Story by Mayra Monroy, Editor-in-Chief
Photo courtesy of Screen Rant

If you’re looking for your next Netflix binge, look no further than Marvel Studio and Netflix’s latest collaboration, Jessica Jones. Forewarning: the series follows a gritty private investigator that likes booze, sex, and secrets. If you can get past the dark-as-hell plot, the biting sarcasm, and the overly blunt use of expletives…well, that’s the charm of it.

Directed by SJ Clarkson and written by Melissa Rosenberg, this next installment combines great acting, star cast, and excellent cinematography. This gritty series is rated TV-MA, so don’t watch this with your younger sibling…or your parents.

Jessica Jones, brought to life with the perfect fit of Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23), is a former superhero turned private investigator, with a client list of stiffed divorcees and cheating partners. As Jones says herself, “Cheaters are great for business.”

Jones finds herself trailing the cheaters with her camera…and her questionable methods of extracting information. Jones possesses amazing strength and the power of flight, giving you a sneak preview of those powers in the first episode. Ritter does a great job of emulating strength and sorrow in her portrayal of Jones, a character suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

You also meet another Marvel superhero, Luke Cage, played by brilliant actor, Mike Colter (Million Dollar Baby). Cage and Jones become not only romantically intertwined (quite literally), but partners in fighting the bad guys. Cage is also the next in line for a Netflix series, with Marvel’s Luke Cage set for debut in 2016. Cage suffers from his own ghosts, including a crime linking him to Jones in a tragic way unbeknownst at first.

With a haunting past all of her own. Jones puts all her effort into her work. Though it’s not clear at first, Jones is haunted by a villain, depicted as a controlling, “gifted” person, the Purple Man. Dressed in purple suits, clean-cut, and extremely villainous, David Tennant (Doctor Who) gives viewers nightmares with his excellent performance of mind-controlling Kilgrave.

Jones and Kilgrave’s interaction and feud is the backstory to the first season. In her first case, a missing college student ties her back to her own abduction from Kilgrave, bringing forth the realization that her feared alive enemy is back to haunt her. Does Jessica overcome? Or will Kilgrave be the end of her? Let’s just say, add this show to your Netflix queue.

“I’m the only one who matches you,” says Kilgrave. Yikes.

Jessica Jones was applauded for its diverse cast, but also for its saddening but real depiction of the darker side of life, exploring themes of PTSD, rape, alcoholism and assault. This show doesn’t hold back.

If you aren’t familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, well, just know that there are connections in this series to previous Marvel movies and characters. Let’s just say that they talk often about the attack on New York, “the Big Green Guy,” and the “Flag Waver.” Rumor has it, there are ties to Marvel’s Daredevil, which was released last year. Guess you’ll have to watch, but maybe a character crosses over.

Jessica Jones is gritty, dark, and beautifully done.

About the Writer…

Mayra Monroy is a senior studying Communication and Journalism. She is the Editor-in-Chief for The Saint, Writer for Revue Magazine and the Marketing Intern for Van Andel Arena & DeVos Place in Grand Rapids. Mayra enjoys traveling, being immersed in local and national news, and spends her day on Twitter.