This crossed my mind the other day when thinking about the extent of Will Anthros’ creepyness (i.e.’grooming’ Jaime) and Jaime’s ability to move on from what surely should still be a very painful time for her (the loss of her baby, Will’s deception/death etc).

So what exactly would happen if one of Jaime’s ‘encounters’ (think public bathroom scene from episode 2) led to her getting pregnant? I assume that the Anthrocytes wouldn’t prevent her from conceiving (or would they?)? Whats more, would her pregnancy term be the same 9 month period as ‘normal’ woman, or would her pregnancy be expedited due to the rapid ‘healing’ that the implants give her?

But I suppose my most burning question is this: If Jaime were to give birth..would the baby be Bionic? Would the baby have Anthrocytes and implants passed down from Jaime? Was THIS Will’s plan..did he WANT a Bionic baby..is this why he was so ‘happy’ to hear that Jaime was pregnant (episode 1), was this why he wanted to marry her, in order to ensure that his investment bore fruit (literally)? Looking back it seems likely.

Of course the hole in this theory is that the ‘unexpected’ accident was the catalyst that made him install her with bionics (in order to save her life)..HOWEVER, from the secret files that he had on her, it seems clear to me that he had long planned to make Jaime Bionic and the accident merely expedited that process.

I know this can be torn to pieces but this is my theory…and I’m sticking to it! Think what such a creation would do to the ’scientific community’..to be able to create a hybrid child which is genetically ‘bionic’..

Please let me know of any thoughts or counter ideas/theories that you have on the above, I’d love to hear them!

As for the title of this post..yes I tried to be clever with the play-on-words in reconition of the film (which has nothing to do with Bionics)..and I know..if Jaime did have a Bionic baby, it would be worth a lot more than $1 Million, seeing as Jaime is worth $50 Mil of Burket money ; )

*Also, just to let those of you interested know that the Episode Investigations for “The Education of Jaime Sommers” will be posted in a couple of days time - I figured that with there being no episode this week, I would delay it by a few days.

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Face Off wasn’t as good as Sisterhood, but it had enough to keep me entertained. I did, however, find the episode to be disjointed and at times I failed to believe aspects of the storyline.

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

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Last weeks “Sisterhood” saw Jaime go on her 2nd assignment as she protected a Canadian contractors brat, and made ‘frenemies’ with Sarah Corvus. We explored the shades of Sarah’s Bionic lifespan as it was revealed that she is dying and only Jaime’s wiring can save her.

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.

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Primitiveskin over at Bionicwomancentral.com raised a good point - Will Anthros is getting creepier by the episode..and that’s despite being ‘dead’!

First he violates Jaime’s body by installing microchips into her (forgivable? maybe), then we discover that he kept a “dossier this thick” on our bionic newbie..and now it’s believed that he had actually been ‘grooming’ Jaime based on a family genetic trait which is suited to bionic implantation.

Like, can the man get any creepier?? All we need now is for him to stick a bionic arm up from his grave (hey, don’t rule it out!). I suppose in an ironic twist of fate this actually makes the man more interesting. What do you think?

You can read the original post here.

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Wow, this was certainly a step up from last weeks episode! If this episode was an indication of things to come then no wonder NBC have ordered more scripts.

The title - “Sisterhood”

I thought this was a good title for the episode as it played into the central themes - the relationship between Becca and Jaime and between Jaime and Sarah. Despite not telling Becca the truth about her being half machine, Jaime clearly loves her sister and feels protective over her. However, in this episode she realised that Becca could be her biggest weakness, as people such as Sarah can target her as a way to get to Jaime..as a way to make her comply, or conform to their standards. Sarah Corvus and Jaime are virtually sisters themselves, both of them share a connectivity or a ’sisterhood’, if you will, by the fact that they both have bionic implants which have been placed inside them without their total consent (though I was of the understanding that Corvus ‘volunteered’ for the programme, but there you go). I get the feeling that although Jaime’s priority is to protect Becca, she also empathises with Sarah and wants to help her..she just doesn’t know whether she can trust her - likewise, Jaime broke Sarah’s trust by using the self-hack trick to alert the Burket Group. Can’t blame her really, you just don’t mess with a girls sister. I would like to see this theme explored in greater depth because it’s obviously one which the actors can easily identify with and consequently it will be depicted with great realism and integrity, as it was in this episode. By the way, Katee Sackhoff was simply brilliant.

Jaime Sommers & ‘Grooming’

So, it would appear that Will did indeed target Jaime for Bionic installation years before they ‘met’, as the file she found in last weeks episode indicated. Not only is this creepy, but it raises some serious issues about a person’s right to freedom as well as issues of trust. So, Will was looking for someone with the right genetic/personality/physical etc make-up in order to try out his new and improved Bionic technology. Question - where on earth was he test running all of this? Was it directly under the Burket noses or did he have another agency that he worked for? I mean two years is a long time, and one would assume that during this time he was still perfecting and testing the implants..and on who? That’s what I want to know. We also have the issue of Jaime’s grandmother who may have been an early Bionic subject, which would suggest that my theory that Sarah is not, infact, the first Bionic Woman is correct. I think that Jaime’s genes are suited to Bionic installation and perhaps her grandmother (who had a so-called ‘genetic defect’) was an early Bionic test run?

Jaime & Sarah &’ Hacking’ into oneself

One of the most interesting themes from this episode - the fact that both Bionic Woman can ‘hack’ into their implants and ‘turn them off..and on’. How cool is that..and how cool was the nose-bleed aspect!? They’re beginning to present these BW more and more like machines..or computers and it’s a fascinating exploration into what it would be like to be bionic. I have a question though - how often can they hack into themselves before it starts to do irreparable damage? Sarah has been Bionic for what, 2-3 years, and already she is beginning to ‘erode’. This may be because her implants are inferior to Jaime’s but I would still imagine that Jaime’s lifespan is also limited? Another interesting aspect is the notion that if they can self-hack, then others can also hack into them - as Sarah claims (and I believe) happened to her when she killed those 14 BG scientists. I’m sure there would be no end of people who would want to hack into a BW, afterall, they’re part machines..machines that can be turned into the most dangerous and ‘effective’ of weapons.

Which brings me onto Antonio/Jae..

Embrace the machine or retain humanity?

These are the contrasting philosophies of Jaime’s two mentors - Antonio believes that she must unleash the ‘animal’ and embrace her machine side if she is to survive..whilst Jae, who has had to turn a gun on his own love, believes that “the machine is nothing without the woman”.

These are two crucial distinctions and it’s fascinating to see which one is most effective and which one Jaime will end up choosing. My bet is that she will have to choose BOTH if she is to survive. There may come times when she has to hold onto her humanity in order to keep her identity and possibly save her sister..but there will also be occasions when she has to make snap judgements for the greater good..decisions which may well mean ‘calling out the animal inside’ and stepping outside of her human morals and belief systems. As a BW she can no longer just think for herself..she has a wider picture to survey. No-one said being a BW would be easy..it’s the price she now has to pay for the curiosity of science and mans meddling with God’s work. Ah, and there’s another themes..natural evolution versus scientific evolution.

Sarah & her Sister

So, Sarah had a sister..I never actually considered that. It actually gives the most layered character even more layers, which is great as Katee Sackhoff is able to handle it..infact she seems like an actress who needs a challenge. Anyway, whilst my heart does bleed for Sarah’s loss, what I want to know is, who killed her sister? Afterall, it was surely no accident as it mirrored the way in which Sarah attempted to kill Anthros jnr..unless, of course, she is still so scared by what happened to her sister that she wanted to purge herself of the memory (guilt?) by inflicting a mirror ‘accident’ upon Will..? Eitherway, I felt bringing her sister into the game (yes Jaime, ‘game’) at this stage was great as it enhanced the episode and integrated with it’s central theme. Did I say Sackhoff rocks? And that’s coming from an anti-fanboy!

Papa Anthros

It’s amazing what Mark Sheppard does to an episode - perhaps next time we can just sit him in a room and have him talk about…anything! Seriously, the man is awesome..awesomeI tell you! So, Papa Anthros is quite the manipulator, it would seem. He obviously has his own agenda, which consists of getting his paws on Jaime’s bionics. Hmm, he must be pretty jealous that his son was able to create a more advanced Bionic Woman than his Sarah Corvus effort - is this why Will’s death doesn’t even seem to register with him? I knew there was some-kind of beef between the two of them. Anyway, enough about Will, he’s dead (or IS he?), what were those drugs that Papa Anthros gave Sarah? She must be at a very low ebb if she is trusting him, after all doesn’t she hate her creators?

We also found out that Anthony was in jail for treason - selling Bionics to the highest bidders. Now that is a storyline that has depth - it not only questions the ethics of the man, but it suggests that he is motivated by money (or the equivalent). Did he not care what the buyers of these ‘weapons’ did with them? Also, did he actually sell ‘Bionic Women’ to the highest bidders, and if so what has become of them? And why ‘women’? Sarah raised this issue in the episode, and it’s now made me question why ‘women’ seem to be the prerred gender for Papa and son’s Bionic installation programmes?

Oh, And where was Mr. Stitches? I miss his barrel of laughs..

Jonas and the Burkets

Loved Jonas this week, full of quips and witty comebacks! He is a pervert though (joking), and the issue of privacy is an important one. I mean, what do they do when Jaime is taking a shower? And did they really watch her and Will get it on (Yuck)? I guess it would explain why Jae was so quick to tend to Will’s ‘fatal’ shoulder wound and why Jonas was so quick to save Jaime’s dignity in last weeks toilet debacle -they’re monitoring her at all, well, ‘most’ times. So just to clarify, they (or rather Will) implanted an optical interface which is wrapped around her cerebral cortex and relays a live video feed or stream to BG HQ. So it’s in her brain and not her eye - which is perhaps why she is able to ‘hack’ herself - ‘if’ it was in her eye then surely no amount of concentration would allow her to turn it on and off at will? Although she could cut out her eye, but that’s another story (season 2 maybe? ;)). So yeah, Jonas and co. contravene her rights to privacy but then from their point of view she was a curveball who has $50 million of their machinery inside her body. So I guess Jonas has to keep track of his investment..hopefully he wont abuse that power on a late night at the office - he’s no longer married, right? Close your eyes whilst bathing Jaime..that’s my tip to you.

I could say much more about this episode as I thought it truly rocked! Last week was such a disappointment for me, so it’s only right that I congratulate the guys at BW for a fantastic episode this week. It wasn’t perfect but please let this be the start of many more good things to come. Everyone recognises that this show has potential, and if Eick and co. continue to tap into that potential then people will remain curious..don’t drop the ball guys!

—————-

Best Performer: Katee Sackhoff (Did I say she rocks?)

Best Character Performance: Sarah Corvus & Papa Anthros (awesome..both of them)

Special Mention Award: Lucy Hale as Becca (great addition to the cast and an excellent character so far)

Best Quote:

Antonio: I’m about to go analogue on your ass!

Jaime: Bring it bitch!

Best Moment: Jaime hacking herself so that her optical interface came back online and alerted the Burkets of Sarah’s presence. That was an awesome moment!

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

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Paradise Lost was a come down from last weeks pilot. This was a badly written episode and I’m left asking myself how they managed to drop the ball after a terrific start last week? I get that they need to settle into a rhythm and have the story develop, but the episode just seemed disjointed.

So Will Anthros is dead - OK, major shock, didn’t see that coming! Maybe that will teach you to not run off to play with Sarah Corvus after your boyfriend has just been shot, Jaime..I mean there is such a thing as 911! I must stress that I don’t actually think Will is dead, but i’ll come to that another time.

Jaime grieves by breathing in Will’s scent (yuk!), before stumbling upon a secret spy-file that he had been keeping on her, dating back 2 years before they ‘met’. Hmm, these Burket people sure like to test the water before they actually introduce themselves properly, don’t they Antonio. Anyway, I can understand Jaime’s confusion and anger over making this discovery, but I’m not sure why they nearly made her lose her dignity in a public toilet? Sorry, but much like the sex montage with Will last week, this seemed out of place and unnecessary.

Another thing that sucked was the insensitivity of Jaime’s ‘friends’. Erm, she’s just lost her boyfriend and they’re so caught up in their own selfish issues. This may be true to life but I just didn’t like that scene..at least bring Crystal Lowe in so I have something good to look at if I’m going to have to watch stuff like that!

Now for my biggest complaint..and this one is even worse than the annoying “I just think it’s cool that girls can do that” girl from last week - enter ‘Vivian’, the girl with the heart made of stone. So she has just found out that her grandparents have been killed in a terrorist attack..whilst she slept..and she doesn’t even shed a tear…What!? To make things worse she goes on to utter “They were good to me”, Yes Vivian..too good, by the looks of things. So that was bad acting..but more so it was terrible writing, I mean seriously.

But thankfully it wasn’t all bad, somehow Isaiah Washington managed to save the episode with a polished performance as Antonio Pope. I like his character, not as much as I like Sarah Corvus or Papa Anthros, but he’s interesting, layered and seems to be well acted, thus far. This episode really needed more Corvus, however, and what we saw of her was some more good character building, as my suspicions of her being ‘forced’ to kill those BG scientists gained credence. Afterall, she’s half computer and computers can be hacked.

Speaking of hacking, another bright spark in this episode was Becca. I like her snarky attitude and her interaction with her elder sister is actually believable. The montage scene at the end was good and once again we have evidence that they made the right decision in replacing Mae Whitman with Lucy Hale.

Jae Lee really likes the sound of his own voice, and whilst I loved his “The machine is nothing without the woman”soundbite, he really needs to let Jaime get a word in edge-ways! This is afterall, HER show, lol.

The episode had some other good lines, but you could tell that even the likes of Molly Price (again excellent) and Miguel Ferrer struggled with the script at times.

All in all it was an ‘OK’ episode, overall, the writing was fairly bad in places and the direction they took was disjointed, and at times, baffling. There were far too many eye-rolling moments and moments of dialogue which just seemed ‘off’. We need more layering of characters, more emotion, better character interaction and better production values (seriously make the visuals more glossy). They need to look at LOST and see why that is such a success. For example, every scene should be important and should act as a set-piece to the larger plot. The creators need to start making the characters people who we can emotionally invest in, not ones we actually detest, when that is not the overriding intention - i.e. Vivian. 

My disappointment is amplified due to the potential this show has - the themes are so powerful and interesting, but the worry is that we’ll waste too much tome seeing Jaime having drunken sex in public toilets before we get the explore these themes. I’m sure next weeks episode will be better, we mustn’t forget that the show is still finding it’s feet and most shows take a while before they fall into a rhythm. With the likes of Katee Sackhoff, Miguel Ferrer, Isaiah Washington, Molly Price and Mark Sheppard on board, I still have every faith that this show will live up to the hype. Just make sure next weeks episode is ‘better’ and ’stronger’, Mr Eick.

————-

Best Quotes:

Jaime “I’m faster than you are”

Ruth ”Only at running”

———–

Jae (to Jaime) “The machine is nothing without the woman”

———-

Worst Quote:

Vivian (finding out her grandparents have been murdered) “They were good to me” (notice the absence of any tears or concern whatsoever)

————-

Best Performer: Isaiah Washington (Antonio Pope)

———–

Some Select Shots:

“RIP Steve..er..I mean, Will”

“Thank You for saving this episode, Isaiah!”

“Listen..not everyone can jump rooftops like Corvus and I!”

“YUM!”

———–

EPISODE RATING: 6/10 - The best is definitely yet to come.

*I should add, that the character of Vivian does interest me in regards to ‘how’ she managed to survive, whislt the rest of ‘Paradise’ died..however apart from that, she was awful.

What did YOU think about this episode?

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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.

———

‘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!

——–

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!

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Mark Sheppard will play Anthony Anthros on ‘Bionic Woman’. Anthony is the father of Jaime’s boyfriend, Will Anthros. Interestingly, Mark will appear on the show with prosthetics to make him appear older, which makes me wonder whether his character will undergo some sort of age reversal process at some point? Was he originally on the end of a Bionic experiment gone wrong? Does the mysterious Burket Group have anything to do with this..and what about his son, Will? Bionic Co-Producer Jason Smilovic recently gave an interview to IGN, where he spoke about his excitement on having Sheppard in the show:

IGN TV: When you cast Mark Sheppard, what was the idea to go with an actor his age and then age him through makeup? Why not cast someone older?

Smilovic: He’s a brilliant actor. You know with Mark that you’re going to get a great performance every time, and with that it’s worth it to go through the process of doing the prosthetics and aging the actor because you know you’re going to get a kickass performance.

IGN TV: Will he be on for the full season?

Smilovic: Yes. You know, it’s funny because I was on set. And they were shooting a scene and somebody brought Mark over and he was in the makeup. I said, “You look great.” And he said, “Well this is what I look like now, but when I start doing it…” And he started to sink into the character, and there was just this eerie feeling pervaded the room - immediately. And I said, “You did it. You’re going to be great.” I knew it right then and there. It was awesome he was able, just by lowering his voice, to change the barometric pressure of the room. It was awesome.

Smilovic obviously isn’t giving much away, but I get the feeling that we could see Bionic’s play a slightly different role in Anthony’s storyline. Afterall in the ‘real world’ we have ‘Bionic skin serum’, which is argued to produce an age reducing appearance..perhaps the Burket Group have not only developed a way to make a person ‘better, faster, stronger’..but also younger/older..?

I’m willing to throw that theory into the hat..i’ll build on it once the show actually starts and I have more to go on.

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Word on the www. is that Michelle Ryan has been preparing for her upcoming role as Jaime Sommers by climbing mountains and learning ‘Krav Maga’. “What’s Krav Maga?” I hear you say..well, it’s an old fighting discipline which focuses on close hand-to-hand combat. Originating from Israel, this style of fighting is based around self-defence, but don’t let that fool you because it has the potential to be brutal and leaves no holds barred! The aim of using this fighting style is to effect maximum damage (if not death) to the opponent in as short a time as possible.

Wow..so perhaps Katee Sackhoff (Sarah Corvus) should be worried when they next meet for a face/off? Speaking of which, I wonder what fighting style will be used in the show itself? I was too busy with my mouth open to pay attention to the techniques adopted by Jaime and Corvus in that rooftop scene. Perhaps we’ll see some Krav Maga in the show itself, afterall bringing such a brutal discipline into the show should help with the realism-factor, which I think NBC are aiming for.

All this talk of ‘Krav Maga’ and roof-top fight scenes has actually reminded me of an interesting article I read earlier today which comments on the apparent return of strong woman to our TV screens. If Michelle and Katee are anything to go by they could well be right. From what Ive seen of the (pre-aired) Pilot, both of their characters (at times) displayed steel and strength. But what is strength..how can we quantify it? Personally I think that Corvus is without a doubt a strong lady - she’s been through a lot from what Ive seen and read. As for Jaime, in the space of one episode she’s goes from being vulnerable and pregnant to being vulnerable and kicking butt. Of course I don’t want to give too much away to those who haven’t seen the pre-aired Pilot (which has been re-shot by the way), but I find it interesting how she seemed to tread the fine line between strength and vulnerability ..even at this early stage. That’s something which I will be looking out for in the future episodes - how will she handle the changes that have been forced upon her? Will she embrace them or try to run away from who she is..who she has become..?

I wonder what Lindsay Wagner would make of the way the women look set to be portrayed in this new series? She is a cult icon, largely due to her portrayal of 1970’s Jaime Sommers. She helped bring women’s empowerment to the screen and I would imagine that alot of people gained strength and encouragement from that. It’s perhaps too early to compare Michelle with Lindsey, but you know it’s going to happen anyway.

As a series this new version will be alot grittier and strength will be depicted in different ways than it was 30 years ago - and well it might, the times has changed and so has technology and women. Let’s not forget the men in all of this - namely Dr. Will Anthros (Chris Bowers), who has come in for some almighty stick from what I’ve read online. The fans are bashing him because of what he does to Jaime in the first episode..but was his choice really that simple? I submit that sometimes we hold onto what is dear to us in any way that we can, but ultimately love always comes with sacrifice and Will, it would seem, is paying the price, as is Jaime..as is Corvus..as is Jae.

You can check out some sweet pictures of Jaime Sommers in combat in our Spoilers section! You can read up on Krav Maga here, and if you’re looking for some info on the 1970’s and current Bionic Woman you should check out Watching Bionic Woman, who have recently posted up some helpful quicklinks.

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Sarah and Lori from AfterEllen.com included their Bionic Woman review in the latest Videoblog. They weren’t too impressed with the Bionic Pilot and pretty much gave it the thumbs down. In particular they’re not impressed with Michelle Ryan and compared the show to Femme Nikita meets Terminator meets Darkangel..”and not in a good way”.

On a brighter note they gave Katee Sackhoff’s performance the thumbs up (like, who doesn’t love this woman?) and my favourite line was from Lori, who said “Katee’s creepy….in a good way”. Love it!

They also went on to label the Pilot “boring” and laid into ‘Will Anthros’ for being an “unlikable” boyfriend. I think they’re far too harsh on the Pilot, I mean come on ladies, it ISbeing reshot and this isn’tthe final version. As for their views on Anthros, well I can’t disagree with them at the moment. Though I do think that his actions in the Pilot raise some interesting ethical issues which may provide some later foundation for the show. So I can tolerate him for now.

They also noticed the sexual chemistry between Ryan and Katee’s characters and I think they are correct in saying that this was intentionalon their parts (or rather the creators). I mean let’s face it people love the Sackhoff and I’ve been on some message boards where people are falling over their keyboards in appreciation of Michelle Ryan’s assets. Not blaming them, she’s a fine looking woman but I do hope we focus on her acting ability first.

So yeah, check out their vblog if you want to watch their BW review (You’ll have to sit through them talking about ‘Pushing Daisies’ and other stuff first though). To be fair to them they did say that they’re looking forward to watching the rejigged premiere, so at least they’re open minded on that front.

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