Back from the brink
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- October
- 25
Bionic Woman came back from the brink of cancellation (from my DVR season pass, not NBC) last night.
This is what we should have been getting all along  Jaime Sommers being all Bionic-y, solving crimes and getting the job done.
First off, I love the relationship she’s developed with Nerd Nathan. Of course, he’s totally hot for her, plus he feels a bit of ownership over her bionics, but they’ve come to have a sort of brother-sister bickering relationship that’s pretty fun.
His whole narration (to no one in particular) of her date with Tom was worth a chuckle or two and their conversation while she’s jumping onto roofs and from building to building  with her having to pause often because she couldn’t hold the phone to her ear while she was doing whatever she was doing at the moment  was quite amusing.
Nathan: “That’s this company for you. They’ll spend $50 million on your bionics, but won’t spring for a Bluetooth!”
Speaking of sibling relationships, there was blessedly little of Becca last night. She made an incredibly brief appearance at the beginning of the episode as Jaime’s friends are telling her how she needs to find a guy (um, didn’t her fiance just die? cut the girl some slack!) and that was it. Though I have to admit, I wondered who was looking after Becca while Jaime was living in the college dorm. Hmm?
I wonder if they’re gradually going to drop the sister storyline totally. Nothing against Lucy Hale, who portrays little sis, but Becca is totally superfluous and does nothing but drag the show down. When I reflected on what made this episode different from all other episodes (and it’s not even Passover!), I realized this was one of the big points in its favor.
Another major point in the show’s favor: Plot.
The episode didn’t get all bogged down in mythology and background and Why Things Are. Jaime’s bionic. She’s programmed to kick butt. She does it and saves the day. I did observe, however, during her fight with the nighttime attacker/Parkinson’s patient, that she really needs to get a second bionic arm. She can’t be stopping all of a sudden in a fight because her one real arm just got karate chopped or smacked with a chain. Bionic or not, it’s still hard to fight with only one arm.
Then we have her budding … something with Tom.
It’ll be hard to develop a true romantic relationship with him.
He’s CIA. She’s Berkut Group.
It’s like they’re from opposite sides of the tracks.
But I think they’ll muddle through somehow. Scenes from next week show them in Paris, all gussied up, to solve some sort of bad guy mess there.
Jordan Bridges as Tom was a welcome addition to Bionic, IMHO. She almost became a regular person again, albeit one who just happens to have superstrength, -hearing and -sight. And Bridges played Tom well, with just the right touch of humor and mystery.
He was, however, totally impressed with her butt-kicking abilities. How about that cantaloupe throw? Nice shot.
Admittedly, I do loves me some Sarah Corvus, and missed her last night. But I realize that when Sarah’s around, the rest of the show suffers.
First, Katee Sackhoff is so spectacular that anyone around her pales in comparison. Second, when she’s around, the entire storyline gets sucked into her vortex and becomes all about the mythology of the Bionic People.
I’m sure we’ll get plenty more Corvus as the season continues on, and that isn’t a bad thing. But I have to admit I’m glad we got a break last night.
Give Michelle Ryan some time to settle into being Jaime Sommers. And give Jaime Sommers some time to settle into being Bionic.
TVGuide.com reports today that “Jason Cahill, who won a Writers Guild award for his work on The Sopranos,” has joined Bionic Woman as one of the show runners. “His mission: to make the show stronger and faster, or at least teach Jaime how to make a savory putanseca sauce.”
Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 11:53 am by Amy Vernon.
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You’ve got more patience than I do Amy. Despite the BSG connection, I couldn’t get past the first episode.
Great Review! I agree with most of what you said. For once the show’s main character was Jaime Sommers! I also liked how it was a self contained episode. The Sara Corvus Story is great, but it shouldn’t be all the time. And the less Burket group the better, although Nathan is cool! And I hope they keep the CIA agent for appearances now and then. The best episode so far!