Bionic Woman

Bionic Woman Pilot Reviewed

Written by Brenda on September 26th, 2007

The time has finally come, Bionic Woman has finally premiered on NBC and we have our full review of the pilot episode. For those who have any experience with the 1970’s version of Bionic Woman, this version is extremely different. Of course the obvious difference being that this new version is a much darker and more intense look at the Bionic Woman storyline. But the big question still remains can this re-make do a better job of telling the story of a Bionic Woman?

So more then likely you have seen the previews of the show, where you witness Jaimie Sommers played by Michelle Ryan go through her transformation into the Bionic Woman, what you may not know is how she came to that spot, and that is what the first half of the show attempts to explain. Your quickly introduced to Jamie’s boyfriend Dr. Will Anthros a professor, but also is part of a secret bionic institution. To make a long story short the two love birds are out for dinner and Jamie breaks the news that she is pregnant with their kid. On the drive home the two are actually happily discussing names when they crash into a pole leaving Jamie clinging to life. Will makes the decision to take Jaime to his organization where they literally take out the majority of her limbs thus creating the Bionic Woman.

The second half of the show is getting to understand Jamie and her dealing with this new found bionic self. Of course her initial reaction isn’t one of joy or even a grateful heart for having her life spared, but rather a very scared and often feisty bionic woman. Jamie ends up being held at this institution that Will works at for a bit, but manages to escape and go home to her sister, finding some of her new skills along the way. In fact there is a fight where she takes out a random guy in an alley way that shows just a little taste of the awesome fights that could come from the series in the future.

By far the best part of Bionic Woman isn’t actually Michelle Ryan but instead Katee Sackhoff who plays the first ever Bionic Woman, Sarah Corvus. What is so impressive is the great attitude and fire that comes from the character. She is seen a few times throughout the show but nothing was more memorable in the episode then the final fight between the two Bionic Women which set off the episode on the right note.

One issue I had with the pilot was that it jam packed with content, and in fact it actually became to much information for just one episode. You learn so much about Jaimie her boyfriend Will, Will’s father who came up with the technology to make Bionic’s into soldiers, and even a love affair between one of Will’s co-workers and Sarah Corvus. To throw insult to injury you even have Will getting shot by Sarah at the tail end of the show. So as you can see there was just a ton of information thrown into this episode. My feeling is that the show is on the right track. I do feel at the same time there was far to much put into this first episode which left me a bit unsatisfied. Overall though there is a lot of potential to be had in the show but its going to need to smooth out its edges to be a show that sticks around for the long haul.