four are at the ready! A battle ensues, but once Cage explains his mission to receive payment from Dr. Doom, Reed Richards gives him an aircraft to fly to Latveria! Cage embarks on his quest to Castle Doom.

Luke Cage is fed up with fending off thugs on the late Frank Jenks account, so he decides to dig deeper into Frank’s personal affairs. An illegal casino operator named Señor Suerte learns of Cage’s probing, and decides to silence Cage no matter the cost!

Left to drown in a tunnel by Señor Suerte, Luke Cage breaks free at the very last minute! Determined to make Señor Suerte pay, Cage tracks the villain down to his secret hideout. But the Señor is ready for the attack…and has planted a series of gambling related traps! Luke Cage vs. the Wheel of Fate!

While Luke Cage was off fighting Spider-Man, a new villain emerged in New York City! Enter Chemistro, the inventor behind the alchemy gun! Cage is hired to defeat this new foe, but Chemistro won’t retire easily!

When a man is mauled to death by abnormally intelligent felines, the mayor of the city hires Luke Cage to investigate the crime! Cage follows a lead and gets attacked by wild cats. With their claws and fangs coated in poison, will the Hero for Hire survive this encounter to solve the mystery? A cat fight unlike any other!

Two of Cage’s old cellmates from Seagate Prison break out! At the Gem Theater, Big Ben Donovan pays Cage a violent visit. The two duke it out while Cage’s old cellmates make advancements towards exposing the hero as a felon!

Rackham has taken Mrs. Jenks hostage! To make matters worse, Claire Temple has been accused for the murder of Phil Fox! Luke Cage sets out to learn the truth and speaks with Claire, who assures him of her innocence. Cage vows to find the real killer, and clear Claire’s name!

Flea delivers Luke Cage to Comanche and Shades! After the convicts tell Cage how they escaped from prison, the four of them team-up to take down Rackham! Little do they know they are being stalked by a costumed man named Stilletto!

Jessica Jones: Who is The Purple Man? (Marvel/Netflix)