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Read with caution! This article contains spoilers for Jessica Jones season 1
What separates Jessica Jones from other superhero shows and movies is its approach to the darker side of being superhuman. The title character is a driven, no-nonsense badass who's also had a whirlwind of shit to deal with in her life. Yes, I'm on about Kilgrave, that bastard. He may no longer be around to inflict his hideous brand of torture, but according to the series' showrunner Melissa Rosenberg that doesn't magic away Jessica's pain.
"She was kind of messed up even before Kilgrave came along," Rosenberg told Esquire, "and so in season two we can explore what's possible for her moving forward."
"I learned from working on Dexter that you can advance the character, but you never want to cure the character," she adds. "With Dexter, the moment he felt guilt or accepted that he was 'bad,' the show's over. He's no longer a sociopath. The equivalent for us would be if Jessica somehow recovered from the damage that had been done to her. People don't just heal, you don't go through that just to say, 'Oh, he got arrested, he's in jail, I'm OK now.'"
Those of you who've seen the show - and c'mon, get it watched if you've not! - know that Kilgrave gets a fate worse than jail. He gets killed... by Jessica. And moving into the next season, Rosenberg says: "that trauma is a huge part of who she is now."
While it's not easy to watch Jessica battle her demons, it's a step in the right direction. How many shows put their characters through hell and then the next week they're all completely stable? Knowing that the weight of Kilgrave's death on her conscience won't just disappear, it just one of many reasons (Hellcat!) season 2 can't get here fast enough for me.
Images: Marvel
