Critic Reviews

Darker and more dangerous than anything else Marvel Studios has put out to date, Jessica Jones is also very possibly its finest, most fully-formed creation.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones succeeds in all sorts of ways, especially the one that counts most: Ritter just might be the shrewdest casting move of the season, maybe several seasons, because she so fully inhabits the multidimensional Jones.

On its surface, Jessica Jones is well-executed on the level we've come to expect from Netflix-produced series, featuring a top-notch cast, solid writing and great use of its New York location to invoke both classic noir and '70s cinema.... But there's something really extraordinary about this show, and it comes down to Kilgrave. Man, woman, gay, straight, black, white--every character has layers. Everyone has complications.

This is not the candy-coated girl power of CBS's freshman series "Supergirl," which is doing something very different (and doing it very effectively). Jessica Jones is more psychologically complex, acknowledging how painful it can be to flee, to be free--even when you have an iron fist.

Jessica Jones is unlike anything Marvel or DC has tried in the live-action realm, and it's excellent.

Given the otherworldly circumstances, it all moves along quite logically and at a brisk pace that leaves dawdling for dead. There’s no flabby midsection here, just one major development after another. The fight scenes are well-choreographed and frequent. And the twists are imaginative while also being grounded in the grim realities of this ramped-up universe.

Two mainstays of film noir are the tough-talking dame and the cynical private eye, and one of the pleasures of Marvel’s Jessica Jones is that it unites both types in one thorny and fascinating character. The show, which features an exceptional performance from Krysten Ritter and sure-handed guidance from executive producer Melissa Rosenberg, is not just a contender for the title Best Marvel-related TV Property; in a supremely crowded TV scene, it is one of the year’s most distinctive new dramas.

It's [Jessica Jones'] superhumanity, rather than her superpowers, that makes the show so riveting.

The show is often shot in a flat, predictable manner, which is likely a choice made to place emphasis on the deep emotion of the piece instead of a perceived “comic book look,” but it results in a show that has almost no visual language at all.... Luckily, it’s never dull in every other department. From Ritter’s totally engaged performance--this character could have been pure snark but she never gives into that impulse--to the aforementioned themes that Rosenberg so captivatingly weaves into her narrative, Marvel’s Jessica Jones works.

It’s a complex protagonist, the kind we don’t see enough of on television or in studio films.... This series feels like the first superhero show really just for grown-ups--and it totally works.