JESSICA JONES SEASON 3 REVIEW: A WOEFUL STEP INTO DISNEY’S PLAYGROUND…

For a decade the MCU has done a tremendous amount of work selling the concept of interconnected heroes in a shared world, one that becomes larger and more complicated with every entry in its roster.

Then we jump head on into TV Land, where the Netflix shows, despite being marketed as part of the MCU, never quite meshed with that universe or each other, with the exception of a so-so Defenders series that brought the four title characters together to battle Sigourney Weaver and dig up some dragon bones (oh, and a few cross-cameos from supporting cast and main cast in each show).

So…

What is worse than a great show limping to its death?

A great show limping to its death.

Unfortunately, with our favorite sleuth/superhero Jessica Jones, we have had more bloated stories, diminishing returns, and shoddy fight scenes which made the case that Marvel’s most important superhero show needed a creative reboot, and season 3 proves it’s time to say goodbye for good.

Benjamin Walker and Krysten Ritter in “Marvel’s Jessica Jones”

David Giesbrecht/Netflix

But far more frustrating than the theme’s familiarity or the obvious outcome are the structural and formal flaws inherent to yet another season of a Marvel-Netflix TV show.

I guess it’s fitting that “Jessica Jones” Season 3 sees every aspect of the franchise through to the end, and it’s probably contractually mandated to run 13 swollen episodes instead of a tight six or seven, but that doesn’t excuse the tired story choices.

The central paradox of Season 3 is defined in the first scene, when Jessica Jones (Ritter) finds herself on a sunny beach in Mexico ripping a child from her father’s arms. You see, the dad doesn’t have parental rights anymore, so it’s illegal for him to take his daughter on an international vacation. But the kid wants to see her dad. She gets mad at Jessica for showing up to take her away and stays angry the whole trip back to New York.

You may be asking yourselves, ‘Did Jessica do the right thing?” or did she just do what was lawful?

These questions aren’t new to the superhero genre, nor does Season 3 offer up any revelatory answers to those questions.

And when it comes to superhero stories, there’s a widely held belief that a hero is only as good as their villain – and in the case of Marvel’s Netflix shows, the bad guy (or lack thereof) can make or break a season. And the show is far more concerned with an exhausting and predictable serial killer arc!

The new season introduces arrogant serial killer Gregory Salinger (starring none other than “The Knick” and “Russian Doll’s” Jeremy Bobb) and how it ties into Jones’ fractured friendship with Trish (Rachael Taylor). He’s a man on a mission, and the Marvel Comics villain who murders those he doesn’t consider “worthy” of the advantages life has given them – especially those with super-powers.

At the same time, Jessica has cut the newly powered Trish (Rachael Taylor) out of her life, as she struggles to live up to her mother’s expectations for being a hero, but in order to survive the madman who wants to put an end to the super-powered, the two must find a way to repair their fractured friendship and work together.

Through this new investigation — that starts with a dude knocking on Jessica’s door and stabbing her in the stomach — Jessica will learn why due process is important, if frustrating, staple of the justice system, just like Batman, Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, Wolverine, and so many more superheroes have already learned prior.

It sucks…

The first and third seasons of Jessica Jones pit Jessica against murderous men whom she’s capable of killing, even though she really doesn’t want to.

Both force her to question whether protecting other people is worth compromising her morals and breaking the law. Ironically, while the villain of season 3 is much weaker than the mind-controlling Kilgrave in season 1, Jessica feels stronger than ever in this finale, thanks explicitly to her willingness to, as she puts it, give a shit.

ABOVE: Are you the baddy? No. You are!

Considering all the trauma Jessica endured over the first two seasons of the show (culminating in Trish killing Jessica’s mother in the Season 2 finale), it’s telling that everyone in Jessica’s life is far more self-destructive than she is in Season 3 (Malcolm, Jeri, and Trish), are all wrecking balls, spinning out of control after their many misdeeds of the previous seasons.

Within the previous seasons, the characters that surrounded JJ were a bunch of unlikable caricatures, and by having them behave in contrived or cliched ways that seemed to be dictated by the need to facilitate plot twists, rather than logical character development. Thank God for season 3, and the writers have actually done a decent job by offering context for the characters’ actions, and in most cases, allowing us to empathize with them, even if we don’t always agree with what they’re doing.

The supporting plots show that moral crises aren’t limited to people with superpowers. Jessica’s former assistant Malcolm Ducasse (Eka Darville) got tired of putting up with her abuse in season 2 and got a job as lead investigator for the new law firm founded by Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss). While Dorothy manages the balance between being sympathetic and hateful, Jeri always skews too far into villain territory.

ADVANTAGES OF THE SEASON:

After the heightened shenanigans of the first two seasons, there’s something quite refreshing about watching our heroine engage in some actual sleuthing this time around, kinda like the Scooby-gang in Scooby-Doo.

The plots and themes of season 3 are much more tightly interwoven, even if they’re not all created equally.

Point of fact, Trish, who gained superpowers through a near-deadly experiment at the end of season 2, sets out to test her abilities and become a hero in her own right. The phenomenal second episode, “You’re Welcome,” directed by Ritter herself, entirely follows Trish starting with the end of season 2, and ending where her plot and Jessica’s intersect in episode 1.

The episode nods to the comic book version of Trish’s character, Hellcat, but it also chronicles Trish’s development, and gets her to a place where both Jessica and the audience can forgive her for killing Jessica’s mother in season 2.

Season 3 raises the question of whether it would be acceptable to kill Salinger to prevent him from committing future crimes, or whether Jessica and Trish are even right to go after non-powered criminals at all.

And it has us questioning whether heroes can be killers? And the theme continues to unravel through each episode at a slow pace.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

At this point, Disney can do whatever it wants. There’s a three-year waiting period before they can use the Netflix Marvel characters again and truly hopeful fans can cross their fingers for Jessica, Luke, Matt, and Danny reappearing on a Disney+ show in 2021.

And it’s pure coincidence that Jessica Jones would be the show to close out Marvel’s brief Netflix experiment; the cancelation notices for Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher rolled in while Season 3 was already in production. And unfortunately, the third season of one of the better streaming Marvel shows had to function as a double finale, for both Jessica Jones the series and as the final chapter in the sometimes intersecting stories of the Netflix heroes.

We will sorely miss you, Jessica Jones, but unfortunately, we won’t miss season 3.

2.5/5 STARS