Forget the 1970s version of “The Bionic Woman.” NBC’s updated action-drama is essentially beyond comparison.
The basic premise is the same – our heroine, Jaime Sommers, experiences a terrible injury, receiving a series of bionic implants that make her stronger, faster and just plain better than before – but beyond that, the two shows are disparate from other each other.
Following many dramas in recent years, “Bionic Woman” is a dark, gritty, conspiracy-filled serial drama heavy on both action and complex, realistic characters. There’s a lot of information to fit into the pilot, but the show’s creators find time between all the ass-kicking to show that these characters have normal lives and Jaime – even with her mechanically enhanced parts – has a human life to deal with in addition to the responsibilities that come with her new powers. It feels more like “Alias” in its early seasons than anything from the ’70s.
The character development of the show is balanced with plenty of action to keep things moving at a brisk pace. The pilot episode is heavy on visual effects and features a near “Matrix”-worthy fight scene between Jaime and another more evil bionic woman toward the end. The women’s mechanically enhanced fighting ensures that people are flying across the screen and performing reality defying stunts in their battle.
Even one of the episode’s pivotal scenes, in which Jaime wakes up in the hospital and becomes aware of her alterations, is highly intense: Upon seeing her legs in a semi-formed mechanical state, Jaime starts screaming and thrashing about, accidentally sending doctors flying across the room as she struggles against them.
NBC leaked the battle and hospital scenes on YouTube last spring – and for good reason; the jaw-dropping clips got people talking about the show months ago.
With any luck, people will keep talking about it. It’s nice to have a female action heroine on network TV again.
“Bionic Woman” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
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