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Apparently, it is customary to either hate or love a show, that's however not how I work. I think this show had very little potential to begin with, but managed to build up quite a fun team-dynamic and plot, though horribly clichéd at times.

I'd rate it a 6+, because it's just fun to watch and forget, like many shows today. I really liked Rob Stewart as Andre McBride, he really put a strong, disciplined leader in the show which it really needed. The team itself gets many moral issues to deal with (definite +) but the writers didn't manage to put the conclusion in the team-context (definite -).

Overall, mediocre show.

I won't go into plot and story details. Others are more capable. I'll just give you my opinions as a life long Si-Fi fan. I sat through the first two episodes with mixed feelings. I thought it contained some interesting ideas, but I thought the writing, plots and especially the dialog were like a bad low budget action movie. I thought maybe I'll come back to it some time when I'm really bored.

Well, there came an evening when I was ill and confined to bed so I decided to watch the next couple of episodes. It improved a bit, and the storyline started pulling me in. It seemed to get better with every episode, the characters began to grow on me and the show was genuinely entertaining.

I never read the comic series or saw the made for TV movie, so I can't make any comparisons, but this is way better than my first impressions led me to believe. The directing, scripts, acting etc. are all quite good once everything gets rolling, and to me, worth the wait. The cast all fit their parts.I really came to enjoy Painkiller Jane and I'm sorry it wasn't picked up for a second season.

Frankly, I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews of Painkiller Jane. It seems to me a competent, if not exceptional, sci-fi series with considerable entertainment value, interesting characters, and sometimes engaging plot lines. Some episodes are derivative but none are truly bad, except perhaps for the pointless clip show in episode 16.

It certainly focuses more on the emotional than the cerebral, but that's not really a criteria for judging a show, not even a sci-fi show.

The writing is solid and the main characters are competent actors. Kristiana Lokken is definitely more than just eye candy -- although the eye candy part does add to the watch-ability -- and she creates a sympathetic and occasionally complex character. (She is credited as a co-executive producer of the series, whatever that means in Hollywoodese). The other main characters are equally competent, although some of the supporting actors are 2nd tier.

It is a bit loose at times but it starts to tighten up toward the end of the season when the focus shifts toward following a story arc rather than the neuro of the week, episodic format.

I suspect many of the negative reviews arise from two things. The first would be viewers who might be comparing it to the comic book, which I have not read, and which should be irrelevant. The second would be production values which are generally based on budgets. There are no mind-blowing special effects in Painkiller Jane, nor should there be. It's not a space opera.

Overall, I think this show got a bad rap, and I would definitely recommend it to sci-fi fans for it's entertainment value.

Network: Sci-Fi; Genre: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi; Content Rating: TV-PG (violence, language); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1-4);

Season Reviewed: season 1

Of all the show's I've watched this year so far, few are quite as punishing as "Painkiller Jane". To call it a "mess" or "sloppy" would not begin to do it justice.

Jane Vasko (Kristanna Loken) is an agent for a secret crime fighting agency that hunts "Neuros" – defined by Jane in the opening as "people who can do strange things with their mind". A Neuro is basically a catch-all that allows the show to do anything it wants. The show trots in villains who can see the future, can start fires, are banshees, machine controlling killers and, hell, maybe even ghosts. There are no set rules or consistent behavior to the Neuros, or if there are the show plays pretty fast and loose with them. The Sci-fi Channel should know one thing, if anything about their base: that sci-fi fans love keeping up with the rules of a new world.

Led by this complete lack of focus with the Neuros, the show slips and slides all over the road trying to plug itself into every genre and sci-fi story it can think of - possibly in the name of versatility, possibly because it has no personality of it's own. When a show can pull this off successfully you've got some wildly inventive TV heaven, but when it can't you've got a mess. A show without a backbone or its own original voice.

The superhero catch: Jane has an ability herself. She can heal, quickly, from anything. Even a fatal fall or a hit from a train. The show doesn't have the budget that, say, NBC's "Heroes" does (which includes a character with the exact same power) to allow us to really see Jane's bone-crunching skills in action. So most of the "stunts" are pieced together from a series of confusing shots leaving the viewer to decipher what the hell just happened and squashing any potential thrill or intensity from the show. The fundamental flaw with "Jane" is that while this may be based on a comic book of the same name, from Wolverine to Clair Bennett we've seen this ability ad nauseum and it is a hard thing to get excited about anymore.

On top of it all, Loken plays Jane as deadpan and emotionally cold as her cyborg villain in "Terminator 3". The woman either cannot act at all or somebody forgot to tell her than Jane should have emotions. But Loken is a gorgeous woman playing to a sci-fi crowd and the show makes the mistake of treating her like one of the boys. Knowing how silly it was and who it was playing to "Dark Angel" had the foresight to put Jessica Alba in skimpy clothes and have her go into heat every time sweeps rolled around. "Jane" has our main character covered up, trapped in a boring love life and musing over narration about how you never really know somebody… or something equally basic. It is as if the show is on a mission to keep her as sexless and dull as possible on every level. Will she get together with the bald emotionally distant jerk on the team? Even that might help. Come on, let's give the internet something to talk about.

If it didn't look like garbage or was written with one inane, confounding line following another, everything in "Jane" from the characters to the show's world is half (or never) explored or explained. For to do that might require the show to think something out or express itself in a voice that is something other than cheap, manufactured, assembly line stories. Could Jane be a Neuro herself? If not that would be quite a coincidence. I'm sure answers will come, but I for one, won't be sticking around any more to get them.

If any promise was made by "Eureka" to trend the Sci-Fi Channel out of its non-stop output of trash, "Painkiller Jane" reverses that with a vengeance.

½ / 4

What is going on at SciFi Channel? Did they greenlight a series BEFORE watching this awful pilot? Did they pay so much for the rights to this unknown comic book that they felt compelled to produce a whole TV show? The mind boggles.

Anyway, about the show, it is poorly made, poorly acted and poorly written. It has the look and feel of an amateur production.

Kristanna Loken is fine as a supporting character, as in The L word, but she just does not have the chops to carry a whole show. And her supporting cast is much worse than she is. Then again it could just be the bad dialogue.

The Verdict: SciFi Channel has (again) wasted a lot of money.

Unlike another user who said the pilot was bad but the series "just keeps getting better", I found the pilot to be pretty good for a Scifi Channel pilot, but the series failed to build upon that base and instead churned out the same formula week after week. The multi-episode arc involving Jane's investigation of the source of her abilities was introduced about three episodes too late and was really the only thing that could have saved this. But by that point in the run, people had already given up on the show. And you have to admit that, following on the heels of the success of Heroes -- which also features a hot blonde with amazing healing ability -- PKJ really needed to hit the ground running, rather than stumbling and jogging in place. A competent show with interesting locations, decent acting, but only average scripts and thin characters, it really didn't have much of a chance.

It is a shame because I wanted to. The premise, while not necessarily great, did intrigue me, and oddly enough there were some interesting ideas that if explored well would've come off very nicely. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like it and saw all the episodes to give it a chance, I couldn't get into it. The idea was intriguing, I did like the strong leader character that Rob Stewart played and he played it well and for a show that would end after 22 or so episodes it did end on a good note rather than on an abrupt or cliffhanger one. However, I found myself not caring much from the filming, even within the genre the settings were colourless and drab and the photography lacked focus all too often. The music was generic and didn't add all that much to the show or to any exciting moments, while the writing constantly feels rushed through and trite. The story lines didn't compel me much, there were weaker episodes than others agreed(though that is true of a lot of shows), but for what promise the pilot did have nothing really takes off from it. There were some good ideas here, but sadly they are not expanded upon enough. The pacing was often dull for me. The characters, even with the clichés, did seem as though they did have potential if given a chance, however I never found myself properly caring for them and their motivations and they did feel like props. Apart from Stewart, the actors never looked as though they were connecting with their characters and came across as bland. I am including the lead Kristiana Loken here too, a gorgeous woman playing a grittier sort of character but an actress that would work better in a (softer) supporting role than a lead. Overall, I gave Painkiller Jane a chance and never found myself involved with it. Although the 2005 TV movie had a lot of problems I did find myself preferring it over the series. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I believe this new show has great potential for becoming a highly addictive series.

Although the acting was forced and even the characters didn't really believe in the roles they were playing, they did pull it off and kept me entertained. I just hope the acting gets better unlike in the short lived show Blade: The Series (also liked that show but oh well)

I did not look at the clock to see when it would end, in fact, quite the opposite. I was hoping it would be a two part premiere.

I like the idea behind the show and will look forward to it next week. I opted not to watch the movie (2005) as I feared it would interfere with the series.

I would recommend this show for all my friends except Daniel who doesn't like science fiction.

The main critique against this show seems to be that it's too much like 'Heroes', which is a fair enough critique --- but also ignores the fact that 'Heroes' is an incredibly standard formula show (albeit a really good one). I would not base my review of 'Lost' off of Gilligan's Island. And so, Painkiller Jane should be seen in it's own right, and when this is done, it's a pretty satisfying show.

I never read the comic book is based on, and had almost no expectations going into it. But the show definitely builds on itself, and despite a fair number of gratuitous 'Jane getting shot up' scenes, it's a good way to waste a weekend. The show feels truncated, since it didn't get picked up for another season, and that's a disappointment. But some of the writing is impressively good, and the dynamics of the team (and their dialogue) tends to get better and better as the show goes along. There are weak episodes in the mix, but altogether, if you're looking for some series to quickly digest, this works.

Given the low budget and the miniscule fan base this show received, this show is a little gem amid the static.

I watched Painkiller Jane from the premiere onwards, but stopped watching once Psych came onto USA during the same time slot. Painkiller Jane isn't the best show by far, yet I would still call it one of my favorites on today. If you want sci-fi that doesn't make you think a lot yet still has reasonably interesting characters (Riley and Conner being two of my favorites on the show), then PKJ is for you. I'm glad Sci-Fi at least gave it a full season--it's a shame about the possible cancellation, because I think the cast could have grown into their roles and improvement dramatically with a second season.

Overall, I think the show is fine if you don't come into it with high expectations. Take it for what it is: an hour escape from reality. It's not meant to be Pulitzer Prize-winning material, but just a development of an old comic book idea. For all intents and purposes, PKJ provides a entertaining hour full of action.

Never read the comics. But doing that is on my bucket list now.

This series, short as it was, actually is very good. Yeah it's a slow burner, but well worth getting into. The 'team' are pretty damn good and work well together. The stories are varied and there is scary over arc. This is GOOD sci fi.

I believe this show is worth a watch. May not be quite what you are used to but I like the show and think you should give it a try. Give it a try without being biased before. Don't think to much into it and just try to enjoy it.

I see that people complain about the "rules" and how there are none. Blah blah blah... I completely disagree with some of the other comments. First off, the story line is about a woman named Jane Vasko, our Painkiller Jane, who delves into a secret government organization and ends up working for them. This organization tracks down genetically mutated humans and "chips them", which stops their powers. These humans are referred to as Neuros. The kicker is that Jane discovers that she has the power to rapidly heal and seems indestructible. She has some similarities to a Neuro but differences at the same time(hints at a possible gov't experiment).

Now this is some of the stuff I disagree with: "Neuro is basically a catch-all that allows the show to do anything it wants...Led by this complete lack of focus with the Neuros, the show slips and slides all over the road...possibly because it has no personality of it's own."

I believe that having no limits on what these Neuros can do does not limit the shows personality at all. I believe that instead gives room for the writers to be creative. With restrictions on the Neuros, or what one person was calling "rules", the powers available for the show to use are limited. Plus its not like they have Neuros who can control you from around the world, making it impossible to track down, they have to be within proximity. And they do keep the powers creative, I mean stealing someones age, I believe thats pretty creative. Now you might say thats too out of the ordinary, but remember before you judge it that way, that its a show about people "who can do dangerous things with their minds", its not meant to be something you expect to see.

Now I do agree there are some flaws, for instance the writers seem to try to play Loken as one of "the guys." I think thats a huge mistake, Loken is a gorgeous woman and I think the show should use it.

My rating: 7/10

Give it a try without thinking too much about "rules" and other crap like that. Just enjoy the show, you might find you like it.

In fairness, I didn't get beyond the fourth episode before my brain went into a self-induced coma to protect itself. The show may have subsequently improved, but I am simply not bored enough to find out.

I don't really want to single out actors as a reason why this show exerts such cosmic suction, mostly because the technical department are more to blame than they are. Also actors are typically following direction and working from scripts.

Which brings me to my next point. I really wish that this type of show would be called "Has the same name as a comic book" rather than "Based on a comic book." It might get far less negative reviews if it attempted to gain its own audience rather than grabbing for a ready-made audience who are only going to shoot it down if it isn't instantly brilliant.

Painkiller Jane is a show that is plagued with... well, mediocrity. It's not a bad show, but there's really nothing that stands out either - unless you want to count Kristanna Loken's cleavage, which gets ample presentation, to the point where it's an obvious attempt to keep people interested via sex appeal. Obviously Loken is pleasing to the eye in general, but they should've paid as much attention to the rest of the series as they did on capitalizing on her good looks.

So, as said, nothing really stands out as "great". First off, the neuros. Call 'em what you will, but a potato is still a potato, and these guys are just like the ones you see in, say, Heroes or X-Men. Basically identical powers, genes to blame, and so on. Obviously not overly original - though I suppose this stems from the comic this show is based on, but I've never read the comic so I don't know how faithful the show is to it.

Then there's the main characters - the usual "freak-hunter" squad. Sadly, the team personalities are pretty much as uninspired as the neuros are. There's the sexy tough chick (well, two for the first half of the series). Then there's the kind of egoistic and annoying "ohmygod I'm so smart and soooo gooood at what I do" techie geek that you see in just about every damn series, or so it feels at least. Don't forget the "muscle" of the group either, a brawny guy whose function is pretty much just the combat side of things. And of course he has to throw sexist comments around all the time, just like you'd expect. The roster is rounded out by the usual reclusive, not-great-with-people doctor and the ex-special forces team leader.

Aside from the uninspired character templates there's the acting. Well, it's also on the mediocre region. It rarely makes you cringe, but just as rarely shines. This is true for all cast members.

The writing continues the standard-fare trend, with not many gems to be found. There are several rather weak episodes, many more so than really good ones. It feels they forgot the main premise altogether for a majority of the season, only returning to it at the last four or so episodes. That's generally not a good thing, as they could've kept things much more interesting by giving us more than just separated incidents with random neuros.

The bottom line: Not bad, but not exactly good. It really does summarize the series as a whole. It's something to keep you occupied in the lack of something better. At least for my part, I didn't feel I wasted time watching it. It was sufficiently enjoyable to prevent that feeling. But certainly it could've been better if the makers had put some extra effort into it.

Despite not being so great, I wouldn't have minded seeing a second season. Perhaps they would've focused more on the real bad guys instead of just the "symptom". But it's not surprising that show got stopped, so this is all we'll get.

After a very good and exciting pilot episode this series took a very deep dive! I don't know what happened but the pilot episode somehow doesn't connect with the later episodes I have seen! The fact that Painkiller Jane can heal quickly and even recover from death is an interesting subject! But to my regret this ability isn't used to my satisfaction! I haven't read the comics but surely the comics have more interesting stories than the ones they have shown! From what I have read on wikipedia Painkiller Jane (from the comics) is a skilled fighter,master of undefined martial arts and a master marksman! Combined with her special ability she is virtually indestructible! Apart from the pilot episode nothing of this is shown! In the show Painkiller Jane is more of an detective solving crimes! Another detective show,give me a break! The show is so boring that it becomes unbearable to watch! Kristina Loken is a beautiful woman and certainly is an important reason to watch the show! But that isn't enough to keep me interested! If the stories would be more exciting and if she would use her special ability more than for me it would be more interesting to watch the show!

Sci-Fi Channel does it again They make another GOD AWFUL show

The movie Painkiller Jane made back in 1995 was a fair show to watch and when I saw the previews for this new show I thought they were expanding on that original idea.

I couldn't have been more wrong, this show has NOTHING to do with the movie. It is just another in the current line of awful brain dead sci-fi TV shows that have been cranked out recently. Even the long running Stargate SG1 has been totally ruined by the Sci-fi channels ineptitude. The problem is that TV execs believe Sci-fi fans are to stupid to notice how bad these shows are, in the past they would make a series to capitalize on the success of the Sci-fi movie, they never lasted more then a season and were usually bad but they were far better then this piece of.. I wish they would have taken this show, or any of they're shows, and made something worth watching.

Kristannaa Loken must have lost a bet to sign on for this, but then again she did make Blood Rayne

PKJ is a great show. Though the pilot was bad, it's gotten extremely better. I'm really wondering if the people giving it a bad review are watching the same show. Granted, if the acting and writing would've stayed the same as the pilot, I would've said the same thing about PKJ. But, as the characters developed and the acting got better and we've gotten to know these characters, it's turned completely around. I look forward to this show every week. Kritanna Lokken has completely gotten into her character and is doing a great job. People probably saw the pilot and thought the rest of the episodes weren't worth watching. I wasn't impressed with the pilot; but, thought it had to get better. And, it did!

It fits well with the rest of the SCI-FI programs. I hope it has a very long run! PKJ deserves it!

It's become a habit at this point for SciFi Channel to produce awful shows.

Even with the great Eureka making the sole exception, one at this point equated SciFi Series with poor film-making and acting.

Painkiller Jane does not disappoint those low expectations.

Kristana Loken is the best actress of a group of actors that must have been cast from Amateur Hour at the local theater, which is to say that she rises to the level of being merely inadequate and uninspired.

Worse, the "filmmaking" is up (or is it down) to SciFi's exceedingly low standards set by the awful Battlestar Galacitica (aka Shakystar Crapotica for those in the know). The camera just shakes meaninglessly for an hour in what apparently passes for direction with SciFi Channel executives.

The photography is really awful and not something you'd want to see again.

Overall, another must-miss for a channel that is has been wasting precious resources in badly-made shows nobody wants to see for the past few years.

Very sad.

I found this TV show very interesting and full of action. Seeing the "team" bond over time was really good. A bit gory, but I didn't mind. It showed enough "gore" to make it look more realistic, but not slaughterhouse gory. I liked the story line, plot, and the characters. Only thing that really sucked about this series, is the fact they canceled. The story works so well, that when you lose, or think you are losing a character, you actually say to the screen "That Sucks". I am looking forward to watching the actual movie that this TV series is adapted from. Anybody that says this show is "forgetable" doesn't know good TV/movies/production/etc. Ah well, on to trying to find a new series to watch.

It took me about 5 episodes to realize what was wrong with painkiller jane: nothing matters, nobody cares. every episode is just 40 minutes of watching a beautiful but somewhat dull kristanna loken solve a case involving -of course- some kind of a neuro. and the action isn't all that great either. what makes it bad is that there is almost no character building. there is no emotional depth. none of the team members matter to us. even jane won't really reveal much of herself, so why should we care? as an example: in one episode janes partner gets shot. there is of course a funeral (because there has to be) but one episode later its like she never even existed. nobody seemed to miss her, nobody mentiones her. thats just how shallow painkiller jane is. and its too bad, because there are some good episodes that show us how P.J. could have been.

I was hopeful as I begun watching this Sy Fy show, based on the cast it had. So far, I've seen 18 of the 20 episodes of Painkiller Jane, and my opinion stays the same. The first couple episodes were decent, but the writing has so many twists and turns, it loses most viewers from the get-go, as to what the main plot really is.

The characters of Joe Waterman, a supposed watch-guard over the Subway platform where their base of operations are, and Amanda Worth, the next door neighbor of Jane, are basically summed up in one word: pointless. The characters start to develop in the first couple episodes, then all but disappear. Amanda is written out as she is killed half way through the season, while Joe just disappears all together. If you're not going to develop the characters, yet keep them in the opening as main characters, then at least try and develop the characters......

Noah Denby, while Jason Statham-like in appearance, clearly lacks the acting skills. I'm not sure yet if its the actor or the script.

The one highlight of the show was the character of Maureen Bowers, played by Alaina Huffman. She has everything: beauty and the skills. But of course, she is killed half way through the season, and I have to ask why? Poor writing I guess, once again. Of course, the one bright spot now has moved on to bigger and better things: Stargate Universe. While not as good a show as Stargate Atlantis or SG-1, it still is a step up from this show with its miserable writing......

The show is based off a comic. The show started off in a less than stellar manner with the shaky camera work and revealing all the twists before hand. The voice-over was also excessive in the first episode. These problems were fixed by the second episode. The voice-overs were still slightly excessive but by this week's episode, the third episode, it is fitting. They have it in the beginning and end. I don't know about others. But to me it gives it more of a comic book vibe. There also seems to be some attempt to adding a moral or concept in the beginning and having the episode based around that. I'm not big on moral tales, but this show pulls it off nicely. The show is increasing tremendously every week, with the story lines and character development in each episode, which is another way it relates to comics. I think the actors are getting more comfortable in their roles. This show given time could be a major success.