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“Aim high and serve nothing but aces”: (Re)-watching The Bionic Woman
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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 260908" data-attributes="member: 23"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Sister Jaime</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><img src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/eb/c2/bb/ebc2bb35cbf4e77d6601b89936832385--bionic-woman-blonde.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">After the massive crossover event, we’ve now well and truly settled back in the cycle of themed episodes reminiscent of the wrestling/cruising/singing cycle from earlier in the season. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">If that sounds like a complaint, it really isn’t. <em>Sister Jaime </em>is a solid episode, and a hugely enjoyable one. There’s lots to love about it.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">Let’s start with Joe Harnell’s score, which grabbed me from the opening scenes where a walk along a city street was accompanied by lots of chookah-chookah wah-wah. It’s pure 1976, and all the better for it. This episode, in fact, features perhaps my favourite score so far. In a touch that’s both lighthearted and witty, Harnell interpolates melodies from various hymns into the score. It’s not as showy as it sounds, and it’s done in a way that feels complementary to the rest of the soundtrack and non-intrusive, so that some of these little pastiches may go unnoticed. It’s just a nice little addition that helps give this episode its own special tone. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">There are also more pop culture references. The <em>Snow White </em>code names continue, with Jaime being Bashful in this instalment. And after Jaime discovers the heroin by rubbing it on her gums(!), she makes a quip about <em>The Flying Nun</em>. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">For all its episodic box-ticking, <em>Sister Jaime - </em>unlike<em> Black Magic</em> - feels very much like an authentic episode of <em>The Bionic Woman,</em> and not like a generic script with Jaime’s name added. There are plenty of moments that are unique to Jaime, and plenty of uses for her bionics. Once again, she has to hide her abilities. As seems to be usual, she does so badly and is witnessed by a key player or two (the civilians who are in on this Level Six Top Secret must number in the dozens by now. But what the heck. It’s only national security). </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">Enjoyable as the guests in <em>Black Magic</em> were, the supporting cast in <em>Sister Jaime </em>is far less recognisable. Indeed, I didn’t really recognise anyone at all, which helped keep the focus on the story, and made Jaime seem less like a bit player in a big name ensemble. The name Kathleen Nolan jumped out at me. I’ve seen it before when looking for information on <em>Knots’s</em> Kathleen Noone. For a milisecond, I actually thought the credit read Noone and then felt slight disappointment. Turns out she was great in the role as Mother Superior, though during one of her final scenes where she was encouraging Jaime to climb ev’ry mountain it became glaringly apparent she was wearing some kind of rubber wrinkles (Nolan would be in her early forties here, playing an older woman). Up to this point it had been fine, but in the cold light of day of these on-location close-ups, the prosthetic skin looked fake to the point of distraction. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 15px">Jaime and the sisters’ plot to outmanoeuvre not just the crooks but also the O.S.I. seemed ridiculously convoluted. Not to mention it jeopardised the O.S.I.’s mission <u>and</u> their chances of making charges stick, what with the small matter of Jaime planting heroin in the criminals’ car. This aspect was a fail for me. Was it really necessary to create such an elaborate deception when she had a radio and could have let Oscar in on the plan? That’s a resounding “no”. It almost felt like the episode ran five minutes short, so an additional bit of material was tacked on. And everything running perfectly to plan is more the stuff of <em>The A-Team</em>. Still, the execution - with various stages of the plan carried out under a voiceover of Jaime talking through it - was watchable enough. I didn’t fully buy it, but <em>The A-Team </em>is far preferable to<em> Scooby Doo</em>. </span></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ah. Thanks. And I've just realised I only had to look at the <em>Alphabetical Ewingverse</em> thread to refresh myself:</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 260908, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]Sister Jaime[/SIZE][/B] [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][IMG]https://i.pinimg.com/736x/eb/c2/bb/ebc2bb35cbf4e77d6601b89936832385--bionic-woman-blonde.jpg[/IMG][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR=#000000][SIZE=4]After the massive crossover event, we’ve now well and truly settled back in the cycle of themed episodes reminiscent of the wrestling/cruising/singing cycle from earlier in the season. If that sounds like a complaint, it really isn’t. [I]Sister Jaime [/I]is a solid episode, and a hugely enjoyable one. There’s lots to love about it. Let’s start with Joe Harnell’s score, which grabbed me from the opening scenes where a walk along a city street was accompanied by lots of chookah-chookah wah-wah. It’s pure 1976, and all the better for it. This episode, in fact, features perhaps my favourite score so far. In a touch that’s both lighthearted and witty, Harnell interpolates melodies from various hymns into the score. It’s not as showy as it sounds, and it’s done in a way that feels complementary to the rest of the soundtrack and non-intrusive, so that some of these little pastiches may go unnoticed. It’s just a nice little addition that helps give this episode its own special tone. There are also more pop culture references. The [I]Snow White [/I]code names continue, with Jaime being Bashful in this instalment. And after Jaime discovers the heroin by rubbing it on her gums(!), she makes a quip about [I]The Flying Nun[/I]. For all its episodic box-ticking, [I]Sister Jaime - [/I]unlike[I] Black Magic[/I] - feels very much like an authentic episode of [I]The Bionic Woman,[/I] and not like a generic script with Jaime’s name added. There are plenty of moments that are unique to Jaime, and plenty of uses for her bionics. Once again, she has to hide her abilities. As seems to be usual, she does so badly and is witnessed by a key player or two (the civilians who are in on this Level Six Top Secret must number in the dozens by now. But what the heck. It’s only national security). Enjoyable as the guests in [I]Black Magic[/I] were, the supporting cast in [I]Sister Jaime [/I]is far less recognisable. Indeed, I didn’t really recognise anyone at all, which helped keep the focus on the story, and made Jaime seem less like a bit player in a big name ensemble. The name Kathleen Nolan jumped out at me. I’ve seen it before when looking for information on [I]Knots’s[/I] Kathleen Noone. For a milisecond, I actually thought the credit read Noone and then felt slight disappointment. Turns out she was great in the role as Mother Superior, though during one of her final scenes where she was encouraging Jaime to climb ev’ry mountain it became glaringly apparent she was wearing some kind of rubber wrinkles (Nolan would be in her early forties here, playing an older woman). Up to this point it had been fine, but in the cold light of day of these on-location close-ups, the prosthetic skin looked fake to the point of distraction. Jaime and the sisters’ plot to outmanoeuvre not just the crooks but also the O.S.I. seemed ridiculously convoluted. Not to mention it jeopardised the O.S.I.’s mission [U]and[/U] their chances of making charges stick, what with the small matter of Jaime planting heroin in the criminals’ car. This aspect was a fail for me. Was it really necessary to create such an elaborate deception when she had a radio and could have let Oscar in on the plan? That’s a resounding “no”. It almost felt like the episode ran five minutes short, so an additional bit of material was tacked on. And everything running perfectly to plan is more the stuff of [I]The A-Team[/I]. Still, the execution - with various stages of the plan carried out under a voiceover of Jaime talking through it - was watchable enough. I didn’t fully buy it, but [I]The A-Team [/I]is far preferable to[I] Scooby Doo[/I]. [/SIZE][/COLOR] Ah. Thanks. And I've just realised I only had to look at the [I]Alphabetical Ewingverse[/I] thread to refresh myself: [/QUOTE]
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“Aim high and serve nothing but aces”: (Re)-watching The Bionic Woman
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