After nearly two years of waiting, Jessica Jones season 2 finally dropped on Netflix and wow was it worth the wait.
Before we get into it, a disclosure: I was not initially psyched to watch this season.
I had really enjoyed the first season but it had been so long since it first premiered that it had floated to the back of my mind. During the hiatus, my life had filled up with Riverdale, Jane the Virgin, and Schitt’s Creek.
But after catching up on all my other shows, I decided to finally return to Jessica Jones.
When I usually review a show, I go through the highs and lows of the season. But Jessica Jones season 2 was nearly flawless. The acting, the plotlines, the twists and surprises, the cinematography were all executed to perfection. So let’s talk about all the awesome shit that went down, starting with Jessie herself.
Jessica
Wow, did Krysten Ritter act her as off this season. She was handed a pretty emotionally heavy script, in which Jessica is forced to finally deal with her grief and childhood trauma of losing her entire family. Encouraged by her best friend/ adopted sister Trish, the two start investigating exactly who did this to Jessica and who is murdering all the other supers.
They hunt down one of the doctors from the secret lab where Jessica was made and Jessica meets with her face to face.
But as she soon discovers, it isn’t the doctor at all, but the murderer in question.
They go down every avenue to track this woman down, and long story short, they find her with the evil doctor himself- Karl.
It turns out Karl and the murderer are shacking up and Jessica tracks them down only to discover… dum dum dum… the murderer is her own mother!
Wow, talk about a freaking twist. It turns out her mother has been alive this whole time, recovering and getting treatment from Karl. But Alisa (Jessica’s mother) is too volatile to be let out into the world. Her rage is uncontrollable and the few times she’s been, she’s killed numerous people, including Jessica’s old boyfriend.
That’s a lot to process, even for Jessica. This woman is not the mother she remembered. Her brain is damaged, her face reconstructed, and yet she is still Jessica’s mother.
The rest of the season sees Jessica come to terms with the fact that her mother is still alive and everything her mother has done. It’s almost a cruel joke. After all this time to find your mother alive only to discover she’s a murderer. How can she reconcile in her mind all the horrible things her mother has done?
But at the end of the day, she’s still her mom. When Alisa escapes from prison (Jessica turned her in), the two decide to escape together. But in the hopes of “saving the day,” Trish intervenes and kills Alisa. And now Jessica must deal with her mother’s death all over again.
Alisa
Wow, I did not see Alisa coming. It definitely took me a while to get on board with the whole “her mother is still alive thing,” but damn did the show commit.
Alisa is a complicated and disturbed person, but she forces Jessica to truly take a look at herself. She forces Jessica to come to terms with the murders she’s committed herself, her alcoholism, and what kind of person she’s become.
Alisa is the driving force behind the second half of the season and although she’s not the most likable, her presence changes the course of Jessica’s life forever.
Trish
Oh, Trish. What have you done?
Trish had quite the transformation this season. She began as her old, good-hearted self just trying to be taken seriously as a journalist. But her drug addiction soon takes over and she nearly goes off the deep end. And even worse, her jealousy of Jessica and her powers finally comes to a head. She makes the rash decision to go under the knife with Karl to gain powers and nearly dies. But she recovers just long enough to escape the hospital and kill Alisa. And she may have just lost Jessica forever.
The irony of it all? She may just have superpowers after all.
Malcolm
Malcolm is truly the unsung hero of Jessica Jones. He’s possibly the kindest-hearted out of everyone. But Jessica doesn’t appreciate him and Trish uses him and even pressures him into breaking his sobriety.
He ends up quitting Alias and while I don’t blame him, it was certainly hard to see him team up with Jeri. I hope this isn’t the end for Malcolm on Jessica Jones because he really adds so much to the show.
Oscar
Obviously, it was a bummer that Luke Cage is no longer on the show. But then we met Oscar. And I’m all, Luke Cage, who?
One of the things I love most about Jessica Jones is that the love story is never the focus. It’s always a side story that enhances the main plot, rather than takes over.
Jessica and Oscar are sweet together, and certainly their story is a fun distraction from all the drama of Jessica’s life. Here’s to more Oscar and Vido in the future!
This season of Jessica Jones was truly a masterpiece and one of the best things I’ve watched in a while. I hope Krysten Ritter finally gets the recognition she deserves.
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