“Bionic Woman” recap/review
by V.E. on September 27th, 2007
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Official | IMDb | Wikipedia
Wednesdays @ 9 PM ET on NBC
Fast Stats
Episode title: pilot, no title known
Notables: David Eick, Mark Sheppard, Aaron Douglas, Katee Sackhoff
Yeah, so I was unimpressed. This first episode sets up the plot by nearly killing the main character, Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan), and having her boyfriend, Dr. Will Anthros (Chris Bowers), perform what must’ve been a seriously grueling multiple-hour surgery to replace both legs and her right arm, ear, and eye. We’re introduced to Sarah Corvis (Katee Sackhoff), the “first bionic woman… tada!”, who was apparently supposed to be dead already but wasn’t actually killed or something. There’s a guy in jail (Mark Sheppard), a guy sewing up his own arm (Thomas Kretschmann), and other relatively uninteresting characters.
David Eick is one of the higher-ups in producing Battlestar Galactica, but it’s apparent from this episode that he’s not the one with the vision or talent to pull off a decent remake. I wasn’t particularly impressed with Sheppard’s performance, but I’ve seen him act elsewhere, so I know it’s not him—it’s whoever wrote the crappy character he’s playing—who’s the problem. Douglas makes an interesting (off duty) prison guard, and it’s a shame he’s not in more than five minutes of the episode. Sackhoff’s character is the most interesting of the bunch, and I think that may be because she (the character) has a sorted, intriguing history that isn’t immediately obvious. If you hadn’t noticed, the episode’s notables don’t include any of the main characters… It’s sad, ’cause I was looking forward to this show. Meh, I’ll probably watch next week’s episode to see if it’s any better (everyone/thing deserves a second chance, after all), but I’m not holding my breath.
Another thing: Becca Sommers (Lucy Hale), the younger sister whose father dumped her on Jaime’s doorstep before the episode began, is supposed to be some kind of hacker genius. As in, she’s under court order not to use any computer with internet connection (or something to that effect) because she’s so good. Originally, Mae Whitman was cast in the role, and the character was supposed to be “hearing-impaired and resentful of her sister”… which, honestly, I think would make a much more interesting dynamic between the two sisters. Whatever—cut out the interesting stuff… good job. >_<
Basically, in the words of Jack Doyle, an IMDb user, I “expected the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica [and] got the original instead.” On a side and purely fangirlish note, isn’t this the hottest picture ever?
