Tonight I gave Bionic Woman a second and final chance. I couldn’t bring myself to write it off after one ridiculous episode, but two was more than enough.
Before I continue, I’ll state (for my own protection) that Valerie feels the same way as myself about my main grips with the show.
I was prompted to check it out after (in retrospect) an over-eager review by Slate’s Troy Peterson. Patterson opined about Katee Sackhoff’s villain and expectedly falls for the pretty Michelle Ryan.
I’m sorry, I just don’t see it. I mean, yeah, Michelle Ryan is attractive, but not amazing (no worries, Valerie). Sackhoff’s character, though, is merely one in an assortment of lackluster characteristics of the show. As much as I enjoy Battlestar Galactica, I’ll be honest…Sackhoff’s “Starbuck” in the sci-fi series doesn’t exactly bring awards to mind. The rest of Bionic Woman’s acting squad deliver performances ranging from listless to overdone, and the young-adult-novel-quality dialog serves to emphasize the worst in this cast.
Portions of the script can be a bit heavy-handed in the Girl Power department, too (remember, Valerie agrees with me - it’s not just a guy who “doesn’t get it”). A scene in the pilot sees our heroine running at highway speeds through the woods while a Land Rover speeds along the road. A little girl in the back seat notices the feat while her driving mother aloofly chats on the phone. The girl calls out, “Mommy! There’s a lady running as fast as us!” (forgive my paraphrasing). The mother responds, “What did I tell you about making things up?” to which the child states with a smile, “I just though it was cool that a girl could do something like that.” Puh-leeze.
And let me take a sidebar for a moment…I’m SICK and TIRED of these now cliché situations in film and television wherein a small child observes something spectacular, informs a parent, and is promptly shot down by the adult. What kind of soulless mother or father tells a small child to “stop making stuff up”?
Anyway, I’m tired, I need to go to sleep, and no further elaboration could add to my general feeling of “blah” towards this new series. If you’ve considered (and I hope you haven’t) checking out Bionic Woman, skip it. Do yourself a favor and wait an hour for the far more promising show, Life, which follows.
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