Bionic Woman Makes Me Cringe

I've been meaning to write my own review of the latest re-imagined 1970s series, but I didn't have the heart to do it until now. "Bionic Woman" was going to be fantastic with better effects, a more sophisticated story, and feature Katee Sackhoff as the villain. It still doesn't work for me.

After a near-fatal car accident, Jaime Summers lost an eye, ear, some limbs, and her entire brain as far as I could tell. In her rebirth as the bionic woman, we see that the doctors injected "anthrocytes" or "bionics" into her body. They somehow provide actual structure for her bones, muscles, nerves, etc. and they also relay information from a microprocessor somewhere in her brain so that is she part robot too! I realize that I should be patient with the writers because half of the fun of these transformations occur when the character tests his or her limits. Unfortunately nanotech like this can end up being another type of magic. We are to suspend our disbelief as members of a science fiction audience. But isn't the writing supposed to help us along? I am not convinced that the writers even know what these machines can or cannot do and because it is integral to the story, they better figure it out or start ignoring the machinery so that we can too.

Lack of sophistication is often a problem with television. Producers like to appeal broadly, meaning to the least intelligent person they can imagine. Or their ten year old child. Since this isn't a children's show, I expected a bit more. For instance, when Jaime Summers is initiated into the top secret company as their muscle, a psychologist/field agent describes Jaime as a genius yet she appears to be a slow wit at the best of times. In one episode, genius Jaime receives a phonecall from her boss during lunch with her teenage sister. The call is about a top secret assignment, of course. For no reason whatsoever, she repeats everything he says: "You know where I am?... You have a tracker on me?... He's a bad man?" This piques the curiosity of her sister and introduces a farcical double conversation that falls very flat on laughs.

Jaime Summers can be slow but the show should have been quick. Constantly running around doesn't make up for the predictable plot.

Katee Sackhoff is great as Starbuck in "Battlestar Galactica." Her association with a truly great T.V. show was the only reason that I watched "Bionic Woman" in the first place. She looks fantastic in her evil persona and in her few moments of acting catharsis, she proves that there could be something to the show, if only it could figure out the point. She could carry the entire show if most of the characters are killed off and they start anew.

You can read another review on the Bionic Woman here.