The Bionic Woman Blog

The first few episodes left me concerned, so I was happy to note that this episode was a lot more coherent. There are still some basic storytelling issues at play (something that may never be fully resolved), but the series is making a little more sense.

The major sticking point continues to be the main character. We’re told that Jamie is young, yet it’s hard to imagine that she’s so naïve. She never seems to think things through. The other characters have to explain everything to her, and it strains the credibility of the situation (which is a relative statement as it is). If Berkut was half the secret ops group they claimed to be, they would tell Jamie to shut up and get in line, and they wouldn’t hesitate to enforce their control over her existence.

This episode does moderate that slightly. A lot of people at Berkut feel guilty about what Jamie is going through, even as they continue to use her to their advantage. The bionics are essentially unstable, so under the current circumstances, she’s a terminal patient. They’ve already seen the effect of the breakdown process with Sarah Corvus, so they’re trying to find a middle ground between compassion and self-interest.

I’m not sure that’s consistent with what we’ve seen previously, which may be part of my concern. I’d rather see Jonas and the others at Berkut act like Antonio: willing to take Jamie’s lack of experience into account, but demanding in their expectations of her performance. Jonas was far more self-interested in the pilot, and I found that more convincing.

On the other hand, if there’s an inherent guilt felt by those behind the project, it would explain why they’ve been willing to listen to Jamie’s whining about her personal life. If they were purely concerned with military applications of the technology, they would dismiss Jamie’s personal troubles. In fact, they would probably find a way to eliminate the problem (perhaps less harshly than that implies).

Thankfully, Sarah Corvus is interesting enough to keep the series from faltering completely. Her character has much of the polish and depth missing from Jamie. She also has history with the rest of the characters, which gives the conflict more meaning. Sarah’s interactions with Jae, Jonas, and Ruth were far more credible than Jamie’s conflict with Antonio. Sarah is important to the story because it’s what Jamie could, in theory, become if things don’t change. The signs are there already, which is a nice touch.

It boils down to consistency. Consistency in how Jamie is portrayed, consistency in how Berkut is portrayed, consistency in how Berkut deals with Jamie. If those three items were brought into focus, the series would improve tremendously. As much as it might annoy the writing staff, given the existing comparisons, they might want to look back at “Alias” for guidance on presentation of concept. Shows like “Buffy” and “Alias” would typically have a “briefing room” scene that would state the situation, the plan of attack, and use the opportunity to inject characterization into the conversations to clarify motivations.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10