The Bionic Woman: Seasons 1 & 2 Review

20th Feb 2013

I am official pissed off at my parents for not putting this show on the TV when I was a child. As a kid I don’t remember The Bionic Woman being on our screens, admittedly it was a little before my time, but I very much remember Wonder Woman so am mystified why this awesome show never entered my radar. If you’ve read any of my other reviews you may have gotten the impression that I am a bit of a feminist and have an eternal love for female characters in fiction. I have grown-up wanting to be She-Ra, Buffy, Wonder Woman, Sydney Bristow, Cat Woman etc and whilst I may be 30 years too late I can now add Jamie Sommers to my collection of female heroines.

If you also have never really known The Bionic Woman, the show came about when the character of Jamie Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) was introduced into The Million Dollar Man as a love interest for Steve Austin (Lee Majors). Jamie Sommers, after being in a sky-diving accident, is given bionic legs, arm and hearing in one ear. She can pretty much do most of what Steve Austin can but with much better hair. The initial idea was to have her feature in just a couple of episodes but after a huge fan reaction she was brought back for her own television spin-off working for the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI). Now remember folks this was in the day before internet campaigns, The Bionic Woman spin-off emerged because television producers were influenced by that many letters.

I was initially hesitant about watching this series and did think the dated 70s feel would lessen the enjoyment of the show. And whilst you will be confronted with a lot of slow motion running, bell bottoms, moustaches and special effects you could probably produce on your smartphone The Bionic Woman remains a piece of hugely entertaining television which from a feminist perspective is refreshing to watch.

To become engaged in this show you really have to fall for the character of Jamie Sommers (much like most of the men in the show) and I would hope that you do. She is such an impressive female character to watch despite the age of the show. Jamie Sommers is confident, happy, friendly to everyone and courageous with a healthy dose of common sense vulnerability (who wouldn’t get upset that they just nearly died from a huge bomb). She doesn’t depend on the men in her life to look after her, simply informing Steve that she needs space and her own independence instead of getting all confused and depressed about her lovelife. Rather than wearing skimpy costumes (yes Dollhouse I am referring to you) she actively comments if she has to wear anything mildly provocative. She purposefully promotes physical violence to be used only as self-defence (something which was heavily advocated by the actress Lindsay Wagner). And the woman can talk down a lion when it is going bonkers! You really could not ask for more from a show and I feel almost saddened that many of the female action stars of today are not inspired by the messages that this show sends out.

The boxsets are little gems in themselves with season one providing the origins of the Bionic Woman on The Million Dollar Man and then the cross-over episodes for both season one and two (my particular favourite involves the yeti and some aliens and of course there is the introduction of the Fembots). You have a very informative documentary for season one which gives some great background to the show and then there are the standard bits and pieces of extras like the occasional audio commentary and image galleries (which I never see the point of).

Having never watched this before I can say I am officially sold and may well have to go out and get myself season 3 (which was oddly released before season one and two). If you are a fan of the female lead in television shows or watching Jamie Sommers brings up memories of your first childhood crush then The Bionic Woman season one and two are definitely a worthy investment.