Radio Times

Episode 1/8 Pilot

Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) is drifting through life, holding down a bar job, looking after her rebellious younger sister, and falling for Will, a professor. When she's in a horrendous car crash with him, she learns he's part of an organisation developing bionics, the replacement of human body parts with superstrength nanotechnology components. She finds out because he's done it to her: to save her life, she is now bionic. But there's a previous Bionic Woman, Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff), who's turned against the team and who may be behind Jaime and Will's crash.

RT Choice (William Gallagher, 11 March 2008)

It looks great, you'll completely believe Brit Michelle Ryan is American, and the car crash is stunning. Yet the show's single greatest strength is its biggest weakness: Katee Sackhoff makes baddie Sarah Corvus genuinely frightening and outacts everybody else in the show. This pilot was drastically altered before airing (storylines were changed and Jaime's sister recast) but it didn't help. There's a lot to like, but the seeds of the show's early cancellation can be seen here.

Episode 2/8 Paradise Lost

While Jaime finds an unexpected source of advice on coping with the enormous changes in her life, the team is alerted to the mysterious deaths of a town's population. Could this be a terrorist test? Jaime is persuaded to help find out what might happen next. But can bionic skills make up for the fact she's only had a few weeks of military training? Meanwhile, she finds out something startling about her boyfriend Will.

RT Choice (William Gallagher, 18 March 2008)

You'll be pleasantly surprised how swiftly the story of the town is resolved - but it's not because the show doesn't drag things out, it's because what you see here was apparently intended to be episodes two and three. Around half of each story was reportedly scrapped and the rest combined into this. Apart from the speedy resolution, though, it doesn't feel bitty.

Episode 3/8 Sisterhood

Jaime's having trouble controlling her sister Becca - and now gets a mission to babysit the even more awkward daughter of a defence contractor who is in danger of being kidnapped. But Jaime's two worlds are colliding, as Sarah Corvus proves an unexpected help with the babysitting and poses an unexpected danger to Becca. And if Jaime thought she knew everything about her bionics, Sarah has scary news for her.

Episode 4/8 Faceoff

Now fully and willingly part of the team, Jaime accepts a mission that sees her searching for a US doctor kidnapped in Paraguay. But rescuing the doctor means lying to Becca yet again - and it also means learning something more about herself. Just as she's come to terms with her bionics, she's now got to face the fact that all her superstrength comes at a shocking personal price.

Episode 5/8 The Education of Jaime Sommers

Technology that was meant to help US soldiers combat stress-induced depression has instead made several of them kill their colleagues. All that's really known about the top-secret devices is that Professor Howard Samuels is involved, so Jaime is sent to pose as a British foreign-exchange student and enrol in his course.

Episode 6/8 The List

The team joins forces with the CIA when a list of all their covert operatives is stolen. Jaime and Tom head for Paris but their search for answers is hampered by their increasing attraction to one another. Back at home, Becca is also highly interested in someone - but her attraction leads to the police arresting her.

Episode 7/8 Trust Issues

Back in America, Jaime is partnered with Antonio when the team gets word of a possible assassination plot. But the problem with having a bionic ear is that you may overhear your partner having a chat he really shouldn't. While she ponders how to deal with that, Jaime's also wondering about getting so involved with Tom - and what Becca will think of him.

Episode 8/8 Do Not Disturb

After months of hiding her bionics and lying about her continual absences, Jaime wants to make amends and takes Becca on holiday to a spa. But they don't get to do much in the way of sports and healthy relaxation when it turns out the team is concerned about another guest in the spa. One quick favour follows another until Jaime's no longer taking the odd moment out of her holiday, she's reluctantly involved in a covert ops plot.