Bionic Woman- Season 1 [Paradise Lost] 10/2007

[Brown Jenkin]

I was not impressed either. The death made no sense, the training was lame, her decision to join was inexplicable, the reources spent to stalk her were rediculious, and I could go on but there is no point. As with most Genre shows I will give them 3 episodes so I have one more to go. Next week doesn't look better with the voiceover asking if her worst enemy might become her ally. She shot and killed her fiance, there is no alliance after that.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Why did the one girl in town survive

She gave the BW someone to talk to and someone to fight to protect. Joss Whedon would have called the character a flobotnym and Hitchcock a McGuffin. In aninate objects work better as flobotnyms or McGuffins, a character should be active.

The New BW seems to be using plot devices that are almost, but perhaps not quite, clichés.

-Shadowy, unaccountable and mysterious organizations are good for you.

-Shadowy, unaccountable and mysterious organizations spend more time, energy and resources on manipulating and exploiting their people than they do on fighting evil.

-Heroes react well to being crassly manipulated and emotionally exploited.

-In terms of exploiting people, sticking two people who hate each other in a difficult situation means they will forgive each other and be OK with all the terrible things they’ve done to each other.

-People go through a horrifically devastating trauma (like their grandmother and everyone in town dying) and will be fine if given a cup of coffee and a few hours to recover.

(Sigh)

I go back to how bad the first episodes of DS9 were, and remind myself it improved greatly.

 

[noretoc]

I was a fan of the original, and the Six million Dollar man. I loved this. So many shows are trying to outsmart the viewer. This is fun just like an 80's show, only with better scenery. Pain killer Jane is terrible. This show is enjoyable.

 

[Wormwood]

This is fun just like an 80's show, only with better scenery. Pain killer Jane is terrible.

Yeah well, speaking of better scenery...

After the disappointing first episode, I had to work very hard convincing my wife to watch another.

At one point, she half-jokingly said that the only reason I wanted to watch it again was because of the Michelle Ryan's "Bionic Rack".

I didn't have the heart to tell her how close she was to the truth.

 

[Fast Learner]

I was also disappointed, for all the reasons that have been stated.

I was totally stunned about the death of her fiancee. I watched the original pilot, with a different actress as Jaime's sister, and just a bit of the new pilot, to see what sister they went with instead. When this episode started I thought, "WTF, they killed off the fiancee, too, another change?"

As with the replacement of the sister, I'm guessing some focus groups (along, perhaps, with some studio pressure) resulted in dumping the fiancee.

One more episode, just in case. Then I'll just watch boards for people saying, "wait, it's good now," just like I did with Jericho, and only then start watching again.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Okay, maybe it's because I am a bit sick these days and not fit enough to critize a show as well as usually, but I think the episode was okay.
The only thing I didn't like was the surviving girl, because she seemed so unaffected by the whole tragedy. If she was supposed to be in shock, that wasn't portrayed well enough, which might have been the actress fault, but more likely the directors...

What I liked is that the people in this mysterious operation seem to be competent and professional so far (except the typical faults like "falling in love with a team member that later goes mad/rogue", but such things are okay with me...)

After seeing the pilot, I was pretty certain that her boyfriend was dead. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten into a fight, she would have cared for him and waited till a doctor arrived. Unless they made an explicit scene with him saying "just a flesh wound" or "go on, get her...".

 

[Brogarn]

The fiance liked it more than I did, but I was still entertained. I see potential here, but it's going to take some work. Unfortunately, the networks don't have patience for these kinds of things anymore and I predict yet another reality show in t-minus 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Major artery and vein, and a major nerve cluster. Real easy to die...

Fair enough, but I'm not a doctor or a soldier, and my last anatomy class was... well, I technically never had an anatomy class! But if anything, that only strengthens my point about the holes in the writing. A one-line blurb about hitting a major artery would've been good enough for me, but they didn't have that.

Her bf dying was not a major offense for me, but it was one on the list.

Oh, just noticed this:

So many shows are trying to outsmart the viewer.

I'm not asking to be outsmarted. I'm asking for a coherent narrative. I don't think that's too much, given the quality of many television shows these days.

 

[Goobermunch]

Boyfriend's not dead.

It's more manipulation by the shadowy organization. Jamie will meet his father in a few episodes, there will be a bond. She'll start to trust him. Then, he'll betray her. Boyfriend will appear from "back in D.C." or something to patch her up and explain more of what's going on.

That's my bet anyway.

--G

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I am not particularly impressed with this series thus far. The writing is woefully inadequate. Both episodes have felt as if there is another hours worth of ACTUAL characterization and useful plot development that was ruthlessly edited out, leaving a broadcast that's disjointed and a series that's meandering nowhere quickly.

Michelle Ryan looks good though. But then even Jessica Alba couldn't keep me interested in "Dark Angel" for more than a few episodes before I got bored with the whole thing.