Resurfacing memories send Jaime on a journey of self-doubt in The Seven Million Dollar Woman Episode 8, when questions arise about her family history.

As she makes all these explanations, one of the suits goes on to say that she can’t possibly go to Ojai, not after all this time, before asking, “What happens if she tells the Sommers girl she’s her mother?” Well, says the other suit, we’ll just have to kill her. both.

Then we meet Jaime (Lindsay Wagner), who is sleeping. I Relive memories while I sleep, but Jaime is here right now and we can bring in all her hazy memories. I guess it would be a little disappointing if we just had to sit here and watch Jaime sleep and miss all those conveniently occurring mom-related memories. But then the phone rings – why Do Do characters often place the phone next to their bed? – and the person on the other end informs Jaime that her parents’ graves were vandalized last night.

Jaime visits the Cemeterybut the stones, which belonged to a James and an Ann Sommers, who died on the same day, appear to be in good, undamaged condition. Jaimes Dog from childhoodPuzzles, then suddenly appears, and a short distance away, someone is sitting in a car who Jaime thinks might be her mother, and drives away when he is discovered.

Jaime goes home and tells Helen (Martha Scott) about everything, which leads to a small argument between the two. Helen is worried and wants to call Oscar (Richard Anderson), as she knows that Jaime has had similar problems before (see: The Six Million Dollar Man Season 2, Episode 20). But Jaime insists on what she saw and asks Helen what became of her if she couldn’t trust her own senses.

It must be a little disturbing to see two characters we’ve never seen before shouting nasty words at each other, arguing. But there I am, the naughty devil, sitting on the sofa thinking, “Now this is the best part.” Characters with different perspectives? Characters that act a little more like real people? Yes, please. Because it directly contributes to upsetting the balance of the world in which they live – this previously perfect world that always seems so free of consequences.

The Seven Million Dollar Woman Episode 8 then is still exactly my thing for a while: blurred memories, chasing possible hallucinations, a car that keeps driving away, and Jaime revisiting significant places – her childhood home, the cemetery. I’m all for a mystery that doesn’t involve an immediate criminal threat or a scheming villain, and the first ten minutes or so of this episode offer an alternative that I really enjoyed, through an atmosphere and with some imagery that I didn’t feel (or see) in the seven episodes before.

But Helen calls Oscar anyway, and soon he shows up at Jaime’s house holding a file on her parents. Across the coffee table, Oscar then informs Jaime that Her mother was a high-ranking secret agent of the United States. I’d say it’s a pretty bad time to drop a bombshell like that, Oscar, but he thinks that if Jaime’s second life-saving surgery would somehow erase that information from her memory (see: The Six Million Dollar Man Season 3, Episode 1), reminding her of this could solve any mystery and calm her down. It’s safe to say – it doesn’t, and the paranoia only gets worse. Is her mother alive or is Jaime losing control? And if her mother did indeed resurface, did Jaime ever really know her?

If these two characters had not met so quickly and if this other plot had not arisen, The Seven Million Dollar Woman Episode 8 would be almost perfect. I would now string together exaggerations like the queue outside Thorpe Park (in the sense that they would be long and probably a bit boring). Because for me the first mystery – are Jaime’s memories real or is she suffering from a brain disorder? – is so much more exciting than the second – is this woman Jaime’s mother or is she a washed-up doppelganger; a relic of Cold War espionage?

But even after this initial storyline was sidelined, Episode 8 remains a highlight. Not only because the atmosphere I tried to describe before still shines through (now used to emphasize that suddenly emerging Cold War background), but because there is that drama and focus on the characters that first attracted me The Seven Million Dollar Woman. There’s a moment where Jaime shows off and acts like a child in front of this new person, bittersweet because we’re sure this won’t last. And the whole thing ends pretty heartbreakingly. It really is an episode that makes you feel something, if you can believe it.

Unfortunately, disappointment follows. Knowing that The Seven Million Dollar Woman can reach such heightsinstead opting for the tried and true episodic formula of “Who’s the villain this week?” is really depressing. Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that treats a character with superpowers the way it does in this episode (or in Jaime Sommers’ first appearances) – that kind of character is tied into a more grounded, human story.

And I’m sure you can cite a whole bunch of X-Men comics and movies like Thelma (2017) with me. But what I am trying to write is that I wish The Seven Million Dollar Woman had more episodes like The: a 70s American drama about a woman who lives in Ojai and happens to be cut from the same cloth as Steve Austin. Because I think that would have made the show even more original, which might have given it even more resonance.

Episode 8 of The Seven Million Dollar Woman is now available digitally and on demand.

The Seven Million Dollar Woman (1976): Review of Episode 7 – Loud and Clear Reviews

Episode 7 of “The Seven Million Dollar Woman” is about a beauty pageant; a conspiracy surrounding the city of Paris, a key and a dead OSI agent does the rest.