And now, more fannishment ...

[apocalypsos]

Verdict: Boy, that was just really ludicrously awful, wasn't it?

Let's see ... I don't like the characters (I don't even like Miguel Ferrer and I adore Miguel Ferrer, and while I didn't get to see the entire original pilot where the little sister was deaf and Mae Whitman, I liked what I saw of her a lot more than I do now that she's a bratty computer hacker -- ooo, edgy! -- and a low-rate Rachel Bilson), the episode didn't flow at all as if the scenes were hastily chopped together, and the dialogue made me want to gag. "I'll bury one guy after the next"? Urgh.

And let's not even talk about the little girl saying pretty much directly into the camera, "I just thought it was cool a girl could do that," which offended some part of me so deeply I would have thrown my laptop across the room if it hadn't been, you know, my BABY. I imagine it's supposed to be some sort of thinly veiled feminist statement, but it fails so miserably I can't even comprehend. I mean, really, didn't we all think only boys could run sixty miles per hour?! (That's not what she meant, of course, but considering that was the first reaction that popped into my head, that's not good.)

And there are so very many things about the relationship between Jaime and Will that are skin-crawlingly skeevy I don't even want to think about it.

I just ... ugh. I would think I couldn't possibly hate this show any more than I already do but then I remember the PTB hired Isaiah Washington as if it were some great fucking casting coup and then I realize, no, actually, it COULD get worse.

Verdict: AWESOME. Oh, man, that's a great followup to suffering through The Bionic Woman. Charlie's great, the partner's great (the Woman in White! *squeaks*), and I maybe spazzed out at Alan Arkin (EDIT: ARGH. Meant to type Adam Arkin, typed Alan. I know the difference, I swear. That's what they get for having similar names. Hmph.) being the financial advisor/best buddy, especially during that last scene. "You want to drive the tractor." "You know, I think I kinda do." *snickers*

It inspires great fannish glee in me so I am most definitely torrenting it again next week.

Comments

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

And there's something particularly repulsive about the fact that instead of Will taking her to a hospital he takes her to a secret location, fills her full of bionics without her permission, and allows them to hold her against her will for far longer than anybody who really gave a damn about her would allow, and she rewards him not with a two-by-four upside the head but a round of hot sex. I don't know many women with half a brain who wouldn't escape from that facility and then turn around and say, "Yeah, you saved my life but I can officially say that you've lost your free pass to my vagina."

[poisontaster]

Oh, SWEET JESUS, thank you! I was beginning to think it was just me! I have not seen ONE other review (besides my own, obviously) that picked up on that skeeviness and I was starting to think I was crazy. Well. Crazier.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Up until the part where she had sex with him anyway, that would have been making a point about bodily integrity and violation. But... instead it's just o_O

[poisontaster]

*nods* I agree. What I said to my roommate was "They're writing a show about two rape victims and they don't realize it."

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that's how it happened in the original series. I have no idea if it did.

[poisontaster]

Sorta yes, sorta no. I went and looked it up on Wiki. The person who "gave" the original Jaime Sommers up was Steve Austin, not one of the scientists. He promised her as an agent if they would 'fix' her. And then once they'd done it, he tried to renege on her behalf and she decided to go through with it anyway.

Really, either way, it's kind of skeevy, don't get me wrong. But there are marginal differences like someone who's BEEN through the process volunteering her versus the head scientist dude. The fact that twenty-ish years have past and they should know better now, even if they didn't then. The fact that they COULD have made it either a) more empowering or b) less skeevy and they CHOSE not to. I mean, the original Jaime Sommers was an athlete, a woman with a career and a purpose, etc. The new Jamie is a dropout bartender? I don't know. I don't usually get all "THAT IS ANTI FEMINIST!" but I really feel hit in the face by that one.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just... I'm not sure what point they're making doing it this way. Are we supposed to think it's fucked up?

[poisontaster]

*hand flaps* I don't know either. The aforementioned sex with skeevy Scientist Boyfriend would seem to bely that. But the truth is, I don't know. I really disliked it, but I'm tempted to watch a second episode just to see if they explore that AT ALL.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Isn't it sad that in 2007 we can't yet conclusively tell if a major network TV show is meaning for us to think this is fucked up? Stay classy, America! x_x

[partners4life.livejournal.com]

The original Jaime and Steve were childhood sweethearts, there was so much history between them that I think Steve's motives were pure more so than Will in the remake.

Personally as a huge fan of the original Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, I find most of the "new" BW to be ridiculous plot-wise and filled with bad acting. Lindsay Wagner didn't win a Emmy for her fashion sense after all, there was real emotion to that show (6 Million Dollar Man was more campy).

I knew things were bad when I was rooting for Sarah Corvis to kick Jaime's ass. *g*

[poisontaster]

I used to watch 6M Dollar Man religiously, but I never got into Bionic Woman as much, so I was much sketchier on the details. I was also sort of embarrassingly young. *blushes* But yes, I agree.

I'd be MUCH more into the show if it was Sarah Corvis. *sighs*

[partners4life.livejournal.com]

To show you how much of a young nerd I was: I owned the Jaime Sommers doll.

Jaime was my first girl crush. I watched that show more than $6M Dollar Man, which my brother loved.

I still heart Lindsay Wagner.

The original Jaime was cool, this Jaime is lame.

[budclare.livejournal.com]

The new Jamie is a dropout bartender?

You do realize that you're posting in the lj of a dropout factory worker, right?

I'm prepared to give them the benefit of a doubt and assume that she's going to eventually dump the slightly skeazy guy and just generally start kicking ass (in the non-literal way). (Of course, if the next couple episodes don't manage to hook me, I might not still be around when/if that happens anyway.)

[poisontaster]

I'm a dropout myself. It's not meant to be, per se, a value judgment. I just question why they made the changes that they did, from a professional athlete to a woman who doesn't have very much interior or exterior life.

[budclare.livejournal.com]

Because it entirely changes the dynamic of the show? Because they had a choice between using a character who was relatively extraordinary to begin with and make her even more extraordinary, or make a random ordinary person extraordinary? They gave a (moderate) screw-up superpowers, and this is supposed to be a bad thing? Not that she's all that screwed up anyway. While bartending isn't exactly a great job, it puts food on the table for her and her sister. As a dropout, she could have done a hell of a lot worse, and we don't have the faintest idea what her long-term plans are/were. Presumably she doesn't plan to tend bar for the rest of her life, but it gives her a steady income while she's got a minor to look after. (Also, athletes are boring. *is lazy and biased*)

In spite of the insane amount of exposition that they tried to cram in there, we really don't know a damn thing about her yet. It's a little early to be making assumptions.

*is sick to death of female characters being given way more crap than male characters*

[poisontaster]

It seems to me that you have a preconceived agenda that you're bringing into this conversation. You can like the show if you want to. You can decide that you know my feelings about male characters, however inaccurate your perception may be. You can crucify me for the failings of fandom in regards to women. But that doesn't and won't change my viewpoint. I didn't like the show. I didn't like the MEN in the show and how they treated women. I dislike how the MALE producers chose to depict women in the show. I am sorry that you find my opinion offensive, but I'm not here to salve your conscience about how you think people should feel.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Exactly. There's a vast difference between this Jaime Sommers and the previous one. Disregarding their occupations, the original Jaime was more of a person than a series of cliched roles intended to drop her deeper and deeper into a big pool of angst. Was this Jaime happy about anything the entire pilot? At all? She was antagonized by her sister, intimidated by her boyfriend, uncomfortable at the thought of being pregnant, anguished at losing at the baby, pissed about being kept prisoner, anxious and upset about acquiring new abilities, and angry about the Sarah Corvis thing. There's no sense of humor there, no smiles, no occasional sarcasm. And granted, it's still the first episode and not a lot of good things happened to the poor woman, but for Christ's sake, why do I want to see her every week if she's going to mug all the goddamn time?

I mean, look at Lindsay Wagner's Jaime. She was smart, straight-forward, strong, with a great dry sense of humor. I don't get any of that with this Jaime. The most I got was someone else saying she was smart -- smarter than Miguel Ferrer's leader-of-the-team character -- but I saw no evidence in her behavior to show she really was.

[poisontaster]

And personally, if a show can't make a good case for tuning in next week (which BW has NOT) with their pilot...then why do a pilot?

It's the same problem I had with Private Practice. With a season opener, with a pilot...you need to bring your A game. This is a ratings war; what are you doing to win your part of the war? Because shiny special effects are not enough for me personally. I need a character I actually care about. And so far, they haven't really given me one. Probably the closest is Sarah Corvis and she's only a recurring character.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

You do realize that you're posting in the lj of a dropout factory worker, right?

True, but I'm not the least bit prepared to be implanted with bionics, either.

For me personally, the changes in Jaime's personal circumstances -- profession, family, etc. -- fail at their intended purposes. I'm guessing I was supposed to get behind Jaime for being an average random person, but I can't. Her greatest enemy is better trained, a professional soldier and possesses more bionics. As a normal person, she's at a ludicrous disadvantage and they haven't inspired me to want to root for her at all.

The original Jaime Sommers, as an athlete, at least had the physical know-how to understand better how her new body works. They can tell me all they want that this new Jaime is, while a dropout bartender, still smarter than everybody in the room, but they've yet to use her actions to convince me of that.

And the situation with her sister doesn't much make me want to side with her, either. At least when the sister was deaf I understood why they had such an uncomfortable relationship. Now she's just some twinkie-cute hacker with a criminal record and if Jaime's too freakin' stupid to figure out Becca's hiding a laptop out the window on the fire escape -- that'd be one of the first places I'd look, Jesus, didn't Jaime ever hide contraband in her room when she was a teenager? -- I don't even want to think about her trying to handle a major international sting operation or whatever.

Plus, the throwaway line about Jaime knowing kung fu because Will put a chip in her brain just ... NO. Show me she's smart and teach it to her.

[budclare.livejournal.com]

Plus, the throwaway line about Jaime knowing kung fu because Will put a chip in her brain just ... NO.

I'm not saying there weren't lame and/or stupid choices made. I just think it's too damn early for people to be claiming that the show commits some kind of crime against feminism. If things don't improve after a couple more episodes, then fine, they're morons. And if some people don't want to stick around long enough to find out for sure, that's fine too. Being uninterested in watching more of the show is one thing; assuming the worst about the show's creators based on one episode is another thing entirely.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I don't know about anybody else, but the only bad thing I'm assuming about the writers is that they're really bad at their jobs, which is less an assumption and more a fact with pretty good basis. I mean, I've already said that I think they meant for this to be a feminist show, which at least means they had good intentions, but by my own judgment I think that based on the pilot they've failed so miserably on that count that they've offended me past the point of wanting to watch anymore. Not only do I have no interest in seeing this character anymore, the way the episode was written makes their views on women look really bad.

On the other hand, the statements the PTB have made about their hiring of Isaiah Washington don't exactly make them look like the most enlightened people on the planet, and those are their own words, not the actions and statements of the fictional characters they write.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I don't usually get all "THAT IS ANTI FEMINIST!" but I really feel hit in the face by that one.

And the really, REALLY repulsive part is that I got the impression throughout the whole thing -- particularly by the little girl's line -- that it's meant to be very feminist.

[poisontaster]

Again, yes. I really got the impression that the writer (who IS female) and the producers thought that this would be REALLY EMPOWERING for women.

[scary-being-me.livejournal.com]

If memory serves; In the original series ($6M Man); she was romantically involved with Steve Austin (the main character). I believe it was a car accident. She was unconscious and couldn't give permission As soon as she recovered; she dumped Steve, moved to a rural area, became a school teacher, and got her own show.

[partners4life.livejournal.com]

Skydiving accident. I cried when they broke up Steve and Jaime and she "forgot" Steve and their past. (Bionics gave her amnesia). However Steve and Jaime later married in an NBC movie when Jaime regained her memories of her One True Love (Col. Steve Austin).

Steve and Jaime were my first OTP, can you tell? *g*