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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 258377" data-attributes="member: 23">The Bionic Woman - Season One Welcome Home, Jaime (Parts I and II) <img src="https://content.thriveglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/lindsay-wagner-as-jaime-sommers-brushing-hair-back-from-ear-and-smiling.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />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. </blockquote>

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