The first season of Marvel’s Jessica Jones was a refreshing and surprising tilt at the genre. Rather than follow in the footsteps of its predecessor Netflix series, Marvel’s Daredevil, and give us a female vigilante out beating up New York’s criminal underclass, it was instead a feminist deconstruction of the entire superhero genre. Want to dress up in a suit and fight criminals? There’s probably something wrong you – maybe power issues, maybe toxic masculinity. The use of power to control others is something to be avoided by the individual, as it leaves both user and used damaged and changed by the experience. Combined with its use of the female gaze, in short, it was probably the first superhero show both by women and for women.
Since then, of course, we’ve had the underwhelming, rushed Marvel’s Defenders, which saw our Jessica team up with Daredevil and the rest of the Netflix Marvel crew to fight a scary new enemy. But while Defenders certainly was able to use our Jessica’s sarcastic PI ways with alacrity, it somewhat missed out on all that feminist subtext, turning her into a reluctant but still punchy advocate of extreme violence, murder et al. Was this character development, you might have wondered, with Jessica changed by her murder of arch-enemy and rapist Killgrave (David Tennant) into a different kind of heroine? What would season two of Jessica Jones be like? Would it be our Jessica in a costume at last?
Nope. It’s more of the same – at least as far as Jessica is concerned. The other supporting characters? That’s maybe a different story. A short, non-spoilery review after the jump, followed by a full review for those who don’t mind spoilers or who’ve already watched it.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
A couple of acquisitions this week: Sky Living’s picked up Fox (US)’s 9-1-1, which will air later this year, while BBC One (and BBC Three) have acquired BBC America’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge spy show Killing Eve, again to air later this year.
YA Belgian crime acquisition by Walter and More4. I haven’t seen this one, so let’s hand summarising over to a heady combination of Dutch Wikipedia and Google Translate:
In Aalst, a 16-year-old Turkish girl was cut over her throat. The police assume an honor killing and has a suspect for this. Nobody in the family speaks, and the case seems to be stuck, but the next day the suspect is heavily burned but still alive under a bridge. On the bridge, “Above all, one God” was sprayed as graffiti.
Someone who calls himself Moses then commits crime after crime, each time inspired by one of the ten commandments. He wants to awaken society and to think about norms and values. Violators of the rules are being punished relentlessly. It is up to two police inspectors to start the hunt for the perpetrator. The ambitious Vicky Degraeve (role played by Marie Vinck) and the older fancier Peter Devriendt (role of Dirk Van Dijck) are sitting on the case and more and more clashing with the sympathy that the series has, despite the atrocities that he commits, of the public opinion.
SEAL Team (US: CBS; UK: Sky1)
Premiere date: Thursday, March 22, 9pm
A slightly more authentic look at US special forces operations than The Unit – as well as the other special forces show that hit US screens last year – SEAL Team also maintains the same mix between personal and private lives as its predecessor. Glossy, far less guns and glory than you’d think, and smarter, too, it’s never quite made the TMINE recommended list but is still regular viewing each week.
The Terror (US: AMC; UK: BT Vision)
Premiere date: Tuesday, April 24, 9pm
This hasn’t started in the US yet, which means I haven’t seen it yet. Until my delightful forthcoming review provides further enlightenment, here’s the spiel:
Story of the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into uncharted territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage. Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction.
The drama series, which inspired by a true story, was developed for television by David Kajganich, who serves as co-showrunner alongside Soo Hugh. It is being produced by AMC Studios, Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 and stars Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Ciarán Hinds, Paul Ready, Adam Nagaitis, Nive Nielsen, Ian Hart and Trystan Gravelle.
