AKA Alias Investigations

Marvel Television’s Daredevil series proved that some version of the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. could work on the small screen. Sure, Marvel already had a series that was directly tied to the MCU, Agents of SHIELD, but that series had never really caught on the way it should, in part because it always felt like (in its first season) it was waiting for something (that something being Captain America: The Winter Soldier). NetflixOriginally started as a disc-by-mail service, Netflix has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world (and one of the most valued internet companies as well). With a constant slate of new internet streaming-based programming that updates all the time, Netflix has redefined what it means to watch TV and films (as well as how to do it).’s Daredevil, though, was free to do its own thing. While it referenced the events of The Avengers, it didn’t try to shoehorn itself hard into the main universe. It could tell its stories and trust that viewers understood that its street-level adventures were inspired by the main universe. And because of that it better answered the promise of the MCU than any other television property up to that point.

But Netflix wasn’t content with just one successful show. They wanted their own The Avengers, and their license for Marvel’s characters gave them the rights to make their own pocked crossover universe, leading to The Defenders. All they had to do was actually set that up. So once Daredevil was done, and proved itself to be a hit in April 2015, the next series had to get ready to go. A different hero, a different story, but still a connected universe. That series was Jessica Jones and it was very different from Daredevil in a number of key ways.

Daredevil was a superhero story, but Jessica Jones was darker and more personal. Its heroine, Jessica, wasn’t a hero and had no interest in being one. She was a flawed, damaged person who had gone through real trauma before the series even picked up and, when we find her, she’s nowhere near clear of it yet. She wasn’t looking to put on a suit (which the series actually hangs a hat on) and she has no desire to get out there and save people (not anymore, anyway). She just wants to live her life and avoid trouble. She’s about as far removed from Daredevil as you could get, which is why she was the perfect follow-up for that series. She proved just how diverse and interesting New York of The Defenders could be.

When we meet Jessica (Krysten Ritter), she’s working as a private investigator under the name of Alias Investigations. She’s a hard drinking woman struggling with PTSD over a previous, terrible relationship. She barely has any friends, outside of her adoptive sister, Patricia "Trish" Walker (Rachael Taylor), a former child star who now has a successful talk radio show. And even then, Jessica barely talks to Trish. She focuses on her work, tries to keep her head down, and avoids any complications… for the most part.

She also has superpowers, though, with increased strength being her prime gift. This is what caught the attention of Kilgrave (David Tennant), a man with mind control powers who effectively kept Jessica as his pet for months. He thought he loved her, she called it rape. He supposedly died six months prior, but when Jessica gets a new case, that of a missing girl named Hope Shlottman (Erin Moriarty), the case eerily reminds me of Kilgrave. And once she realizes her rapist is back, it causes her whole world to crumble in. Will she run, or will Jessica stay and fight for herself and every life that Kilgrave ruins in the process?

Even more so that with Daredevil, Jessica Jones is a series that lives and dies by its characters. This is a dark and troubling story, about as far removed from the main MCU as you can get. It’s about control, slavery, and sexual violence, and because of that you have to have a core group of characters that you can care about as, otherwise, the material would be too hard to get into. Something this dark and tragic makes for rough watching, but because of the core cast you can get into the show and get involved in the story.

The standout is, of course, Ritter as Jones. Before this, Ritter was mostly known for playing weird, flighty characters, such as her turns in Veronica Mars, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, and Vamps. This was a very different kind of role for her in some respects, letting her stretch her range as she worked through all of Jessica’s trauma. But her sarcastic delivery and solid comedic timing also helped her make Jessica into a character you wanted to hang out with even as she gave into her self-destructive tendencies. Jessica is a messy character, and Ritter is fantastic in the role.

And then there’s Tennant as Kilgrave. The villain is, well, quite villainous but what Tennant brings to the role is a weird, almost Doctor WhoThe longest running sci-fi franchise (at least in terms of sheer seasons), Doctor Who has seen cancelations, relaunches, and reboots, but the core of the series remains the same: a madman in a box traveling through time and space. energy. He plays Kilgrave as if they were a dark version of the Tenth Doctor, full of the same manic charm and distractingly solid comedic timing. He gets you with a smile, but then turns around and tells you to do something horrible. It’s the perfect role for Tennant as the character needed someone that could be suave even as they were villainous, and Tennant can do that with aplomb.

All of this is in service of a story that doesn’t shy away from really exploring all its horrible implications. The benefit of being in Netflix is that these shows, Jessica Jones included, can be more violent, and much darker, than anything appearing in the MCU movies (or over in Agents of SHIELD as well). While Jessica Jones is based on a comic series, it doesn’t feel sanitized or “comic book-y”. It lets all the drama, the trauma, the dark character moments play out. This is a story about rape and trauma and the series buys in and tells it. I doubt you’d ever get a story like this in the main MCU (even with Ritter’s Jones coming into the MCU proper with Daredevil: Born Again’s second season). This series proved the MCU could be more mature, if it was willing.

This was, honestly, the best follow-up that Daredevil could have had. That series proved that superheroes would work in the Netflix format, but this series showed that mature, serious stories could be told even when they existed in the MCU. Superheroes might exist in this world, but Jessica isn’t one of them. She’s something else, and to even get to their side she had to work through a lot of stuff first. This season is about that journey, and while I wouldn’t argue that Jones ever really gets there, the series lets her work through a lot of it properly, while never treating its story as anything less than it needs to be.

There’s a reason, then, that Jessica Jones got three seasons, powered mainly off the success of this show, and also why she was one of the most requested characters to be brought back after the whole Netflix Marvel pocket universe was cancelled a few years later. Her show was fantastic, as this season illustrated, and Ritter deserved all the kudos she got for the role. She was even the best part of The Defenders… although we’re getting ahead of ourselves, so we’ll hold off on talking about that until the rest of the heroes for this crossover are properly introduced…