Who cares if JJ Season 2 doesn’t have a formidable villain at the center of its 13-episode storyline (as some clueless critics have carped)? Watching the title character and the women in her life confront their enemies (and there are plenty to go around) and their own internal demons (ditto) is way more compelling than yet another superhero tale about people with powers battling big bads.
Season 2 isn’t about a villain like the creepy Kilgrave, who despite being killed off in Season 1 makes an appearance of sorts. (The inclusion of Kilgrave is the only unnecessary story element in Season 2, as far as I could tell, but not at all damaging to the tale being told.) Rather, it is all about Jessica’s relationship with her birth mother, whom she has understood to be dead since a catastrophic car accident killed everyone in her family when she was a little girl and left her clinging to life.
As it happens mom wasn’t totally completely forever dead, either, and was brought back and given super strength (and a very bad temper) by the same doctor who saved and empowered Jessica. The doctor plays a major role in the Season 2 drama, and even though he isn’t really a villain, he is guilty of playing God, something other characters intend to either hold him accountable for or take advantage of.
The rest of the story details won’t be spoiled here, with one exception, which won’t ruin anything for anyone: Because of the ordeal she was put through and the unforeseen complications therein, Jessica’s mom is intermittently monstrous and easily driven to murderous rampages that she cannot control, sometimes by even the most minor annoyances. But she also has a big heart. She’s deadly, except when she isn’t, and watching Jessica balance getting to know and care about the mother she thought was dead with managing the monster she has become is a super-duper study in super-human drama.