Moxie

Samantha Madison – Alexandria, VA

Still on the fence about delving into “Jessica Jones”? Don’t be. The latest Netflix original show in the Marvel Universe is the best comic book show out there today, hands down. Even if you aren’t into comic books, this is a show to get hooked on. Get ready to binge-watch all 13 episodes of season one in a couple of days (Read: Clear a weekend and eat some holiday goodies). But be ready for graphic language, lots of sex, twisted plots and some hard-to-watch scenes.

Beware: Spoilers ahead.

Private investigator Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) represents everything the stereotypical female isn’t “supposed to be,” and she couldn’t be more awesome for it. Jones is a strong, solid woman with special abilities – super strength – she picked up as a child after a car crash killed her family. Despite almost running away in terror during the first episode, Jones rarely allows fear to control her. Instead, she channels that fear to rid the world of the villain Kilgrave (David Tennant), who has the ability to control people’s minds.

Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from Kilgrave forcing her to do terrible things with her strength, but Jones must face it all over again when she discovers Kilgrave isn’t actually dead. She continues to push everyone in her life away so that Kilgrave can’t hurt anyone except her, but it doesn’t work.

Ritter nails her portrayal of this powerful, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer badass with a penchant for hot men, good sex, cheap whiskey and questionable morals. She dons a leather jacket and hoodie with combat boots while swearing like a sailor, all the while trying to keep her distance from her best friend Trish (Rachael Taylor) in hopes that it will save her life. Trish is the light side to Jones’ dark and twisted self, always trying to encourage her to let people in and do the right thing.

Kilgrave is a terrifyingly fantastic villain. Imagine, for a minute, a man who can walk up to anyone he wants and tell them what they are going to do and they immediately do it. Unrealistic? Yes. Scary as hell? 100 percent. He’s the stuff nightmares are made of – in short, a wickedly interesting bad guy. He forces everyone he encounters to do exactly what he wants, even having sex with him in some cases.

The biggest struggle viewers have with Kilgrave is his ability to make the audience feel bad for him, or think that just maybe we will use his powers for good. It can be challenging to hate him because he is also a victim, but a victim who has chosen to be bad. After all, aren’t all villains just victims that choose to avenge themselves in the “wrong” way?

There are two kinds of love in this show: the obsessive, demented and unrequited kind that makes Kilgrave crazy; and the kind between Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Jones where they will end up together, but only after dealing with baggage and letting down their guards.

This is a dark, twisted show, but it will keep those who haven’t read the comics guessing the whole time. It’s easy to lose 13 hours to the show because once the first episode starts, no one wants to walk away from the noir journey that is “Jessica Jones.” Here’s to waiting on the edge of our seats for the next installment of Netflix’s foray into the Marvel Universe.