Season 3 of Jessica Jones is meant to be an ending of sorts, not only to the series of Jessica Jones, but to Marvel’s Netflix shows that had a nice five-year run. Due to a split between Marvel and Netflix (to what I and many others are presuming is because of the upcoming launch of Disney’s own streaming platform that will host a whole new roster of Marvel shows), all of the other Marvel Netflix shows had the misfortune of being canceled following the release of their final seasons. So, while the shows like Daredevil and The Punisher at least ended on a note that provided some closure, Luke Cage and Iron Fist both ended on actual open-ended cliffhangers, and so the only real regret I have to seeing these shows go is that they never got the ending they could have. However, Jessica Jones was canceled almost 6 months ahead of releasing its final season, so it at least had the fortune of understanding that season 3 would be the last season, and adjusting accordingly.
For what it’s worth, I think season 3 does a pretty good job of closing out the series. However, what I will say is that if you’re hoping for some kind of ending for the Netflix universe of shows as a whole…you’re not really getting it here. Without spoiling anything, one of the main characters from one of the other Marvel Netflix shows appears in a single scene of Jessica Jones, so I guess you could say that there’s a bit more finality for that character, but otherwise season 3 of Jessica Jones really doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the other shows. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. I don’t think that Jessica Jones was obligated to close off the rest of the universe, and perhaps there wasn’t enough time between cancellation and release to add in the material that would have been needed to do so. I’m not sure on the details there. But it would have been nice to see a bit more closure. Anyway, though, as far as this individual series having final closure, the show does do a good enough job of tying up its story. It doesn’t truly feel like the end of Jessica Jones’ story or anything like that, but the ending is at least satisfying enough that it works as a final season.
Anyway, let’s talk about the story of the final season. So, I recall mentioning in my review of season 2 that I felt like it was a smart direction for the season to not try to have a true central villain, since it would be incredibly hard to top a villain like season 1’s Kilgrave. Well, season 3 actually decides to try and do just that. Sure, there are other storylines at work here, such as Jessica and Trish’s strained relationship after the events of season 2’s finale, but a large focus of season 3 is put on a new villain that’s hunting down Jessica: Gregory Salinger. This was an interesting choice for a final season, because while seasons 1 and 2 featured Jessica taking on other powered people, Salinger is just a normal guy without any powers. Instead, his “power” is his intellect. Salinger is a serial killer that wants to show Jessica Jones for the “fraud” that he believes her to be, and so season 3 winds up being more of a game of wits between Jessica and Salinger.
Some may disagree with me, but I thought that Salinger was a really great villain. I actually thought it was a good choice for a villain, because while Jessica could easily beat Salinger in a physical fight, he ends up being such a hard person to take down because he’s always a few steps ahead of her. I found Kilgrave to be such a formidable villain because of the power that he holds, but Salinger ends up being formidable simply by not knowing what he’s going to do next. I also found him to be a great match for Jessica to bounce off of. Don’t get me wrong, Kilgrave is still one of my favorite villains in a superhero show/movie ever, so Salinger doesn’t top him or anything like that. But considering that any future villain was going to live in his shadow, I think Salinger fills the shoes really nicely of a great new villain.
Now, I’d like to briefly talk about how I felt about the four main characters this season. As a character, Jessica Jones continues to be something special. Her personality is still one of the main reasons to watch this show, and she proves to be as compelling as ever because of this. This is fortunate, because her actual storyline this season is probably the weakest of the series. It ends up treading a lot of familiar ground, dealing with her struggling in her identity of being a hero, as well as how she chooses to handle her personal relationships, including another new love interest this season.
Then, there’s the other three, and they’re kind of a mixed bag this season. I found the worst part of season 2 to be Trish, who was kind of all over the place and ended up being terrible just for the sake of it. Trish is still frustrating a lot of the time in season 3, but I found her storyline to be much better handled, and so her motivations at least made sense most of the time. I still found her best material to be in season 1, but considering the weird direction they took her character in season 2, season 3 does at least take things to its logical conclusion for her. Malcolm I never found to be all that compelling, but his presence also never bothered me. This feeling basically stayed the same in season 3. He’s never the most interesting part of the show, but the show also never really suffers because of his presence. Hogarth is actually the wild card this time around. She was the opposite of Trish for me, where I didn’t really care for her much in season 1, but then found her to be really compelling in season 2. Season 3 does kind of tread familiar territory for her again, but it feels like more of a natural continuation of her condition. Unfortunately, though, I found her to be the most all over the place this season in terms of motivations, as she seemed to constantly flip between sides. I’m not really sure what happened here.
All in all, I still really enjoyed season 3 of Jessica Jones. I’ll never disagree with anyone that season 1 is definitely still the best season of this show, but I found that a lot of people winded up not liking season 2, and I still thought it was really great. I say this because I feel like some people might ask if season 3 is an improvement over season 2, and this is tough to answer for me. I feel like season 2 was a bit of a change in direction from season 1, whereas season 3 winds up feeling a bit more in line with the feel of season 1. So, for some, season 3 might actually be the “return to form” that they’re looking for. For me, I did find it to be the least interesting of the three seasons, but definitely not by a wide margin. I think the show has just lost some of its magic for me by this point, and so it’s probably for the best that it is ending on this season, so that it can go out on a bit of a high note.
Honestly, though, I was just happy to get one more go-around with these characters. Even though I found season 3 to be the weakest of the show’s seasons, I still found myself gripped by it. I think I realized that this show has one of those worlds that I just love living in, and so I’m thankful to have gotten to live in it again for one more season. I’m glad I got to spend time with these characters one last time, and in particular I will always miss Jessica’s snarky attitude. This was a final season that I can be satisfied with, and if nothing else it was fun to go on one last ride with it.
4/5
