The Bionic Review 1.8: Do Not Disturb
Posted by Brendan Newton on 11.30.2007
Not with a Whimper but with a Bang...
Well, here goes with what may be the final Bionic Review for a while, perhaps ever. It may truly be the end of a long and glorious tradition here on 411mania, going back for almost...three months. Anyways, so far as I know, this week's episode, “Do Not Disturb”, was the last episode to complete production before the writer's strike hit (and again, there's something ironic about the people who write Bionic Woman's scripts being considered “writers”, but never mind); there is another episode named, entitled “Everything Will Change” (that can only be a good thing for this series), but it has not specific airdate beyond “2008.” With ratings having been in a steady freefall since the show's premiere and with the reported behind-the-scenes turmoil, it's difficult to see the show lasting all that long regardless. In fact, I've heard it suggested that the strike has been a blessing in disguise for Bionic Woman, as networks are more reluctant to cancel any show considering how hard-up for new material a prolonged strike action could make them. Now that I think about it, there have been far fewer shows getting cancelled this Fall than they usually are, especially considering that most viewers that I've talked to have regarded most of the season's new shows as subpar. In fact, it may not even be that this year's shows are particularly worse than those of previous years so much as it being a matter of the weaker shows not being cancelled as swiftly by the networks. Frankly, though, I'd rather watch some of the reality shows that are meant to be coming down the pike (new American Gladiators, anyone? Bring on the big hamster wheels!) then some of the episodes of Bionic Woman we've had so far. Anyways, before getting to this week's episode, time for a rare piece of actual mail from an actual reader. Gail N. writes:
I, too, was totally blown away when Isiah Washington's character Antonio was killed off. Why? He was one of the best characters on a show struggling to find itself. I agree that perhaps Washington, himself, wanted out.
First of all, props to Gail N. for succintly summarizing why it was such a mistake to kill Antonio. My guess was that Washington did in fact want out, or perhaps that it was some sort of contractual thing as he was only ever billed as a recurring guest character, but a friend of mine this week reminded me of Washington's past problems while he was on Grey's Anatomy, suggesting that perhaps his issues resurfaced and led to his firing. That hadn't crossed my mind, and for his sake I hope it's not the case. His Bionic Woman performances certainly showed talent, and it would be a shame if he's going to make a habit of sabotaging that talent with attitude problems. Anyways, on to the episode:
-Despite the generally weak quality of this show, I thought there was some real hope for this episode. I've been blathering on for what seems like an eternity about how the best-written and most interesting segments of this series, besides the action shots, were the ones where Becca and Jaime interacted, and tonight's plot, in which Jaime takes Becca off on vacation to deal with Antonio's death, promised plenty of that. Trouble is, I'd say Becca's gotten a bit less interesting over the weeks; the Pilot episode showed her playing around with a computer, while the second episode, “Paradise Lost”, had her acting in a school play, both of which seemed like fresh angles for a teenage character. Now, though, she chases guys, worries about her appearance, and whines a lot. Just like every other teenage girl on TV. And like a lot in real life, granted, but however realistic her characterization may be, it doesn't make for an engaging character to watch for an hour. Her dialogue with Jaime's gotten a bit flatter, too. That being said, I did like the episode's final scene with Jaime telling Becca about Antonio's death. Becca's incredulity at not being told that her sister had just lost a close colleague was very touching; I loved her simply telling Jaime that she wasn't a kid anymore and could talk about these “adult” things rather than throwing a tantrum and insisting that she be treated like an adult. After that moment of bonding, it was understandable why Jaime chose to heed Jonas' advice and keep Becca safe by not telling her more about her dangerous double life. A sweet character moment to close out the episode, and if this is the last we see of Bionic Woman, a fitting end to the troubled series.
-Nathan and Kim look to be getting larger roles this week to fill in the gap left by Antonio's death. Good to see Kim showing back up after having been the Forgotten Man for the past few weeks now that Sara Corvus, whose arc he was intimately connected to, has vanished from the show. He had some good, albeit brief scenes with both Nathan and Jaime. Hopefully his role in the series will increase as he's a greatly underutilized presence. The same goes for Nathan the Basement Dweller, who could have had a much larger role this week. I loved what we did get of him, especially the scenes of him “training” with Kim to battle his bullying older brother. Funny stuff from a show that usually falls flat on its face when it tries to do comedy. I would have liked it if he'd had a bigger role once he got on the road with Jonas, playing a sort of awkward sidekick role, but he pretty much disappeared during the second half of the show. Pity, but hopefully if we do get more Bionic Woman these two will get to fulfill their potential as characters.
-Great turn from Miguel Ferrer as Jonas this week as usual; for the first half of the episode, his role was a by-the-numbers “Headquarters” routine, but once he got on the road again there was some sweet stuff, especially his coldly, matter of factly shooting “Matt” dead, much to Jaime's horror. Great way to show another, darker (not to mention badass!) side of the character. The way that scene was shot was fantastic, with the killing happening just offscreen to emphasize just how casual the killing act was for Jonas. It would be interesting to see how this scary new side of his will effect his relationship with Jaime.
-I must say, I've noticed that these days this show is missing that Battlestar Galactica pedigree these days, as Anthony Anthros and Sara Corvus, played respectively by Galactica cast members Mark Sheppard and Katee Sackhoff haven't shown up or even been mentioned in weeks now. As much as I love these two actors, I have to say that that's a good move on the writers' parts. Sackhoff's Corvus character was especially overexposed (insert lame joke about how that's not the way I'd like to see Sackhoff exposed, hurr hurr) during the first few episodes to the point where her showdowns with Jaime had gone from exciting to boring, and it was a good move to pull back on her appearances. I just hope that she and Anthony's disappearance isn't permanent as they could have done with the occasional mention of the characters. If Bionic Woman does get more episodes this year, a Season Finale would be the perfect point to have them return, and hopefully for another big Jaime-Sara showdown. Of course, Bionic Woman's one remaining connection to Galactica is the presence of David Eick as its' Creator and Executive Producer, but at this point this is really only making it apparent that in terms of good writing, Eick's Galactica co-creatore Ronald Moore is largely behind Galactica's success. Eick's not the writer there, and his writing on Bionic Woman is really like all of the crap that Paul McCartney cranked out after The Beatles broke up, thus proving that John was the genius there. Anciently dated analogy, I know.
-Wow. What a kickass second half of the show this week after a fairly dull first half. As I've said since the beginning, whatever this show lacks in writing, it can always be relied upon to make up for it with some good action. Vincent was an interesting character, I liked the shift-although it was pretty sudden-between him as the target/villain to him as the witness-in-jeopardy. Great chase scene with some good dialogue (!) between Vincent and Jaime when he pointed out her hypocrisy in admonishing him for not telling his son the reality of his situation when she won't come clean with Becca about hers. Great exploding car moment, I really thought they were going to have the balls to kill Nick at that point. That would have been a gutsy move that would have made Vincent a truly tragic character as I liked how clear they made this dark character's genuine love for his son. Jaime's kickass tearing off the car door to save him worked just as well however. Explosions, car chases, a genuinely suspenseful bomb countdown...that's the kind of fun action Bionic Woman should have been delivering since Day One. Better late than never I guess. The action came to a great climax with the aforementioned great moment where Jonas shot poor ol' Matt (or was it Mike?) dead. I loved the way Matt went from doofy comic relief running gag guy to the villain of the piece...and then was just shot out of hand without getting to explain himself. My only complaint was the continued use of these generic “terrorist” thugs, it just seems kind of hokey. Especially since the North Koreans were meant to be involved somehow, yet there were no actual North Koreans running around. Just give the baddies a couple of lines of dialogue to give them a semblance of character development before having Jaime smack them down. In real life, everyone thinks of himself as the star of the show, not just “Third Mook on the Left” and giving characters a bit of background goes a long way towards establishing that realism. Except for Matt/Mike, as I said. Because him just immediately getting shot was cool.
All in all, Bionic Woman managed to pick itself up this week nicely, with some interesting character stuff in the first half followed by a lot of fun action in the second half. I'm going to miss this show much more now than I was expecting to before this week's episode aired...
The 411: Probably the best episode yet, mostly thanks to the action-packed second half. If and when Bionic Woman ever comes back, this was the kind of story they'll need to focus on.
