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Bionic Woman 1.5: "The Education of Jaime Sommers" |
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Tuesday, 23 October 2007 |
By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
This episode of “Bionic Woman” is another confluence of contradictions. On the one hand, there is a definite rate of improvement in the overall presentation of the series. The quality is steadily improving on a few key fronts. On the other hand, some of the creative choices in this episode are annoying and derivative.
As I mentioned in the review for the previous episode, this show would benefit from a stable structure similar to the one used by “Alias”, especially if the Berkut group is working to advance and control the use of bioengineering around the world. This particular episode follows the “Alias” format very closely, and the episode is very straightforward and understandable as a result.
Part of that is the characterization, which is beginning to gel. Jaime is still the naïve new agent, armed with skills beyond her full control and comprehension. Antonio is the hard-edged agent with certain compassionate qualities, until it’s time to get the job done with extreme prejudice. Nathan is the ubiquitous tech geek with a semi-crush on the new girl. Tom, as presented in this episode, is the handsome fellow agent from a rival group, an element that could help to replace Will’s role and provide something to compare Berkut against.
There were some good advances for Jaime in this episode. The undercover assignment as the student provided an opportunity to explore some of Jaime’s established regrets, for example. The college setting underscores her youth and lack of life experience, which helps to temper her naivety. Personally, I prefer the British accent for the character, since it seems more fitting and natural (given its Ryan’s true voice), but I understand how the executives must have balked at the idea.
This still leaves Becca as a character with generic attributes beyond “annoying little sister”, and Jonas continues to be a work in progress. His role in this episode is easier to reconcile, but the inconsistencies in earlier episodes, particularly his permissive nature with Jaime, need to be addressed.
Unfortunately, this particular episode seemed to be written and directed by fans of Michael Bay films. Middle Eastern terrorists are something of a crutch these days, and it would have been a lot more interesting if the racial profiling had been proven ineffective. Instead, Antonio (thus far the most nuanced field agent) must eat crow, as if teaching him (and thus the audience a lesson).
There’s also the incredibly annoying chatter from Nathan, who was constantly trying to channel his inner Steve Buscemi and failing miserably. Tom was bland as the fellow undercover agent; for that matter, Jaime had more chemistry with Sarah Corvus. To mention a specific plot annoyance, I found it hard to reconcile how Tom could save Jaime with the professor by backing her story so precisely when he wasn’t in the room to hear that story in the first place.
The series is still a work in progress, but it seems to be settling into an effective structure. Building around that structure will be the key to survival. Playing up Berkut as dangerous and irresponsible is a nice touch, as is the focus on bioengineering abuses. Strengthening up the characterization and dropping the stereotypes should be the next area of focus. Perhaps the latest showrunner can point the writing staff in the right direction. |
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