Jessica Jones: Soaked In Whiskey

By Richard Thomas

Last month I finally got the opportunity to catch up with the Netflix and Marvel superhero show Jessica Jones, thereby feeding my superhero entertainment craving. Much to my surprise and amusement, I discovered the show is literally soaked in whiskey.

Jessica Jones is the dark and stylish interpretation of the Marvel comic character, a minor superhero turned private eye. The television version depicts a woman clearly suffering from PTSD, stemming from her actions taken while under the prolonged mind control of the villain Kilgrave. She self-medicates by guzzling her poison of choice, whiskey.

This makes her appear to be a full-blown alcoholic intent on burning away her liver, although a woman with superhuman strength, endurance and healing would need to guzzle hard liquor by the pint just to achieve a decent buzz. Beyond the question of just how bad Jones’s drinking problem is, however, is how she feels about her drink.

One of the things I enjoyed so much about the Kentucky-fried drama Justified was the absolutely reverential treatment given to bourbon on the program. Whiskey was often referred to as a supporting character, and while Raylan Givens and others were clearly functioning alcoholics, like so many who meet that description the “functioning” part means they genuinely enjoy their booze of choice. It isn’t just an interchangeable means to an end.

This isn’t the feeling I get from watching Jessica Jones, and it’s not just because the character herself is a step over the “functional” line. Whiskey is treated haphazardly in the program, as a badly handled prop. The people behind the show clearly knew whiskey is trendy, and drinking the stuff like it was soda pop could only add to Jessica’s image as bad ass, uber hot, but ultimately damaged and vulnerable goods.

Take Episode 3, “AKA It’s Called Whiskey.” Jessica goes into a bodega and asks for the cheapest whiskey the store has, and then expresses contempt for what the clerk forks over. That whiskey turns out to be a pint bottle of Wild Turkey 101. Frankly, no one who knew anything about whiskey would choose a pint of that particular bourbon to serve the role of rotgut, and not just because WT101 is very, very far from being crap booze. More important is that you can get a liter of Kentucky Gentleman and other assorted rotguts for the same price.

Perhaps the most thoughtful choice in the show is when Trish Walker breaks out a bottle of Tincup. One can almost see Trish perusing the aisles of an upscale Manhattan liquor store, picking out Tincup because of the design, and keeping it on hand just in case Jessica stops by. In fact, I suspect the same kind of logic played into how it appeared on the show in the first place.

Sure, Jessica Jones is a show soaked in whiskey, and the plentiful bottles of Teacher’s and Windsor give it a sort of hard-aged glam. But as she is written now, Jones herself doesn’t love her whiskey. Nor, I surmise, do the people behind the show. I enjoy it, I’ll watch Season 2 for sure, but it’s not going to fill the whiskey-loving TV niche once occupied by Justified.