Series Review: Jessica Jones Season 3

By: Agent Bunnie & Agent Afronaut

Official Jessica Jones promo from Netflix.

As Marvel fans, of course, Afronauts jumped on to watch "Jessica Jones Season 3" on Netflix. This was not only the final season for the series, but also for all of the Marvel series on Netflix. Most of us know by now that Disney is launching their own subscription service on November-12 of this year, called: Disney Plus. The new subscription channel isn't just bringing us all of Disney and it's affiliates (i.e. Pixar) movies and content, but a bunch of new original shows as well. Most of the buzz is around the Marvel series that are linked directly to the movies and will star many of the actors from the theatrical releases, such as: Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), and Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier).

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS!
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So, what about Jessica Jones 3? We really liked season 1, but felt season 2 was dragged out and pointless. Honestly, you don't even need to watch season 2 to follow season 3; the recap before you start #3 is enough and will save hours of your valuable time. Season 3 starts out with a lot of potential- The villain is quite clever;  the series teases what could have been for the next Luke Cage season, had Disney not pulled the plug; Patricia "Patsy" Walker finally becomes Hellcat, although her Netflix version is very much different from her comic book version; and we're introduced to Erik Gelden, played by Benjamin Walker, and though he's also not like his comic book character, we liked the fresh take on a minor character.

Yet, the season finale finishes a bit weak. We garner that the writers were trying to set things up for the future and according to interviews, the Netflix Marvel team had no idea they were getting cancelled while they were in the process of making the last couple of series. So, to be fair, it wasn't a horrible ending given the circumstances. However, judging Season 3 on its own, we still have to say it could have been better. Things start to slide down hill for the show after they catch the villain, Gregory Salinger, played by Jeremy Bobb; It's at that point that Patricia starts her transformation as full blown Hellcat and it looks like they were trying to make her a villain. At least in this season she was. The direction they took Hellcat just seemed to be the wrong one. The series started to become a drama and pushed the "Patricia is wrong, Jessica is right" image. Netflix Marvel has always had this "discussion" and image of: What is right and wrong? How far is too far? To kill or not to kill? -We have no problem with that, but the way it was presented in this series finale was not believable with it's inconsistencies and hypocrisies.

• The Justice System - From the very beginning, Jessica seems hellbent on letting the "system" take care of things and letting the processes of the police and court work the way they are suppose to. Yet, she punishes Patricia on assumptions. In a few scenes Jessica tells Patricia several times about "what if" scenarios and while Patricia never does them, Jessica still hunts her down. Patricia really doesn't do anything different than Dare Devil in this season and especially not the Punisher, and we don't see Jessica going after them.
• Jeri Hogarth's Girlfriend - Jeri Hogarth, played by Carrie-Ann Moss, has a big role in Jessica Jones 3 and she is actually the subplot in season. Her life threatening ALS disease is getting worse and she seeks out her first ever lover, Kith, for companionship. The 2 have an on-off affair through the whole season, but then Hogarth is left alone in the end and all on the basis that her ex believes she only helped her because they were put in a life-threatening situation. None of that makes sense, as Hogarth tries to help this woman by any means possible the entire season and at one point Hogarth brings this lady to elation just be "eliminating" a situation with a man who threatened Kith's financial status. Seems kind of like Hogarth got used and some may say it was only fair for the way Hogarth uses people, but Kith is made out to be the "good person" in all of this and Hogarth the opposite. As her ex leaves, Hogarth says, "You are the last mistake I'll ever make", and we couldn't agree more - that woman was a mistake.
• Kith's Husband - Speaking of Kith, her husband commits suicide. This is the point where things start to go sour for her and Hogarth. Her husband commits suicide after Jeri has one of her employees dig up dirt on him to get Kith back. While Hogarth's intentions might not have been good, what this guy did was dirty! Kith and her husband have an open marriage, but it turned out this guy was stealing money to pay for rent and gifts for the ladies he was sleeping with and out of the charity they had for their deceased daughter. Him committing suicide, because his life was wreaked was his own doing and yet the show blames Hogarth solely. Seems quite lopsided.
• Malcolm as a Bad Guy - The character, Malcolm, from the previous season returns. We don't mean he was a villain, but he's definitely painted as a bad guy in his relationship. Yes, he does cheat on his girlfriend-of-the-season, but at that point we all know their relationship was over. The right thing would have been for him to end it first, but he obviously cared about her. The reality is that they were 2 people who had very different goals in life and as Malcolm fully comes to realize he doesn't want to be a dirty lawyer and wants to actually help people in need, his wanna-be-Hogarth girlfriend and himself drifts apart. There are several times where either of them could have broke it off and should have. Malcolm does apologize, but also does help someone else in the process. It's not picture perfect, but it also doesn't make him the horrible guy that they made him out to be.
• The Ending - The very ending is awful and leaves us unfulfilled. Jessica hands her business over to Malcolm and sends Erik Gelden, the character she has as a sidekick through the season, off to help the police with his ability to detect "bad people" through a unique 6th sense. Seems like she closed the chapter of her New York life, but as she's about to buy a one-way ticket at the train station, a voice from her head that sounds like Kilgrave from season 1 encourages her to go and she stops in defiance. Then rebellious music plays as the camera zooms out. This didn't make sense to us. Jessica spends the whole season trying to push everyone away, more so than in the past, and only calls on people when she absolutely needs help. Having just sent her best friend to prison and pushing away the 2 guys who have helped her all season, it seemed fitting that she would leave and start anew. Jessica is very broken all season from her mother's death in season 2 and it would have made more sense for her to get away from all of that. Not to mention, because it was the last series ever for the Marvel Netflix Universe, it would have made a better closing scene to end it all.

Most of the Marvel Netflix series failed to live up in to Dare Devil season 1. When Dare Devil first came out, it was definitely an ground breaking TV series since it has a cinematic-like feel to it. It set a new standard and a high standard that not even Netflix seemed to be able to live up to in the end. There were some great moments throughout several of the series' seasons, but while most started well, in the end we were left with melted afterthoughts. We won't miss these series too much and we look forward to see what Disney will do with these characters in the future, as well as their new series. If you have watched the Marvel Netflix show, you'll want to check out Jessica Jones 3 at some point, but there's no rush; it's not going anywhere and they're not making anymore.

Image used is for reference only and taken from Netflix in association with Marvel and Disney. Afronauts makes no claims to the creation or ownership.