Marvel’s Jessica Jones returns to the screen March 8 for the second season of the hit Netflix series that casts Krysten Ritter as the titular, tough-as-nails heroine.
Along with Ritter, Jessica Jones season 2 brings back first-season showrunner Melissa Rosenberg behind the camera for a sophomore season that has the super-powered private investigator dealing with the aftermath of the deadly events from season 1 and struggling to get her life — and business — back in order. The series also brings back season 1 cast members Rachael Taylor, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Eka Darville, and they’re joined by newcomers Janet McTeer and J.R. Ramirez for the new, 13-episode season.
Digital Trends got an early look at the first five episodes of Jessica Jones season 2, and while our review of those episodes will run February 27, we can offer up some spoiler-free hints about what you can expect to see when Jessica Jones smashes back into your living room for round 2.
More questions, more problems
The first season of Jessica Jones threw audiences into the middle of the title character’s life without taking much time to explore the origin of her powers. That changes in the second season, which spends a significant amount of time in the first five episodes on origin, looking back at Jessica’s life before her powers, the consequences that spun out of her receiving said powers, and the mysterious events that gave her those abilities. Jessica Jones has never seemed like the sort of character who gets a “traditional” origin story, and season 2 of the series appears to fall in line with that theme.
No neat bows here
Anyone familiar with Jessica Jones probably won’t be surprised that she fails to find much closure after the events of the first season, and the degree to which she remains tormented by her experiences with the mind-controlling villain Kilgrave (David Tennant) looms large over the events of the second season. Who is she without him? How can she ever be sure of herself again after spending so long under Kilgrave’s control? These are the questions that plague her — and inform her character’s internal arc — in the show’s second season.
Support structure
The first season of Jessica Jones had a stellar supporting cast, and many of those characters are thrust into the spotlight more in the show’s second story arc. Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor), Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Ann Moss), and Malcolm Ducasse (Eka Darville) all have prominent storylines in the first five episodes of the season that aren’t just offshoots of everything going on with Jessica. All three characters play key roles in the first few episodes that help define them further and add quite a bit of depth to their relationship with both Jessica and the street-level layer of Marvel’s cinematic universe that they inhabit.
Real consequences
Jessica’s actions in the show’s first season and in the Defenders miniseries aren’t simply pushed aside for season 2 of the series — far from it, in fact. The second season features a range of obvious and somewhat subtle consequences to everything that transpired up to this point, and although you don’t need to see The Defenders to follow along with Jessica Jones season 2 (but you definitely should see Jessica Jones season 1), if you want to catch every call-out or dropped name that comes up during the first five episodes, a general familiarity with what happened in The Defenders can only help.
Jessica Jones season 2 premieres on International Women’s Day, March 8, on Netflix.
