Painkiller Jane: The Complete Series (2007) (TV series review)
The ‘Painkiller Jane’ TV series was shown in 2007 and this DVD set released in 2012. Not sure how I missed it. Based off a comicbook series created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada, it essentially follows the exploits of a small unit who hunts down neurological aberrants, abbreviated down to neuros, people who have dangerous psionic talents. They put a bolt in their necks to neutralise their powers and have them locked up.
DEA agent Jane Vasco (actress Kristanna Loken) assists the team on an investigation and when she survives a 40 feet drop out of a window, she and her partner, Maureen Bowers (actress Alaina Huffman) are recruited to the team. Its leader is Andre McBride (actor Rob Stewart), muscle Connor King (actor Noah Danby), computer geek Riley Jensen (actor Sean Owen Roberts) and medic Seth Carpenter (actor Stephen Lobo). With such a big team, it’s hard to service them all, so expect changes over the 22 episodes.
The name ‘Painkiller Jane’ is a bit of a misnomer as she is never called that and it does hurt whenever she is damaged, which is in every episode. It also gives one hell of an edge in a team when she can survive attacks. Jane is also finding her IQ is going up as her brain cells rearrange themselves with healing. This isn’t really explored very much other than reading books and puzzle-solving.
The series quickly became formulaic, although latter episodes did address where the neuros might have come from and Jane an experiment herself. When the team went to a facility looking after the neuros abroad and finding abuse, that wasn’t really addressed as the season ended. The last four episodes were filmed in Hungary as they investigated the holding prison where they are having problems.
With the way it was left, there were obvious thoughts towards a second series but this is all you get. It is obviously very violence and there were some successful attempts to shake up the formula and allowing the cast to stretch themselves. I haven’t seen the comicbook series to see how it compares to it but considering co-creator Jimmy Palmiotti was involved in the production probably ensured this Canadian-made series stayed on track while it lasted.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2012. 6 DVDs 983 minutes. 22 * 43 minute episodes. Price: varies. ASIN: ABD1051)
cast: Kristanna Loken, Rob Stewart, Noah Danby, Stephen Lobo, Sean Owen Roberts and Alaina Huffman
