Bionic Woman - Second Episode Reveals Great Show

Ok, I admit I've developed a love for the show Bionic Woman. It's sexy, smart, hip, and thick. It's got interesting characters and being a kind of sci-fi geek, I'v always found the subject of bionics fascinating. But all that aside, Bionic Woman has the makings of a classic show.

It certainly started off with a bang, the first pilot episode got ratings not seen by NBC since "The West Wing." But can it continue? I think it's going to go beyond it. Why? Well, the technical issue of the pacing I pointed out is gone this time.

But more to the point, the writers and director really get the idea of this normal person trapped in an extraordinary situation, but unable and unwilling to totally lose herself in it and give up her normal life.



Michelle Ryan's doing an excellent job not just playing stranger in a strange land, but with a glint for the dangerous. My favorite scene being a bachelor was when she pulls this guy into a bathroom and starts making out with him, only to break his ribs. I wished I were him, even with the rib problem!

But the whole scene segment was so real and that's what I like about the Bionic Woman. It is grounded in the now and so we have many cultural reference points to draw from, and not get lost in the "super woman" aspect of the program. If the makers of the show can keep that balance, they've got a cult hit on their hands.

Bionic Woman - Just Saw It; Michelle Ryan's Intense

I just found and watched NBC's new program Bionic Woman on Comcast ondemand. First, it's good actually great and intense. It has a lot of characters that are well intervoven. The trouble is that it moves too fast -- so fast that scenes that need more time to unfold to have real meaning last in seconds.

The version I saw is without commercials, so I thought maybe I was "fooled" by a shorter version. But then I thought of the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror" and it seemed longer than the Bionic Woman even though they're both about 35 minutes of screen time.

The "problem" is the Bionic Woman's so rich with story, scenes, people, and tech that you want to taste a scene, only each one's too small a bite to enjoy. That's a problem the writers and Dave Eick, it's producer, have to work on. It's a nice problem to have.



Overall, I did enjoy Bionic Woman. It's not anythng like the Bionic Woman I remember as a kid. This is much darker and has subplots that you beg to be unraveled right then. For example, who's the Russian guy who seems to be Katie Sackhoff / Sarah Corvus's love interest and likes to sew his arm with string? (An apparent signal that this is some kind of bionic man?)

The special effects are a seemless part of the story -- no sound effects. The fight scene between Jamie Sommers and Sarah Corvus is very well done and includes one really cool and real-looking action scene where Jamie throws Sarah like she's a sack of trash.

What about Jamie's bartender life? How can she handle it and work for the organization that re-built her? And how can she make love to her boyfriend Will without harming him? That he was on top was a start -- it's where I'd like to be -- but the whole orgasm matter was skipped over. Ah, details.

I look forward to the Bionic Woman, but it's days could be numbered if the matter of this rapid pacing isn't adressed right away. But they've already got the episodes in the system, so we'll just have to wait.

I can't wait.