“Jessica Jones” returned March 8 for a second season, just in time for spring break. The second season picks up after the death of Kilgrave and with Jessica Jones looking for new cases with the help of her friend and now-employee, Malcolm Ducasse.

Early in the season, a man named Robert “Whizzer” Coleman, who claims that he was experimented on by a company named IGH, approaches Jones, looking for help. Since IGH is also responsible for Jones’ getting her powers, much of the season consists of Jones and Ducasse, along with Patricia “Trish” Walker, investigating the company. This investigation drives the season’s plot and character development.

This season, Ducasse is more than an addict. Although he’s still working through recovery and that very much plays a role in the season, he also gets to show off parts of himself that the audience hasn’t seen before. He is quite capable with house repairs and is able to fix up all the damage done to Jones’ apartment over the last season.

Additionally, despite being loyal to Jones, Ducasse also understands that loyalty has its limits and he will only endure so much abuse before walking away. His ability to do what’s best for him shows enormous strength on his part. Watching Ducasse struggle with addiction but work to better himself this season is one of the best parts of the season.

On the flip side, Walker also struggles with being an addict, but fails to work towards getting better and being clean. She claims that she wants to help people, but this claim feels more like an excuse. She tries to reason with Ducasse that the drug she’s taking is safe since it’s just an enhancer. And she denies that she’s using when Jones asks and refuses to seek help for herself.

This desire to help people is present in both Ducasse and Walker, and it helps make their characters feel more realistic. They both struggle with addiction, which is prevalent in society today. Through the two characters, viewers are able to see both sides of addiction, recovery and denial.

Jones’ strength this season is in her learning to be more vulnerable. Although she rejects them at first, Jones forms new relationships this season. These relationships cause her to reexamine her life and priorities. It opens up the possibility that maybe she doesn’t have to be alone and that maybe she wants some people to be involved in her life.

A flaw of this season was the portrayal of the characters’ relationships. Each one felt volatile, like at any moment the relationship could fall apart. As indicated above, one of the relationships that fell apart was between Ducasse and Jones. It felt inconsistent that nothing was done by Jones to remedy the situation after her relationship development throughout the season.

All in all, season two of “Jessica Jones” is pretty good. It moves forward from the events of the first season, it develops returning and new characters and it has relatively few issues.

Show: “Jessica Jones”
Network: Netflix
Release: March 8
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars