(S01E03) "$50 million and you didn't think we'd throw in a GPS?" - Jonas
OK, I have to admit it: with this episode Bionic Woman has me hooked for the long haul.
Where the first two episodes were way too heavy on the set up, this one was actually intriguing, lively, and jam-packed with witty lines. I'm actually beginning to think that the highlight of the show is Miguel Ferrer's Jonas character. Unlike Arvin Sloane over on Alias, Jonas is sarcastic and funny. And he's not the only one who had good dialogue in this episode. It's like the show was taken over by other writers or something after the first two episodes. The words were meatier, funnier.
In this episode, Jaime has to babysit an annoying teen girl (no, not her sister, another annoying teen girl). But she also has to deal with a desperate Sarah Corvus, who is dying from what's inside of her and needs Jaime's help.
One theory I've been tossing around - and I might as well toss it to you readers to see if you agree - is that Will isn't really dead. His death was either faked by the company or maybe he's being kept alive by his "I sound like Alec Baldwin's character on 30 Rock" dad for some reason. Actor Chris Bowers is featured prominently on the NBC site in promo pics, and it seems odd that he was only in two episodes. We find out in this episode that Will is the one who brought Sarah Corvus back to life after she was shot by Jae, we found out in the last episode that he was keeping a file on Jaime two years before they even met, and now Corvus is putting second thoughts into Jaime's head. I don't know, I think there's more to Will's death than meets the eye.
Speaking of eyes, Jaime has a camera in hers! Or, as Jonas puts it "we have streaming video in your head." That's actually a good plot point, though I don't know what sense it makes for Sarah to tell Jaime to "come alone" to the meeting place if Jaime's head has closed-circuit TV inside of it. I also love the idea that Jaime and Sarah are connected by their bionics. That will surely come into play in later episodes.
I loved the biplay between Jaime and Sarah in this ep. It's like if Cagney and Lacey had bionics and fought crime! I think it would be rather cool to see a big plot twist later in the season, with Jaime and Sarah joining forces against something, but I know this show is probably more likely to make them big enemies instead of big friends. As evidenced by the last scene with Sarah getting all evil and pissy again. Am I the only one who thought "yes, do it, do it!", when Sarah had her hand around the kid sister's neck?
Other observations from this episode:
- So Sarah also had an annoying kid sister, and she died exactly the way that Jaime almost died, in a spectacular car accident? Coincidence or lame writing? Maybe Will and the company only take women who have annoying sisters.
- Michelle Ryan is actually coming into her character more, but she gives her 15 year-old sister a glass of wine, and doesn't inquire as to why said sister was able to suck it down as if she belongs to a wine club that meets every Thursday night? Again, what is the writing here, realistic (I bet there are lots of older siblings who give their younger ones a sip of wine or beer) or irresponsible? With this and the bathroom drunken sex fest that Jaime attempted in an earlier ep, I wonder about Ms. Sommers sometimes.
- Still not sure why Jaime and Sarah have to do pull-ups and push-ups. Last week Jaime was doing one-armed pull-ups, but it was with her bionic arm. Shouldn't she been trying to strengthen her left arm?
- Anthony Andros is supposed to be Will's father? Checking the IMDb, the actor, Mark Sheppard, was born in 1964. How old was Will supposed to be?
- So the guys at HQ look at the bionic women when they're in the shower? I wonder if that stuff is on DVD in some hidden room in the basement of the facility?
- Jaime and sis live in one of the most incredible apartments on TV. How did she afford that when she was a bartender?
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-10-2007 @ 11:11PM
radwimp said...
"She kills Jaime and becomes the star of the show"
Ah, if only...
But seriously, I agree this was a much better episode than the first two. I think I'm starting to warm up, slightly, to Ryan as well.
Reply
10-10-2007 @ 11:57PM
Vince said...
The one was much better. I am glad I struck through the first two. The dialogue was very smart and they are deepening the story line revealing Jamie was selected well before a chance accident.
Reply
10-10-2007 @ 11:52PM
Oreo said...
"$50 million and you didn't think we'd throw in a GPS?" - Jonas
Wasn't it 40 million in the pilot?
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:27AM
bsgfan2003 said...
What a pleasant surprise! It was both sober AND amusing. Sackhoff was great per usual and Ryan is less annoying as the scenes go by. This has potential....
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:40AM
Appleman said...
If I remember correctly from the pilot, was the sister not allowed to use a computer? She hid it outside her bedroom window. Yet in this episode she is using it without Jamie saying anything? Did I miss something?
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:36AM
Rob Stevens said...
Did I miss something? In the pilot, they go out of the way to explain that Jaime's sister is NOT supposed to have access to a computer, and in the opening scene, they show her hiding the laptop out the window.
I don't remember anything in the second episode giving her those privileges back, so why is it that she was so free with showing Jaime the family pictures on her laptop?
Other than that one detail, I think this episode was a lot better than the first two.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:38AM
William Bynum said...
Like you, I thought tonight's episode of Bionic Woman was far superior to the first two installments. The pilot was intriguing enough, but fell way short of being what I thought it could have been. The second episode was a disaster, and it was almost painful to watch it. But this third episode represented an amazing leap forward in quality. I'll definitely be sticking around for additional episodes to see how it develops. I think it's such a good premise for updating ... I'm a nostalgic fan of the original, and The Six Million Dollar Man. I love the way they've taken the idea and propelled it into this century. Very relevant storytelling could be done here. Can't wait to see if the behind-the-scenes shuffling of writers can actually grow a coherent, vital series.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:41AM
Appleman said...
Haha, you beat me by 1 minute Rob!
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 12:49AM
justelise said...
I liked this episode as well and it made me stop questioning whether or not to continue watching. It's also nice to see Isaiah Washington get his butt whooped even if it's not real.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 1:07AM
Matthew said...
In respounce to the comments about her not having access to a computer. She's not supposed to have internet access.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 1:42AM
Rob Stevens said...
"In respounce to the comments about her not having access to a computer. She's not supposed to have internet access."
That can't be right. In the pilot, she hid the COMPUTER outside the window, but left the ethernet cable to the internet connection in plain view of her sister, which is why Jaime commented on it to begin with. I seem to remember the conversation like this ...
Jaime: You know you're not supposed to have a computer.
Sister: Do you SEE a computer?
Then the sister reached out the window saying, "This is too easy."
Or something along those lines.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 2:58AM
weepwop said...
Wow, the scenes with Corvus/Jaime/Annoying girl in the garage and salon was something magical. I hope this is a sign of things to come, if so, I'm hooked.
They really need to stop with the whole full name "Sarah Corvus" thing though.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 6:20AM
Jeffrey Lipsey said...
Actually, I thought this episode was pretty bad in comparison to the first two.
"Jaime was such a whiny little baby in Sisterhood and holy **** was it annoying."
http://lamererun.com/2007/10/11/bionic-woman-sisterhood/
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 7:11AM
BookGnome said...
I'm with you, Jeffrey. The writing was so predictable and the acting was wooden. The only two characters worth watching are Jonas and Sarah, and that's because they're so snarky.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 7:56AM
Heather said...
This episode definitely has me in for the long haul!
More Katee Sackhoff please!
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 8:36AM
Gill Garcia said...
I am still up in the air about the show, while the pilot was enough to get me to watch, these last two episodes have me sitting on the fence still and maybe that's how they will sucker me into watching the rest of the series. Sure the dynamic between Sarah and Jamie is there, but I don't think that's enough to keep the show going. Someone had called it earlier when they mentioned that Jamie's sister would be the proverbial hostage and we saw that come to life in this episode.
The whole "invasion of privacy" bit got old fast and yipee, she figured out how to disable it of course with the help of Sarah. So again the dynamic is there and the whole "save my life" thing is there.
As for the comments on her sister's computer usage, yes in the pilot she wasn't suppose to be using the computer I believe that letting her annoying little sister use the computer is Jamie's attempt at "buying back" her sister's love. The initial scene at the beginning of the episode had "blackmail" written all over it.
So I'm still on the fence, while I was grateful that there were less of the "Rocky training scenes", I believe that there is a ways to go for the series to develop.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 9:01AM
liv said...
Overall I'm pretty disappointed with the whole show. If it weren't for Sarah this show would have no plot. And as if one really annoying teen wasn't enough, they brought in another one for this eps. I'll try to stick with it, but as a Sci Fi lover, I'm liking Flash Gordon better than this mess.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 9:49AM
kevjohn said...
Either I must have unconsciously made up my mind not to like this show based upon the first 2 episodes, or you guys must have seen an entirely different show than I did last night.
Shouldn't Sarah Corvus be like #1 on the agency's Most Wanted list? I mean she did kill... what was it 14(?) of their employees. Kill as in dead. And she's walking around with millions of dollars of their early generation bionics. Technology that could easily be handed over to any hostile domestic or foreign forces on a whim. Imagine if Saddam Hussein's ghost got ahold of that bionic tech. Not to mention that she's continued her killing spree even after her escape, with no signs of changing her ways. King Kong ain't got nothing on her. And yet, she has half a dozen friendly face-to-face meetings with Jaime Summers and the agency (whatever that thing is called) can't muster anything better than those slow ass response times like they're just after the neighborhood flasher? How is that in any way believable?!? How does babysitting that spoiled brat and teaching her some "life lessons" outweigh taking out the biggest threat to their lives and the agency? And what about protecting Jaime? Are they just going to sit around until someone incapacitates her and hauls her body off for research? I'm sure Castro could use a few Bionic upgrades.
Other less-crucial annoyances: the repeated pointless convos that went nowhere about the GPS and camera in Jaime's head. "You have a camera in my head? Take it out now!" "Umm, no."
I noticed the fabulousness of that apartment also. Fantastic luxury apartment on a meager income... what is this, "Friends"?
The uber-close paralells between Jaime and Sarah's lives was just silly. Maybe they'll flashbeck next week to show how Sarah rebelled and tried to have cheap sex in a bar bathroom too.
Those training sequences are getting ridiculous. I keep expecting her trainers to just steal the Matrix line: do you really think that's air you're breathing? That would fit right in with that pseudo-Zen B.S. they keep spouting off. And if one more person tells her she can hack herself, I'm going to hack myself.
I would call this Strike 3, but since the episode ended with one of those "To be continued..." I guess I have to watch the conclusion to make my final determination. But it doesn't look like this show is going to improve much unless there's a complete overhaul. Why does this show feel so old and worn after only 3 episodes? There is so much potential here, and it's being squandered.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 10:21AM
Jazzie said...
I thought the episode was okay, but not as good as last week. Isaiah Washington adds so much more to the show. He is such a fantastic actor, why not use in every week as a regular? It doesnt make sense to have the best player on the team sitting on the bench. I like the other characters, but I am watching BW because of Isaiah Washington.
Reply
10-11-2007 @ 4:44PM
briman65 said...
I agree with the nay-sayers. I thought this was the worst episode. The writing is taking this no where fast. What little story they have is predictable. The characters are annoying and whiney. I am giving it one more week. If it doesn't pull out of this nose dive, then off the dvr it goes.
Reply