“Aim high and serve nothing but aces”: (Re)-watching The Bionic Woman

[Mel O'Drama]

​

Preface



While I’ve watched many episodes of The Bionic Woman at some point, this will be my first time watching in full including formal chronological crossovers and the reunion telefilms. And if I’ve watched Season Three, it was some decades ago. On DVD I previously only owned the first two seasons of TBW and The Six Million Dollar Man.

It seems a little wrong to watch TBW in full without giving The Six Million Dollar Man the same treatment. But I haven’t yet got round to buying the complete SMDM set, while the complete TBW set has been sitting on my shelf unwatched for six years now, and I just felt this urge to dive in and enjoy it on its own merits.

Well, mostly on its own merits. Because there are some essential SMDM episodes along the way. Kicking off with….

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Six Million Dollar Man - Season Two

The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

This, I’m fairly certain is my most-watched episode of either series. For many years my go-to bionic adventure was this one, which I’d recorded on VHS from a Nineties airing on some satellite channel. Then came the DVDs, of course.

Even so, watching this episode as a re-introduction to the franchise seems a little jarring. Viewed with this kind of objectivity, the cold opening - with Steve Austin pursuing some fraudsters to retrieve a stolen printing plate - feels very much like generic Seventies action fare. I must confess that for a few minutes I started to question if the re-watch was going to be an endurance test.

Fortunately, all my doubts left me around four minutes into the episode when Steve drove into Ojai (the signs proclaiming it as the home of “astronaut Steven Austin” were a nice touch) and the energy changed to something that instantly felt special.

Even before meeting our key figure for this journey, there’s plenty to engage the viewer.

Steve buying a ranch; the small-town trope of word reaching his parents before he can tell them himself; the prosaic stuff of Steve getting the house ready and spending time with his folks. What better way to get to know Jamie’s friends and allies in Ojai than seeing them interacting as a family? It also creates a sense that this is a moment of personal change for Steve himself, and that’s always helpful when it comes to “origin” stories.

As I remember it, a strength of the Bionic series is that everything comes from a place of truth. Steve happens to be bionic, but he’s many other things, and coming home this way explores those other things. We’ve seen him in action, but now we see him as a person and it all gives meaning. Yes, there are little moments of “pocket bionics”, such as moving Helen’s fridge or mowing his lawn at super speed, but the most watchable and timeless moments of both these introductory episodes are those which involve simple human interactions which are nicely written and played.

It’s lovely to see Martha Scott as Steve’s mother, Helen Elgin. I don’t know if it’s because she’s firmly entrenched in my mind as a future Dallas guest-star (Sue Ellen’s pushy, social climbing mother no less), but her gentle performance here paired with her tendency to fret and call people “dear” reminded me very much of Donna Reed’s Miss Ellie. In the best way possible. Ford Rainey is an assuring presence as Steve’s stepfather Jim Elgin, making his debut here as an expansion of the franchise’s numerous quietly dependable men. “I’ll be right back” he tells both Helen and Steve at different stages of his mission to buy tobacco in town. And he’s as good as his word.

Things get better still with the arrival of Jaime Sommers. Something I always underestimate is just how charismatic and lively Lindsay Wagner is and how magnetic a screen presence she has. The balance is perfect. She’s perky and winsome - sexy even - while never being defined by these qualities. She can be strong and vulnerable. She’s immediately likeable and congenial, but - as seen in the latter stages of this story - not afraid to play against that for the sake of the story.

The other players are solid character actors. Richard Anderson as the mostly-stolid Oscar Goldman was someone I saw in quite an avuncular light when I was young. Now, as then, it’s his spectacles that grab the most attention from his direction (I’m in awe of anyone who can pull off aviators. Sadly, I’m not one of them) while Anderson quietly and effectively does his stolid Oscar thing behind them. Allan Oppenheimer as Rudy Wells was a surprise, as I so associate the role with Martin E. Brooks on TBW series (I couldn’t help noticing that in addition to the moustache, Allen and Martin both have the same high cheekbones, so I suspect these are an intrinsic part of his character). Allan’s Rudy is very likeable. It’s a shame this is the one and only time I’ll see him this time round.

continued...​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

(continued)​

Most of us probably know the story - Steve reuniting with his old flame who is now a tennis pro; the skydiving accident; the bionic rebuilding; the rejection of bionics; and ultimately [spoiler alert]… death.

There are numerous layers and stories going on. As well as Jaime’s introduction, accident, bionic makeover and demise we have Steve’s new home; the romance, proposal and wedding plans; Steve “coming out” as bionic to his mother Helen; and all the business with Wrona and the printing plate. Each of these events, with a bit of padding and more slow-mo bionics could easily have been given their own episode. But what we get is condensed and rich, but presented in a way that’s accessible and feels deceptively simple.

When last I watched, probably around a decade ago, what grabbed me about early episodes of the SMDM series (and some of Kenneth Johnson’s later series The Incredible Hulk. And probably also some episodes of TBW) was the darkness. Steve’s mental deterioration and attempted suicide in the original pilot of SMDM resonating as particularly grim.

Johnson himself wrote these episodes, and he did so very well. While not quite as relentlessly horrifying as the SMDM pilot, The Bionic Woman two-parter does feel very much rooted in the psychological and medical reality that distinguishes good science fiction from the bad.

There’s a real eye for detail and reality that comes across in the performances. While I frequently find Lee Majors (or perhaps Steve Austin) difficult to get an emotional handle on due to his rugged, testosteroney, blokey thing, along comes a moment like the one where Oscar refuses his request to give Jaime the bionics and Steve is practically begging for her to be saved. It’s a big emotional moment for the character and Majors plays it as such, but does so in a way that feels right for the character. He holds back and the resulting nuance and economy makes it hit home hard. Likewise, Lindsay gives a terrific performance as Jaime realises with absolute horror that, despite appearances to the contrary, she’s lost an arm and both legs. There’s very little dialogue that covers it, but it’s all done by her allowing the viewer to briefly see the panic and fear behind her eyes.

Then there’s Jaime’s body “producing massive amounts of white blood cells to fight off something foreign in her system” as her body rejects the bionics, leading to all kinds of complications including the cerebral haemorrhage that kills her. Johnson’s writing presents us with what feels like a thoroughly researched and extremely plausible scientific explanation for the story taking the turn that it does. It’s far more detailed than I suspect the scenario would be in most series of this kind, which all serves to bring the true horror of the situation home to the viewer. We’ve all experienced, or knows someone who has experienced, medical crises. Getting these details right helps us to feel connected to what’s happening and understand how the characters feel even at times when the fiction is heavier than the science.

It’s a cracker of a story that takes place - through the wonders of montage and time lapses - over a period of seven months. It’s well-executed and, as the standalone two-parter it was intended to be when originally aired, it’s incredibly satisfying.

 

[johnnybear]

I remember it being very sad when I first saw it as a youngster in the 70s amid a strike of some sort. Electrics or even the television people I'm not sure? But I got really annoyed when she came back and she gave all her flashing eyelids to Dr. Michael Marchetti instead of Steve, because of brain damage allegedly!
JB

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I first saw it as a youngster in the 70s amid a strike of some sort. Electrics or even the television people I'm not sure?

A strike? In Seventies Britain? Surely not.

This kind of stuff always interests me, and it's lovely that you have that memory of watching it. From what I've read it was a huge ratings success for ITV and finished at #1 a couple of times in Season One.

TBW was just a little too early for me, I think. I'd have been just that bit too young to fit into the demographic during its original UK airing, and I can't even remember a specific run of repeats that grabbed me.

In childhood, most of my knowledge of the series came from a couple of old annuals that I'd somehow acquired by the early Eighties. Because of this, the series felt very elusive and mysterious to me. But also very attractive.

I can clearly remember being obsessed with the final season of Wonder Woman when it first aired here, but that didn't arrive until 1980. So it seems my graduation into juvenile fantasy TV came very shortly after TBW had (I assume) finished its run.

I got really annoyed when she came back and she gave all her flashing eyelids to Dr. Michael Marchetti instead of Steve, because of brain damage allegedly!

Ha ha. Yes. I watched those episodes just last night and they're enjoyably frustrating.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Six Million Dollar Man - Season Three

The Return Of The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

​

A random thought before getting to the episode itself:

The title strikes me as a little clunky. Why not The Bionic Woman Returns? Well, “The Return Of [blah]” sounds a little more exciting and epic to my ears than “The [blah] Returns”. Case in point: the second Star Wars sequel wouldn’t sound quite so dramatic were it called The Jedi Returns. Along these lines, Return Of The Bionic Woman (sans the first determiner) would look a bit neater and still retain the essence.

Still, it must be said that the title as used evokes excitement. And perhaps even more so because of that double determiner, suggesting that the Return is as important and exciting as the Bionic Woman in question. There are two things to get excited about here.

It reminds me of how at some point in the Seventies, DC and Marvel comics began (or actually went back to) the practice of adding “The” before those superheroes they wanted to have an air of mystery or darkness. “The Batman”; “The Spider-Woman”; etc. It makes them seem somehow more “other” than the casual informality of “Batman”, in turn moving them away from the friendly and increasingly camp direction they had started to take. It was understood that this tiny word, so much a part of everyday language could add impact. There’s a psychology behind it that only works - so far as titles go - when it’s used judiciously. It’s a practice that, in sci-fi and fantasy seems to go through phases of being fashionable. This episode title is a great example of that because, for all its clunkiness, it stimulates excitement and anticipation in a way that perhaps it wouldn’t if anything was changed.

continued…


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[Mel O'Drama]

The Return Of The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

(continued)​

As for the episode itself: when watched back-to-back with the earlier two-parter that introduced us to Jaime Sommers, it feels reassuringly familiar. Many of the same notes are hit: the story opens with Steve on a mission; Jaime comes back into his life; we see bionic surgery and the recovery and training process (this time on Steve after damaging his bionic legs); there’s a return to Ojai; Jaime, still adjusting to her bionics requests to be given a mission despite Steve’s protective protests; Jaime’s mission goes wrong due to her malfunction needing her to be rescued by Steve; she goes AWOL and has a meltdown; Steve sadly watches her leave his life again.

Jaime’s return is successfully done, though it must be said this is probably because everyone - characters; those writing and producing the series; and the audience - is so happy to see her return that we choose either to forgive or to overlook any shortcomings regarding its implausibility and the collateral damage to the earlier storyline.

Regarding the latter, Jaime’s death is an extremely strong and emotionally potent moment. Yet for me as someone who has only ever watched knowing that it’s but a temporary state that’s quickly retconned, the impact is hugely diluted. Jaime’s resurrection has always been a simple fact for me. Perhaps this is why I’ve largely been able to accept it and enjoy the benefits that come with the retcon.

For the earlier storyline, Kenneth Johnson had originally written a more ambiguous “death” which had Jaime in a coma. This would have been the perfect way to keep the door open for her potential return but her on-screen death was mandated by the network due to the success of Love Story (so it’s all Ali MacGraw’s fault). But when the audience reaction to the character was so positive, the network realised the potential for further revenue and an expansion of the franchise, and things changed.

Still, part of me wonders if the character’s death was actually one of the factors that grabbed the audience enough to warrant the spin-off. Perhaps a key to her success was the impact of that first ending.

The stars were also in place with the timing of it.

With the original Bionic Woman story being the last two episodes produced for SMDM’s second Season (albeit not the last ones to air), The Return represents the two episodes that immediately followed it.

But it’s also a new season, meaning six months of real time passed between the two stories, even though her return happened just three episodes later. Those six months were long enough for her death to resonate with the audience but short enough in screen-time that her death didn’t have time to “set” as a firm reality within the series.

There’s also the fact that unlike, say, Bobby Ewing, Jaime had only appeared in two episodes of the show before “dying”. And this is a sci-fi series, after all. So if not here, where?

Kenneth Johnson also got to re-do this storyline his way, as anyone who has seen his later The Incredible Hulk series will know. The Pilot and Married episodes of that series both featured a death that had a profound impact. Married, in particular, has numerous similarities with the original Bionic Woman two-parter.

continued…

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[Mel O'Drama]

The Return Of The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

(continued)​

There’s a soapy new season/cliffhanger resolution tone to these episodes, as we flash back to Jaime’s death to learn that certain top secret events happened in its immediate aftermath of which we and Steve weren’t informed. As Oscar and Rudy leave the operating theatre, one of Rudy’s assistants, Dr Michael Marchetti bursts upon them urgently demanding to try his new cryogenic techniques on the clinically dead Jaime. After a perfunctory resistance, they relent (perhaps partially motivated by not raising questions about the face transplant Dr Wells apparently underwent at the same time as Jaime’s surgery).

It’s all a little convenient but it gets Jaime back so I’ll take it. Still, this whole business is arguably an even greater violation of medical ethics than covertly fitting Jaime up with bionics in order to call in the debt. At least in that case Steve could technically be viewed as her next of kin who consented. At what point do medical scientists become modern day resurrectionists?

Gifted as he may be, it does seem Dr Marchetti skipped university the day they did the Hippocratic Oath. Now now that he’s resurrected Jaime he’s being very sexually inappropriate, which raises questions about his motive for wanting to play around with her body in the first place. By the time Steve finds Jaime, she’s emotionally dependent on Dr Marchetti for whom kisses and promises of more to come are part of Jaime’s therapy. Leading to a soapy love triangle with Steve, not helped by Jaime’s soapy amnesia meaning she views him as a mentor and not a fiancé.

Earlier on, Steve had threatened to tear Oscar and Rudy apart for not telling him about Jaime. Yet he is surprisingly pragmatic about the situation with Michael. Perhaps due to Michael being disarmingly up-front about his attraction to Jaime. There’s an element of Steve being grateful to Michael for bringing Jaime back, and respecting him as a man of science. But it’s a little surprising how much he lets Michael get away with.

Michael’s motives in general are very difficult to read. His words say that he has Steve and Jaime’s best interests at heart. His actions say another. He tells Steve that Jaime is suffering from a typical patient infatuation with their doctor, yet he seems to do all he can to encourage - and perhaps even invite - this. He tells Steve that he won’t influence Jaime, but his kisses and his enabling her complete dependence on him say otherwise. And yet Michael is also very relaxed and supportive when Steve takes Jaime back to Ojai alone. Is he as good as his word? Or is he just supremely confident that Jaime needs him too much to even notice Steve. And does he also realise that spending time with Steve will cause her painful memories to return meaning that Steve himself will need to choose to step away? It’s all very ambiguous. Whatever the case, it’s Michael with whom Jaime ultimately rides into the sunset in his little red sports car.

Mind you, Steve didn’t do himself any favours. It’s bad enough that Jaime’s first mission for OSI required her and Steve to skydive from a plane. Far from the ideal scenario for a team that’s working overtime to protect the fragile Jaime from remembering anything connected with her pre-death bionic days. Then, when the situation gives Jaime flashbacks to her accident and she panics at the thought of leaping into that situation again, Steve simply pushes her from the plane. Well, technically he kind of drags her out with him, but I’m not sure Jaime would split hairs over that detail.

continued…
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[Mel O'Drama]

The Return Of The Bionic Woman (Parts I and II)

(continued)​

Jaime’s return to Ojai brings deliberate nods to the original storyline, with Steve and Jaime at the ranch; riding horses; running together; visiting the lake with the fallen tree stump and visiting the tree with their names carved in it (which Steve nobly hides).

Yet it also feels like things have changed for the reality of the series. For a celebrated tennis pro walking round her home town, Jaime is recognised far less than one might expect. Especially when she visits the tennis court. However, at least she was spotted by gossipy woman in town, and the young tennis player who offered her a game did recognise her. Eventually.

There’s also the matter of Steve’s stepfather Jim now being aware of his bionics, though nothing was said about it. We’ll have to assume Helen blabbed. Still, it is a nice touch that Jim appeared even if Helen was out of town. Which is possibly code for “Martha Scott is busy with Bob Newhart”.

Now, I’m all for characters having a journey and flaws. And I’m certainly opposed to them getting it perfectly right each and every time. Jaime is new to this game, after all. All the same, her frailties on assignment started to grate a little by the end of this mission. There are good reasons given, but it was frustrating that she so far has a one hundred percent track record of needing Steve to come in and finish the job. Yes, it’s his show and it’s right that he should be heroic. But really, as far as missions go, Jaime has so far come across as out of her depth and, on this particular occasion as hysterical. It’s an unusual choice for a storyline designed to entice the audience to watch the upcoming series in which she’s the lead heroine. Though, as said, perhaps the enticement comes from the idea of seeing who she becomes, rather than who she is at this moment in time.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Lovely thread! Dr Rudy Wells is Martin Balsam in the first pilot for The Six Million Dollar Man and is glimpsed in the regular title sequence. Then Alan Oppenheimer plays him from the second pilot and seasons one and two. He then gets played by Martin E. Brooks in season 3. Then, later in season 3, Alan Oppenheimer comes back again, in The Bionic Criminal, which is a sequel to The Seven Million Dollar Man (Monte Markham), so they wanted the new footage to match up with the flashback footage. But after that, Rudy permanently returns to being Martin E. Brooks. Apart from the syndicated and expanded version of the pilot, where he is Martin E. Brooks on the titles but is Martin Balsam in the story. I was fondly remembering Alan Oppenheimer as the voice of Skeletor.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Then, later in season 3, Alan Oppenheimer comes back again, in The Bionic Criminal, which is a sequel to The Seven Million Dollar Man (Monte Markham), so they wanted the bee footage to match up with the flashback footage.

Do you know anything about the reasons for the recasts?

With The Return Of The Bionic Woman being so closely tied to The Bionic Woman episodes, it might have made sense to have Alan Oppenheimer for those two episodes and start with Martin E. Brooks a couple of episodes later. But I suppose they got away with it as Rudy was barely seen in the flashback to Jaime's surgery.

Apart from the syndicated and expanded version of the pilot, where he is Martin E. Brooks on the titles but is Martin Balsam in the story.

Wow. That's confusing.

 

[Franko]

There’s a real eye for detail and reality that comes across in the performances. While I frequently find Lee Majors (or perhaps Steve Austin) difficult to get an emotional handle on due to his rugged, testosteroney, blokey thing, along comes a moment like the one where Oscar refuses his request to give Jaime the bionics and Steve is practically begging for her to be saved. It’s a big emotional moment for the character and Majors plays it as such, but does so in a way that feels right for the character. He holds back and the resulting nuance and economy makes it hit home hard. Likewise, Lindsay gives a terrific performance as Jaime realises with absolute horror that, despite appearances to the contrary, she’s lost an arm and both legs. There’s very little dialogue that covers it, but it’s all done by her allowing the viewer to briefly see the panic and fear behind her eyes.

How are you with spoilers? I mention this because in light of Steve and eventually Jaime's attitudes toward having her receive the bionics (and/or work so strenuously for the OSI), it's hard for me to not think of this moment as Steve making a deal with the devil (or, since it's Oscar we're talking about, a conflicted angel).

Regarding the latter, Jaime’s death is an extremely strong and emotionally potent moment. Yet for me as someone who has only ever watched knowing that it’s but a temporary state that’s quickly retconned, the impact is hugely diluted. Jaime’s resurrection has always been a simple fact for me. Perhaps this is why I’ve largely been able to accept it and enjoy the benefits that come with the retcon.

I had the opposite feelings when I watched TBW. Every so often, I'd think, "this is a woman who's come back from the dead ... twice."

For a celebrated tennis pro walking round her home town, Jaime is recognised far less than one might expect. Especially when she visits the tennis court. However, at least she was spotted by gossipy woman in town, and the young tennis player who offered her a game did recognise her. Eventually. ​

You'd think they'd have wanted to hang onto the detail of Jaime being a tennis star. It feels like a natural hook for plot devices and guest characters. See also, the school Jaime taught at.

 

[johnnybear]

The Return of The Bionic Woman episodes were filmed well into the third season of The Six Million Dollar Man but screened in as the first two premiere episodes with Martin E. Brooks as Rudy Wells and weird balding wig which upsets the continuity because with The Bionic Criminal we have Alan Oppenheimer back with Monte Markham as The Seven Million Dollar Man! So the best way to watch the show is in production order surely? Well yes and no as if you do then Population:Zero in the first season comes later than in screening order and Steve and Oscar's relationship is not that strong as it would later be!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I have found a site where you can discover the screening order of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman on Thames TV in the seventies. It's great with many episodes out of order and even back to front but there you go. The Television and Radio Database.
JB

 

[Mel O'Drama]

How are you with spoilers?

With a series of this kind I don't really mind some general spoilers. I have watched the first two seasons of both, but having watched the first episodes of TBW last night it's safe to say I remember almost nothing.

I had the opposite feelings when I watched TBW. Every so often, I'd think, "this is a woman who's come back from the dead ... twice."

It's funny you say this because that crossed my mind last night, which made viewing it so much more enjoyable.

You'd think they'd have wanted to hang onto the detail of Jaime being a tennis star. It feels like a natural hook for plot devices and guest characters.

Absolutely. I'm also wondering how it's going to work with Jaime's undercover work.

The Return of The Bionic Woman episodes were filmed well into the third season of The Six Million Dollar Man but screened in as the first two premiere episodes

Ah - thanks for that. I suppose it helped them to have some time to work out the details.

So the best way to watch the show is in production order surely? Well yes and no as if you do then Population:Zero in the first season comes later than in screening order and Steve and Oscar's relationship is not that strong as it would later be!

Even though production order was different, would the episodes still have been intended to air the way they eventually did?

I have found a site where you can discover the screening order of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman on Thames TV in the seventies.

Oh - this is brilliant. I could get lost on here for days looking at when certain series were on.

Interesting to see the bionic series in a Thursday evening slot, sandwiched between Crossroads and Bless This House. That would probably be unthinkable now with wall-to-wall soaps. I'd somehow envisaged them being on a Saturday teatime, similar to Wonder Woman.

 

[Crimson]

I have dim memories of watching THE BIONIC WOMAN and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN in early childhood. I assume I was watching them in reruns, although one of the earliest toys I remember having was this monstrosity:

:

I'm genuinely envious that you're able to watch and enjoy shows of this vintage. I'm too much of a modern TV snob; any drama from more than 15 years ago is unbearable to me. The glacial pacing, static writing and/or poor production values are impossible for me to get past. The last time I tried watching DALLAS, I found myself inadvertently shaking the remote control as if that would make the show's plot move faster.

So, I'll enjoy your recaps more than I would be able to ever enjoy the series itself.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

one of the earliest toys I remember having was this monstrosity:

Wow. That's scary. I didn't even know such a thing existed

I somehow ended up with a Steve Austin doll which had a bionic eye that you could look through by holding the back of his head to your eye.

It had a kind of bionic foreskin on his arm which you could retract and see the bionics underneath.

any drama from more than 15 years ago is unbearable to me. The glacial pacing, static writing and/or poor production values are impossible for me to get past. The last time I tried watching DALLAS, I found myself inadvertently shaking the remote control as if that would make the show's plot move faster.

Ha ha. I can understand how contemporary production values could spoil watching older shows, and I feel fortunate not to have been affected this way.

The things you describe that you dislike are actually the things I love about these shows. I find them very comforting. The glacial pacing has actually really impressed me this time round in that I've been very appreciative of how long some of the scenes have been, and how dialogue-heavy. That feels very confident to me, as I imagine very few contemporary shows would allow a scene of dialogue between two people to run for five minutes or longer for fear of the audience losing attention and... well, shaking their remote control, I suppose.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Bionic Woman - Season One

Welcome Home, Jaime (Parts I and II)

​

The endearingly stiff and formal recaps, which have so far played at the beginning of episodes requiring knowledge of what’s come before, are an essential part of the experience for me. Since the recaps in question are narrated by Richard Anderson it’s only right that Welcome Home Jaime’s twist on this tradition should feature Oscar Goldman himself.

The twist is that the recaps are worked into an in-canon cold opening where Oscar monologues a message intended for “The Secretary” into a dictaphone, updating him on Jaime’s progress and bringing The Secretary (and us) up-to-date with what’s next.

Taking place at night in a darkened office, it’s a nicely shot scene, full of atmosphere. It also features an example of The Move, in which Oscar pauses and removes his glasses for dramatic effect. Apparently this is a thing, so I shall be looking out for future occurrences.

This scene is the most explicit so far in showing us Oscar’s conflict when it comes to utilising Jaime. Indeed it’s with this first episode of the spin-off series that Oscar’s paternal protectiveness towards Jaime can really be seen. This, perhaps, is because in the SMDM episodes, Steve acted a kind of medium in their interactions. On that series, Oscar’s main duty of care, naturally enough, is to Steve. Here he gets the chance to develop a dynamic with Jaime. I’d say that Jaime brings out some really nice new colours in him, though having only made a whistle stop at SMDM this time round it’s difficult to say for sure. Perhaps I’m underestimating what he’s already shown in other SMDM episodes.

Anyway, the key piece of information here is that Jaime is about to undergo one last surgery. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but it seems it’s in aid of helping restore her memories without the pain. Or something. I suppose counselling simply takes too long when one has a spin-off to carry. So surgery it is.

And it’s successful. When Oscar and Michael approach the recovering Jaime and ask her various questions about her past, she fires off the answers right away. Medicine is a wonderful thing.

At the end of The Return Of The Bionic Woman there was a lot of unresolved stuff. I came out of it feeling that many of those outstanding threads would become arcs in The Bionic Woman series. It was very much about a journey that felt as though it needed - and deserved - to be explored slowly.

However, the convenient and immediate surgical resolution to Jaime’s deep psychological traumas, suggests that there’s been a change of plan. Now that the series is a reality, all involved are keen to tie up loose ends from the previous story in order to get on with the business of episodic bionics. There’s a whole new world. A whole new supporting cast. New locations to discover. There’s no time to get bogged down with psychoanalysis.

The choice may be the right one. The two SMDM stories were wonderful, but they were also dark and intense. It would probably have been too much for this to continue for a fourteen episode season. Jamie’s eye-rolling, screaming PTSD meltdowns would certainly be at odds with her suppressing giggles while watching her sassy students banter with one another.

So what we get are a bunch of rowdy-but-adorable school kids and Jaime doing a bionic spring clean of her quirky new barn loft apartment (which I crave for a weekend bolthole).

I’m simplifying, of course. This is still a thoroughly enjoyable series with its own complexities. But a random episode of this series might come as a bit of a surprise to anyone only familiar with her first SMDM appearances.

​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Welcome Home, Jaime (Parts I and II)


(continued)​

While no time is wasted in getting Jaime ensconced in her new life, there is some very welcome continuity. Michael Marchetti is still present at the beginning; we’re had back to Ojai; Steve’s parents are Jaime’s guardians (her new home is an outbuilding their new ranch); Dennis Patrick - Vaughn Leland from Dallas - is back as Carlton Harris in these opening instalments (Harris was the villain in The Return…).

There is also one key concession to exploring the themes outstanding from the last story. Despite most of her memories becoming accessible again, Jaime still only remembers Steve as a bionic mentor. And so, with the permission of Jaime’s carers, Helen and Jim Elgin are the ones who reveal Jaime and Steve’s engagement to her. Despite all the other goings on in the episode, it gets a satisfying amount of time, and Steve even flies in to reconnect with her.

With Lee Majors only appearing in the first part of Welcome, Home Jaime, it does feel like a story of two distinct halves - even with its running thread of the Carlton Harris arc.

On this level, it was unsurprising to learn that Part I was originally written as a SMDM episode but pulled and rebranded as the first BW episode at the last minute (some sources claim that on first transmission it actually was a SMDM episode, right down to opening titles, but this appears to have been debunked). Knowing it was written as a SMDM episode brings its own surprises, though, considering how Jaime-heavy the episode is (Steve doesn’t really arrive until Act II).

With Steve’s visit and the references to their past, Part I does indeed feel more spiritually connected to the SMDM episodes and a little more special. We again hear how Jaime dared Steve to eat one of everything in the canteen. They revisit their tree, and Jaime asks Steve why he hid their inscription in The Return. The Elephant In The Room is brought out into the open with Jaime recognising that with no memory of her feelings for Steve, she no longer views him in a romantic light. On paper it’s all dealt with very quickly, but it’s honoured with enough time to satisfy and give a form of resolution.

Importantly, the writing and performances go not for the drama, but for something a little more reflective and poignant. This makes a rather soapy situation feel tangible and real. I can empathise with how bizarre it feels for Jaime, which in turn allows me to connect with both the sadness and acceptance that both naturally feel.

Michael Marchetti is despatched with even more quickly, giving a degree of obliqueness to balance out the resolution. I must confess that when Donald Harris first appeared in long shot in Part II, watching Jaime with his father Carlton, I at first mistook him for Marchetti, and came over all righteous for being sceptical about Marchetti’s motives.

Part II, while perfectly enjoyable, feels a little more generic. On paper, Angel Of Mercy is the first standalone “typical” episode. In execution, it feels that it’s actually Welcome Home, Jaime Part II.

With no Steve and many of the loose ends resolved, there’s far less to connect it with the history of the character, instead it’s about the day-to-day business of being a bionic-woman-stroke-schoolteacher. There’s little to make this feel unique to this character, and it’s easy to imagine many of its scenarios being played out by other 1970s detectives/heroes. Albeit the product here feels like a higher quality than most of them.

 

[Crimson]

kind of bionic foreskin

That gave me imagery I could have done without

The things you describe that you dislike are actually the things I love about these shows. I find them very comforting. The glacial pacing has actually really impressed me this time round in that I've been very appreciative of how long some of the scenes have been, and how dialogue-heavy. That feels very confident to me, as I imagine very few contemporary shows would allow a scene of dialogue between two people to run for five minutes or longer for fear of the audience losing attention and... well, shaking their remote control, I suppose.

Not to derail your specific topic about general observations about older TV dramas -- especially since I haven't seen the BW/SMDM since I was probably 5. When I think of pre-2000 dramas I think of them mostly as what a former poster here used to call grind-it-out television: endlessly repetitive plotlines and characters/relationships that remain static. Plus dialogue that usually seems like daytime soap stalling tactics: something happened! let's talk about it endlessly. I'm sure it's an unfair assessment to paint all older TV dramas with that same brush, and that overall style of TV remains prominent with network procedurals. I think "comforting" is key when people enjoy that style of TV: a cozy familiarity.