Melissa Rosenberg Suggests Jessica Jones Will Not Be ‘Fixed’

Jessica Jones will be back on our screens for a second season in 2018, after the release of Luke Cage in a couple of weeks, and Iron Fist and The Defenders in 2017. Even though there’s been a long break between seasons, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has already started getting the show written and finalised. In fact, season 2 is already half written. Makes me think Rosenberg was never one to leave her homework until last thing on a Sunday night….

In an interview with Esquire magazine, Rosenberg explained that Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) would not be magically “cured” following the climax of series 1. “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.’ That trauma is a huge part of who she is now.” This is a huge relief to fans. Jessica Jones has become an important part of the media landscape, particularly for women. Jessica had lots of issues going on before she met Kilgrave (David Tennant), and even though Kilgrave is now out of the picture her remaining issues need to be addressed and worked through.

Rosenberg also said that she’d learned a lot about this type of character development through working on Dexter. “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.” A Jessica that resembled Kimmy Schmidt might not sit well with the tone of the show!

The series will arrive after The Defenders, and although Melissa Rosenberg is not on the team leading that show, she’s aware of what’s going on so that she can seamlessly link the events in with season 2. Rumour has is that Luke Cage will take a back seat and Kilgrave is gone, so the friendship between Jessica and Trish (Rachael Taylor) will take more of a leading role for the show’s second outing. She did, however, play down the ‘shipping’ chat that has surrounded the two characters. “People would love that. I sometimes think there’s sort of a prurient interest in that, like, can’t women just be friends? I feel like for me that’s what is unique about the relationship, that they are such intimate friends, and I think they don’t have to become lovers—that being said, one never knows.”

Jessica Jones season 2 as yet has no release date. Marvel’s Luke Cage lands on Netflix 30th September.

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Daredevil Ep. 17 “Penny and Dime”

In my time of being both a fan and reviewer of Daredevil, one thing I’ve noticed is their uncanny ability to lure us into a false sense of security only to drop some serious bombshells on the audience. The plot of this episode is someone difficult to describe outside of gangsters kidnap Punisher; Punisher and Daredevil fend off gangsters. But there is so much more.

First of all, it should be noted this episode is gruesome. Okay, Daredevil isn’t exactly known for pulling its punches in the violence department. However from the first scene where someone is stabbed in the eyes, it is pretty clear this is gonna be a bloody episode. To be fair, this is not violence for nothing. Early on, we see a scene of the Punisher treating a wound, which is fairly bloody, but that is a warm-up act. There are scenes where the Punisher is captured. To gain info and torture him, the mafia members drive a drill through the Punisher’s foot in a pretty brutal scene. Punisher somehow recovers from this and we see him shoot mobsters with some pretty graphic entrance/exit wounds. These scenes do exemplify just how viscous the mob members are, how the Punisher can be equally brutal.

There are slower moments as well. There is a great moment where Castle watches the carousel. Just waiting for something to go wrong turns what could be a simple scene into something ominous (especially when things do go south). The show has demonstrated the multiple faces of Frank Castle’s personality. However, this is the episode that reveals a little about his backstory – he was a war vet who read to his daughter and watched his family murdered in gang warfare. The scene is merely a lengthy dialogue scene, but man is it effective. Actor Jon Bernthal does a great job communicating the emotion of a man who regrets not spending more time with his daughter before she was murdered. This is a touching scene where just a few facial expressions let us know Daredevil is transitioning from thinking of the Punisher as a foe to an actual human.

This great scene is followed by another great scene where the police catch the Punisher and Daredevil convinces the cop to take the claim for catching Frank Castle, with the logic that the people need to believe in the police. The episode ends with Matt Murdock hooking up with Karen Page only to be confronted by Elektra. This is the only weak link in this episode. Karen and Matt have had hints of a romantic fling, but here it just feels out of nowhere. Just having them together might have been fine, but the idea is clearly that Elektra is throwing a monkey wrench into this “beautiful moment.”

Still, that is the ONLY wrinkle in an otherwise stellar episode. With stellar action and emotional highs, I still give this episode a glowing recommendation… if you don’t mind a little blood.

Fargo Season 3 – Scoot McNairy Joins Cast

One of the finest new series to his the screens in recent years has been (in my opinion) FX’s black comedy/drama Fargo. It shouldn’t work; TV adaptations of awesome films rarely do. Fargo is a different beast though – it is compelling, funny, shocking, and has some of the best painted characters you will see over 10 episodes. This is partly down to the excellent, Cohen Brothers inspired writing (Kirsten Dunst feeding a tied up murder baked beans in season two was outstanding) and partly down to the casting of excellent Hollywood actors in the lead roles. As well as Dunst, familiar faces in season one and two have included: Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks, Ted Danson, Jean Smart, Kieran Culkin, Patrick Wilson and Nick Offerman. Offerman’s scenes in season two are a work of art – it is worth watching the whole brilliant series for him alone.

Showrunner Noah Hawley has begun releasing information about season 3, which will go into production soon and is due to air in 2017. During his appearance at the Emmys (for which Fargo had nominations in a number of categories) he revealed that Scoot McNairy would be a regular in the upcoming season. He sadly didn’t disclose anything about the character McNairy, who currently stars as downtrodden but loyal engineer Gordon Clark in the excellent Halt and Catch Fire, would be playing.

Confirmed cast Scoot McNairy, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winsted and Carrie Coon

This news comes hot on the heels of other casting information. Scottish Jedi and national treasure Ewan McGregor will play two roles – a pair of lookalike brothers called Emmit and Ray. Emmit (the ‘Parking Lot King of Minnesota’) is more attractive and successful than Ray, his bitter younger brother. Mary Elizabeth Winsted (hair dye and rollerblade fancier Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs the World) will be playing an alluring recent parolee called Nikki Swango. Relative newcomer Carrie Coon (who stars in The Leftovers, and also played Margot in Gone Girl) will play the season’s female lead – taking up the no-nonsense lady cop role that Fargo has a tradition of presenting. Her character Gloria is the chief of police promises to be practical, down to earth, and (if the other seasons are anything to go by) will be dealing with some crazy situations.

Season 3 will reportedly take place in 2010, which is about 4 years after the events of season one (season 2 was set in the 70s), and it is not yet clear how the stories will (if all) link in with the Solversons, who were the big players in the first two seasons.

Fargo seasons 1&2 are available on Netflix (definitely UK – other countries may differ) Season 3 is due for release in 2017 (TBC)

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New Luke Cage Promo Features Cottonmouth

Marvel is at it again with clever marketing to draw us all in. This time it’s for the latest instalment of the Netflix hosted TV series, Luke Cage (not Nick Cage as I am frequently paranoid I will call it…) The series, which is due to go live on the streaming service on 30^th September will focus on Hell’s Kitchen’s own man of steel (are DC going to come after me for that one?). The eponymous hero was introduced as Jessica Jones’ on-again-off-again love interest, and a man so strong, with super strength and unbreakable skin, he could flick attacking bruisers off him like gnats. The show promises to be gritty and edgy like its predecessors Daredevil and Jessica Jones, but also   showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has promised fans that the drama will be infused with ’90s hip-hop.

The new promo shows villain Cottonmouth, played by Mahershala Ali (House of Cards), appearing to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience. He has a large portrait of rapper Biggie Smalls in the background, and explains how the late hip-hop star is the real King of New York. There is quite a cool shot that looks like Ali is wearing the crown in the portrait – some nice camera work there! He is not, in fact, addressing us, but rather his unfortunate victim who gets a beating as he’s told “Everybody wants to wear the crown”.

Watch the promo:

The whole series of Luke Cage will launch on Netflix 30^th September

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Vincent D’Onofrio Teases a Return for Kingpin

Best things about Daredevil (in no particular order):
1. Charlie Cox is super handsome and a pleasure to look at
2. Foggy has classic lines all the time – “why are you fancy?” is still said in our house all the time
3. Karen giving Matt a balloon was hilarious
4. The 2 epic corridor fight scenes
5. The villains – both Kingpin and Punisher were incredible

Vincent D’Onofrio‘s star turn as Wilson Fisk was one of the highlights of season 1 for me. No cat stroking, one-dimensional bad guy here; Fisk was portrayed as sensitive, deep, and all together reasonable in his villainy. D’Onofrio was terrifying with his calm, quiet, anger culminating in violent, deadly rage. At times, he cut quite an empathetic figure, and creating that in the big bad is a real talent.

Fans were delighted earlier this year when Fisk had a cameo appearance in Daredevil season 2 (resulting in an incredible prison fight sequence), and D’Onofrio has not ruled out a reprisal of the Kingpin in future Marvel series. Last week he spoke to LRM Online, and said that although he hadn’t signed on to do any further work with Marvel, he would go back to the character if the right chance came up.

He told the website, “Marvel, the company, and especially Jeff Loeb, who runs Marvel Television, he’s a clever dude. All those people over there are pretty clever and they love talent. There’s no giant commitment for me at Daredevil. Like I didn’t have to sign my life away at all. When Jeff tells me there’s something coming up and if I’m available, I’ll be there. And because it’s written so well, I’m going to show up. I’m going to do everything I can because the writing is so good. And then there’s a company like Netflix and they’re not pressuring you either. They just want good material, good content. They give you money to make good content, so they’re not pressuring actors to sign their life away either…. I think that there’s this common ground where they say, ‘Look, if the material is good are you going to show up?’ and I said,  ‘Definitely’.”

When asked directly if he would be appearing again in a Marvel/Netflix series, D’Onofrio was coy. “That I can’t answer. I do know, but I can’t answer… so take that how you will. Jeff and Charlie (Cox) and Netflix love Kingpin, and so, Kingpin is good for Marvel’s television stuff and I think they agree.”

So, although our favourite Kingpin might not be back on Netflix for Luke Cage on 30th September, we might not be waiting too long to see him again.

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Daredevil Ep. 16 New York’s Finest

Anyone familiar with the “Welcome Back Frank” storyline in Punhiser will likely recognize the setup for this episode. That’s not a bad thing, in fact it is pretty good. This is a solid adaption of the comic so fans of the comic should recognize the reference, and anyone who doesn’t recongize will at least be treated to something new (and hey, maybe this will lead them to the comics). Much of the episode takes place with Daredevil chained down so the Punisher can do his job.

Action is light for the first about 2/3 of the episode. However this episode has some great psychology between Daredevil and the Punisher. After a few episodes of coming off like a human Terminator, we learn more about why he does what he does. Not to mention, this is the first time Daredevil is confronted about why he lets criminals live.  The show vilifies neither man, actually showing both men having good arguments. Daredevil believes there be a sliver of a chance of even the worst criminal reforming or having some good in them. Punisher believes that if criminals continue to live, they are just gonna keep coming back and do crimes.

Much of the tension in this episode is waiting for action. We know how volatile both men can be and simply WAITING for the action  to start makes this episode a nail-biter. There’s a good scene where the Punisher bonds with a fellow vet. Tension skyrockets when Punisher gives Daredevil an option of saving a criminal at the expense of killing the Punisher. Fights do break out between Punisher, Daredevil and some thugs. These are pretty impressive – as well as pretty brutal. We learn how Frank Castle and Matt Murdock REALLY operate – The Punisher openly murders criminals, while Daredevil pummels them until they wish they were dead.

There is a B-plot where Karen investigates the Punisher. More exciting is a B-plot about Claire and Foggy trying to maintain order at a hospital. Shows nowadays like to juggle a lot of different plots, but these scenes were effective in keeping the episode from being more than two guys just talking. As good as the scenes between Punisher and Daredevil are, on a show like this, people expect a little more. On that note, this is an episode that won’t leave anyone wanting. This is an overall great episode – season 2 is 3 for 3 so far.

Charlie Cox “Excited” for Iron Fist Collaboration

There are few things that make me want to drop everything, lock the doors and power through a Netflix boxset in a weekend – the Marvel series fall in to that category. While fans (such as myself) are eagerly counting down the days until Luke Cage hits the screens (30th September – you’re going to want to clear your schedule!), Charlie Cox has been telling fans what he’s looking forward to in the future of the Marvel Universe.

Cox, who has just signed on to reprise the role of Matt Murdock in season 3 of Daredevil, will be a key player in the upcoming Defenders series. The highly anticipated show will draw together the characters from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in one superhero extravaganza. Fans are keen to see how Murdock will interact with last year’s solo project star Jessica Jones, but Cox is more excited to explore his relationship with Iron Fist.

Speaking at the 2016 Toronto Fan Expo recently, Cox told fans, “The relationship I’m most interested in seeing fleshed out is the Matt Murdock and Danny Rand stuff. I just met Finn Jones the other day and I just think in the comics, that’s a great relationship so I want to see how that works out on screen.”

It will be interesting to see how the two martial artist get on with the brute force of Cage and Jones – how will Hell’s Kitchen cope!

Also, Cox dropped some personal future excitement into the mix at the Canadian convention – his girlfriend (producer Samantha Thomas) is due to give birth to a baby Daredevil any day now. Let’s hope that Charlie can get plenty of sleep before The Defenders launches (potentially next year)

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Daredevil SN2 EP2 – ‘Dogs To A Gunfight’

After that explosive season premiere, Matt is feeling the effects. After needing to be rescued by Foggy, he skulks around his apartment with noise affecting him more than ever and dropping glasses. His double identity is beginning to catch up with him as Karen has a hard time believing Matt’s excuses any more and thinks he has another problem. Speaking of Karen, she and Foggy have a little more story again as they are helping someone in witness protection trap the Punisher. Foggy’s one-liners provide a little comic relief to what could be an all-too serious story.

Speaking of the Punisher, after lurking in the shadows, we see much more of him in this episode. His personality is fleshed out much more. We see how cold and calculating he can be but he has a code of honor – we see these traits in just one scene. He coldly buys weapons he needs in a shop – just walks in, gets what he needs and tries to walk out. However, as soon as he finds out the shop owner runs underage prostitution, it’s game over. We don’t see the violence, we just see him replace the open sign to closed. Despite the TV-MA rating, a lot of the violence is implied. There’s a scene where the Punisher is wiping out members of a garage – we seem some bloodshed, but much of the action is heard through gun shots one attendant is ignoring until it’s too late. Even with the violence implied, this is still effective – letting us see the Punisher in action without becoming too gory.

There is still plenty of action. There is a pretty intense fight scene between the Punisher and Daredevil toward the end. Daredevil spends much of the episode out of action because his helmet is damaged. He tries to investigate out of costume. These scenes are pretty good – they are quiet and the lurking feeling that something could go wrong at any minute – such as when he gets busted by a dog – creates suspense. Even with action and suspense, the episode slows down for a few big ideas. After making vigilante justice acceptable, is it Daredevil’s fault the city now has the Punisher to deal with?

For bringing some suspense, action, all major characters in action and even a few big ideas, “Dogs to a Gunfight” is a top notch episode.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Debuts in October!

I’m excited! The debut date of Dirk Gently has been announced as October 22, 2016 by the good folks at BBC America. It seems like it might only be on BBC America in the US in October, and the rest of the world on Netflix in December, but we shall see. I personally can’t wait.  

Daredevil SN2 EP1 – ‘Bang’

After a titanic end to season 1 and an overall good first season, the premiere for the second season of Daredevil has a lot to live up to. “Bang” lays its cards on the table early on with Daredevil in action against a group of street hoods. Matt, Karen and Foggy are all on the trail of a criminal who has violently murdered several mafiosos. Seeing Foggy and Karen in action is good because one of my criticisms of the first season overall was the way those two felt like extras.

Foggy and Matt’s relationship is good again, but it has the edge of Foggy being worried about what may happen to his friend. There are some fun scenes where the gang just shoot some pool. This does work in showing their rapport when they are out of action. They are also faced with a moral dilemma. They are officially broke, but they have to decide whether or not to take on a client with a shady past.

This stuff is all good, but this episode introduces the real star: The Punisher. While not referred to by name yet, this episode builds suspense for the character much like the first season built suspense for Fisk. This episode does cut to the chase (which is for the best – the slow burn for Fisk worked ONCE) as we do see his face by the end of the episode. But in the confines of this one episode, the show still builds suspense.

We see quick glimpses of him. He usually appears in shadow or from behind. We see that the Punisher is one tough customer. We see the damage that he caused laying waste to the mafia members – and trust me, this is some gruesome stuff. He waltzes straight into a hospital to take out his targets. He even holds his own and fights off Daredevil. We only get one full shot of the Punisher and says only one word “Bang” on screen. The man says so little with so much.

Overall, this was an excellent start to season 2. Show enough action to get the audience interested, but keep enough secret to make them want more.