So, I finally got around to reviewing this – let me tell you, it’s better on 2nd viewing!

I thought that the episode began brilliantly with Sarah Corvus and Jae Lee setting the pace and the angst of the episode. Seriously, those are the words I would use to describe this episode because ALOT happens and there is plenty of gritty realism (moulded with science!). Speaking of which I found Michelle Ryan’s performance believable – she portrays an ordinary woman thrown into an extraordinary situation with great skill and integrity. I found myself willing Jaime to succeed as she first stumbles and then leaps her way through the various obstacles that she faces in this episode. I think it’s crucial that the viewing public are sympathetic to this character and boy does she have me invested.

So what about the other characters? I couldn’t really find a weak link. All of the main characters add value to the show – Sarah Corvus is the obvious standout character. I think that she could possibly be one of the best TV Characters we will see over the next 12 months..that’s how awesome she is. I didn’t know much about Katee Sackhoff before Bionic, but I can see why she is so highly regarded – she has bucket-loads of charisma, style, guile and she is beautiful..absolutely beautiful to look at – so much so that her rather ‘manic’ grin adds to her aesthetics rather than detracting from them. Sarah has an interesting back story, as I mentioned in my Episode Notes, she was hired to kill Will Anthros by the guy who breaks Anthony Anthros out of jail – so there’s a whole interesting storyline going on there.

I thought that the characters of Jonas Bledsoe, Ruth Truewell and Jae Lee were well acted – I found myself wanting to find out more about all three characters and it will be interesting to see how Isaiah Washington’s character fits into their hierarchy. I can already see how he could act as an awesome counter-balance to Jae Lee.

I have to give props to Mark Sheppard- he only had about 2 minutes of screen-time, but man did he do a great job with Anthony Anthros! The guy is just awesome – I totally know what Producer Smilovic meant now!

As for the now re-casted Mae Whitman, well watching it a second time I found her not too bad. She wasn’t brilliant but until I see Lucy Hale’s performance it will be hard to tell whether the right decision has been made. But I don’t think it’s a ‘travesty’ she has gone.

Overall this original Pilot was good and the best thing about it is that is has me wanting more. I thought the mixture of science, ethics, love and humanity used throughout was just about right. On the downside the visuals need touching up a bit, things seemed a bit bleak and grey. I don’t mind dark setting’s but dark with a bit of gloss would be nice (ala ‘Heroes’). As I mentioned earlier, alot happens..perhaps too much? I think they needed to pad out certain parts and offer more context. I also wasn’t best pleased that they skirted over the issue of Jaime’s baby dyeing – a 2 minute montage of ‘surgically changed’ Jaime and Will making love was a bit, shall we say, off-key. Oh and why did Jaime leave Will to die after being shot by Corvus? ..where’s her priorities!?..and after her rooftop dance with Corvus she STILL didn’t seem too worried - even after seeing him being strapped into an ambulance? Could her ‘machine side’ (if you will) be de-humanising her already? I’d rather that than a plot-hole to be honest.

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‘OH YES..THAT ROCKED!’ MOMENTS:

1.Rooftop Battle – This is such a great scene, I challenge anyone to not love this! What can I say?..the whole thing was great, from the way Sarah initially turns her back on Jaime to her soon to be iconic “tadah!” to the way she lays the smack down on Jaime to Jaime’s second-wind as she begins to harness her abilities and fights back. It was simply O..M..G! Great visuals in ‘that’ scene also..and i’m not just talking about the hotness of Michelle and Katee :)

2. The remainder of Jaime’s Bionics going online whilst she’s working. I thought this was a great way to show her experiencing the ‘machine within’, as she suddenly develops all these new abilities that she didn’t have before. It was also great the way Sarah, wearing bright red lipstick(!), toys with Jaime but then shows alot of empathy as she helps her. It was just a nice moment which emphasised the light and shade of her character.

3. Jaime being imprisoned by the Burket Group whilst they figure out what to do with her – Jaime walks up to the ‘non-see through’ glass and says “BOO!” to Jonas who is watching her from the other-side. This was great, as she seemed so de-humanised yet appeared to be realising that they couldn’t keep her for long. Jonas’ smile was also great.

‘THAT STINKS!’ MOMENTS:

1. The little girl who notices Jaime using her Bionic speed says to her mom “I just think it’s cool that girls could do that”. I mean COME ON..hello!??..lines like this will take us back to the 1960′s, never-mind the 1970′s! I get the point they wanted to make, but surely there was a better – less ridiculous – way to do it? I don’t like having my intelligence insulted thank you very much! I hope that doesn’t show up in the final version of the Pilot.

2. Padding – this episode lacked a bit of padding and with so much happening it really did need a 2nd viewing for me to get the most out of the episode. I hope they address this.

3. Jaime and Jonas in their final scene – what was up with the dialogue!? Very clumsy in parts:

“If we do this, whatever this is, then we do it on my terms”

Ok Jaime, but what if your terms, whatever your terms are, conflict with my terms, whatever my terms are?.. LOL!

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Performance ratings:

I rate all performances ‘relative’ to what they had to do and the impact they made upon me as a viewer. I have also taken into consideration that this was a ‘pre-air’ Pilot:

• Michelle Ryan -    7.5/10 – Good start
• Katee Sackhoff -   9/10 – Awesome!
• Miguel Ferrer -    7.5/10 – The bad-good guy..I like
• Molly Price -         7.5/10 – Suprisingly good
• Will Yun Lee -       7/10 – Will do better, but OK
• Mark Sheppard -  8/10 – WOW.
• Mae Whitman -    7/10 – Did OK

OVERALL EPISODE RATING 7./10

Ryan over at wathcingbionicwoman.com has also given his review of the Pilot (final cut). It’s well worth checking out. Also I will be posting my Episode Notes and Review of the ‘Final Cut’ Pilot soon, so check back!