Season 1

This is a little different than most comics shows. There's a classic polar vibe. She's a good detective. Investigations are interesting in the beginning, she has some really smart moves.
The show is more focused on her story than on her powers, which is nice for a change. Her strength is mostly used for opening doors and locks, and the occasional fights, it's not the main attraction.

Jessica's character is interesting, complex, deeply conflicted (most importantly from killing Luke's wife), with several past traumas (the death of her family, spending a year controlled by Kilgrave), very dark, drinking a lot but without falling into the alcoholic cliche and obviously pretty bad at interacting with people. And we learn that littke by little in a well designed way. That's probably one of the best written characters in the Marvel shows.

But let's be clear, the main thing is the bad guy. Kilgrave is original, has an interesting power, and David Tennant is just perfect making all of his appearances the best part of the show by far. His motivations are complex too. He wants Jessica, but would rather have her come willingly because she resisted him. He genuinely doesn't know how to interact normally with people because of his powers, and throughout the season, he really believes he can convince Jessica, or that he's doing nice things (when it's actually creepy stalker stuff).

For the others characters, it's very variable. Some that you thought would be one shot stick around for something interesting (like Hope or Simpson) while others are fully developped in a quite boring way, just to be used for one plot twist (like the neighbours).

Trish is mostly useless though she has nice dynamics with Jessica.

Malcolm has the widest evolution, great job from the actor for that. I would have thought Hope would end up having that role, but he's great for it.

Jessica's interaction with Luke is interesting. Two powered people that find someone like them for the first time. But much complicated by Jessica's guilt. It probably should have been exploited a little more.

Jeri could have been interesting as a background secondary character, but having an actress like Carrie-Ann Moss, they made her a more important place in the show. Too bad, the character doesn't deserve that much time, her whole storyline is not really interesting and seems mostly developped for one plot twist (her helping free Kilgrave) and everything his quickly (and badly) wrapped up after that.

That's really the main bad point of the show. There's too much of these long developped stories or characters that have little interest and are clearly there just for one plot twist to be quickly forgotten or gotten rid of just after. The whole Jeri divorce story line is basically just to build a motive for making her help Kilgrave. Same thing with the neighbours siblings, all of their storyline has just been put there to help Kilgrave escape again. These two points, with 4 extra characters, were developped through the whole show just to have an out of nowhere way to prolong for a few episodes when the story should have been over. Once would have been ok, but the second time it's ridiculous.

Another example is Jessica rocking herself, mumbling her street names. That really feel odd and out of place since the beginning. Then you realize it's really only there to rub your face in the fact that Kilgrave bought her childhood home, in case you were too dumb to understand it before. And it's quickly forgotten after that.

There's some confusion about how Kilgrave's powers work. Sometimes it's supposed to be like a virus or pheromones, being in contact with the same air. But then at some point they're afraid it would work through radio, and it works once through PA. It's also easily stopped by headphones in the last episode. So sometimes you could think it's the voice. But it also happens once or twice without him speaking. It mainly seems focused on words, like when Jessica convinces people they've done what he asked using another possible meaning. But then couldn't people rationalize like that by themselves to avoid doing what he asked ?And some other times it seems mostly driven by Kilgrave's intent more than his actual words. That makes for some weird inconsistencies.

In general the show is pretty good, but it probably could have been better with a few episodes less. Lots of stuff look hastily added and totally not integrated with the characters and storylines, probably just to get to 13 episodes.

Bold, complex storytelling blends with incredible performances to produce what is arguably the best single season of Marvel TV to date. (I'd even put it on the level of some seasons of The Wire or Game of Thrones.) Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg uses Jessica Jones to tackle issues of post-sexual assault trauma, emotional abuse, abortion, and more. The film noir style, and light touch when it comes to superpowers, gives the show a grittiness and reality that makes all of the emotional punches land as hard as an enhanced roundhouse from Luke Cage. Krysten Ritter's turn as the alcoholic, self-destructive Jessica is so pitch-perfect that it's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. When she's suffering under the weight of guilt, shame, and victimhood you can see it in her eyes. Around her the supporting cast also shines, with Carrie-Anne Moss standing out in a deliciously dark role that sucks you in. All the while, David Tennant's legendary take on Killgrave creates what is arguably the best villain in Marvel Studios history- TV or film. (It's at least in the conversation.) His malevolence is tinged with just enough humanity to make him seem all-too real, which only amps up the scare factor. The season's fatal flaw, as with even the best Netflix series of this era, is its length. The story starts to drag about halfway through episode 10, though the final episode is solid. If they had trimmed it down to 12 episodes and added in one more exciting set piece, it would have been a perfectly-paced story; but even with this minor drawback, Jessica Jones' first season improves on the amazing season 1 of Daredevil, giving the Defenders Saga a pretty incredible 1-2 punch to launch their little corner of the MCU.

The Netflix original series Jessica Jones is an ugly and joyless noir drama that betrays the Marvel brand. Season 1 follows cold and callous private investigator Jessica Jones as she attempts to track down and expose a murderer named Kilgrave who has the power to compel people to do whatever he says. Krysten Ritter is horribly miscast as Jessica, either that or the character’s terribly written. Either way, Jessica comes off as a hostile and anti-social misanthrope. On the other hand David Tennant is magnetic, creating a remarkable compelling villain (making Ritter even more inept by comparison). And Carrie-Anne Moss is completely wasted in some pointless lesbian divorce story. There are virtually no ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe other than one or two vague Avenger references and a minor Daredevil character crossover; which is a major failing given that the series was conceived of as part of a larger build up to a Defenders feature event. Also, the show is surprisingly sexually explicit, almost exploitively so; again reflecting poorly on Marvel and its treatment of its first female led superhero series. Lacking a compelling lead character, Jessica Jones has fundamental problems and delivers a poor first season without much hope for improvement.