My wife and I watched the TiVo’d premiere of Bionic Woman last night and I was impressed and my wife considered it “dark” but “interesting”. The general consensus was that it will remain in the Season Pass list. (And in regards to the “dark” comment, which was a correct description, I noted “It was made by one of the co-producers of BSG, not exactly the lightest show on TV”).
The beginning scene, with the hallway of bludgeoned and bloody bodies no doubt turned off anyone who tuned in to see a redux of the 1970s show. Indeed, in terms of capturing such viewers, the scene struck me as an odd choice, especially since it ends in a seeming spot execution. It was, however, quite effective in setting up the threat posed by the first bionic woman, as played (quite well, in fact) by Katee Sackoff of Starbuck fame.
Overall, the setup was intriguing, the characters interesting (although to this point, aside from Jaime, I am not sure if anyone qualifies as likable), and the writing, acting and presentation are all well done. In terms of characters, the boyfriend (Will) is sufficiently morally ambiguous as to be a tad creepy and the outfit he works for (whose mission sounds vaguely Torchwood-esque, btw) is similarly suspicious. The sister (Becca), who appears to be some sort of super hacker, is sympathetic, even given her limited role (that of the angry teenager) in the pilot.
The visual effects were well done and the fight scenes well choreographed, although one wonder how many times Jamie and Sarah Corvis can have that kind of fight. Along those lines: anthrocites or no anthrocites, it would seem that Jaime’s arm should have been broken or dislocated after that fight.
The changes to the Bionics technology (including the anthrocites and the microchips in the brain) make it more logical (than the original series) that a person could do what Jaime can do–especially go into a fight with bionic parts and non-bionic parts and come out without having the non-bionic parts out of commission for some time.
In looking at the cast list , the Mark Sheppard character (great to see him after his BSG stint as Romo Lampkin) is named Anthony Anthros and Will’s last name is also Anthros. Clearly, the Sheppard character is Will’s (apparently nasty, based on some of the dialog) father. I am not sure that those names were made clear in the pilot or not. I certainly missed them.
If you missed the premiere, I would recommend picking it up next week, as the show is still in set-up mode.