Nikita 2x07 & 2x08 Reviews
Jan. 5th, 2012 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iaria2x07 ’Clawback’
• I loved the reveals at the end – Amanda faking Ryan’s death and her plan to use him to take out Oversight made me very happy.
• I adored that final Nikita/Michael confrontation. It was exactly what I wanted.
Michael: There is no ‘my’ anymore there’s only ‘ours’. As in we share the losses, we share the risks and most of all we share the decisions
Nikita: I was thinking about you.
Michael: No, you made the decision for me! Did you ever stop to think about how I would feel if I lost you?! You have no idea how much you mean to me Nikita. No idea. You ever pull a stunt like that again and we’re through.
• My reaction to Nikita drugging Michael was to roll my eyes. Of course she drugged him. See – control freak. Actually I kind of love this because it appears the show really is going somewhere with this and that this is an actual arc for Nikita. The last couple episodes have dealt a lot with Nikita and her issues with trust and control and she keeps being hammered with the knowledge that she does have to trust her partner and to let go of her need to control everything. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
• “She killed my papa. (teary) You know she... it was self-defense. She didn’t have a choice. She had her reasons to lie. Everyone lies.” – Alex. Oh, Alex. You know there has been so much attention given to Nikita lying to Alex and not agreeing with Alex’s desire for revenge being what’s keeping them separate and Alex seemed to move on and accepted Nikita’s role in her father’s death that I kind of... not forgot but ignored it as a motivator for Alex. I mean clearly his death (and her mother’s) are Alex’s motivation for going after Semak but as a continuing reason for her and Nikita’s distance? I can’t believe I didn’t consider it. Alex may accept logically that Nikita wasn’t to blame but emotions don’t always listen to the head. Nikita was the one who pulled the trigger. Alex’s list of excuses for what Nikita did were heartbreaking to listen to. She wants so much to forgive Nikita but I think now she might not quite be able too. Perhaps that is another reason for her working with Division – she isn’t ready yet to work with Nikita not only because of her betrayal (lying) but also because of she is her father’s killer.
• I really would have thought Amanda would have kept Yuri alive. She knows how loyal Alex can be and she saw how emotional Alex was over him. It makes more sense to me that she would keep him alive to show Alex how magnanimous she could be, it would keep Alex close (so she could get through to him) and it would give Amanda leverage with her. She tells a distressed Alex “It’s alright. You’re about to learn how Division takes care of its own” which I think was meant to be comforting but said after killing Yuri along with locking her down at Division came off more like a threat. And, hey, it’s Amanda so maybe it was meant to be both. Either way I think it was a misstep.
• Sean has turned out not to be the character I was expecting him to be. In fact he seems to be remarkably like Ryan. Principled, wanting to do the right thing and to help people. I can’t imagine what Madeline is thinking bringing him into Division. Does she truly want to turn it around and make it a ‘good’ agency?
• Sean being Madeline’s son does explain more about why Amanda has put up with his behaviour and this episode did make me like him more but I still want Amanda to knock him down a few pegs.
• I actually haven’t thought of this before but – what the hell does Roan think of Amanda taking over and locking Percy up? Is he simply loyal to Division and will follow whomever is in charge?
• Ryan was excellent this episode. I loved him figuring out the Oversight money scheme, his face off with Gains where he was completely un-intimidated by the knowledge that he was going to be killed (also cocky – ‘his only regret is that he won’t get to see Gains ass kicked’) and that even with his dying breath he tried to help Nikita. I found myself surprisingly sad when I thought the show had killed him off and delighted when he turned out not to be.
• Really – Gains was packing clothes even though he knew that someone was going to come to kill him? He deserved to die just for being so stupid. I could buy him staying to gather important documentation, though only barely, but clothes?
• I’m a bit sad that Cassandra left Belarus because I thought the show was setting her up to take over as president.
• Oversight is made up of (at the least): Ares (Edward Adams, deceased), Midis (Jonathan Gains, deceased), Gemini, Chronos, Atlas and Hades. I wonder which of those is Senator Madeline Pierce?
2x08 ‘London Calling’
• I did not see the break-up coming. Okay, it’s not a real break-up so much as a cooling off period while he decides on what path to choose but it still surprised me. I do really like that it wasn’t just Nikita once again making decisions for others but instead it was her saying the truth out loud before he’d even thought of it/accepted it. The fact that he gave in so easy makes it clear that he knew she was right.
• So with Michael off on his own I wonder if this means we might actually get some Alex/Nikita scenes or even them teaming up? I’ve been missing them.
• I wasn’t sure at first if I liked that Cassandra was MI6 because what are the chances? I mean did they even know they were going there with her when they first introduced her? I saw nothing to hint at it. But I’ve decided I do like it. It puts her on the same playing field as Michael/Nikita and I like that. I also just really like Cassandra and it definitely adds another layer to her being kind of awesome. Her relationship with Michael is interesting and I would love to see more of her interacting with Nikita. They seem to work well together. I actually really love how all four of them interact – Cassandra, Michael, Nikita and Max – and I’d love to see more of them.
• “She has a history of hiding the truth.” – Nikita. Um, pot meet kettle. Cassandra’s one big lie (that they know at this point) was made to protect her son whereas Nikita lies constantly. I actually think Nikita did fairly well with her jealous this episode but that was just... *shakes head*
• Percy remains very smart and devious. Was it Nikita who told Alex a couple episodes ago that the only way to beat Percy at his own game is to not play? Because that is really good advice and Alex should probably just stop talking to him altogether.
• Okay, so Sean isn’t as unwaveringly principled as he appears. Killing Gains to protect his mother was understandable. Seducing Alex to use her to get to Nikita and kill her is something else. I do like his loyalty to his mother.
• Nikita and Michael threatening Tupelov into backing off was a dumb plan and I can’t believe they thought it would work.
• I loved the reveals at the end – Amanda faking Ryan’s death and her plan to use him to take out Oversight made me very happy.
• I adored that final Nikita/Michael confrontation. It was exactly what I wanted.
Michael: There is no ‘my’ anymore there’s only ‘ours’. As in we share the losses, we share the risks and most of all we share the decisions
Nikita: I was thinking about you.
Michael: No, you made the decision for me! Did you ever stop to think about how I would feel if I lost you?! You have no idea how much you mean to me Nikita. No idea. You ever pull a stunt like that again and we’re through.
• My reaction to Nikita drugging Michael was to roll my eyes. Of course she drugged him. See – control freak. Actually I kind of love this because it appears the show really is going somewhere with this and that this is an actual arc for Nikita. The last couple episodes have dealt a lot with Nikita and her issues with trust and control and she keeps being hammered with the knowledge that she does have to trust her partner and to let go of her need to control everything. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
• “She killed my papa. (teary) You know she... it was self-defense. She didn’t have a choice. She had her reasons to lie. Everyone lies.” – Alex. Oh, Alex. You know there has been so much attention given to Nikita lying to Alex and not agreeing with Alex’s desire for revenge being what’s keeping them separate and Alex seemed to move on and accepted Nikita’s role in her father’s death that I kind of... not forgot but ignored it as a motivator for Alex. I mean clearly his death (and her mother’s) are Alex’s motivation for going after Semak but as a continuing reason for her and Nikita’s distance? I can’t believe I didn’t consider it. Alex may accept logically that Nikita wasn’t to blame but emotions don’t always listen to the head. Nikita was the one who pulled the trigger. Alex’s list of excuses for what Nikita did were heartbreaking to listen to. She wants so much to forgive Nikita but I think now she might not quite be able too. Perhaps that is another reason for her working with Division – she isn’t ready yet to work with Nikita not only because of her betrayal (lying) but also because of she is her father’s killer.
• I really would have thought Amanda would have kept Yuri alive. She knows how loyal Alex can be and she saw how emotional Alex was over him. It makes more sense to me that she would keep him alive to show Alex how magnanimous she could be, it would keep Alex close (so she could get through to him) and it would give Amanda leverage with her. She tells a distressed Alex “It’s alright. You’re about to learn how Division takes care of its own” which I think was meant to be comforting but said after killing Yuri along with locking her down at Division came off more like a threat. And, hey, it’s Amanda so maybe it was meant to be both. Either way I think it was a misstep.
• Sean has turned out not to be the character I was expecting him to be. In fact he seems to be remarkably like Ryan. Principled, wanting to do the right thing and to help people. I can’t imagine what Madeline is thinking bringing him into Division. Does she truly want to turn it around and make it a ‘good’ agency?
• Sean being Madeline’s son does explain more about why Amanda has put up with his behaviour and this episode did make me like him more but I still want Amanda to knock him down a few pegs.
• I actually haven’t thought of this before but – what the hell does Roan think of Amanda taking over and locking Percy up? Is he simply loyal to Division and will follow whomever is in charge?
• Ryan was excellent this episode. I loved him figuring out the Oversight money scheme, his face off with Gains where he was completely un-intimidated by the knowledge that he was going to be killed (also cocky – ‘his only regret is that he won’t get to see Gains ass kicked’) and that even with his dying breath he tried to help Nikita. I found myself surprisingly sad when I thought the show had killed him off and delighted when he turned out not to be.
• Really – Gains was packing clothes even though he knew that someone was going to come to kill him? He deserved to die just for being so stupid. I could buy him staying to gather important documentation, though only barely, but clothes?
• I’m a bit sad that Cassandra left Belarus because I thought the show was setting her up to take over as president.
• Oversight is made up of (at the least): Ares (Edward Adams, deceased), Midis (Jonathan Gains, deceased), Gemini, Chronos, Atlas and Hades. I wonder which of those is Senator Madeline Pierce?
2x08 ‘London Calling’
• I did not see the break-up coming. Okay, it’s not a real break-up so much as a cooling off period while he decides on what path to choose but it still surprised me. I do really like that it wasn’t just Nikita once again making decisions for others but instead it was her saying the truth out loud before he’d even thought of it/accepted it. The fact that he gave in so easy makes it clear that he knew she was right.
• So with Michael off on his own I wonder if this means we might actually get some Alex/Nikita scenes or even them teaming up? I’ve been missing them.
• I wasn’t sure at first if I liked that Cassandra was MI6 because what are the chances? I mean did they even know they were going there with her when they first introduced her? I saw nothing to hint at it. But I’ve decided I do like it. It puts her on the same playing field as Michael/Nikita and I like that. I also just really like Cassandra and it definitely adds another layer to her being kind of awesome. Her relationship with Michael is interesting and I would love to see more of her interacting with Nikita. They seem to work well together. I actually really love how all four of them interact – Cassandra, Michael, Nikita and Max – and I’d love to see more of them.
• “She has a history of hiding the truth.” – Nikita. Um, pot meet kettle. Cassandra’s one big lie (that they know at this point) was made to protect her son whereas Nikita lies constantly. I actually think Nikita did fairly well with her jealous this episode but that was just... *shakes head*
• Percy remains very smart and devious. Was it Nikita who told Alex a couple episodes ago that the only way to beat Percy at his own game is to not play? Because that is really good advice and Alex should probably just stop talking to him altogether.
• Okay, so Sean isn’t as unwaveringly principled as he appears. Killing Gains to protect his mother was understandable. Seducing Alex to use her to get to Nikita and kill her is something else. I do like his loyalty to his mother.
• Nikita and Michael threatening Tupelov into backing off was a dumb plan and I can’t believe they thought it would work.
