Spoilers Jessica Jones - Season 3

I'm not that worried about the reviews, I liked Season 2 more than most people seemed to, so I'm confident I'll like this season too.
It is kind of a shame The Defenders ended up not getting a good enough reaction for a second season, it would have been cool to get another team up series as the end of the Netflix side of the MCU.

 

A short clip:

 

I just realized I haven’t watched season two yet. And I still have the second season of Punisher waiting as well, ack.

 

I never bothered with season two of The Punisher. It's the only Marvel Netflix season I didn't have any interest in (and I barely had any interest in the first season other than morbid curiosity).

 

I actually do want to see all of them, but I still haven't gotten around to Punisher season 2, either. I may watch JJ 3 before Punisher 2 in the end.

 

Featurette focused on Trish:

 

A.V. Club has published an interview with Melissa Rosenberg about the final season and she reflects on the show's three different villains. She also suggests that the best way to binge the show is four episodes at a time and then stop and reflect what you've watched.

AVC: You’ve got another incredibly compelling villain this season. Without giving anything away, what, if anything, links the three primary villains of these three seasons?

MR: Let’s see. Kilgrave (David Tennant), while being absolutely heinous and this terrible being, we were also able to dig into him—who he was, and why he was the way he was. That was looking at the making of a murderer, the making of a serial killer. That’s always what we do with all of our characters, really dig into what makes them who they are, and ultimately you understand it, but you can’t live with it or forgive it. That ultimately was the case with Jessica’s mother (Janet McTeer) as well. The fantasy of being able to live with this killer was just that, a fantasy, which Trish kind of proved, or tried to prove.

And then with Salinger (Jeremy Bobb of Russian Doll), we do get into who he is a little bit. He’s a very, very different kind of villain. Kilgrave is more of a classic villain. Then, we went in the opposite direction with her mother, someone deeply personal and connected. So it was more about the relationship, than some outside villain coming in. And then Salinger is different in that he’s human, has no powers, and forces Jessica to deal with him on a very pragmatic, human level. So they’re all very, very different from one another, and hence force Jessica to explore different parts of herself, in how she deals with each one.​

 

Spoiler: Jessica Jones season 3.13

JJS3 has a scene with Luke Cage, post season 2 of his own show.

 

You should clarify which episode that's on so people know where in the season you're spoiling...I watched eight episodes and I wish I hadn't clicked on that. My fault, I know, but still...

Spoiler: Through episode eight "AKA Camera Friendly

The first seven episodes have felt rather...rudimentary...building upon and breaking down the conflict between Jessica and Trish, leading to their reconciliation (if a somewhat uneasy) in light of a serial killer who has taken an interest in Jessica. While I've enjoyed Gregory Salinger's high-and-mighty and belittling nature and his anger towards Jessica (and "supers" in general) for "cheating" with her powers, it does feel rather underwhelming that he doesn't have powers of his own, just high intelligence, arrogance, and sociopathic tendencies. I get the idea of the contrast between the him and Jessica as oppose to her with Killgrave and Alisa Jones, but I still find it lacking a little in oomph.

Trish's path into becoming a masked vigilante sometimes felt clumsy, even if deliberately so as often the case for any vigilante at the beginning, but the problem here is Trish is far too eager to become a vigilante. This frequently lead her to making rash decisions that makes situations worse, even if (or because) Jessica tried to warn her off. Things do eventually get better when the two of them finally start working together and they actually agree on a mutual plan.

But episode eight finally picks things up in more ways than one. Firstly, following her own path of self-destruction, Jeri turned against Jessica both privately and publicly, thus opening a direct feud against Jessica in Jeri's attempts to unmask Trish. I was baffled by Jeri's decision to take on Salinger's case, even if it was purely because she wanted to help shift the firm's sudden failing image, but it didn't seem like a good decision because of Jessica's assurances that he was a serial killer. However, now it's clear that after years of conflict with Jessica, Jeri has flat out turned against vigilantism (which certainly makes a lot of sense for someone devoted to the law) regardless of Salinger's guilt or innocence. I'm curious to see how this plays out in the remaining five episodes, especially with the episode's other big development...

Salinger killed Dorothy which finally pushed Trish over the edge. Without jumping to episode nine right away, I honestly don't know which way the story will go. On the one hand, having Trish kill Salinger would be the natural ending for Salinger (especially since his story feels like it has run its course) and gives a certain Se7en quality to the situation. This would allow the final five episodes focus on the far more interesting conflict in the form of Jessica and Trish. On the other hand, this would unequivocally make Trish a villain (or at lest an anti-hero) despite Salinger's death being a revenge killing. I don't know Hellcat's comic history, but I imagine she never went as far as murdering anyone and I bet there will be a fair contingent of fans who won't be happy be with such a development.

I guess with that in mind, Jessica is able to save Salinger at the last second, but I have to say I'm already a little disappointed in that direction because I'm already bored by Salinger. Maybe he'll get arrested (but I don't see how with the broken chain of evidence that's been stressed so heavily this season) and the rest of the season will still shift towards the darker conflict between Jessica and Trish, but I'm not sure how that'll work.

 

@The Nth Doctor -- done. Sorry about that.

 

Spoiler: The rest of the season

Wow, I almost called the show having its cake and eating it, too, by avoiding Trish killing Salinger but also focusing the final arc of the season on the conflict between Jessica and Trish's vigilantism. But then things were ending too nicely in episode 12 so I knew another shoe was going to drop...and it did.

Trish became an outright villain. Not that the accidental killing of the corrupt cop and the deliberate beating of murdering arson that lead to his death were kosher, but killing a man firmly in police custody is a line no hero would cross (and only so-called anti-heroes like Frank Castle would cross).

As I struggled with my previous post, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I grew tired of Salinger about midway, even if his photographic exploration of pseudo-truth telling through torture (which reminded me of Firefly's Niska) was somewhat interesting. If nothing else, the sight of Dorothy's portrait disgusted me, which is remarkable considering how much I loathed the character. But Salinger's usefulness ran out relatively quickly despite Melissa Rosenberg's intentions of forcing Jessica to duel with a highly-intelligent non-super. And while I applaud her efforts, I always found the conflict between Jessica and Trish far more compelling.

I don't hold any allegiances to Hellcat in the comics, but I wouldn't be surprised if some fans will be upset with the show turning her into a villain. I'm not entirely sold with it myself, although the idea that child abuse and addiction fueled Trish's rage and compulsion as a vigilante is a compelling one. I just wish the season had done a better job of developing that idea. "Hellcat" did a good job covering the child abuse to some degree with the flashbacks but I don't think it did quite enough. Maybe upon watching all three seasons with all of the Trish character arcs that covered the child abuse and addiction will make a more compelling case that leads to her angry and dark path. I was, at least, grateful that Trish finally confronted her mother about the child abuse this season, even if it didn't seem to sink into Dorothy's head.

I didn't mention them in the previous post, but I enjoyed the story arcs for both Malcolm and Jeri. Malcolm's path as Jeri's fixer lead him to his own dark path and I largely enjoyed how we worked it out by the end. I particularly loved that after all of Jeri's machinations, she was left to die alone with no one to care for her and her reputation is in the shitter. If the show had continued, I'm not sure how her storyline would continue, but since this is the final season, it worked out quite nicely.

I'm disappointed that Jessica and Oscar quietly broke up in between seasons and we only got one scene of him and his son each. I get why that happened (to make room for Erik whose role in this season was more critical) but it's still disappointing. However, on the plus side, I absolutely loved Jessica's new assistant, Gillian, and her sassy nature (plus, hooray for LGBTQ+ inclusion!). While I'm content with how the show is ending, I am disappointed that we don't get to see her again.

I loved the Luke Cage cameo and how he just happened to show up just when Jessica needed with exactly the kind of advice he had to offer. I was saddened by the hints of what a season 3 of Luke Cage could've been, but I'm happy we got to see him once last time and with Jessica. I wonder if Mike Colter filmed the scene before or after his show was canceled?

Lastly, David Tennant is a cheeky bugger. He did say he wasn't in the final season of Jessica Jones but that didn't mean we wouldn't hear Killgrave one last time. I love that he had the final line of the series and it was one of mockery, one which convinced Jessica to stick around in New York instead of fleeing to Mexico. The season may not have been perfect but that was the perfect note to end the season and the series on.

 

About halfway in. So far, meh.

 

I felt The Punisher was the best of the Marvel Netflix series. Bernthal was--at long last--a worthy actor to bring the character to life (after the film disasters that came before), and is exactly the kind of presence the MCU desperately needs more than any other character from non-movie Marvel productions.

 

A couple of things I forgot to mention...

I suspect that this season takes place before Daredevil season 3 (or at least the second half) considering Jessica and Luke didn't talk about Matt being alive and Kingpin's propaganda campaign depicting him as a villain. That lack of conversation makes me think that their scene was filmed before any of the three shows were canceled.

My final ranking of the Netflix shows:

Jessica Jones season 1
Daredevil season 1
Daredevil season 3
The Defenders
Luke Cage season 1
Luke Cage season 2
Iron Fist season 2
Jessica Jones season 3
Jessica Jones season 2
Daredevil season 2
The Punisher season 1
Iron Fist season 1

What was the direction issue you had? How they handled Trish?

 

I enjoyed all three seasons of the series. I don't know if there is anything left in the tank for another season, so, ending at three may be best. If I could see one more Marvel show on Netflix, I'd rather see another Defenders team up.

Spoiler: Complaint

Can't you find one good straight white guy in NYC, anymore? (Eric was iffy bad guy.)

Spoiler: Trish

Both Trish and Jessica's mother didn't start killing people until after the medical treatment which also gave them their powers. Psychiatric therapy in the Rack may set the legal argument that Trish was not "responsible" for the murders due to emotional instability from the treatments; leading to a possible conditional/monitored release in the future if needed for a future story plot.

 

Ehhhh...that seems like a stretch.

I would love another season of The Defenders but it seems that I'm the only person who loved it. That it matters since all of the shows are canceled.

 

Trish is a far cry from the "cheese and crackers" version of Patsy/Hellcat I first met in the Avengers.