Bionic Woman, episode 8 "Do Not Disburb"

If this is the end, some of us will really miss Jaime "Our Lady of the Darkness" Sommers and her cohorts

Following Bionic Woman has reminded me of one reason in particular that I've come to really appreciate the five-night Spanish-language telenovelas. They may get moved from prime time to daytime if they're not popular enough. And they can be lengthened or shortened a few weeks. But once they start, they run until they come to an end. Stories need an end. But even for the less popular ones, fans still get to see the story through to an actual end.

But with typical American once-per-week, 22-weeks-per-year shows the writers have to guess whether they will have a half season, a whole season, or several years to finish the story.

Isn't there an urban legend about this? Jaime ices down a dead body in the hotel room

Episode 8 seemed as though the writers wrote it to keep the longer story line going. But it also had elements that could serve as a kind of finale. It opened with a wake for the recently-deceased Antonio - in a bar, of all places! It was a relatively light-hearted wake, though Jaime was all gloomy. The best moment was when Ruth the stiff staff psychiatrists casually mentions that she once slept with Antonio. (I guess he was into women after all!) But the scene could also serve as a wake for the show if it doesn't get renewed. Also, the final scene lets us think that Jaime will eventually be able to share her secret with Bex at some point. Presumably before her current anthrocyte-limited life-span expires.

The episodic plot itself was a bit light. Jaime and Bex go on vacation in Montana. Jaime has a simple suitcase delivery to make while she's there. But as Jaime herself offers when Jonas tells her about it, "a suitcase is never just a suitcase". Sure enough, the assassin turns out to be a junkie who manages to kill himself in his hotel room from an overdose. In a refreshing departure from the "super-spy" mode, Jonas winds up having to improvise to get the hit done, with Jaime finally getting the duty. The target is a nuclear scientist about to give important technical information to North Korea. Jaime screws up the assassination attempt because she can't bring herself to do it but Jonas makes a deal with the scientist in which Jaime saves his life with a few bionic feats, including ripping off a couple of car doors. See also the Houston Chronicle blogger Catrina Corley's more detailed recap (not yet posted as of this writing).

Jaime and Bex: A good team, and hopefully we'll see lots more of them

The metaplot elements included Jaime's continuing ambivalence about her role as a bionic spy, including a suggestion in the early part of the show that she could wind up going the Bionic Sarah riot to being a rogue bionic-erine. (??)

Also, Jaime and Bex sitting in bed watching Hiro on Heroes jump around and yell about one of his triumphs was a cute touch.

I don't think this show will really get a fair chance creatively unless they get renewed for a full season. That way, they can work some of the intriguing long-term plots lines they've laid down. And they can also make use of cliffhanger episodes now and then.

This episode also showed once again how important the Becca character is to ground Jaime's character in something like normal everyday reality.

A wake for Antonio, but hopefully not for the show

It's apparently not looking so good at the moment in the ratings for the 21st century Bionic Woman. Michael Ausiello of TV Guide Online is estimating the chances of the show being continued as touch-and-go, although I'm interpreting. TV magazine writers seem to like to say as little as possible. But he leaves the impression that no decision will be made until after the writers strike is settled.

Episode 8 is the last one in the can for now. One thing working for the show is that even though overall ratings aren't stellar, NBC has been struggling in 3rd place, last I heard. So NBC may not be willing to flush a series with this much potential. Moving it to Monday night with Heroes would seem to be an advisable move.

Quote of the week, Ruth on Antonio: "I slept with him once. It was amazing."

Joshua Green also blogs about this episode as his TV Guide blog.

Tags: bionic woman, lucy hale, michelle ryan, miguel ferrer