Bionic Woman: In This Corner, Jaime Sommers

"In This Corner, Jaime Sommers" is the second episode of season two of the 1970s sci-fi/action series The Bionic Woman. It is the sixteenth episode of the series overall. It was directed by Alan Crosland and written by Robert L. McCullough and Kenneth Johnson. It first aired on the ABC network on September 29th, 1976. In addition to the main cast, this episode features guest appearances by Norman Fell as Milt Bigelow, Marcia Lewis as Amazon April Armitage, and Marj Dusay as Doctor Brandes. This is the episode where Jaime Sommers has to go undercover as a professional wrestler in order to find a missing OSI agent named Wayne Haley.

Background information

 * The Bionic Woman was created by series developer Kenneth Johnson. It is based on concepts originally developed by author Martin Caidin in his novel Cyborg.


 * This episode is production code number 45416.


 * This is the fifth episode of The Bionic Woman directed by Alan Crosland. He directs ten episodes of the series in total. It is his first episode of the series in season two.


 * This is the first television script writing work for Robert McCullough. He writes two episodes of The Bionic Woman, both of which are in season two. His next episode is "Jaime and the King".

Credits

 * According to the full cast list for this episode at IMDB, Sandra Lee Gimpel plays the role of Fabulous Franzi Fonzo. As she is uncredited in the episode itself, her name is not included in the above cast list.


 * Director Alan Crosland, Jr. is credited as Alan Crosland in this episode.


 * Actress Marcia Moran is credited as Marcia Shapiro in this episode.


 * Actor Gene LeBell is credited as Gene LaBell in this episode.


 * Director of photography Gene A. Talvin is credited as Gene Talvin in this episode.


 * Editor Alan C. Marks is credited as Alan Marks in this episode.


 * Art director Charles R. Davis is credited as Chuck R. Davis in this episode.


 * Set decorator Gary Moreno is credited as Gary J. Moreno in this episode.


 * Assistant director Tom Blank is credited as Thomas Blank in this episode.

Allusions

 * Jaime Sommers makes reference to Steve Austin in this episode. Like Jaime, Steve is a cybernetic agent employed by OSI. He is the main character from the Bionic Woman 's companion series, The Six Million Dollar Man.


 * Joe Frazier was an American professional boxer, Olympic gold medalist and Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981.


 * Jaime Sommers compares her wrestling attire to looking like Pocahontas. Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. In a well-known historical anecdote, she is said to have saved the life of an Indian captive, Englishman John Smith, in 1607 by placing her head upon his own when her father raised his war club to execute him.

Trivia

 * Jaime Sommers adopts the alias Jessie "Savage" Sommers as her undercover identity in this episode.

Home Video

 * This episode is included in the Bionic Woman: Season Two DVD boxset collection.

Quotes

 * Oscar Goldman: Jaime, listen to me. Wayne Haley has disappeared trying to tell us something important. Now, you're the only female OSI agent that can handle this case!

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 * Jaime Sommers: Mad Mary? Amazon April and the Spider Lady? Oh boy... average girls next door holds for a stick of gum.

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 * Jaime Sommers: I'm telling you, Jimmy, Battling Betty, she's gonna get the axe tonight. She's really is gonna get the axe tonight. And if you're out there watching, sweetheart, I got a rhyme for ya: If you show up tonight, you can trust that you're gonna eat my dust when I break you in half everybody's gonna laugh and say bashful battling Betty's a bust!

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 * Jaime Sommers: I don't suppose you'd consider putting Steve in a dress, huh?

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 * Oscar Goldman: Now wait a minute... 'Joltin' Jesse Sommers'?
 * Jaime Sommers: Yup - don'tcha love it? Hey Oscar, they think I'm a regular Joe Frazier.
 * Oscar Goldman: Joe's a boxer, Jaime.

....
 * Jaime Sommers: Oscar, I'm gonna break your glasses for this.