diff --git a/builtin/bisect--helper.c b/builtin/bisect--helper.c
index 1914aa7c69f..7232d650905 100644
--- a/builtin/bisect--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/bisect--helper.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ static const char *bisect_usage =
 	N_("git bisect [help|start|bad|good|new|old|terms|skip|next|reset|"
 	   "visualize|view|replay|log|run]");
 
-static const char * const bisect_long_usage[] = {
+static const char *bisect_long_usage =
 	N_("git bisect [help|start|bad|good|new|old|terms|skip|next|reset|"
 	   "visualize|view|replay|log|run]\n"
 	   "\n"
@@ -58,9 +58,7 @@ static const char * const bisect_long_usage[] = {
 	   "git bisect run <cmd>...\n"
 	   "\tuse <cmd>... to automatically bisect.\n"
 	   "\n"
-	   "Please use \"git help bisect\" to get the full man page."),
-	NULL
-};
+	   "Please use \"git help bisect\" to get the full man page.");
 
 struct add_bisect_ref_data {
 	struct rev_info *revs;
@@ -1305,110 +1303,67 @@ static int bisect_run(struct bisect_terms *terms, const char **argv, int argc)
 
 int cmd_bisect__helper(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
-	enum {
-		BISECT_START = 1,
-		BISECT_STATE,
-		BISECT_TERMS,
-		BISECT_SKIP,
-		BISECT_NEXT,
-		BISECT_RESET,
-		BISECT_VISUALIZE,
-		BISECT_REPLAY,
-		BISECT_LOG,
-		BISECT_RUN,
-	} cmdmode = 0;
 	int res = 0;
-	struct option options[] = {
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-start", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("start the bisect session"), BISECT_START),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-state", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("mark the state of ref (or refs)"), BISECT_STATE),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-terms", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("print out the bisect terms"), BISECT_TERMS),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-skip", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("skip some commits for checkout"), BISECT_SKIP),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-next", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("find the next bisection commit"), BISECT_NEXT),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-reset", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("reset the bisection state"), BISECT_RESET),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-visualize", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("visualize the bisection"), BISECT_VISUALIZE),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-replay", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("replay the bisection process from the given file"), BISECT_REPLAY),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-log", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("list the bisection steps so far"), BISECT_LOG),
-		OPT_CMDMODE(0, "bisect-run", &cmdmode,
-			 N_("use <cmd>... to automatically bisect"), BISECT_RUN),
-		OPT_END()
-	};
 	struct bisect_terms terms = { .term_good = NULL, .term_bad = NULL };
+	const char *command = argc > 1 ? argv[1] : "help";
+
+	if (!strcmp("-h", command) || !strcmp("help", command))
+		usage(bisect_long_usage);
 
-	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options,
-			     bisect_long_usage,
-			     PARSE_OPT_KEEP_DASHDASH | PARSE_OPT_KEEP_UNKNOWN);
+	argc -= 2;
+	argv += 2;
 
-	switch (cmdmode ? cmdmode : BISECT_STATE) {
-	case BISECT_START:
+	if (!strcmp("start", command)) {
 		set_terms(&terms, "bad", "good");
 		res = bisect_start(&terms, argv, argc);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_TERMS:
+	} else if (!strcmp("terms", command)) {
 		if (argc > 1)
-			die(_("--bisect-terms requires 0 or 1 argument"));
+			die(_("'terms' requires 0 or 1 argument"));
 		res = bisect_terms(&terms, argc == 1 ? argv[0] : NULL);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_SKIP:
+	} else if (!strcmp("skip", command)) {
 		set_terms(&terms, "bad", "good");
 		get_terms(&terms);
 		res = bisect_skip(&terms, argv, argc);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_NEXT:
+	} else if (!strcmp("next", command)) {
 		if (argc)
-			die(_("--bisect-next requires 0 arguments"));
+			die(_("'next' requires 0 arguments"));
 		get_terms(&terms);
 		res = bisect_next(&terms, prefix);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_RESET:
+	} else if (!strcmp("reset", command)) {
 		if (argc > 1)
-			die(_("--bisect-reset requires either no argument or a commit"));
+			die(_("'reset' requires either no argument or a commit"));
 		res = bisect_reset(argc ? argv[0] : NULL);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_VISUALIZE:
+	} else if (one_of(command, "visualize", "view", NULL)) {
 		get_terms(&terms);
 		res = bisect_visualize(&terms, argv, argc);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_REPLAY:
+	} else if (!strcmp("replay", command)) {
 		if (argc != 1)
 			die(_("no logfile given"));
 		set_terms(&terms, "bad", "good");
 		res = bisect_replay(&terms, argv[0]);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_LOG:
+	} else if (!strcmp("log", command)) {
 		if (argc)
-			die(_("--bisect-log requires 0 arguments"));
+			die(_("'log' requires 0 arguments"));
 		res = bisect_log();
-		break;
-	case BISECT_RUN:
+	} else if (!strcmp("run", command)) {
 		if (!argc)
 			die(_("bisect run failed: no command provided."));
 		get_terms(&terms);
 		res = bisect_run(&terms, argv, argc);
-		break;
-	case BISECT_STATE:
-		if (argc &&
-		    !file_is_not_empty(git_path_bisect_start()) &&
-		    !one_of(argv[0], "bad", "good", "new", "old", NULL))
+	} else {
+		if (!file_is_not_empty(git_path_bisect_start()) &&
+		    !one_of(command, "bad", "good", "new", "old", NULL))
 			usage(bisect_usage);
 		set_terms(&terms, "bad", "good");
 		get_terms(&terms);
-		if (!cmdmode &&
-		    (!argc || check_and_set_terms(&terms, argv[0])))
+		if (check_and_set_terms(&terms, command))
 			usage(bisect_usage);
+		/* shift the `command` back in */
+		argc++;
+		argv--;
 		res = bisect_state(&terms, argv, argc);
-		break;
-	default:
-		BUG("unknown subcommand %d", cmdmode);
 	}
+
 	free_terms(&terms);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/git-bisect.sh b/git-bisect.sh
index fbf56649d7d..028d39cd9ce 100755
--- a/git-bisect.sh
+++ b/git-bisect.sh
@@ -34,51 +34,4 @@ Please use "git help bisect" to get the full man page.'
 OPTIONS_SPEC=
 . git-sh-setup
 
-TERM_BAD=bad
-TERM_GOOD=good
-
-get_terms () {
-	if test -s "$GIT_DIR/BISECT_TERMS"
-	then
-		{
-		read TERM_BAD
-		read TERM_GOOD
-		} <"$GIT_DIR/BISECT_TERMS"
-	fi
-}
-
-case "$#" in
-0)
-	usage ;;
-*)
-	cmd="$1"
-	get_terms
-	shift
-	case "$cmd" in
-	help)
-		git bisect -h ;;
-	start)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-start "$@" ;;
-	bad|good|new|old|"$TERM_BAD"|"$TERM_GOOD")
-		git bisect--helper "$cmd" "$@" ;;
-	skip)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-skip "$@" || exit;;
-	next)
-		# Not sure we want "next" at the UI level anymore.
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-next "$@" || exit ;;
-	visualize|view)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-visualize "$@" || exit;;
-	reset)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-reset "$@" ;;
-	replay)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-replay "$@" || exit;;
-	log)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-log || exit ;;
-	run)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-run "$@" || exit;;
-	terms)
-		git bisect--helper --bisect-terms "$@" || exit;;
-	*)
-		usage ;;
-	esac
-esac
+exec git bisect--helper "$@"
