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Breaking Down the JESSICA JONES Trailer

Ali Colluccio

Staff Writer

Ali Colluccio enjoys comics, cocktails, and curling. She lives in Brooklyn with her adorably blind kitten, Minerva, and tweets with reckless abandon at @WonderAli.

On Friday we got the full trailer for the latest Marvel Netflix series, Jessica Jones. Panelteers Preeti and Ali have thoughts and feelings they’d like to share with the class.

Ali: WE HAVE A TRAILER!!! Like a real one! A real, this-is-what-the-show-is-about kind of trailer!

Preeti: ACTUAL DIALOGUE!

Ali: MORE THAN ONE SCENE!

Preeti: I love that the first scene we see, is one from the comic book.

Ali: They’re doing a really great job at capturing the look and feel of the comic series. The teasers have all had that water-colory look from the David Mack covers. But the guy getting thrown out of the office window is On Point!

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Preeti: And then Jessica! And Luke Cage! Who we can already see have great chemistry (Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter are both on point here, for sure.)

Ali: I want their faces to make out. But also! I like that the conversation we hear them have is about her super-strength. They kind of play with Luke asking out of curiosity or asking because he too has super-strength.

Preeti: Oh yeah, definitely. But I love her, “You know booze costs money.” pause. pause. pause. “Usually.”

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Ali: She’s The Best. Krysten Ritter is like beyond perfect for this.

Preeti: FACT. And you’re right, it is really great that this is how we see her powers, such as they are.

Ali: It’s like, “Attention world. This woman does not need you. She can eff stuff up all on her own!”

Preeti: Haha, yes! The only part that rang a little false to me is that… Luke Cage is a Hero-for-Hire. What was that stuff about having a target on your back?

Ali: But maybe he’s not a Hero-for-Hire yet? It sounds like he’s still not publicly using his powers here.

Preeti: I might actually like that more… the power dynamic between them is a little unbalanced in the comics, so this sort of puts them on more of an equal ground.

Ali: It would also be really great to see a lady mentor a dude in how to use his physical strength to help people. I also love how they are very happy to make Jessica a train wreck of a person. I love that about her in the comics because it makes her story so much more compelling. But we don’t often get ladies that are off the rails; let alone see them get themselves back on track.

Preeti: Yes, agreed! As Jess put it really well, we’re not allowed to see the ugly sides of women, or the unperfect sides. One of my favorite moments in the trailer is coming up when she’s talking to her friend about Killgrave, and her friend is telling her he’s gone, and she says, “He’s always up here.” pointing to her head. Krysten Ritter’s voice right there gives me goosebumps.

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Ali: SOOOO GOOOOD!! I love it so much already! Speaking of Killgrave. We’ve talked before a bit about him and his sociopathic grossness. It looks like the series is pretty committed to portraying him as a monster. A lot of this trailer is about him and setting him up as the Big Bad.

Preeti: Oh yes, just the hints we got of the Purple Man just gave me the chills. Seeing things almost from his perspective from the beginning, since we’re behind him, was so unsettling.

Ali: We get one really brief shot of his face; he’s more of this looming specter. CREEEEPYYYYYY.

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Preeti: And oh my god the scene in the police station?! Where they’re all standing there holding guns to their heads, or guns on each other. I love that they are going all out with writing Killgrave as psychopathic as he is in the Bendis series.

Ali: Oh yes! And David Tennant is a really great actor, so I’m really interested to see what he does with this role.

Preeti: Same. I think we’re all going to have nightmares.

Ali: For Jessica I am willing to have the nightmares.

Preeti: #Nightmares4Jessica

Ali: YES! So if you had to pick ONE favorite thing about the trailer, what would it be?

Preeti: Oh man, that is difficult. Um. Hm. Jessica’s I GOT THIS face combined with her vulnerable voice-overs? BECAUSE DEPTH OF ACTUAL CHARACTER. What about you?

Ali: Gah! Why did I ask such a hard question?! Ummmmmm. I’m going to say the voice over bit where Luke asks Jessica if she can stop a moving car and she says, “Well a slow moving one” while we see her stop the car. It’s also a depth of character thing, but there’s just so much in that small line of self-deprecating humor. WAIT! I’m changing it to the subway scene where she has the Killgrave flash and punches the window. There’s too much good stuff! I AM EXCITED!!

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Preeti: YESSS SO EXCITED!

Ali: Now we just have to wait until November 20…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWHUjuJ8zxE[/youtube]