Painkiller Jane

:

Season 1
  • Network: SyFy
  • Series Premiere Date: Apr 13, 2007
User Score
6.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 21
  3. Negative: 7 out of 21
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User Reviews

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  1. AdamS.
    May 20, 2007
    2
    painful to watch
  2. CaladoniaK
    Apr 22, 2007
    0
    Boring as hell. The writing and acting are amateuish (at best)r.
  3. TaffW
    Apr 25, 2007
    6
    This is quite watchable, I guess it has been over shadowed by Heroes. It doesn't have the slick production of that show but its quite entertaining. How lame to give this a O because it spoils your Google searches?
  4. SCOTTM
    May 2, 2007
    10
    Loken is great, hope the rest improves.
  5. kyle
    Jul 20, 2007
    2
    i watched a couple episodes of this show and it didn't suck COMPLETELY... but it still sucked. The script isn't written very well. I've written better and i'm only a high school student. This short review is probably more entertaining than an entire episode of this show.
  6. MarcS.
    Jul 9, 2007
    10
    This show is a very good show. I like the sci-fi approach to an old police/Govt agency type show. I think the non-sci-fi comentators should stay out.
  7. EdwardEddie
    Sep 22, 2007
    10
    I think its awesome.
  8. BobB.
    Sep 22, 2007
    10
    It rocks- no seriously.
  9. daveb
    Sep 26, 2007
    10
    the only show I found interesting on all TV, the rest you can figure the ending 5 min into the show. To bad itm didn't last, most viewers now don't want to think.
  10. KenL.
    Sep 4, 2007
    10
    I thought it was one of the more interesting show on recently. I don't watch a lot of new shows and it take something unusual or special to get me to come back week after week, PKJ did.
  11. JunaidS
    Feb 3, 2008
    10
    Well, its different from HEROES but certainly its wonderful in its own way. I watched the whole 6 DVD's back to back this weekend and im hell looking for season 2. What happens to BRIAN, and Robert, like i can't wait. Kristina is excellent in these episodes against certain movies like Blood Rayne. She is a genuine depiction of personal vs professional conflicts. You should shine Well, its different from HEROES but certainly its wonderful in its own way. I watched the whole 6 DVD's back to back this weekend and im hell looking for season 2. What happens to BRIAN, and Robert, like i can't wait. Kristina is excellent in these episodes against certain movies like Blood Rayne. She is a genuine depiction of personal vs professional conflicts. You should shine star :) All hands for the show.… Expand
  12. BlancoA.
    Apr 17, 2007
    3
    This show is really, really thin. Of couse it's gonna suck, but it's not the "good" kind of sucking, like those flicks with Milla Jovovich. Loken is the show's only virtue, but she's shallow - much worse than her role in the "L-Word".
  13. StefanT
    Apr 21, 2007
    0
    I hate this show, cause it pops all the time in my google searches, when i look for Painkiller (the game) stuff
  14. RustyC.
    Dec 21, 2009
    1
    wow. im completely amazed on how many painkillers i had to take to watch the pilot. camera 0/10 script 0/10 acting 0/10 charakters 0/10 dialoge 0/10 postproduction 1/10 i could go on and on... If you are over 12 years old, you will need a full pack of painkillers to overlook all the things that went wrong in this show - and even then - whats left? Opinions are diffrent, but if your first wow. im completely amazed on how many painkillers i had to take to watch the pilot. camera 0/10 script 0/10 acting 0/10 charakters 0/10 dialoge 0/10 postproduction 1/10 i could go on and on... If you are over 12 years old, you will need a full pack of painkillers to overlook all the things that went wrong in this show - and even then - whats left? Opinions are diffrent, but if your first impression comes close to how i see this show, its going to get even worse... sad but true - and i expected a great show...i think the power-rangers had better plots - remember those?… Expand
  15. SwarleyStinson
    May 30, 2012
    5
    PKJ has a good premise and could have been a good show. Generally a show that has super people should be about the super people, like Heroes, or show both the Feds and the super people like The 4400. Showing just the Feds side of things can be good like in Alphas but in PKJ it just doesn't work because the writing is so bad. Its not terrible but the plots are just too bland.
  16. xolve
    Aug 13, 2015
    4
    Sexy girl changes hair colour, makes all the wrong decisions, and is somehow rewarded for it despite the entire scenario being her fault. Awesome.

    The funniest thing about this is that they ended it on a cliffhanger because they actually thought they could make a second season.
  17. Kai82
    Feb 18, 2020
    8
    I actually only stumbled over this series. Painkiller Jane is unknown and I have yet to find anyone that has heard of it. I know only from Wikipedia that it is based on a comic book series of the same name. So I can not rate if this is a good adaptation or not. In both the main character Jane Vasco develops a superhuman ability (Wont spoil why). She has a healing factor like Wolverine orI actually only stumbled over this series. Painkiller Jane is unknown and I have yet to find anyone that has heard of it. I know only from Wikipedia that it is based on a comic book series of the same name. So I can not rate if this is a good adaptation or not. In both the main character Jane Vasco develops a superhuman ability (Wont spoil why). She has a healing factor like Wolverine or Deadpool only faster but no other benefits. She has normal human strength and training as DEA agent but can use her regenerative abilities as asset. She got entangled by accident in the affairs of a government agency that hunts and neutralizes Neuros. No, not by killing them (Only if it is absolute unavoidable). Neuros are mutant humans that have various superhuman abilities but no other differences from normal humans. If you say it sounds like X-Men than you are not wrong. The difference is that the existence of mutants are not commonly know and you would be treated as conspiracy theorist if you mentioned something like that. There is the term masked world for this (I think the SCP Foundation hat made that term popular). If I have to describe it its more an X-Men in our world setting that is more realistically grounded. I should mention that you should never use the term realistic in a setting with superhuman abilities, fantasy, or superheroes but it is the best and easiest description for this setting. Many of the Neuros use their abilities for their gains or criminal reasons and have to be stopped but there are exceptions. The series deals with this moral problems in the way should you arrest Neuros that have done nothing or committed altruistic crimes for the benefits of others. It is like in real live “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolute” or for the opposite best described in Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility”. You always have both kind of persons. For the actors. You have Krisanna Loken as Jane Vasco. She is a good protagonist and delivers her role and the changes that came with an ability like that. Her team consists out of Rob Steward (Teamleader) as Andre McBride, Stephen Lobo (Scientist) as Dr. Seth Carpenter, Noah Danby (Muscles) as Connor King, Sean Owen Roberts (Nerd / IT specialist) as Riley Jensen and Nathanial Deveaux (Scout / Information gatherer?) as Joe Waterman. All have their own personality and character development. It would be interesting to see more in later seasons but unluckily there were none. So I would say there is a good amount in this area. Same goes for the main story. You got hints that there is more than meets the eye until you come to the final. Again there is a good set up for later seasons. I like the Neuros. You have the basic abilities like illusions, pyrokinetics, mind manipulation but also some more interesting concepts. One can jump back in time to the beginning of the day at will (Only the actual day). This makes him unstoppable because he always can restart and counter everything you did in a new try. It is like Edge of Tomorrow but predates it. The other is a stage magician. He believes his ability is magic and has a mental block that he can use it only with a magic wand. There is enough variety for me. Overall this was an enjoyable concept and series. Maybe it would have had more success today in the age of the Marvel cinematic universe.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

93
#93 Best TV Season of 2007
62
#62 Most Discussed TV Season of 2007
23
#23 Most Shared TV Season of 2007

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
28

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 10 out of 15
  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    0
    What’s most mind-boggling about this show is how it manages to get every single thing wrong.
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  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Clark Collis
    42
    This creaky, cliché-strewn, and pretty cheap-looking sub-X-Files enterprise needs to drastically improve if it wants to become as death-proof as its lead character. [13 Apr 2007, p.69]
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Richmond
    20
    "Painkiller Jane" has been reincarnated as a far lamer show than it was on first view more than a year ago.
    Read full review
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