Even the biggest fans of The Bionic Woman would probably admit that series 3 was patchy at best with a lot of rehashed, dull, unimaginative plots that rarely lived up to what potential they had, but this last episode - the very last episode of all - was a nice send off and a good way to say goodbye to a much loved show. Stripping away nearly all the silly espionage stuff and bad science fiction this just goes right back to a good basic character led drama show and is so much better for it. Very much a case of art imitating life as Jaimes reasons for wanting to leave the OSI (tired, overworked and feeling that it had taken over her entire life and wanting to return to normality) are exactly the same as Lindsay Wagners reasons for wanting to leave the show. I will always the show with a mixture of affection for one of the most loved and inspirational TV characters of the entire 1970's and frustration that with a bit more time and care and better quality control over some of the plots and the writing this could have been up there with Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one of the greatest shows ever. A nice farewell. Thank you to Lindsay and everybody who helped put the show together and make it what it was. Even today there have been few more inspirational and better role models for life than Jaime Sommers.
2 Reviews
Unusually meta episode for the era
bgaiv12 August 2023
The Six Million Dollar Man didn't get a series finale, nor did most shows of this era.
Not only did The Bionic Woman get a series finale in this episode, it was of a meta quality that would be unusual even today.
Jaime Sommers died in her first SMDM appearance. The character wasn't intended to be permanent, and Wagner took the role to fulfill her contractual agreement with the studio.
Jaime was so well received that the character was retconned to have survived, and the new show was created, and the rest is history.
Since Wagner wasn't signing up to be lead of a show when she took that SMDM role, let alone one that would require her to be in most scenes, and let alone one that was immensely popular.
Wagner's life was altered overnight to a degree that certainly echoed that of Jaime being suddenly transformed into a cyborg, and suddenly being a most important asset to a powerful organization. In Jaime's case, the OSI, in Wagner's case Universal.
A great episode, one of the best of the SMDM franchise.
Not only did The Bionic Woman get a series finale in this episode, it was of a meta quality that would be unusual even today.
Jaime Sommers died in her first SMDM appearance. The character wasn't intended to be permanent, and Wagner took the role to fulfill her contractual agreement with the studio.
Jaime was so well received that the character was retconned to have survived, and the new show was created, and the rest is history.
Since Wagner wasn't signing up to be lead of a show when she took that SMDM role, let alone one that would require her to be in most scenes, and let alone one that was immensely popular.
Wagner's life was altered overnight to a degree that certainly echoed that of Jaime being suddenly transformed into a cyborg, and suddenly being a most important asset to a powerful organization. In Jaime's case, the OSI, in Wagner's case Universal.
A great episode, one of the best of the SMDM franchise.
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