Jessica Jones shows what it means to 'fight like a woman' in a new Season 2 trailer (exclusive)
Need further evidence that super-strong private eye Jessica Jones — and the show that bears her name — isn’t like any other Marvel series out there? In Season 2 of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix hit, Jessica (played by Krysten Ritter) ventures where none of her fellow Defenders have gone before: anger management therapy. That sequence, which appears in the fourth episode of the show’s sophomore year, leads off an all-new trailer for the series that Yahoo Entertainment is premiering exclusively today. “Going into this season, she’s dealing with a lot of baggage,” Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg says. “There’s an under-the-surface rage that’s always kind of there. Anger management is the fallout of that rage; she’s attacked someone, and in the real world, you don’t get to hit people and walk away.”
Jessica is actually glimpsed hitting several people in this trailer, which is designed to remind viewers of what went down during Season 1 and also introduce newbies to the show’s gritty, grimy universe without having to binge the first 13 episodes ahead of Season 2’s March 8 premiere. (“I would love for them to watch Season 1,” Rosenberg admits. “But they can jump right into Season 2 — it stands on its own feet.)
To be fair, most of the people Jessica lashes out at seem to deserve it, like a bathroom bully who unwisely calls her the B word and promptly has his face shoved against a mirror in response. This bit of bathroom justice happens in the seventh episode and appears to inspire an all-new piece of key art that we’re also premiering today, depicting Jessica standing in front of a restroom mirror with the body of a vanquished (male) foe lying in the background and the provocative tagline “Fight like a woman” scrawled on a bathroom stall.
When it comes to fighting, Jessica has always had a different approach than the male heroes who populate Netflix’s corner of the Marvel Universe, like Daredevil and Iron Fist. “She’s not interested in becoming a ninja warrior,” Rosenberg says. “She’s a brawler and a street fighter; she doesn’t really want to fight — it just keeps presenting itself to her. We’re always trying to mix it up with our action scenes, but Jessica Jones is always going to be Jessica Jones — she’s not someone who goes and trains.” Besides, many of the challenges facing her this year are mental rather than physical. Spurred on by her friend and adopted sister, Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor), Jessica starts investigating her origin story and discovers the unpleasant history of the shadowy organization that forced superpowers upon her and, as we come to learn, others. “She’s really looking at herself in a way she never has. Her approach to life has been to keep moving forward and don’t look back out of fear and pragmatism. But because of this case, she’s now forced to look back and really dig in,” Rosenberg says.
Another piece of her history she’ll confront as Season 2 unfolds is the memory of the only man she’s ever killed: Kilgrave (David Tennant), the mind-controlling monster who used his power to manipulate Jessica’s mind and body. “She killed Kilgrave by her own volition,” Rosenberg points out. “He ultimately turned her into what he thought she should be, which is a killer. She comes into Season 2 having taken a life, and that awakens a lot of fear in her about who she is.” Previous trailers have already indicated that Tennant will appear again this season, although Rosenberg declines to specify exactly how. “I can say that I can’t get enough of David Tennant,” she says, laughing. “I’m always looking for a way to write for him. Kilgrave is part of who Jessica is; she carries him around wherever she goes.”
Season 2 of Marvel’s Jessica Jones premieres Mar. 8 on Netflix.