Bionic Woman

I really liked The List, Bionic Woman’s sixth episode … until the final scene.  But we will get to that.

The premise of the episode is that Jaime must go to Paris to retrieve a list that reveals the identity of various CIA and Berkut Group operatives.  For her partner, she picks Tom (the handsome fellow she was last seen making out with at the end of episode five).  While we still don’t know the details of how far their make out session went that night, we learn pretty early in this episode that Tom did not call Jaime afterwards and Jaime is not all that happy about it.  Yet she plays it very cool when she meets Tom, convinced that "The Rules" will keep him interested.

The plot is simple: Jaime and Tom go to Paris and pretend to be a married couple.  They play it cool and faux bicker.  They agree to be just friends before dressing up to crash a party.  They drink wine, they get in trouble, they almost catch the bad guy before Tom is captured and Jaime convinces the Berkut Group to defy the CIA to get him back.  Inexplicably, Jonas agrees and sends Jaime in with eight million dollars and orders to recover the list.  She finds Tom calm and cute, they bicker some more before professing their attraction, and then Jaime manages to capture the bad guy and diffuse the bomb around Tom’s body before the end of the episode (well, she had a little help from Nathan on the bomb).  She lost about $4 million in the process, but that seems to be the price of doing business around here. 

And then Jaime inexplicably leaves Tom, full of longing, and heads back to Becca at home instead of staying one more night with him in Paris.  The end of the episode is very frustrating, because everyone hates build up without payoff and there was a lot of sexual tension in this episode that went … nowhere.  It is especially frustrating because we are not sure what Tom’s situation is at this point.  Is he even with the CIA anymore?  Is he unemployed?  Sure the boy can take care of himself, but if she is his pseudo-girlfriend she could have at least asked him if he was okay.  But who knows, maybe that is against "The Rules."  Or maybe the producers did not think about that.

But even though I hated the ending, I still liked the episode.  The subtle themes of the episode veered away from the series-long theme of trust and went to a softer and more fun theme of longing and withholding.  What is stronger, your duty to your cause or your longing for this other person?  When push comes to shove which one will win out?  By the end of the episode we still don’t know Jaime’s answer, but as the episode goes along we see Tom slowly but surely shifting from the side of loyalty to an ideal to loyalty to lust for the Bionic Woman.  And that sets up some awfully fun potential for the episodes yet to come.

Earlier I asked if the mysterious and all around Berkut Group wonder woman, Ruth Truewell, played by the talented Molly Price was a lesbian.

I wondered this after we were introduced to Truewell in episode 1.01.  I guess the writers thought it would be fun to tease the audience with the same question when they literally had another character ask outright in episode 1.03, “Sisterhood”.

It seems I am not the only one who thinks BW should introduce one of the characters as outright gay.  Via GayWired:

Oh come on. For a show about a butch dressing bartender who gets a second lease on life when a secret government agency hijacks her body, makes her bionic and sends her to do battle with a rogue bionic woman with a fierce blonde bob and bulging biceps, Bionic Woman is seriously missing the queer quotient. Maybe Isaiah Washington ixnayed any reference to homosexuality, but seeing as how his character supposedly ends his limited run this week, the opportunity is there to up the gay factor. Perhaps Jamie Sommers (Michelle Ryan) and Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff) could take their rivalry to the next level. At the very least, give us some wet wife beaters—and more of Katee’s slicked back hair. Totally hot stuff!

Roco at Bionic Blog takes up the same topic.

Now that Washington will be leaving the show, Truewell, or another character should be identified as an out gay person.  However, let me go on the record and offer unsolicited advice to the writers:  DO NOT WRITE A BECCA SOMMERS EXPERIMENTS WITH LESBIANISM PLOT LINE.  It would be stupid and Lucy Hale has not proved herself capable of handling this kind of scene or plot line. 

So, Gay it Up, Bionic Woman!

It’s no secret that I have been extremely disappointed with Bionic Woman.  The show has been mediocre at best and unfortunately, poor casting decisions, the inability to  keep an executive producer,and the unevenness of the characters have had a negative effect on the ratings.  Sadly, Bionic Woman is losing viewers faster than Isaiah Washington loses gay friends.  Via Syfyportal:

I really hope the current writer’s strike doesn’t cause more harm than BW has already inflicted on itself.  It would be a shame to see the demise of BW sooner than the 5 year shelf life the writers gave her by making the bionics only last that long.

Bionic Woman, episode 1.06, “The List” found our heroine paired with CIA agent Tom, guest star Jordan Bridges.  More aptly titled “The Cliche,” episode 1.0’s assignment was to track down scary terrorist bad guy, guest star Callum Keith Rennie, and retrieve a stolen government list containing the names of undercover agents. 

Most Battlestar Galactica fans will recognize Rennie as the humanoid cylon, Leoben Conoy, from Eick’s other, and better, 1970s remake. 

Despite the cliched plot, “The List” had many things going for it, namely the chemistry between Michelle Ryan as Jaime Sommers and Jordan Bridges as Tom.  These two are smokin’ hot together and unlike the romance with Chris Bowers’ Will Anthros character, I actually believe that Jaime and Tom could be a couple.  Jaime and Tom’s mission took them to Paris to track down the uber elusive terrorist responsible for stealing the “list” and preventing him from selling it to the highest bidder.

Needless to say, things don’t go quite as planned and Tom ends up captured by Rennie.  Jaime talks the terrorist into selling back the list, and letting Tom live.  Rennie demands  $8 million and Jaime gets approval for the wire transfer from Jonas.  Unfortunately, when Jaime meets Tom at the arranged locale, she discovers that Rennie has wired explosives around Tom.  With Nathan’s assistance, Jaime picks the right wire and Tom is saved.  Jaime advises Tom to give her a call and, I for one hope the producers keep Bridges around for awhile longer.

Random thoughts on the episode:

• I am sick of Becca.  Where was she going when she got in the car?
• No Katee Sackhoff this episode.  I miss her.
• Locked in a wine cellar?  Really?  Why does Ruth have to remind Jaime that she is bionic and can knock down the door?
• They flew to Paris on the same plane, why are they not returning on the same plane?
• If Becca was surprised that Jaime arrived home early, then why did she already have a warm towel prepared for Jaime’s surprise bath?
• Note to set designers:  a bathroom filled with candles only happens on t.v.  No one has that many candles in their house nor does anyone take the time to strategically place 100 lit candles in a bathroom and then take a bath.
• how much did that ring cost?
• Poor Nathan, he is never going to get the girl.
• By my count, this makes the fourth BSG alum to lend a hand on BW.

I give the episode 7.4 out of 10.

Episodes like this give me hope for Bionic Woman … cute episode, Michelle Ryan was great (love the accent!), and it seems to be coming together. Even if there were still some bad scenes, and even if the plot about the terrorist implants was totally preposterous, watching the episode was still fun. And we need more fun on Bionic Woman.

The best thing about this episode was the interplay between Jaime and Tom, the cute cute cute Jordan Bridges. I liked them together, and I thought they had a hell of a lot more chemistry together than Jaime ever had with the potentially murderous Will Anthros. The scene where she asked him to go get pink champagne was adorable.

I also liked the interplay between Jaime and her Boy Friday, the Tech Guy Whose Name I Never Can Remember, in the early part of the show. Her talking to him between bionic moves was almost the most realistic part of the show, as it echoed the way two friends may talk together as one goes throughout the mundane moments of the day (”Hold on a minute, I need to open this door/make a u-turn/pay the parking meter/whatever). Only in Jaime’s case, the mundane tasks were jumping over buildings. Mundane, as always, depends upon your perspective.

Once again, trust was the underlying theme of the episode. The best line of the episode was actually from Isaiah Washington’s Antonio Pope: “The last time you trusted your instincts about a guy, he replaced your limbs with artificial parts.” That may not be the exact wording, but the sentiment was the same … and he did not even mention the man she trusted in South America, who disappeared with her bionic blueprints. Jaime Sommers has many talents, but she needs to work on her bionic lie detector.

As for the ending, it was also totally preposterous … but it was really nice to see Jaime fighting side by side with someone she actually likes for a change. It seemed like she was protecting him because she wanted to, and not just because it was her assignment or because it was the right thing to do.

And yet, the end of the episode left me vaguely irritated. As much as I loved the accent in the beginning of the show, it became irritating when she was slipping in and out of it inexplicably towards the end of the show. I hope this does not become a steady inconsistency in a show that has way too many inconsistencies already. Also, Jaime’s eye make up at the end of the show was a little oddly spaced and much too heavy.

And as adorable as “Tom” is, and as much as I like to see Jaime kissing a boy who is NOT Will Anthros or a guy she met in a bar, the girl goes and does it again! Jaime, the time for quid pro quo is before the kiss … you gave him your real name, make sure you get his real name in return. Will the Bionic Woman ever learn?

Bionic Woman, Jaime Sommers, Antonio Pope, Jordan Bridges, Michelle Ryan, Isaiah Washington, Will Anthros, bionic, terrorist, lie detector

Bionic Woman episode 1.05, “The Education of Jaime Sommers,” really only had one fight scene.  There was one brief scuffle with a guy trying to attack Jaime, but it hardly counts and I’m not even going to bother posting it.

The set up:

Jaime has been sent undercover as a college student to investigate the black market sale of advanced microchips that once implanted in a person, can actually be used to turn them into killing “Manchurian Candidates”.  The chips were created by a world renewed expert in Parkinson’s Disease.

The fight scene erupts while Jaime and crew move in to stop the bad guys from getting away with the microchip.  Jaime, CIA agent Tom and Antonio Pope all work to take the bad guys down.

I had such high hopes for Bionic Woman.  When I learned David Eick, of Battlestar Galactica fame, was turning his eye to this 70’s classic, my nostalgic heart skipped a beat.  While no woman would ever replace the original Jaime Sommers, Lindsay Wagner, I was ready to let go of the past and enjoy a darker, more subversive hour long drama.

With each passing episode, episode 5 just aired, my disappointment and dissatisfaction grows.  Now on the third show runner (the person in charge of the show), BW has been a bionic mess since the un-aired pilot made its way online.

This scene from episode 5 pretty much sums up the problem with BW:  the writing is inconsistent and Isaiah Washington.  Take a look.

This scene makes absolutely no sense to the episode nor the characters as they have been presented.  Isaiah Washington’s character is supposed to be a world class top secret spy and his alias to guest star Jordan Bridges is that he is Jaime Sommers’ uncle?   This is stupid. 

Furthermore, why is this scene even necessary to the episode other than to satisfy Washington’s minimum line per episode contract?  It’s awkward, it doesn’t make sense, and of course, it goes without saying that Washington’s acting style is horrible.

BW is has many problems, but an easy one to solve is to write clear, logical scenes that are beneficial to advancing the plot and logically fit the construct and narrative of the week’s episode and the series as a whole.

It’s time to cast Lindsay Wagner as the head of a competing corporation to the Berkut Group.  This would be fun and at least it would satisfy my nostalgic cravings.

Katee Sackhoff has gotten lots of great write-ups for her portrayal of Sarah Corvus, the “first bionic woman” and dedicated nemeses to Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers, but there is another character I like almost as well - Nathan.  Each week, Jaime and Nathan engage in playful, flirty banter that has really taken on a fun, fan perspective recurrence.  Nathan starts most scenes with the “What have you done to my ear, toe, etc.” question after Sommers has damaged her bionics.  Sommers reminds Nathan each time those body parts belong to her. 

Nathan is played by veteran tv actor Kevin Rankin.  Many fans will recognize him as Herc from Friday Night Lights. 

In Bionic Woman, we know practically nothing about Nathan, not even his last name, except he is the go-to-guy when Sommers is having technical difficulties.  He is a sort of Q to Sommers.

I’ve pulled together a couple of clips.

This clip comes from 1.02, “Paradise Lost”.  Sommers is having problems with ringing in her bionic ear and Nathan fixes the problem with an unconventional technique.

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Bionic Woman episode 1.04, “Face Off,” had one cool action sequence that is fun to watch.  There is one at the beginning of the episode but this one is better.

The set up:

Michelle Ryan as Jaime Sommers and Isaiah Washington as Antonio Pope have flown to Paraguay to rescue from terrorists a CIA agent in possession of proprietary Berkut Group data on bionics.  After escaping from their captors, Sommers and Pope disagree how to handle the CIA agent (Pope wants to kill him) and she and the agent ditch Pope and make their escape out of the warehouse.  However, Sommers is outflanked by the terrorists and her only way to reach their exit point is to leap across the warehouse using ductwork as “stepping stones”.  It really is a fantastic scene.  See if you can hear the subtle use of bionic sound effects.  I personally wish there were more.

If you like the stunt, the a link to the filming of the stunt is after the jump.

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In last week’s episode we learned that Jaime has five years to live, and this dramatic revelation changes the way Jaime views herself … and the way that the audience views Jaime.

When the pilot first aired a lot of commentators painted Jaime as ungrateful and whining, a girl who got a second chance and did not seem to grasp how lucky she is.

But now we know more. Now we know that Will Anthros was probably never in love with Jaime, in fact he had been studying her for at least two years before they met as a possible candidate for his bionic implants. Now we know his decision to rush her into surgery after their car crash was not the instantaneous move of a man desperate to keep the woman he loves, it was a surgery that had been pre-planned in his mind and the car crash simply moved up the time line.

This changes everything. Jaime is no longer an ungrateful girl who got a second chance, she is now a young woman who was targeted by a corrupt scientist who studied her, seduced her, and then implanted her with his technology … not out of love but as part of a larger scheme we do not yet understand. Jaime’s involvement with Will got her killed once, she was resurrected for his purposes and profit, and now she is slowly and painfully dying once again. The clock is ticking for Jaime, and her bionic implants are not a second chance but a time bomb.

Assuming someone does not steal her, reprogram her, kidnap her for experimentation purposes or kill her somehow before her bionics can. Will did not simply implant his technology into Jaime, he implanted it and then apparently sold it to at least one terrorist group if not more. Jaime is now a moving target, whose every specification is in the possession of unnamed shadow organizations.

This is a horrific prospect, especially now that we know Jaime can be hacked. The first scene of the series was the horrific bloodbath of death that followed Sarah Corvus’ system being taken over by someone for reasons unknown, that loss of control hangs over every scene with Sarah Corvus and is what drove her beyond the realms of sanity.

Now that Jaime’s specs have been sold and are in the hands of terrorist groups, or only slightly more reassuringly the CIA, she is vulnerable to the same hacks that Sarah endured. We do not know who Will was working with, or why he did what he did to Jaime … but one thing seems certain, dark days are ahead for the Bionic Woman.

Bionic Woman, Jaime Sommers, Will Anthros, Sarah Corvus, CIA, Burket Group, terrorist

Episode 1.04, “Face Off” didn’t have quite as much action as last week’s episode, but the two major fight scenes were great.

My pick of the week for the best sequence actually isn’t the longest, but the most clever.  It involves Jaime Sommers and Anthony Pope escaping from terrorists holding them captive at an undisclosed location in Paraguay.  They have flown there to rescue a CIA agent in possession of encrypted data about Sommers and the Berkut Group’s bionics research.  The scene is fun because Michelle Ryan’s Sommers is tied up and fights the guys literally with her hands tied behind her back.

The second fight scene is fun because we see Sommers get into a brawl with Anthony Pope.  Pope has just tried to assassinate the CIA agent he and Sommers were sent to rescue and protect.  Once Pope realizes the operative has compromised the Berkut Group’s bionic secrets, he deems him untrustworthy and collateral damage to the bionic cause.  Jaime refuses to trade her life for his.  She kicks Washington’s Pope’s ass.  As Rob over at coolscifi.com explains, “it is cool see a bigot get the crap beat out of him.”  Yeah, Rob, we agree.

Video after the jump.

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Bionic Woman episode 1.04, “Face Off” was a bit disjointed, but it did give us this fun scene and line of the week.

The setup:

Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers has broken one of her bionic toes while spying on her sister, Becca.  Jaime heads to the Wolfe Creek facility to have Nathan fix her toe.  Nathan flirts with Jaime each week and while he is working on her toe, she accuses him of being more than a little interested in her feet.  Nathan’s reply is classic.

Sommers:  Do you have a foot fetish?

Nathan:  Actually, no, Jaime, I do not, I’m pretty much just a simple boob man.”

If last week’s episode (”Sisterhood”) was two steps forward, then “Face Off” is one step back. It seems to be a throw back to trajectory of the series before the producer shuffle late this summer, another necessary set up episode that we must muddle through in order to enjoy the rest of the season. Well, that is my hope anyway … that the show is pulling a Sarah Corvus, doing what is necessary at the moment to survive, to get the audience through to the next moment which will hopefully be more fun.

The opening sequence was frustrating to say the least. Disjointed and badly edited, right away the opening sequence lets us know that this is another episode that was cobbled together to get us through some important back story elements without advancing the fun of the show.

We see Jaime running up to a car that is parked behind the seemingly endless dark alleys and empty warehouses that populate SanFranVancouver, ripping open the door and finding … Becca inside, straddling some random guy. Jaime and Becca have another fight about trust where they compare the sins of spying v. lying, and then Jaime heads off to the Burket’s tech support department to see if they can fix her broken toe. There is cute conversation with the tech guy, who does manage to fix her toe, and then Jonas yells at Jaime about how she owes him $27k for the digit. Does he really expect her to pay that back, or is he going to withhold her paycheck? Or was he simply reminding her that she needs to be more careful. There is a definite theme in the new Bionic Woman, that being bionic does not make you invincible, which makes me wonder how long it will be before Jaime is really hurt.

It seems that this episode will see Jaime going on a field trip to South America to deal with a terrorist hostage situation. Her cover is that she and Antonio Pope are girlfriend and boyfriend, which is another sign that this will not be a good episode because the idea of those two together is just … ick.

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Episode 1.04 “Face Off” was not quite as good as last week’s episode, “Sisterhood,” but there was one scene that was campy fun- Katee Sackhoff being wheeled through the Wolfe Creek underground facility. 

The setup: Katee Sackhoff as Sarah Corvus has just been captured by Jae Kim and he is taking her back to the Wolfe Creek facility for interrogation and repair.

Watch this clip and tell me the writers weren’t deliberately paying tribute to Rober Harris’ Silence of the Lambs villain Hannibal Lecter.

Let’s face it, the first two episodes of BW really weren’t what they should have been.  The pilot, “Second Chances,” was too fast and the second episode was so disjointed, it had to have been a compilation of scenes intended for other episodes, but got the bionic treatment and crafted together as episode two.  I think the last minute title change from “Birds” to “Paradise Lost” is a strong indicator union rules kicked in and the original writer of the episode couldn’t/wouldn’t get credit for what finally aired.  (If anyone in t.v. land has a copy of the original “Birds” episode, please forward to us as WBW.com)

However, episode three, “Sisterhood,” finally revealed how fun and good the new Bionic Woman will be.  With the exception of Isaiah Washington, all of the characters are either fun, intriguing, and/or scary as hell and the acting is solid.  All reasons burgeoning fans will return to the show and bring new ones with them.  Episode three also gave us insight to Katee Sackhoff’s Sarah Corvus and showed her story in flashbacks.  In my early review of the unaired pilot, I questioned the producers decision to introduce the creation of Sommers immediately as a new bionic woman rather than let it play out over a couple of episodes.  It would have been much more effective to have done it this way.  Roco at bionic-blog.com thinks along the same lines.

So, the show started out with enough people interested in watching that the numbers were decent for NBC, however, a majority of those people have failed to return and BW is coming in third in its time slot on Wednesdays.  It’s time for NBC to move Bionic Woman to Mondays after Heroes (where it should have started) and create a super hero packed Monday lineup.  I think by doing so, NBC will bolster their ratings for both shows.

NBC, get to it.