February 27, 2018

MCU Chronological Viewing Part Eight: Jessica Jones, Agents of SHIELD, and Daredevil

As I look at my MCU checklist, hanging above my desk and mocking me with how much farther I have to go, I have to say, I’m not all that excited. I think I have discovered that I don’t really like the Netflix/Marvel collaborations and that is the majority of what I have left. There’s so many, I don’t know if I can suffer through. Luckily, I have Agents of SHIELD to get me through, plus the bonus of Ragnarok being on the horizon. I will suffer for Chris Hemsworth. For today, it’s mostly stuff I didn’t love so I’m not going to spend a ton of time on it, just fill you in on the basics. If you’re new here, start with this post, then move on to Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, and Part Seven. Then if you don’t hate me, come back to this post.

Jessica Jones, Season 1

The Basics: Released in November of 2015 by Marvel and Netflix, Jessica Jones stars Krysten Ritter, David Tennant, and Carrie-Ann Moss.

One Sentence Summary: Jessica Jones is a PI with superhuman strength who must defeat Kilgrave-a man who can control the thoughts of everyone around him except for her.

Full Summary: Check out this link for an episode by episode plot breakdown.

My Reaction: So in general, I liked this one more than I liked either season of Daredevil. Probably because it has a bunch of chicks who kick ass in it. I was definitely intrigued by the first episode, and maybe even had some hopes that I would actually like the show. But I totally lost interest a couple episodes in and it was hard for me to get back. Every time I see David Tennant, I think of Barty Crouch in the Harry Potter movies, and I don’t see him as someone appealing in any way, shape, or form. He also did a version of Hamlet that was atrocious, and it’s hard for me to recover from that. I like a lot about Jessica herself. I like that she is flawed and troubled and has some real issues with dealing with her emotions. I also like Jessia’s best friend Trish and her backstory. But in addition to Kilgrave, this show has one of the worst characters I have ever seen on a show or in a movie: Robyn. Robyn is this psychotic, whiny, incestual brat who is literally the most unlikeable character on the face of the Earth. Seriously, I hated her so much that I tuned out every time she was on screen. And she did not serve a great enough purpose for me to have to put up with her obnoxious behavior. By the end of season one, I was just glad that it was over, and not really looking forward to season two.

My Rating: 6 out of 10, just couldn’t make myself care about these characters.

Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episodes 1-10

The Basics: Released by Marvel and ABC, AoS premiered its third season in September of 2015. The cast remained mostly the same from previous seasons. AoS is available on Netflix.

One Sentence Summary: Ward is reviving Hydra; all kinds of Inhumans are changing; Jemma gets rescued from creepy weird portal planet; Coulson kills Ward; evil death thing from portal planet takes over Ward’s body; Fitz and Simmons kiss; I express love for a character, which means she is promptly killed.

Full Summary: If you would like an episodic breakdown, click here.

My Reaction: Some crazy shit goes down in the first half of this season and I was living for it. It was so nice to come back to AoS after Jessica Jones because more happens in one episode than in that entire season. I LOVED Roz (Constance Zimmer) so of course she had to die, which sucked. I’m digging the whole Monolith storyline, and I am also really into this whole parallel between Inhumans and immigrants. I like my sci-fi with a dash of political reality. And I don’t know what this says about me, but I find myself more and more attracted to Ward the worse he gets. I promise I’m not a psycho, Brett Dalton is just sexy AF. But I do appreciate that Ward is just bad now. Like there’s no chance of redemption, the dude’s just evil. That almost makes it easier to love him because in season two I just wanted him to be the Ward I thought he was when the show started and he just kept disappointing me. Also, Fitz is everything in this half of the season. All the heart eyes for Fitz-Simmons.

My Rating: 9 out of 10, I literally stayed up until four in the morning watching because I could. not. stop.

Daredevil, Season 2

The Basics: Released in March of 2016 by Marvel and Netflix, season two brings back all of the original trio, plus the additions of Jon Bernthal as the Punisher and Elodie Yung as Elektra.

One Sentence Summary: Punisher is taking out gang members, gets arrested and Nelson and Murdock represent him; meanwhile Matt’s ex Elektra recruits him to help her take out some Japanese ninja gang.

Full Summary: Find that shiz here.

My Reaction: Okay. I did, in fact, like this season better than season one. But I still had a lot of problems with it. Some of my comments from the first three episodes: “This is like a bad 1950’s gangster movie”, “These cops are like Stormtroopers”, “This come to Jesus scene with Punisher and DD is God awful writing” (see what I did there?), “Okay, the stairwell fight was pretty cool”. I did like that we added in a kickass chick this season with Elektra, though she did annoy me a lot of the time. But in general, I dig her. I did think it was odd that this season of Daredevil basically encompassed Punisher’s creation story-shouldn’t that happen in his own show? I hated that we had to deal with Fisk again this season. He was one of the worst villains I have seen (and that’s worst as in awfully written and acted, not worst as in appropriately evil) and I did not need to see him again. I LOVED Vincent D’Onofrio when he was on Law and Order and I just hate him in this role. I could have done without the creepy cult kids too. Never okay. And in general, I could use a little less blood and gratuitous violence. So kind of an improvement? But not really.

My Rating: 6 out of 10, I just don’t see the appeal.

Guys, I’m over halfway! And my next batch includes Agents of SHIELD and Civil War, so I’m actually looking forward to this chunk! Woot woot!