Kelly’s Pick: Top 5 Female-Fronted Detective Shows [Guest Poster: Kelly Doran]

I spent my formative years watching Mary Kate and Ashley’s Trenchcoat Twins series on videotape and playing Nancy Drew computer games until way past my bedtime. So as you can imagine, nothing warms my heart more than seeing smart and powerful women kicking butts, taking names, and catching murderers. From Harriet the Spy to Miss Marple, there is no genre I love more. I have consumed a lot of girl detective content, so I like to think you can trust my opinions. After extensive, lifelong research, this is my list of the top five best female detective shows.



5. Nancy Drew (1995)

This Canadian TV adaptation of Nancy Drew reimagines the classic girl detective as a college student studying criminology in New York City in the 90s. This one is very much in the style of 90s teen shows, so it’s not heavy on blood and gore. There’s definitely more of a focus on “missing pop stars” types of crimes, and with 21-minute episodes, none of the mysteries are very fleshed out. My favorite part of this adaptation is definitely Nancy’s friendship with Bess and George, who help her with nearly every case. Bess is reimagined as the city’s most popular gossip columnist, and George as an aspiring filmmaker. Not to mention, Nancy sports some pretty great 90s style.



4. Rizzoli and Isles

This show has been around since 2010, but somehow I missed it until very recently, when it was recommended to me on Hulu. Rizzoli and Isles centers around Jane Rizzoli, a homicide detective, and Maura Isles, a medical examiner who is also Jane’s best friend. These are true murder mysteries with autopsies and dead bodies, so the squeamish might want to skip it. But in my opinion, the murders aren’t nearly as important to the show as the title characters and their relationship. Jane and Maura are best friends who seriously love each other. So what if Jane can be abrasive and Maura is better with dead people than live ones? They have each other, and it is so heartwarming to me.



3. Jessica Jones

Honestly, is there anyone left who hasn’t seen Jessica Jones? If so, what are you doing? Do you even have Netflix?! Krysten Ritter, one of our greatest TV actresses in my opinion, stars as the title character. Although this takes place in the Marvel universe, it bears little resemblance to Marvel’s big screen superhero action movies. This is dark and gritty noir, dimly lit and unglamorous. Jessica, as a survivor of rape (among other traumas), deals with PTSD in purple-colored flashbacks, and the use of color to note these moments is incredibly powerful. Again, one of my favorite aspects of this show is Jessica’s relationship with her best friend: a relationship that makes her stronger and gives her something to fight for. This show has endless twists and turns and enough suspense to keep you binge-watching way longer than you planned.



2. Veronica Mars

Although I have not given it the number one slot, Veronica Mars is probably my favorite TV show of all time. This is Kristen Bell at peak snark, and Kristen Bell can really do snark. Much like Jessica Jones, this show is unapologetic, classic noir, and it’s not afraid to be dark, or to shun neat, happy endings. Between murder-of-the-week mysteries, the first season sees Veronica on a mission to solve her own rape, her mother’s disappearance, and the murder of her best friend (played by a post-Mean Girls Amanda Seyfried). The show is impeccably paced and has incredible character development.

Veronica Mars never shied away from putting a very real and deeply flawed woman on screen; Veronica makes a lot of bad choices, but I always understand why she’s making them, and I never stop caring about her. There’s also some very cool and diverse mysteries that give Veronica the opportunity to play lots of different roles to get the information she needs. Veronica can morph from a clueless, ditzy blonde sorority girl to a nerdy gamer girl as the case demands, and it’s thrilling to watch. She’s also supported by some great supporting characters, including her best friend Wallace, and on-again-off-again love interest, Logan. This show was cancelled after the third season, and honestly, I will probably never forgive The CW for that. Luckily, there was a movie in 2014 to provide a little closure. If I could recommend any show to anyone, it would be this one. If I could spend the rest of my life watching Veronica Mars and nothing else on permanent repeat, I would do it gladly.



1. Murder, She Wrote

Although I love Veronica Mars as much as it is probably possible for one girl to love a TV show, if we’re going to rank lady detective shows, I must reserve the top slot on this list for the original, the classic, the quintessential, Murder, She Wrote. It is the story of a retired English teacher, Jessica Fletcher, who also happens to write bestselling mystery novels and solve crime (no big deal). You guys, we do not deserve Dame Angela Lansbury. My grandmother watched this when I was a kid and yours probably did too. Let me tell you, our grandmothers have impeccable taste because Murder, She Wrote is an unmitigated delight. There is nothing in this world cozier than brewing a cup of tea, wrapping yourself in a duvet, and watching Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher solve murders in chunky cardigans.

(She really does have an incredible selection of cardigans, and I am not the only admirer of her style. There is an entire fashion inspo Instagram dedicated to looks from Murder, She Wrote called @murdershelook. This is 100% not a joke and I recommend that you follow it immediately.)

This is a cozy kind of murder mystery show — the mysteries wrap up neatly, there’s always a happy ending, and Jessica’s always ready to go on and sleuth another day. In a chaotic world, Murder, She Wrote provides some comforting order.

What are your favorite female-fronted detective series? Sound off in the comments below!

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Jessica Jones 1x09 "AKA Sin Bin" (Slaying the Dragon) [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

"AKA Sin Bin" 

Original Airdate: November 20, 2015

The previous episode was all about sympathy for the devil, but "AKA Sin Bin" is about slaying the dragon. The metaphorical dragon being Kilgrave and the abilities he is hiding, the past he is lying about, and Jessica’s need to free Hope.

Kilgrave is locked securely away in the prison that Officer Whatever built for them. The floor is covered in water, the glass is soundproof, and we learn that Kilgrave’s ability doesn’t work through the audio system. Kilgrave is Jessica’s prisoner, at her mercy. But, as Jessica soon discovers, power remains in his hands.

Jessica is more violent than she’s been in the entirety of the season to date in this episode, and understandably so. She has her tormenter within her reach. She can shock him, and does, at the press of a button. Having him close, having him as a prisoner, is not the release she needs, however. He refuses to cooperate; he refuses to confess to making Hope kill her parents. Jessica’s determination to free Hope gives Kilgrave power that someone purely looking for revenge would not have. Throughout the episode it feels as if Jessica is a frayed rope, fraying deeper with each act of violence, her desperation cycling through moments of violence, trusting the wrong person — I’m looking at you Hogarth — and a manic energy that is somehow an extension of where Jessica was only a day before. She has a need crawling inside of her — the finish it, to find peace. The longer she goes without giving Hope that same peace, the more it eats away at her. Everything she’s doing, including torture, is to free Hope.

This drives her to one of the most cathartic and brutal scenes yet. Jessica goes into the cage with Kilgrave. She does everything within her abilities to make him angry, to get a confession out of him. She defies him; she beats him up, using her considerable strength only marginally. And though the moment is meant to be for Hope, you can feel every moment of control that Kilgrave took from her in the crunch of bone and the breaking of skin.

She fails. Kilgrave remains silent. She doesn’t give up, because that’s not who Jessica is. She is stubborn to the point of psychosis. She decides to come at it from another way, and finds the key to perhaps tipping Kilgrave off his axis and getting her confession once and for all.

Jessica finds his parents.

The previous episode, brought to you by Kilgrave’s point of view, suggested that his parents tortured him, hurt him, did horrible experiments on him with no other reason than curiosity. After Jessica tracks them down, the truth comes out that they were trying to save his life. Their experiments had a purpose. Those experiments are what created the monster they learned to fear. His parents were his first victims — live-ins to his sociopathic and psychotic behavior.

The scene that follows, where his parents stop running and hold themselves accountable for their pasts and the man they created, reveals the craziness, the messiness, and the downright weirdness of family. The entire conversation takes place in the prison cell (the sin bin) where Jessica has kept Kilgrave. It shows the boy that was and the parents that helped create him. Then, it shows Kilgrave’s mother do what everyone else in the entirety of the show should have tried from the beginning — she stabs him, then is immediately killed via Kilgrave’s ability. Jessica tries to stop him by using the shocker, but there’s a short. It’s implied heavily that it’s Hogarth’s doing, and I hate her all the more.

There are some other plotlines about Hogarth’s wife, a really weird argument with her fiance that suggests that their relationship is far from healthy, and Jessica’s attempts at getting the officer from the pilot to witness Kilgrave’s story. They are all well done, but the most important thing to me throughout was Trish’s unwavering support of Jessica. She was all in. She didn’t hesitate. She trusted that Jessica wouldn’t kill Kilgrave. She was ready to do what Jessica wouldn’t. This is exactly the love and support Jessica needs.

But perhaps the most important thing to come out of the entire episode was the dragon that Jessica managed to slay at episode’s end. After a brief fight with Kilgrave, where he tells her to let go of him and she doesn’t, Jessica realizes that Kilgrave no longer has power over her. Her worst fear, the fear that he would control her and use her to hurt innocent people, is gone. The last scene is Jessica smiling while covered in blood, firm in the knowledge that she now has an arsenal with which to face Kilgrave. The moment is a culmination of everything the season has been building to, and a really great physical representation that shows the ways in which Jessica has already won.

Stray Thoughts:

• Some great lines: “Smile, Kevin.” “Was Murder Corpse already taken?”
• Jessica shocks Kilgrave. Yay!
• God, I love/hate, Hogarth. She’s gonna be season two’s villain, right?
• The DA offering Hope a plea bargain right when Kilgrave was captured was all very convenient and tropey.
• Officer Whatever acts like he has more of a right to kill Kilgrave than Jessica does. This is super irritating. Also, he’s, like a super soldier, or something? *shrugs*
• “The real world is not about happy endings. It is taking what you have and fighting like hell to keep it.” So true, so honest.
• Malcolm calls out Jessica on her crap and forever remains my sweetheart.
• “I wish I had the mother of the year award so I could bludgeon you to death with it.”
• The blood on Jessica’s face when she realizes that she’s free of Kilgrave’s powers mirrors the blood that was on her face when she killed Luke’s wife. Nice callback, Jessica Jones team. Aces.

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Jessica Jones 1x08 "AKA WWJD?" (Sympathy for the Devil) [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

"AKA WWJD?"

Original Airdate: November 20, 2015

In 1968, The Rolling Stones released "Sympathy for the Devil." In it, the devil is given a voice to tell things from his point of view. He points out that everything gets blamed on him, but that people are part of the problem, too. It is proof of the adage that villains never believe that they are the problem. They see problems and find solutions, yet they do what others cannot. They question whether or not this makes them truly bad or merely a symptom of a greater picture.

The song questions whether or not the devil is really the evil that people see in their hearts or is a reflection of an evil that was already there.

"AKA WWJD" is all about Kilgrave. There is no question that Kilgrave is evil. He is a rapist, a psychopath, a murderer, a sadist, and has no moral bone to his body. This is not in question. The show, however, does make an effort to show things from his point of view, to garner a little sympathy for the devil that is and the man behind the swagger and supernatural ability.

The episode begins as the last one left off, with Jessica arriving at her old house. She looks around, where Kilgrave has meticulously recreated the house as it was in her youth. He brings her home because she once said that her happiest memories were there. This is part of his ongoing dedication to woo her into loving him instead of compelling it with his ability. He is absolutely convinced that giving her a choice will mean that she chooses him.

Kilgrave takes away her coping method. The streets she lived on have now been infiltrated, like so many things, by him. She cannot repeat their names without picturing him there, in her space, in her memories, as part of the narrative. It is another invasion that torments but does not break. Jessica can’t break, because she has too much to do and too many people to look after.

The moment Jessica confronts Kilgrave about his rape of her was something that had coming since the beginning. They were words that needed to be said. They mattered so much. And true, to his nature and true to any rapist’s nature, he deflected, shifted, tried to assign guilt to her. Jessica chose to kill Luke’s wife when Kilgrave only said to "take care of it." Jessica was given the best food, dresses, drinks, and hotels. She was treated like a princess, according to him. It made the rape not a rape, merely a return of favors. This is how so many rapists treat their victims.

“They were asking for it.” “They were treated fairly. I gave them things.” “They were sluts anyway.” “They didn’t know they wanted it, but they did.” 

The list goes on. Kilgrave even goes on to blame his childhood and his parents for the way he is now. Here, and only here, is a little sympathy for the devil garnered. He is not forgiven, but the horrors that were inflicted on him — the way he reacts to seeing them again, with pain he promptly hides behind indifference (sitting down to watch a sports game that is often an encouraged way of coping with emotions for the modern American male), and the clear torture he is lived through as a child — cannot be ignored.

For a flash, we — and Jessica — see things from his point of view. She realizes that he is still a ten-year-old boy, trapped behind the facets of growing up in a lab without anyone to tell him right from wrong. He was a rat, not a human, and his parents didn’t just experiment on him, they created a monster.

Jessica takes it upon herself to show Kilgrave what saving someone feels like, hoping — with that heart of gold that she tries so desperately to hide — that she can make him see the light. She wants to show him a different way, only to realize that he will need constant supervision, constant watching, and constant guiding. Kilgrave’s determined to woo her, which gives her the power to control him right back.

That is where Trish comes in. Jessica goes to her, finally trusting her with the truth, and lays out the choice in front of her. She can stay in her childhood home that is haunted with the memories of her family’s death, and her role in accidentally causing it, or she can do something different. Jessica asks the question, “What would Trish do?” She knows the answer. Trish would do everything in her power to make sure that Kilgrave is watched. She would sacrifice herself so that others would be safe. That is how Trish operates. Jessica wants to be like her friend. It was Trish who first guided her towards being a hero, and it is Trish who is in her head reminding Jessica that she is a good person, worthy of being saved as well as being the savior.

In the end, though, Jessica realizes that she is not Trish. She is Jessica — damaged, dark, sassy, incredibly smart Jessica. She is messy, and makes mistakes, and shotguns more liquor than I could ever manage without dying, but she is also a fighter. Her strength isn’t just physical. It is in her determination to keep moving when her feet feel like they have been superglued to the earth. And she does. She does things her way. She kidnaps Kilgrave, dodges Officer Whatever, and flies off into the night. I do mean that literally.

Jessica is back, still potentially making mistakes, but not as a prisoner, not as someone determined to continually punish herself for the deaths she has on her hands. She is no longer a prisoner, and I feel she has every intention of making Kilgrave hers.

Officer Whatever is now mostly dead. I don’t know if he will Princess Bride his way out of the explosion, but I’m sure it’ll have consequences. The entire episode felt like it was building toward consequences, and those will start to come to a head as the season builds to its final episodes.

Sympathy for the devil may have been felt, made Kilgrave seem human around the psychopathic behavior, but he is still the devil. He is still evil. And, now, Jessica understands him just a little bit better. It is another tool in her arsenal that I hope she makes the most of before the series closes out its first season.

Stray Thoughts:

• The scene where Jessica confronted Kilgrave about the rape of her was truly powerful. It was shot with space between them — two opponents on a battlefield, waiting to see who shoots first. Jessica was emotional and fierce; Kilgrave was distant and his words echoed so many men that it’s simply bone chilling. Bravo to everyone involved.
• We see Jessica’s family for the first time via flashback. The flashbacks added depth to Jessica’s guilt, explained so much, and broke my heart. Also, I’ve had that fight about Gameboys with my brother. He broke his so we had to share. Relatable.
• "I choose that you won’t touch me ever. I promise I won’t touch you until I get your genuine consent." That makes me angry for rape victims everywhere. Still giving her a little bit of freedom as he promise to let her choose.
• “I worked hard on this,” was said with a bit of menace and deeply manipulative. Kilgrave expected a thank you, and the line was delivered perfectly.
• “A little appreciation wouldn’t hurt you, huh?”
• Jessica is forced to relive her terror and her rape in the one place that made her feel safe. Her happiness is being tainted with her trauma. Kilgrave’s taken her coping method from her.
• “I’ll be having a liquid dinner.” Can’t say that I blame her.
• Officer Whatever put a bomb in the basement because he’s Mr. Man with a Plan. I kept thinking throughout this episode that any other time he would be the hero of the show. He’s Captain America in any other universe, but because he’s in Jessica’s world, he just comes across as a giant douche. Is this intentional? I need to know.
• Kilgrave may not know how to talk to people in the way regular people do, but he is definitely great at manipulation and pushing all the buttons of guilt. He winnows and tries to make Jessica doubt everything by twisting the narrative.
• “Make it right.” This is Jessica’s mantra, and it has been what has carried her through the show so far. She keeps trying to make it right, but she keeps failing. This is what makes her human.
• “I’m going to have to ask you to say that in cash.” I love Wendy more and more.
• Jessica putting all the cream on her plate at breakfast is my hero.
• “Do your actions ever haunt you?” Jessica is genuinely confused by this. All she knows is hauntings. Ghosts follow her everywhere.
• “You can’t harness his power for good. He’s a psychopath.” Trish speaks words of wisdom, per usual.

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Jessica Jones 1x07 "AKA Top Shelf Perverts" (White Knight Heroes) [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

"AKA Top Shelf Perverts" 

Original Airdate: November 20, 2015

“I have to pay.”

This is line that sums up "AKA Top Shelf Perverts." It is the reflection of Jessica’s mental state and where her determination is focused for the entirety of the episode.

Jessica is still reeling from Luke’s words. She told him the truth about his wife. He told her that she was crap and she wants to punish herself. Jessica Jones wants to feel nothing and everything all at once. Kilgrave doesn’t mind helping with the punishment part. He never does.

The episode opens with Kilgrave in Jessica’s apartment, in her space, violating her again as he attempts to invade not only her home but her mind — to be close to her in a way that she does not want and will not allow in person. He rummages around, pees in her toilet, and opens her door when a knock resounds. Creepy neighbor Ruben is on the other side, and we all know in an instant that he is not going to have a good day.

Jessica is spiraling — through getting thrown out of a bar drunk, getting called stinky by a homeless man, and then threatening and almost killing Hogarth’s soon-to-be ex-wife, it’s clear that Luke’s words have resonated. Months internally screaming at herself have culminated in Luke’s disgust for her. He has proven all her thoughts correct. She’s losing control, giving in to her demons in a louder way than her previous attempts at quietly drinking herself into oblivion.

She very nearly wants to die.

For an instant, as the train that she saves Hogarth’s wife from barrels towards her, you see that Jessica contemplates suicide. Everything is falling away from her and she does not know how to stop it. Her life is not her own to manage, after all. Kilgrave still has a stranglehold on her. She doesn’t do it, but she is still looks for a way to end her life that doesn’t include the actual act. So, when Ruben ends up dead on the bed, she panics, has a well-earned breakdown, and then creates a plan that is doomed to fail from the start.

The seventh episode is about penance and guilt, but it is also perhaps the most relationship-driven episode of the series. It highlights who matters the most to Jessica, who has her back, who is more concerned about ego than doing right, and who is trying to tear her down. The webs that have been woven around Jessica in the previous episodes are finally highlighted in this one, like a spider web after a summer storm. Jessica may be in the middle of the tempest, but her friends are desperately trying to have her back around the swirling debris of her choices. Malcolm and Trish care. They love her. They work to save her when she doesn’t want them to. Trish tells her that she’s a hero even when Jessica has never felt like more of a villain. Jessica needs to hear the words, but it doesn’t stop her from trying to complete a poorly thought-out and complex plan to capture Kilgrave.

For me, the two most important aspects of this episode were Jessica’s search for punishment, and Malcolm’s search to protect her at all costs. Their roles have done a 180 in a very short amount of time. Malcolm quietly and sincerely tries to help Jessica in a way that Jessica did when he was the addict. They even have a reversal of the elevator scene, where Jessica is the one on the floor and Malcolm is the one to help her get home. Malcolm is one of the few people who genuinely understands what she is going through. He gets it. His respect, trust, and care are not token gestures. He will do whatever he can not only to make amends, but to ensure that Jessica does not fall into the same hole he did. He will protect her from herself. This culminates with him reaching out to Trish — the smartest act of the entire show — and trying to hide the murder of Ruben by dumping him into the river.

It’s all for naught, as Jessica dives in after the body and marches into the police station, dead set on her path — and dead head in hand — proof that you can’t protect someone who has a hand on the detonator: you can only hope that they take the hand that is offered to them when the time comes.

And the one person that she loathes above all else ruins her plan. Kilgrave arrives at the police station, declaring his love even as he holds the entire station hostage. Jessica’s first thought is for the people around her. She agrees to go with him, to keep him from hurting them, but he wants her to choose him. Kilgrave has deluded himself into thinking he loves Jessica. She is the first person to defy him. She said no when everyone else said yes. His love is masked by control. And he is determined to make her love him back. Kilgrave's methods may have changed, but the manipulation has not. He’s controlling Jessica, determined to own what he has no right to own. His desire to get her to say yes has made him work for something, but all the scene does is reinforce how much an abuser he really is and will continue to be.

Kilgrave leaves everyone alive, and Jessica is faced with a choice: seek Kilgrave out or run. She had decided on prison. It was a silly plan to lure him out, but it was safe. Instead, by episode’s end, Jessica Jones chooses a prison far worse, far more dangerous, but with all the potential of bringing her closer to the mad man who changed her life forever. In confessing his love and his determination to have her pick him consciously, Kilgrave’s mitigated one of her bigger fears. He’s trying to make her love him without commands, without his gift at the forefront, and that gives Jessica the chance to study him, to find out a way stop his reign of terror in her life — to end it for good. Jessica seems so resigned, so tired, throughout the episode; but by episode’s end, she arrives at a house shining with normalcy, with bright blossoms framing the vibrant life of families at play, a sore thumb that does not fit the scene, with a strangely at peace countenance. She has made her choice, and she is more than willing to live by it.

It may not be suicide, but her sacrifice has given her some level of penance paid. It’ll be interesting to see how it’s carried throughout the rest of the season.

Stray Thoughts:

• The entire episode is shot with respect not only to Kilgrave’s voyeuristic and controlling vibe, but with an energy and a stillness that reflects Jessica’s exhaustion and hopelessness. There are not fast shots or dramatic energy. It is languid, soft.
• Dragon Lady Lawyer is still mean, and I cheered for Wendy for facing her so strongly and bravely. I like her more than Hogarth. I’m probably meant to.
• Poor creepy neighbor. No more creeping.
• Officer Whatever was in the episode. That means that irritation was in my heart. I’m all for Trish finding release, but does have to be him?
• Trish gets some more backstory, and a mother. My heart breaks for her, and I love her all the more for her strength. (Trish’s white knight scene is the absolute best. She is the hero Jessica needs at her side.)
• “Q-tip.”
• Watching the “I love you” by Kilgrave was like sitting on a spiked chair.
• “A beautiful funeral doesn’t guarantee heaven.” This was so beautiful, and so indicative of Malcolm’s guilt but determination to do what he must.
• Officer Whatever is going to be a problem, isn’t he?
• “We both know you don’t own a vacuum cleaner.” Trish remains queen of everything.

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10 Things You Need to Know About the "Jessica Jones" Pilot [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

Jessica Jones is exactly the hero the Marvel franchise was missing. The show’s tribute to 1930-40s film noir is matched only by Krysten Ritter’s deadpan delivery, masterful sincerity when dealing with Jessica’s trauma, and the subtle funny moments that linger in the spaces between crumbling marriages, hunts for missing people, and Jessica dealing with the consequences of the past.

Here are ten things you absolutely need to know about the pilot (if you haven't binge-watched the entire series already):

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