I would like to suggest Life, season 1 episode 6, Powerless. Dani Reese is held hostage by a guy she arrests, the guy clearly thinks he has the upper hand because he has her gun and his emo Manpain justifies everything he's done. Reese calmly rips apart this facade when she reveals that her demons are darker and more dangerous than his and right before the cavalry bursts in to save her, she clocks him on the head with a bottle.
The second show I'd suggest is Fringe. This one started out slow but after the first half of the season really hits its stride in both story and character. There are so many episodes showcasing Olivia Dunham's awesome BAMF status I don't know where to start but... I think Bound, season 1 episode 11 would do. Previously, Olivia was captured by the group she was pursuing, Bound opens immediately after that with her FBI team scrambling to find her. Meanwhile Olivia wakes up and finds herself being wheeled in a crude laboratory and a masked man hovering over her, she gets a spinal tap out of this. As soon as the masked man leaves, Olivia begs for water from one of the lab assistants, the lab assistant hesitates but gives her one, even freeing one of her hands to drink... and then she proceeds to smash the water beaker into his faces, frees her other hand and proceeds to knock out the other two lab assistants and the guard. She leaves the facility in a run, snagging a car key as she does and then calls for back-up all before the opening credits.
But what makes Olivia fantastic is that they write her as they would and the cameras don't linger on her but the camera work treats her the same as anyone else in the show and no one (except for the requisite bureaucratic jerk) ever questions her right to lead a team. The team consists of a crazy mad genius (Walter), mad genius' genius conman son (Pacey Peter), and the tireless lab assistant Astrid.
Usually it's the Lead Female Character who plays genius wrangler but in this show its Peter and Astrid who does and usually it's the genius men who gets the hunches that breaks the case but most of the time Olivia is the one who's able to take all these pieces together and find a connection. It's refreshing after watching so many shows with the woman playing second fiddle to a Kooky Genius Man (I'm looking at you, The Mentalist).
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The second show I'd suggest is Fringe. This one started out slow but after the first half of the season really hits its stride in both story and character. There are so many episodes showcasing Olivia Dunham's awesome BAMF status I don't know where to start but... I think Bound, season 1 episode 11 would do. Previously, Olivia was captured by the group she was pursuing, Bound opens immediately after that with her FBI team scrambling to find her. Meanwhile Olivia wakes up and finds herself being wheeled in a crude laboratory and a masked man hovering over her, she gets a spinal tap out of this. As soon as the masked man leaves, Olivia begs for water from one of the lab assistants, the lab assistant hesitates but gives her one, even freeing one of her hands to drink... and then she proceeds to smash the water beaker into his faces, frees her other hand and proceeds to knock out the other two lab assistants and the guard. She leaves the facility in a run, snagging a car key as she does and then calls for back-up all before the opening credits.
But what makes Olivia fantastic is that they write her as they would and the cameras don't linger on her but the camera work treats her the same as anyone else in the show and no one (except for the requisite bureaucratic jerk) ever questions her right to lead a team. The team consists of a crazy mad genius (Walter), mad genius' genius conman son (
PaceyPeter), and the tireless lab assistant Astrid.Usually it's the Lead Female Character who plays genius wrangler but in this show its Peter and Astrid who does and usually it's the genius men who gets the hunches that breaks the case but most of the time Olivia is the one who's able to take all these pieces together and find a connection. It's refreshing after watching so many shows with the woman playing second fiddle to a Kooky Genius Man (I'm looking at you, The Mentalist).