I know it’s tempting but try to keep it as clean as poss ; ) Goodluck!

[poll=14]

The results of the opinion poll are definitely more positive than negative – 32% of you thought it was ‘Good’. I think that is about right, as in my view it wasn’t as good as “Sisterhood” or as terrible as “Paradise Lost”. At the time of posting a collective 18% thought that the episode was below average. I think Margie over at WBW.com summed it up best when she said that “Sisterhood” was two steps forward in the right direction and “Face Off” was a step backwards.

So by that reckoning we need tonight’s episode to give us about 3 or 4 bionic leaps forward! If I had to identify one key area that the show is overlooking somewhat, then it’s the science aspect. Sure we’ve touched on ‘bionic lifespans’ and ‘anthrocytes’, but there’s so much more potential which has so far been underutilised or not presented in an interesting or provocative way. I hope they don’t dumb this show down, instead they should put faith in the viewers and give us the good stuff! Science can be fun when applied with insight, wit, good writing and great acting!

A bit later than usual, but here are the Bionic Investigations for episode 1.04 – “Face Off”: 

A shot of the newspaper the ’bad guys’ made Dr. Stevens hold up to the camera. I believe this was to prove the ‘date’ (of transmission) to the American authorities.

Jaime burns her hand and it heals at an exponential rate.

A nice shout out to ‘Hannibal’, as Burket cart away a restrained Sarah Corvus. All that’s missing is the mask seen on Hannibal Lecter in the image on the right.

Confirmation of the location that Stevens was being held – “Ciudad Del Este – Paraguay”

The image to the left shows Jaime using her Bionic eye to measure the speed of the fan in order to catch one of it’s blades and stop the rotation – seen in the image to the right.

Jaime uses her Bionic eye to great effect yet again, but seeing which buttons on the alarm system had the most recent finger prints. From the 4 digits Jaime gave him, Stevens then used this to work out the highest probability (most likely order of the alarm deactivation code).

A internal shot of the bullet which is nested inside Jaime’s body. We can see that instead of ‘rejecting’ the bullet like a human body, Jaime’s bionics are attempting to meld the bullet into her installations.

This week, I’ve broken my views down in to what I felt worked and didn’t work:

What worked:

-Jaime’s reaction to Becca ‘making out’ – This was actually a believable scene and it allowed us to see Jaime using her bionic installations for personal use – much to the displeasure of Jonas.

-Jaime and Nathan. I’m fast becoming a Nathan fan! I like his quips and the way he and Jaime interact. He SO wants her, but it does cross my mind as to whether he likes ‘Jaime’ or the technology that is inside of her. After all, he is a tech-freak.

-Sarah being carted away, ala Hannibal Lecter, as she makes small talk with Jaime as if she didn’t threaten to kill Becca the week earlier (or whatever the timescale currently is in this show). Funny stuff!

-Finding out about Jaime’s “5 year” bionic lifespan was a good device. Kinda knew it was coming seeing as we found out about Sarah’s the week before, but it was a good move. Just a shame we didn’t focus more on this potentially interesting theme.

-Fight scene between Jaime and Antonio (although I would like to know how Antonio escaped from ‘bad guy hideout’ in the first place..)

-The idea that Will Anthros was working outside of the Burket Group. As Jonas said: “I don’t think we knew Will as well as he thought”. Basically, Will is getting more and more interesting since his ‘death’! Was he selling bionics to the highest bidder, just like his father before him?

What Didn’t Work:

-Sarah’s escape. Fair enough they explained the ease of her capture by her admitting to Jae that she ‘wanted’ to get caught, but her escape was far to ‘easy’ and rather disappointing.

-Sarah and Burket interrogation. Apart from the line where Sarah admits to Ruth that’s she’s “crazy” and where she references “Mr. Ed”, I found the interaction between Burket (Jonas, Ruth, Jae) and Sarah, unbelievable. It needed more tension and better dialogue. A missed opportunity for some real character development methinks!

-Jaime’s decision making. OK, she saved the CIA guy, but why did she give him the flash file? Would she REALLY trust him enough to do that? Maybe I’m being picky, but that just made no sense…she previously didn’t strike me as stupid.

-Fan bending. I know what they were trying to do here (i.e. give Jaime something ‘cool’ to do), but what was the purpose of that fan other than to give Jaime something ‘cool’ to do, lol!? Also, would the fan really continue to work afterwards, and stop every single bullet that the bad guys fired? Perhaps it’s a super fan..

-The scene were she did her bionic leaps as the bad guys fired bullets at her was cool (it certainly looked cool in the trailers), but wasn’t it a bit convenient that she just happened to get shot and land in the exact spot where she would have ended up had she followed Mr. CIA man (which would’ve been the logical thing to do anyway!)?

-So Will, who works for a top secret agency, leaves all of his data on Jaime’s bionics on one flash file? Maybe limiting the data to one source is not such a bad idea, but the whole plot device about the CIA man getting caught just seemed so random!

All in all this was quite a mixed bag, however something kept me interested. Whether it’s the promise of things to come, the hope that Mark Sheppard might grace the episode with his presence or the faith that they will finally start driving home the powerful themes..whatever it was, I still enjoyed it enough to watch the episode in full. However it has to get better than this, I’m used to quality shows and demand that ‘BW’ doesn’t waste this opportunity to give us themes which no other show currently can. Come on guys, don’t waste this chance!

Best character: Antonio Pope – not great in this episode but he gives us that ‘curveball’ intensity and makes me laugh when he ‘tries’ to face off again Jaime..like duh, she’s bionic, dude! He must like getting kicked through walls!

Best Actor: Michelle Ryan (OK, Jaime was dumb in this episode, but I thought Michelle gave the best performance. Wasn’t feeling Katee this time, perhaps it’s down to her script?).

Best moment: The Antonio/Jaime fight (Incidentally is THIS why it was called ‘Face Off’? I can’t think of any other reason…except maybe for the capture of Sarah. But that was hardly a face off..more a passing glance!). Anyway, the fight sequence still rocked!

——–

Best Quote:

Ruth: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”

Sarah: “..If Mr. Ed wont drink, you grab him by the mane and hold him under…he’ll swallow”

—-

Worst Quote

Jonas (to Jae) “You want to help her..help her help herself”.

——–

Main Episode Theme: Trust, trust and trust..did I say TRUST?

——-

Overall Episode Rating: 7/10

*Coming soon: “Face Off” Episode Investigations

So what does episode four have in store for us? Here are my WANTS and WANT NOT’S:

WANTS:

• More Sarah – in particular it will be interesting to see her state of mind after being rejected by Jaime, hunted by Burket and toyed with by Papa Anthros. Despite all of this we saw, perhaps for the first time, some humanity from her – she spared Becca and appealed to Jaime’s senses. Interesting theme alert!
• More Papa Anthros (and Mr. “Stitches”) – Despite being on the run, he’s in a position of power at the moment. I would like to see more interaction with the despairing Sarah, and some acknowledgement of his son’s apparent ‘death’ (though the cast list for tonight’s episode suggests that Chris Bowers – Will Anthros – will make an appearance, so make of that what you will). Also, what does Burket make of Anthony’s ‘escape’, and importantly, what does the “extremophile” make of them..? Just where are the battle lines?
• I like Jaime, but she needs to develop more emotion (Sisterhood was on the right path). By ‘emotion’, I don’t mean screaming or shouting every 2 minutes, but she needs to display more range more often. I appreciate that this is partly because she is now half computer, but the time has now come see her struggle more with the situation imposed upon her and her sister.
• Becca, more Becca! Some people think she’s cheesy or cliche, I quite like her and she makes me laugh. So yeah, more Becca..and perhaps we could actually see the ‘computer hacker’ Becca?
• More good music. The BW soundtrack has been pretty good so far with the likes of Sia’s “Breathe Me”, Rihanna’s “Breakin Dishes” and Sonic Librarians “Amplified” (granted that was only for the “Paradise Lost” promo)

WANT NOT’S:

• Please..please for the love of all that is good in this world..please Mr. Eick..please no more ‘Vivien’ or ‘Heaven’. Becca’s a brat, but she’s a lovable brat..
• No more disjointed storylines! Yes “Sisterhood” was a giant bionic leap in the right direction, but “PD” still haunts me..
• STOP with the randomness!! Explain things, like WHO the terrorists in PD were, and WHY Jaime took ‘Heaven’ (more like Hell) out to a nail-bar when she knew that Serbian ‘gangsters’ where looking for her?? Also, can someone please explain to me, since WHEN did shoulder wound become fatal? I mean Burket have SOO much technology, which I’m sure Will’s fragile shoulder would have appreciated! Unless of course he’s not really dead (Shh!)
• ‘Radio Silence’. Ok it’s not that bad, but it would be nice if the creators of the show were a little more interactive with the fans, y’know like Calton and Damon from LOST or Tim Kring from Heroes. Make it happen guys, get a weekly podcast or something..interact.

Now time for the episode – if you happen to miss it, fear not, just download it from Amazon Unbox.

For those of you who like spoilers, here are some juicy details of some upcoming episodes and the characters involved:

Episode Title: Sisterhood (1.03)

Jaime’s new assignment involves protecting of a contractor’s daughter. At the same time, she ponders whether or not to help Sarah move on from her personal demons.

Transmission: October 10 2007

–

Episode Title: Face Off (1.04)

Jaime, while on a mission to rescue an American doctor working in Paraguay, uncovers the truth about her bionic lifespan. Miguel Ferrer, Molly Price, Will Yun Lee, Mark Sheppard, Chris Bowers and Lucy Kate Hale also star.

Transmission: 17th October 2007