episode #25 - Biofeedback

episode #12 of 2nd season / Air Date: 1/12/77 written by Daniel Kibbie Directed by Alan J. Levi

The title refers to a special discipline by a which a person can mentally effect major physical changes on themselves, like speeding up healing and becoming immune to heat or electricity. In essence, it's total self-control over bodily functions; the most common result is a coma-like condition in which body functions almost cease, simulating death. It's like an ultimate form of meditation; Jaime encounters this when she first sees Dar (Granville van Dussen) lying as if dead in Rudy Wells' lab. Dar has actually studied with Tibetan monks and has mastered this art because he also has extensive medical knowledge of the body. The episode becomes a tale of sibling rivalry; both Dar and his older brother, Payton (Peter Haskell), work for OSI but Payton's project, a decoder, just got its funds whacked. Payton has always been envious of his brother's genius and, in a fit of pique, chooses this moment to go sell his gizmo to a bad guy expatriate (Lloyd Bochner) in East Germany. Oscar sends Jaime after the decoder, but Dar follows her.
This became an interesting little adventure as Dar comes up with all these abilities to circumvent the various obstacles that he and Jaime run into. He can let electricity pass harmlessly through himself, sense electrical fields and fake his own death - he can be a handy guy to have around, even for a bionic lady. There is, however, some unintentional humor: by the 3rd time that I heard Dar's voiceover as he goes into a meditative state - "ohm-m-m-m.. Shanti... Peace.." yes - I was rolling my eyes. But Dar is an interesting enough character that he could have headlined his own show as an unusual hero. As with a few other Bionic Woman episodes, Steve Austin is mentioned here in connection with this mission; he's in Brussels, where he had informed OSI about Bochner's bad guy. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10

Bionic Trivia: Bochner played a different yet similar character way back in the Six Million Dollar Man's 1st season, Day of the Robot; he would pop up again on the 6MDM, in Deadly Countdown.