Alright, just finished the show, please keep in mind that this is from someone with no background knowledge of the comics, I knew absolutely nothing of these characters going in.
In regards to the pacing, I felt the show probably should have been 10 episodes long, it felt a bit stretched out at the end. In addition, the 'final confrontation' was a goddamn joke, it had no weight to it at all. Kilgrave just randomly decides 'oh, she's not acting' out of nowhere and then goes to stand in arms reach. The character they established up until that point would have had Jessica rip someone's arm off to make sure she was actually under control. A smaller issue I had was the unrealistic aim of the police officers in that final battle. I know the 'bad guys' not being able to hit the broad side of a barn is one of the oldest cop-outs (pun intended) for lazy writers, but the show had actually been pretty realistic up until that point as far as firearm aim went.
In regards to Kilgrave, I really liked how they handled his character. You really get this sense of him maintaining a facade the entire time he's on screen, with the occasional cracks showing, where you get brief glimpses of his completely horrifying personality underneath. What I really wished was that he had a complete meltdown at some point, where you really saw first-hand how twisted he was, because they otherwise kept all the REALLY dark stuff off screen. With his power in the hands of a villain, he should have made me afraid or at least apprehensive every time he was on screen, but I was left more with the impression that he was just really whiny.
On a more positive note, Luke and Jessica had GREAT chemistry though. I believed their relationship 100%, at least until the more sappy stuff near the end which felt a little out of character for them to say those things out loud. I also liked the noir feeling of the beginning, which kind of slowly bled into being a thriller near the end, it was a pretty seamless tonal transition which I was impressed by and didn't notice happening at first.
I don't really understand how Luke was still being controlled in the end and how much what he did was from Kilgrave.
I mean, Kilgrave doesn't turn people into robots which is part of why his power is so interesting. They can still have their own thoughts and take actions and express their thoughts and such as they try to do what he says. His dad was able to have convos and walk Trish through a whole complex process as he was still thinking about and trying to cut his heart out. Luke is clearly trying to not hurt Jess near the end of the fight but was all "FUCK YOU YOU DISGUSTING POS!" at the beginning.
The way the show handled it, (again, from a fresh introduction to the characters) I gathered from how Jessica became immune and how everyone acted, that Kilgrave's power primarily worked through the victim's psychology. Most people panic when they first get controlled, and immediately jump to the assumption that he controls every part of them, and they're too afraid to think clearly at first. Like, think about the moment with Trish trying to put the bullet in her head. The way the act was 'fulfilled' was a simple workaround, but Trish didn't think of that, Jessica did. When Kilgrave told Trish to do that, Trish understood what he MEANT, but didn't think of the specific wording and how to loophole it.
This holds true and helps explain most of the victim's actions, though there are a few exceptions. For example, since Hogarth was a cold, manipulative lawyer, it would've been better if you saw her show a little more of the loop-holing, along the lines of how she used Kilgrave's command to bring him to the ex-wife's house. It would have fit her character far better if the entire time he was controlling her, she was partially manipulating him, or at least annoying him with her interpretations of his commands.
