Bionic Woman 1.01 Pilot review

Written by: Laeta Kalogridis

Directed by: Michael Dinner

Rating:

The One Where: Barmaid Jaime Sommers is critically injured in a car crash. Boyfriend Will Anthros, who works for secret organisation The Berkut Group, saves her life with bionic upgrades. Jaime learns she’s not the first bionic woman when Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff) gives her an ass-whupping, then later shoots Will...

Verdict: Events fly by with indecent haste. We’ve barely been introduced to Jaime before she’s hit by a truck. Twenty minutes later, she’s testing out her powers by leaping from rooftop to rooftop. You’d have thought that, after nearly dying and losing her unborn child, she’d be traumatised for weeks... Moments later, she’s trading blows with her evil nemesis. It might have been wiser to merely tease the existence of Sarah Corvus (imagine a cliffhanger where she legs it away at super-speed...).

Another concern: is Bionic Woman trying a little too hard to be “cool”? Maybe. There’s something a little too posey about Sarah Corvus, and that girl-on-girl kung fu kickfest comes across like Buffy vs Faith without the laughs.

Nitpick: If Sarah’s aim by causing the crash is to kill Will, why doesn’t she hang around and finish the job?

It's Wossisname!: Chum-of-SFX Mark Sheppard (Will’s evil dad) was Badger in Firefly, Romo Lampkin in Galactica and Charles Walker in Medium.

Cool Tunes: "WAYUH" by The Rapture and "Personality Crisis" by the New York Dolls.

Best Line:
Jaime: "What do you want from me?"
Sarah: "Honestly, I’m not sure. Jogging partner?"

Richard Edwards