Thursday, September 27, 2007

Bionic Woman, Life

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."

Something about that narration made me believe, made me want to be bionic. NBC's update bears little resemblance to the 1976 original beyond the main character's name. The new Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) is a college dropout bartender rashly fitted with bionics by her surgeon boyfriend after their near-fatal car accident.

The organization behind Jaime's bionics is rather shady, and soon she finds herself pursued by psychopathic previous model Sarah Corvis (Katee Sackhoff). As with most superhero shows, as human as Jaime and Sarah seem, there will always something otherworldly about them that will have to be served, and that ultimately turns me off.

Following Bionic Woman was Life starring Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, a cop whose wrongful conviction is overturned twelve years into a life sentence. Many of his former colleagues hate him, either because they still suspect him or because he sued for reinstatement. Relying on the Zen he studied in prison, Crews must catch up on twelve years of the American culture while solving crimes including who originally framed him.

Fans of House, Raines, or Blind Justice could find something to like about Life, or could just as easily skip it.

I'll hang in with both shows, at least for another week.

2 comments:

deshantwrites said...

You forgot the best part of the show: Sarah Shahi as his no-nonsense (despite appearing 12 years younger than him) senior detective.

Graham Powell said...

Damian Lewis is in LIFE? I didn't know that. Maybe now I'll check it out.