"Jessica Jones," the much-awaited female Marvel superhero, finally debuted last Friday, Nov. 20 on Netflix. Krysten Ritter shines as the hard-drinking, reluctant superhero with mad detective skills.
The pilot, entitled "AKA Ladies Night," opens to show Jessica Jones working as a private detective, clearly putting her superhero ways behind her. She is working for Jeryn Hogarth, a high-profile lawyer played by actress Carrie-Anne Moss.
Hogarth gives her a new assignment: to find Hope, a pretty NYU student who has been missing for a month. Jessica begins her search at Hope's college apartment, where she finds her roommate who is upset because she's had to deal with a difficult new roommate since Hope vanished.
Jessica finds out that Hope made recent charges on her credit card, buying lingerie, menswear, and dining at a restaurant. Jessica heads to the restaurant and shows a picture of Hope to the server. And then, Jessica gets a flashback of an old nemesis, Kilgrave (David Tennant).
Jessica calls her old friend Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor), a radio host. Trish reminds her that she saw Kilgrave die, and there was even a death certificate. But Jessica's past is catching up on her. Clues lead her to a hotel, and finds Hope in a room, lying paralyzed on the bed.
She gets Hope out and back into the protection of her parents, but her mission is not that simple. All of a sudden, Hope shoots her parents inside the elevator, and Jessica realizes that she's still under Kilgrave's hypnosis.
"Smile," Hope eerily tells Jessica as she runs away. By the end of the episode, Jessica turns around, determined to re-use her superpowers to defeat the evil Kilgrave.
Other notable scenes include Jessica's other mission -- stalking Luke Cage (Mike Colter), a handsome bar owner who she has a major crush on. Luke's storyline is one that will be further explored within the season, as he is said to have his standalone series soon.
"Jessica Jones" first appeared in Marvel's "Alias #1" in 2001. According to a review by Den of Geek, the Netflix series, while keeping a few touches of the original story, has certainly made significant moves to make the TV adaptation an original one.
IGN gave it an 8.5 out of 10 rating, praising Ritter's outstanding performance as a damaged yet tough ex-superhero.
"By and large, this is a well-written, well made look at a woman who's living a far less than glamorous, hard drinking life, but who has both an inner and outer strength that sometimes make her stand out, even if she doesn't particularly want to," IGN stated.
The review concluded that the pilot episode is just a glimpse of an even better and more exciting season.
