Just finished binge-watching the series and to make the obvious comparisons with Daredevil and other super-hero contemporaries:
-Jessica Jones is not nearly as 'pretty' of a show. I don't know whether it's because there is a smaller budget or just different direction, but it's not as well shot and there are few shots that stood out to me from a visual perspective. Not a bad show, but average really in terms of visuals. Bland really, with only a few things that stand out as well done such as the use of purple whenever the villain's presence is meant to be felt.
-The fight scenes are pretty poor. To be fair Jessica doesn't fight nearly as often as Daredevil and she's not nearly as good at it, her 'technique' basically consists of just throwing people around with her superior strength, but still it's not very stimulating to watch. Not her nor any of the other people that fight, to avoid spoilers.
-Some of the plot points later on in the series feel out of place and forced. There's a decent amount of foreshadowing towards future plot points and other Marvel series, even a prominent crossover with Daredevil near the end, and I just found it out of place and often detracting from the main plot.
-The few scenes that involve any fancy special effects are not very good. Nothing too bad that it made me roll my eyes thankfully, but it was definitely noticeable. It's a good thing both Jessica and the villains powers are pretty straight forward because anything more FX heavy would completely fall apart.
-I know this is a bit of a comic trope in general and it's actually been toned down from the comics this show is based on, but damn: So many convenient coincidences. "Oh so this person just happens to know this person that's also a prominent character from this thing or who just so happens to be able to do that thing you need? Gee, how very... convenient. Ug.". I can't stand this aspect of comic books and I dislike it in comic-book based movies and shows as well, and though considerably toned down here from its comic originator, it still annoyed me sometimes. There's no Force or Fate as an excuse here, it's just corny.
BUUUUUUTTTT, if this all sounds super negative, here's the positives:
-Jessica is a fantastic protagonist and I found her far more compelling as a character than Daredevil or, in fact, almost any other Marvel hero and in fact just super hero in general with modern media. The actress also really nails the role, I wasn't sold at first but by the end of the show I loved both the character and the actress portrayal of the character. I very much like that she's someone who 'wants' to be a hero, who wishes she could be a 'good guy', yet who is just so broken and flawed she's struggling to live up to both her own desires and the expectations of those few who know about her and her abilities.
She stumbles, she fails, she makes some genuinely terrible decisions and even does some horrible things, yet I always felt sympathetic towards her because despite it all it felt like she was trying at least. It felt genuine.
-The Purple Man, aka David Tennant, is terrifying. As he should be. He's a completely different sort of super-hero villain from most others portrayed and it works incredibly well. He has a commanding presence on screen and is suitably both horrifying and yet vulnerable. In fact you can sorta see why his particular brand of villainy wouldn't attract much attention in a world also occupied by characters like The Hulk or Iron Man, making him both contemptible yet even more insidiously evil. He's a small-scale evil, yet that doesn't make him any less evil for those touched by him.
-The supporting cast is largely entertaining and well acted and my only major complaint about them is that I wouldn't mind seeing some of them more. Luke Cage I admit isn't a hero I know much about, but I liked both his character and portrayal in the show and it made me suddenly interested in his own upcoming series.
-The plot in intriguing, the story compelling, and the portrayal of emotion throughout very well done. At one point someone says something along the lines of 'He leaves a trail of broken people behind him' and you can totally see it, with Jessica being one of those broken people. The show rarely shies away from portraying some of the bad things that happen and when it does shy away from certain subjects it's done fairly well (Yes, I'm talking about rape, yes it's brought up, yes the villain likes doing it, though obviously the show has to be fairly tasteful and careful in how it's presented.).
Overall impressions?
Not as good looking or action driven as a number of other 'super hero' shows now out there, but in terms of being a character-driven super-hero story it's my favourite by far and I'm extremely eager to see more. It's not a perfect show and it had its downsides, especially those 'foreshadowing' moments that never ended up leading anywhere as those kinda annoyed me, but when it shines I felt it really shows and it left me wanting more.
