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Teaserwatch report: "Okay, Plan B."
Oh, my - did Michelle Ryan actually make me giggle? All right, we've gotten all the way through the teaser and already this episode is already a huge improvement over the pilot and last week. First of all, the lame job has been ditched and they threw in a sparring scene for good measure. Here's my advice to BWstaff - training sequences are key. As are 'gearing-up' montages. These are absolutely crucial to the asskicking genre (if you don't believe, even something as meta as Kill Bill involves a training sequence. E-sential) and your audience is going to be made up primarily of people who love and want to see these sequences. They are signifiers of the genre. So keep them in and keep them interesting. My other piece of advice is still MORE KATEE SACKHOFF.
First Commercial breakwatch report: "Let's see if the trust works both ways."
Okay, so I know I haven't missed an episode, so I'm guessing that Jaime's dream sequence is meant to be interpreted as Sarah hacking Jaime's brain. Otherwise, we've gone straight down the WTFery rabbit hole into the land of continuity fuck-ups. As long as Jaime's got live video feed steaming from her brain, I guess she's hackable, right? Obviously, this is another brick in the edifice of "redeem the one character anyone liked from the pilot" that BWstaff are busy constructing.
Interestingly enough, while I liked Officer Youkas and Miquel Ferrer together (although, dude, the "I've been married" line is shit. How about we not go for the easy sexist jokes, eh?), Michelle Ryan dies on screen in here scenes with the "Canadian" arms dealer (I'm pretty sure that's a contradiction in terms even though I appreciate the shout-out to BW's home base) and the chick playing "Heaven" could not have been flatter. However, UnBionic Sister is growing on me and she and MR work well together.
And then there is Sarah Corvus, who is still the only character worth tuning in for each week. It seems pretty obvious that the writers have picked up on the "I'm not in control" line from the pilot and are running with it. In the pilot, there's every indication that SC is going to be the BW's nemesis - the fetus-killing, bionic-causing role she played ranking up there in the category of unforgivable plot devices. Given Sackhoff's notices, the writing staff are doing a 180 and turning Corvus from psychopath to psychotic. The creation of a dead sister, who died in a collision disturbingly similar to the one that Corvus set up to kill Frankendoc Jr., is a good device to create empathy but it begs the question of how Sarah Corvus ended up as a bionic candidate with that emotional trauma in her background.
Halfway watchreport: "Just go find Heaven so we don't have to go to war with Canada."
Out of context, that line is much funnier.
I'm just saying.
Added to the list of things that we can ditch from this episode is the American paternalism. Yeah, ruler of the free world, the peons get it. Move on already. Oh and look, borderline homophobic humour. Cheery.
So it was Will who played Jesus and Lazarus with Sarah, not FrankenDoc Sr as originally implied. Also, from Miguel Ferrer's comments, sister death occurred after Sarah entered the bionic program - explaining how she survived the crash with only a split lip and, tangentially, how she could get away with drinking and driving. Presumably, the anthrocites that filter out carcinogens from cigarettes would filter out the toxins in alcohol. So... why did Will bring back the prototype? Makes you wonder how guilty daddy was after all, doesn't it?
Three-quarterwatch report: "I'm going to have to get analog on your ass."
Oh, bitch, please.
I'm not sure what program Isaiah Washington thinks he's in but could he please go back to it? He's harshing my buzz. Also, he's officially just dropped the biggest turd of a line read in this entire episode - including annoying Arms Daughter.
*fives seconds later*
I take it back. Michelle Ryan, you are so the whitest girl in Whitonia and that means there are certain phrases you really need to avoid. "Bring it on, bitch" foremost among them.
And then the episode, which had righted itself between the two Sarah Corvus/Jaime Sommers confrontations, slide back down the shithole. The entire scene with IW was fucking pointless "find the animal"? Oh fer fucksakes, what kind of specwar op decides to train his subject by encouraging her to beat on him until he's disabled? Good plan, Isaiah Washington - now you're combat ineffective. Assjack. This, this would be a bad training scene. A good training scene makes a viewer think vaguely that getting up off the couch and studying krav maga would be cool. A bad fight scene is a scene where the viewer is sitting there hoping that someone beats the writer with a crowbar.
But then Sarah Corvus strides into the nail parlour (this really is filmed in Canada, isn't it) in black heels and leather like the baddest bionic Pink Lady ever and all is good again. This episode is enough to make a girl schizoid.
Fourth actwatch report: "I can intellectually imagine that that feels pretty dramatic"
Okay, in my universe, Sarah is so totally high in that scene in the nail shop and again with Jaime and UnBionic Sister in the final scene. Whatever Frankendoc Sr. gave her, I'd bet it was not FDA approved. So... assuming Sarah's telling the truth (and I'm not sure that we have any reason to believe she's lying at this point or how she'd know about the dossier from last week), Will investigated Jaime. And Sarah knew about it. And considering Will brought Sarah back from the dead... maybe it wasn't Dad who was selling off bionic tech. Moreover, what do you want to bet Frankendoc Jr. ain't really dead? I wonder how far the writers are going to retcon the pilot. At some point, if the big bad really is shifting from Sarah and Frankendoc Sr. to Frankendoc Jr., creepy French guy needs to be accounted for... or was Jr. just trying to rescue dear old dad...?
I do know one thing... soon, they will have an episode without Katee Sackhoff in it. I'm pretty sure that's going to be an episode that's unbearable to watch.
Oh, my - did Michelle Ryan actually make me giggle? All right, we've gotten all the way through the teaser and already this episode is already a huge improvement over the pilot and last week. First of all, the lame job has been ditched and they threw in a sparring scene for good measure. Here's my advice to BWstaff - training sequences are key. As are 'gearing-up' montages. These are absolutely crucial to the asskicking genre (if you don't believe, even something as meta as Kill Bill involves a training sequence. E-sential) and your audience is going to be made up primarily of people who love and want to see these sequences. They are signifiers of the genre. So keep them in and keep them interesting. My other piece of advice is still MORE KATEE SACKHOFF.
First Commercial breakwatch report: "Let's see if the trust works both ways."
Okay, so I know I haven't missed an episode, so I'm guessing that Jaime's dream sequence is meant to be interpreted as Sarah hacking Jaime's brain. Otherwise, we've gone straight down the WTFery rabbit hole into the land of continuity fuck-ups. As long as Jaime's got live video feed steaming from her brain, I guess she's hackable, right? Obviously, this is another brick in the edifice of "redeem the one character anyone liked from the pilot" that BWstaff are busy constructing.
Interestingly enough, while I liked Officer Youkas and Miquel Ferrer together (although, dude, the "I've been married" line is shit. How about we not go for the easy sexist jokes, eh?), Michelle Ryan dies on screen in here scenes with the "Canadian" arms dealer (I'm pretty sure that's a contradiction in terms even though I appreciate the shout-out to BW's home base) and the chick playing "Heaven" could not have been flatter. However, UnBionic Sister is growing on me and she and MR work well together.
And then there is Sarah Corvus, who is still the only character worth tuning in for each week. It seems pretty obvious that the writers have picked up on the "I'm not in control" line from the pilot and are running with it. In the pilot, there's every indication that SC is going to be the BW's nemesis - the fetus-killing, bionic-causing role she played ranking up there in the category of unforgivable plot devices. Given Sackhoff's notices, the writing staff are doing a 180 and turning Corvus from psychopath to psychotic. The creation of a dead sister, who died in a collision disturbingly similar to the one that Corvus set up to kill Frankendoc Jr., is a good device to create empathy but it begs the question of how Sarah Corvus ended up as a bionic candidate with that emotional trauma in her background.
Halfway watchreport: "Just go find Heaven so we don't have to go to war with Canada."
Out of context, that line is much funnier.
I'm just saying.
Added to the list of things that we can ditch from this episode is the American paternalism. Yeah, ruler of the free world, the peons get it. Move on already. Oh and look, borderline homophobic humour. Cheery.
So it was Will who played Jesus and Lazarus with Sarah, not FrankenDoc Sr as originally implied. Also, from Miguel Ferrer's comments, sister death occurred after Sarah entered the bionic program - explaining how she survived the crash with only a split lip and, tangentially, how she could get away with drinking and driving. Presumably, the anthrocites that filter out carcinogens from cigarettes would filter out the toxins in alcohol. So... why did Will bring back the prototype? Makes you wonder how guilty daddy was after all, doesn't it?
Three-quarterwatch report: "I'm going to have to get analog on your ass."
Oh, bitch, please.
I'm not sure what program Isaiah Washington thinks he's in but could he please go back to it? He's harshing my buzz. Also, he's officially just dropped the biggest turd of a line read in this entire episode - including annoying Arms Daughter.
*fives seconds later*
I take it back. Michelle Ryan, you are so the whitest girl in Whitonia and that means there are certain phrases you really need to avoid. "Bring it on, bitch" foremost among them.
And then the episode, which had righted itself between the two Sarah Corvus/Jaime Sommers confrontations, slide back down the shithole. The entire scene with IW was fucking pointless "find the animal"? Oh fer fucksakes, what kind of specwar op decides to train his subject by encouraging her to beat on him until he's disabled? Good plan, Isaiah Washington - now you're combat ineffective. Assjack. This, this would be a bad training scene. A good training scene makes a viewer think vaguely that getting up off the couch and studying krav maga would be cool. A bad fight scene is a scene where the viewer is sitting there hoping that someone beats the writer with a crowbar.
But then Sarah Corvus strides into the nail parlour (this really is filmed in Canada, isn't it) in black heels and leather like the baddest bionic Pink Lady ever and all is good again. This episode is enough to make a girl schizoid.
Fourth actwatch report: "I can intellectually imagine that that feels pretty dramatic"
Okay, in my universe, Sarah is so totally high in that scene in the nail shop and again with Jaime and UnBionic Sister in the final scene. Whatever Frankendoc Sr. gave her, I'd bet it was not FDA approved. So... assuming Sarah's telling the truth (and I'm not sure that we have any reason to believe she's lying at this point or how she'd know about the dossier from last week), Will investigated Jaime. And Sarah knew about it. And considering Will brought Sarah back from the dead... maybe it wasn't Dad who was selling off bionic tech. Moreover, what do you want to bet Frankendoc Jr. ain't really dead? I wonder how far the writers are going to retcon the pilot. At some point, if the big bad really is shifting from Sarah and Frankendoc Sr. to Frankendoc Jr., creepy French guy needs to be accounted for... or was Jr. just trying to rescue dear old dad...?
I do know one thing... soon, they will have an episode without Katee Sackhoff in it. I'm pretty sure that's going to be an episode that's unbearable to watch.
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