Episode Review: “Paradise Lost”

5 Oct, 2007

published in Antonio Pope, Becca, Episode 1.02, Episode Review, Images, Isaiah Washington, Jae Lee, Jaime Sommers, Jonas Bledsoe, Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Hale, Mae Whitman, Mark Sheppard, Miguel Ferrer, Ruth Truewell, Sarah Corvus, Vivian, Will Anthros

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 forgets Will

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.

Antonio Pope

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.

Becca

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

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

“RIP Steve..er..I mean, Will”

Chemistry?

“Thank You for saving this episode, Isaiah!”

Fall

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

Sarah

“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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Page 48 said in 10-5-2007 @ 17:20:09

It’s hard to know where to begin with the problems with BW so far. The writers should be embarrassed with scenes like Jaime’s near miss with Steve in the bathroom. I mentioned on another blog that it was a scene right out of a bad soft porn flick. How they could go to air with that is beyond me. They have assured us that Jaime will have a “healthy” sex life, so I suppose each episode will have an encounter as bad as this. As someone who has seen the inside of a few bars, I have to ask myself when was the last time I saw a drop-dead gorgeous 20 something girl propping up a bar all by herself, knocking back the hard stuff and being totally ignored by a male bartender? Never, that’s when, NEVER.

I, too was dumbfounded at the ho-hum reaction of the girl who was the sole survivor of a gruesome mass murder which took the lives of her grandparents. “They were good to me, let’s get some ice cream”. I was struck by the lack of curiousity about why this girl alone survived. The explanation that she is obviously immune to the gas doesn’t seem adequate to me.

I was also mortified by Jaime’s bubbleheaded friends who just couldn’t seem to understand why Jaime would excuse herself from the table while they carried on like 12-year-olds.

We learned that Jaime’s fight with Sarah was basically a software program installed in her, a “demo” as Jae called it. What about the way she handled that dude in the alley outside the bar? Was that another demo program?

If Will had a file on Jaime that was 2 inches thick, why then in the pilot, did Ruth have to run a background check on Jaime and report to the Burket Group at the round table meeting. Why did they not already know about her I.Q. and her sealed court documents, her parents background, etc..? They (Will) monitored her for years but had no knowledge of her bio until she was operated on in their facility? Really? Jonas expressed no shock when Jaime asked him about Will’s dossier on her and yet Jonas himself seemed to know nothing about Jaime in the pilot. So, did Jonas know about Jaime or didn’t he? You can’t have it both ways.

How can Jaime be in Idaho after dark and still be home with Becca by 7:00 p.m.?

Why have a faceless enemy who gives up without a fight? Is this going to happen every week? Who was that group, what was there goal in taking out certain American cities? The problem with episodic shows is that they lack the continuity that propels a show like Alias from one mission to another.

This episode had no sense of that edge-of-your-seat tension or danger that a show like this should have. The enemy was impotent and easily thwarted and I did not at any time feel that Jaime, in only her 3rd day on the job, was in any real danger from this terrorist outfit. It’s gotta get better than this.

I’m hopeful that BW will find its footing soon, but so far it has the look, sound, and feel of a first year high school drama class. It cries out for much better writing and fewer stupid scenes like a high IQ Jaime practically raping a guy in the toilet.

Pull it together, guys!

Roco said in 10-6-2007 @ 14:07:58

I agree, they should be embaraased with the bathroom sex scene, I don’t know what they were thinking, it just didn’t work. I understand that Jaime is coming to terms with a lot of things right now, but is this how they want to represent her? Unless the idea is to really have her arc gradually..but still, it was a dreadful scene. Vivian was awful wasn’t she – I just don’t get how she could come to terms with her g.parents being gassed to death so easily! I find the idea that she somehow survived interesting as it could lead to a greater plot later on down the line, but the way in which they scripted her for this episode was dreadful and unbelievable (literally).
You raise an interesting point about the way Jaime handled the guy outside the bar – perhaps she also has the capacity to react ‘outside’ of the “Demo” on certain occassions..perhaps it was like fright or flight? I do find the idea of her being pre-programmed very interesting however, and would like for them to focus on this more, as it raises the question of freewill and control etc – a theme which needs to be explored in a show such as this.
Yes, another interesting point re: why the BG had to run a background check on Jaime. Perhaps Will was operating ‘outside’ of the BG’s knowledge? Perhaps he had his own agenda and was infact working for a rival agency? The dossier had the BG logo on it, but perhaps he was just covering his tracks?
Yeah, the continuity errors really have to be ironed out. As do some of the decisions the characters make – i.e. why did Jaime leave Will when he had just been shot?? Why Jaime, Why? lol!
As for the terrorist group, that was so random wasn’t it. Surely they could’ve fleshed it out a bit? As you say, what were their motives and why target why those seemingly random cities?
I think this show has HUGE potential, but they really have to get things sorted out before we have to send Bionic limbs into NBC in hope of bringing the show back on the air (ala the Jericho “Nuts” campaign)! I don’t think it will come to that, but they have to get the basics sorted out. What’s that saying – walk before you can run? Come on Eick and co!

Neena said in 10-7-2007 @ 16:38:55

Page 48 – you brought up alot of plot holes that i hadn’t even noticed. Like the Berkut group having to do research on Jaime in the pilot and then in ep2 we find out that Will has a file on her.

This ep was an improvement on the pilot but they still have a long way to IMO. They tried humour but failed. The scene where Jaime’s hearing was tested was not even funny and the scene where she was drunk made me cringe.

MR is improving, she is pretty good at showing Jaime’s vulnerable side, but she still can’t act tough.

Also the producers need to decide what it is they want to do with Becca. Is she still a computer hacker? Or just your typical teen. I do not see the point of having her in the series if all they are going to do, is have her whining at Jaime every week.

I’m more than willing to give this show a chance. Hopefully it will improve week by week.

Bionic Woman » Blog Archive » Bionic Review: Ryan’s Take on Bionic Woman Episode 1.02 "Paradise Lost" said in 10-10-2007 @ 21:59:10

[...] joined the cast. As I commented earlier, his scenes are bland and boring and unlike Roco, I find his acting style wooden and [...]

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