Bionic Woman

I'm a sucker for a certain genre of show, the sci-fi secret agency vs. the bad guys show. Such as Dark Angel, or Alias, or even La Femme Nikita. Naturally it doesn't hurt if the female lead is attractive. ;) Those shows are gone, and new for this season is Bionic Woman, a modern version of the 70's show that I barely remember.

So far we've had the usual startup episodes, to provide background info and hint about the future. It is pretty generic - Jamie Summers works for some secret agency that... doesn't do a whole lot actually (so far). But there are bad guys out there trying to steal bionic technology, some backstory with her fiance, who also worked for this agency as a surgeon until his untimely death, and had kept secret files on her for years before they even met, a rogue previous bionic woman (Sara Corvus, played by Katee Sackhoff), and some god-awful awkward and annoying relationship with her younger sister.

The show is OK so far, but something isn't quite there for me. I thought the setting was better in Dark Angel, and the pace of revealing information about Max's past and the genetic experiments was better. Plus there was more action. In Alias, the backstory (at least through 2 seasons) was pretty good - Sidney Bristow was a double agent and trying to deceive her employer while informing on them, plus battling a mysterious other agency.

Bionic Woman is all over the map with a bunch of partially developed plot threads. I think if they cut back on the relationship with her sister it would be better. The other thing that bugs me is the obligatory "but this isn't what I chose" moments as Jamie fusses about working for them - only wanting to do it "on her terms" and so forth. I have a feeling since they spend so much time on how she's juggling her secret job with taking care of her sibling, her sister is doomed to be kidnapped or held hostage. Which would lead to even more annoying time spent later in a rescue attempt, plus the ensuing fake righteous indignation from her sister concerning secret keeping and honesty and blah blah. As you can tell I think this is the show's weakness.