Thankfully the show is much better than the promotional image you see above! I knew nothing about Jessica Jones coming into it. She’s a character that sits in the shadows of many Marvel super heroes and I think that works for her benefit. A lot of people know about her and The Defenders now. Following behind the charge of DareDevil, Krysten Ritter headlines the cast of

Following behind the charge of Dare Devil, Krysten Ritter headlines the cast. Jessica prefers to stay out of the limelight. She uses her powers (super strength) for good in her job as a private detective for hire. She’s a survivor. First of a car crash that killed her family when she was a child and then from the terror known as Kilgrave.

Kilgrave makes this show as good as it is. More precisely, David Tennant as Kilgrave is the reason to watch. He’s a sociopath with mind control and that puts him head and shoulders above many villains in the Marvel stable. While The Avengers run around punching through another alien invasion, Jessica has to deal with a man who has no empathy and does whatever he wants to anyone with no fear of consequence. The only one he does fear is Jessica, so she has to stand up and stop him.

Ritter and Tennant’s scenes together are easily the best, but the supporting cast is very good. Mike Colter as Luke Cage is the main highlight and he’s got us all pumped up for his solo show coming up in 2016.

Jessica Jones is a rather atypical super hero show which is refreshing. Special effects are subtle and used only when necessary. Action scenes are intimate and well done, even if they are infrequent. Smart and interesting storytelling to fill out backstories. As a big Batman fan, I appreciate the detective angle (she’s really good at her job).

My biggest complaint is with the pacing. I think the season is around one episode too long, maybe a little more. A good hour of the show could be cut to make things move faster. The first few episodes plod along a bit and the action scenes take awhile to show up (the best being in episode 11) and add the needed kick in the pants.

Jessica Jones is a really well-made show that respects the character and its viewers. It’s a grown-up show that doesn’t condescend or pander to the lowest denominator. I don’t think it’s as good as Dare Devil, but a worthy follow up that keeps the Marvel Netflix collaboration strong and promising.

The whole world is fascinated by money and drugs, and mixing those two in the media is a sure fire way to get viewership. The fantastic documentary, Cocaine Cowboys and the Johnny Depp led Blow immediately come to mind. Netflix’s Narcos now joins those ranks.

As this is a Netflix produced show, it holds up to all their standards. It looks fantastic, has a rock solid cast and pulls no punches. At 10 episodes, it’s tightly scripted as well. Narcos is all about the drug king pin Pablo Escobar. As he is one of the most notorious names in the drug game, a lot has been written and filmed about him. Fortunately for us, his life and the war on drugs is so fascinating that it offers a wealth of intrigue that can still be mined. From poverty to unimaginable wealth and even political aspirations, Escobar was a complex man.

The show starts right Escobar establishing his drug empire. The introduction of cocaine by a Chilean drug chemist who went by the name of Cockroach changed the drug world. With Escobar setting up an efficient manufacturing chain, the stuff exploded in popularity and the profit margins were a dream come true. The organization and machinations to get it produced and distributed grew by the week starting in the mid 70’s. In a short few years the Medellin cartel was pulling in obscene amounts of money. So much so that he ordered vast stashes of cash to be buried all over Columbia because they ran out of places to launder and physically put it.

Being an international drug lord makes a lot of enemies. Rival cartels, governments foreign and domestic. An obscene amount of people get killed, both criminal and innocent. Since US demand grew to unbelievable levels, it got the attention of President Regan and was one of the big reasons he started The War on Drugs program that’s still operating today. The US put major pressure on the Columbian government to get him extradited to pay for his crimes. Escobar’s reaction to this was to essentially become a terrorist so he could do what he wanted.

Narcos is the story of what greed can reap. The unrelenting desire for more wealth and the power and ego that goes with it. A negative comment could mean a bullet in the head. Being a traitor meant your entire family would be killed. A rumor could make jealousy and paranoia fester into life-destroying chaos.

Love the central cast. Wagner Moura is phenomenal as Pablo Escobar. Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal as Steve Murphy and Javier Pena (both DEA agents) make a great good guy team. Really like Steve being used as the narrator like he’s talking through his memoir. Helps fill in a lot of narrative details easily and efficiently.

At the end of the 10th episode, I was ready and willing to watch more. They stop at the greatest moment of escalation, which is saying a lot considering how often the stakes were raised. Pablo Escobar was as much a genius as he was a criminal as narcos still use his techniques as a blueprint to get ahead.

Such a good season! It picks up right where the first leaves off. BoJack is going into production for his dream project: Secretariat. With his (somewhat embarrassing) book out, gainfully employed in a starring movie role, and an awesome new girlfriend, things are looking up for the aging horse actor.

Of course, when things look up Bojack manages to self-destruct, continuing his cycle of being unhappy with his life. Season 2 sees a lot of transitions for many characters with BoJack taking off to get in touch with an old flame. Todd gets sucked into an improv comedy cult, Mr. Peanut Butter gets a game show hosting gig while his marriage to Diane is on the rocks (the one who probably matches up in terms of misery to BoJack the most) and Princess Carolyn has an affair with Rutabaga while they plan on making their own talent agency.

The cast on this show is ridiculous, it’s like Name the Cameo. Ignoring the main cast, you have JK Simmons, Olivia Wilde, Keith Olbermann, Alan Arkin, Margo Martindale, John Krasinski, Steven Colbert, Ricky Gervais, Stanley Tucci, John Cho, Ben Schwartz and Lisa Kudrow (as BoJack’s girlfriend Wanda). Half the fun of the show comes from fusing reality, Hollywood reality, and animals as people together. It just adds to the insanity and offers a lot of sight gags (reminds me a lot of the Muppet approach to world building). Have I mentioned how much I love the character names?

Really happy to see this show stay so strong (I didn’t like the Christmas special much), I burned through the 12 episodes in four days which I never do. Fun going back to Hollywoo again and with this season’s ending, I can’t wait to see where these cats (and dogs, horses, lizards, pigeons…) go next.

The perfect storm of creative talent and a studio that lets it’s talent do what they want came together to make Daredevil. Matt Murdock aka Daredevil is one of Marvel’s oldest and most popular super heroes and these 13 episodes give him a live action showcase to strut his stuff.

Matt Murdock grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, New York with his father, a boxer. At the age of 9, Matt was blinded in an accident. A short time later, his father is killed after not throwing a fight for a powerful promoter. Growing up alone, Matt hones his skills (his other four senses became super acute) through training and goes to school to become a lawyer. The shows starts when Matt and his best friend, Foggy, leave their promising internship at a prestigious law firm to start their own practice. Matt dedicates his life to help his city in the legal system during the day and down in the streets as a vigilante at night.

A lot of smart decisions were made on this show. 1) Great casting for the main cast with Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson and Vincent D’Onofrio (interesting take on Kingpin, like him a lot, great villain and plot to start with), Toby Leonard Moore and Rosario Dawson. 2) Accessible to everyone from longtime fans to those who know nothing about the character. Great pacing through careful plot progression. It doesn’t get bogged down in long flashbacks about origin for example. Keeps moving and gives just enough information at just about every turn. 4) Some of the best action choreography and direction in any American production. It’s played real with great impact, but has fun acrobatics that give it some of that comic book flair. Nice wide shots with long takes that clearly shows what’s going on. Fights aren’t cut to hell and back.

A lot of love went into Daredevil and it shows.  You can tell it was put together by real fans as it respects the characters and the audience they want to share it with. The writing is great with solid dialog and character development that grows with each episode (really like the flashbacks with Matt and Foggy and school and Ben Ulrich as a whole. Journalist characters are tough to write well). I could complain about a few things (the Hollywood Orange and Teal color pallet epidemic is in full bloom), but it’s more or less nitpicking.

If you are a parent and wondering if the content is okay for your kid, Daredevil skews adult. There’s a lot of drinking and smoking, but they avoid anything really overtly sexual. I’d say it runs in the upper PG-13 area due to violence (realistic beatings and aftermath damage shown). There is some swearing, but no F bombs which I thought was rather surprising.

After every episode I wanted to watch more and that’s really the best compliment I think you can make for a TV show.