Jessica Jones: Season 2

I've recently finished watching season 2 of Jessica Jones, and I've got to say that I was quite happy with it.  It was a very different animal from season 1, which I think is leading some people to disappointment.  I, however, found it to be much more my style, and I really enjoyed the subtlety of it as well as the characterization and subtext.

Beyond this point be spoilers.  Don't say you weren't warned!

Season 2 of Jessica Jones got off to a really slow start, which seems to have turned some people off.  I actually relished the mystery of it.  Unlike season 1 where it kind of slapped you in the face right from the get go, season 2 savors the flavor for about 5 episodes letting you wonder who the villain is, whether or not there even is one, and what nefariousness is going on behind the scenes.  It takes its time introducing a few new characters as well as digging deeper into returning ones.

The thing that really stands out to me about this season is the exploration of concepts like invisible disabilities, addiction, and of course feminism.  They telegraphed pretty hard before the season came out that it was going to be a big feminist ro'sham'bonanza, and it certainly didn't disappoint on that front.

First, on the disabilities front, we had a lot of characters who were struggling with issues that were severe without being visible externally.  Hogarth was dealing with an ALS diagnosis, Malcolm was still dealing with the fallout from being a junkie, Alisa suffered from night terrors, Jessica had her alcoholism (of course).  It seemed like nearly all of the characters, minor or major, were dealing with some sort of issue (not necessarily, but often, a disability) that became a problem only because others were insensitive to it; and often they were insensitive only because they didn't know, or had clearly forgotten.

For example, addiction was a major theme for both Trish and Malcolm.  While Malcolm has learned to deal with it by replacing one addiction with others, he has largely made his experience into something positive by really throwing himself into his new PI work with Jessica.  Trish on the other hand gets hooked on military grade combat drugs (which is everything I ever wanted ever since they introduced Nuke's combat drugs).  I don't have much to say about this except that I thought it was handled well.  It contrasted two characters who were handling the problem very differently, and approached it with a (I thought) gentle hand.

I'm going to spend the most time here discussing the feminism themes because I thought they dominated a lot of different sub-plots (and really the super-plot) of the season.  These plotlines revolved heavily around three very important characters to the season, Jessica, Trish, and Jessica's mother Alisa.

Jessica is by and large the best example of non-toxic feminism in the show.  She is powerful, self-defined, and strong enough to forge her own path.  She has strong agency throughout the show (with a major exception that I'll discuss in a minute).

Nobody ever called her a Hellcat, much to my disappointment.

Trish is kind of a crab-bucket feminist.  She is driven by jealousy of her beau Griffin and of Jessica.  She wants Griffin's career, and in a pivotal moment realizes that she doesn't want to be with him... she wants to BE him.  She won't settle for being his +1 even if it opens doors for her in her career.  Likewise, she's sick of being a damsel to Jessica's super-hero.  She wants powers like Jessica and it drives her to abuse military grade combat drugs, and even worse ideas later in the season.  Ultimately, she is weak, but wants to be strong, and it leads her to drive important people out of her life.

Alisa is a newcomer to the season, and if it could be said to have a "big-bad", she would be it.  She isn't really a villain though, she is just a misguided strong independent woman.  Too liberated for society.  Having discovered freedom, she is unwilling to go back in the box and it makes her a threat to everybody else.

If I were to edit and re-structure this review, I would roll addiction and invisible disabilities together to make room conceptually for this last thought, because I think it's really important.  But this is more of a stream of consciousness thing, so the current structure will just have to do.  I recently watched Dave Chappelle's Netflix standup specials, and in the final "episode", he talked about demonizing your ideological opponents and scaring them into becoming defensive.  He said that when apartheid ended in South Africa, it was more successful than it perhaps should have been (in his opinion) due to the leaders of the movement preaching forgiveness and attempting to "put the system on trial" instead of trying to punish every individual.

Even Nuke was a good guy.

This is pertinent because Jessica Jones season 2 did not have a "big-bad".  The police were good guys, Alisa was a good guy, Karl was a good guy, Trish was a good guy, even Dorothy was a good guy.  Everybody in the season (with a few minor exceptions) was trying to do their best, and it just wasn't good enough.  The villain was "the system" that had put everybody in this situation.

So that concludes my review of Jessica Jones season 2.  It wasn't my absolute favorite Netflix Defenders season yet, but it perhaps deserves the highest merit among seasons thus far for its tackling of several difficult topics quite effectively and still delivering an enjoyable adventure/mystery show.