Nikita 3x14 Thoughts
Jul. 26th, 2013 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThe Life We've Chosen
• "Alex left and we lost." - Nikita. Well, really it's more like Alex and Nikita were working at cross purposes and not together and so both lost. Ryan's “You guys really do make a great team” only highlights that. They are amazing as a team but that's not what they were on this mission and so it blew up for both of them. More than that now there are serious emotional and relationship repercussions.
I don't know that I'm buying that Alex really is free and clear. This is Amanda after all and she had Alex for days, a lot of which she spent drugged. I just don't know that I buy Alex's anger to this degree if it was just some dark words whispered in her ear by Amanda and Nikita staying on mission. That it would be this simple for her:
"You had my back. Nikita didn’t. ... She always has a mission. Her mission." ... yes, but that's what all their lives are. It's what they've always been. Alex may not have known everything Nikita did about the situation - which frankly should have made her trust Nikita more. Nikita clearly had a reason for wanting to keep Ari alive and Alex had to know that Amanda getting Ari wouldn't be good for any of them. But she still abandoned Nikita. I understand her promise to Larissa, her need to save her. But Alex's belief in and trust of Nikita has always been ironclad, even during their bumpiest times like learning Nikita killed her beloved father. Alex was never this angry with Nikita.
This was a complicated situation. They didn't know how long it would take for Amanda to get Ari's password and even if Nikita had used the kill chip how could they know for sure that they'd done it in time? The black box was a serious consideration. They probably could have done both - Ari, then Larissa. Also there is nothing to say Larissa was even still alive. I don't know. Larissa was definitely the innocent here. The type of person they are trying their best to protect. But there was more at stake with Ari than just his life. Both Nikita and Alex made promises.
Perhaps this is a conflict that needs to happen.
- Also there was that short moment at the hospital where Alex looks into an empty room with a chair and spaces out for a moment. Sean needed to call her name to get her back on mission. That seemed suspicious as well.
• This episode also really highlighted some issues the new Division has with the chain of command. Ryan is technically in charge but he and Nikita are supposed to be running it together and he kept a major part of a dangerous mission from her (which did put her life in danger). Nikita in turn basically just ignored anything Ryan or Michael had to say afterward. While Alex heading off on her own, even after Nikita told her she was necessary on the mission was bad Sean choosing to head off with Alex instead of backing up his team leader was a far bigger lapse. It'd be nice if there were some repercussions there but with Nikita vs Alex coming up I doubt it.
• Ryan's descent into Percy-ville is continuing. First, by putting the kill chip in Ari and keeping it from everyone except Owen (which could have cause serious trust issues with Nikita). Second, by not recognising the tension between Alex and Nikita at the end, or if he did recognise it choosing to ignore it instead of leaving. Third, by only seeing the positives of what happened - the black box back, Ari dead - and not the negatives - Ari dead, Larissa dead, anger between Nikita/Alex - and that is not a good sign in a boss. Worst of all, his chipper attitude seems to indicate that he didn't really learn any lesson from this mission and there were several he needed to.
• "Because one day what you want and what Nikita wants will come into conflict and I can’t wait to see Nikita’s face when it does." - Amanda. … except been there done that? Early season two? It does appear though that this conflict/break up is going in a different direction than the previous time so there's that. This time there seems to be some real animosity and anger happening.
• So with the Nikita/Alex division right now does that mean that Michael lying to Nikita/keeping the truth from her won't go anywhere? They fought for a minute and that's it?
• Aw, damn. I figured that Ari was likely to die. That's too bad; he was a fun character. It makes the fact that he didn’t speak with his son one last time even worse though.
• "Yeah, uh, Michael wants to talk to you." - Birkoff. LOL. Michael's expression was great. But Birkoff was against keeping Nikita in the dark so fair's fair.
• I loved that Birkoff was completely appalled by kill-chipping Ari and very much against keeping Nikita in the dark.
• How does Amanda keep getting minions? I mean every episode she’s in she loses most of her red-shirts of the episode, fairly often she kills them herself. You’d think at some point people would stop agreeing to work for her.
• Short hair is a good look for Amanda. Craziness, not as much. She's someone who relies on manipulation and using truth against people and the fact that she's basically turned her abilities against herself - by re-writing what happened with Ari in her mind and truly believing it - really does make it seem like the first step in her truly losing it.
• I loved that Larissa recognised Alex. She's famous! More people should.
• "Only Amanda could use love as a weapon." - Nikita. Now that's just silly - people use love as a weapon all the time. I liked Ari calling her on it.
• It was interesting to see Sean actually defend Nikita to Alex. I think this is part of the reason I've never warmed up to him as much as other re-occurring characters. He doesn't actually like Nikita that much and he doesn't trust or like her connection to Alex. And on the one hand, okay, he loves Alex and he doesn't think Nikita deserves Alex's devotion or returns it as much as Alex deserves so I can understand that. But on the other, I adore Nikita and Nikita/Alex and he is just wrong and needs to back off. I wonder if he's going to find himself not liking the new distance between Alex and Nikita.
• "Alex left and we lost." - Nikita. Well, really it's more like Alex and Nikita were working at cross purposes and not together and so both lost. Ryan's “You guys really do make a great team” only highlights that. They are amazing as a team but that's not what they were on this mission and so it blew up for both of them. More than that now there are serious emotional and relationship repercussions.
I don't know that I'm buying that Alex really is free and clear. This is Amanda after all and she had Alex for days, a lot of which she spent drugged. I just don't know that I buy Alex's anger to this degree if it was just some dark words whispered in her ear by Amanda and Nikita staying on mission. That it would be this simple for her:
"You had my back. Nikita didn’t. ... She always has a mission. Her mission." ... yes, but that's what all their lives are. It's what they've always been. Alex may not have known everything Nikita did about the situation - which frankly should have made her trust Nikita more. Nikita clearly had a reason for wanting to keep Ari alive and Alex had to know that Amanda getting Ari wouldn't be good for any of them. But she still abandoned Nikita. I understand her promise to Larissa, her need to save her. But Alex's belief in and trust of Nikita has always been ironclad, even during their bumpiest times like learning Nikita killed her beloved father. Alex was never this angry with Nikita.
This was a complicated situation. They didn't know how long it would take for Amanda to get Ari's password and even if Nikita had used the kill chip how could they know for sure that they'd done it in time? The black box was a serious consideration. They probably could have done both - Ari, then Larissa. Also there is nothing to say Larissa was even still alive. I don't know. Larissa was definitely the innocent here. The type of person they are trying their best to protect. But there was more at stake with Ari than just his life. Both Nikita and Alex made promises.
Perhaps this is a conflict that needs to happen.
- Also there was that short moment at the hospital where Alex looks into an empty room with a chair and spaces out for a moment. Sean needed to call her name to get her back on mission. That seemed suspicious as well.
• This episode also really highlighted some issues the new Division has with the chain of command. Ryan is technically in charge but he and Nikita are supposed to be running it together and he kept a major part of a dangerous mission from her (which did put her life in danger). Nikita in turn basically just ignored anything Ryan or Michael had to say afterward. While Alex heading off on her own, even after Nikita told her she was necessary on the mission was bad Sean choosing to head off with Alex instead of backing up his team leader was a far bigger lapse. It'd be nice if there were some repercussions there but with Nikita vs Alex coming up I doubt it.
• Ryan's descent into Percy-ville is continuing. First, by putting the kill chip in Ari and keeping it from everyone except Owen (which could have cause serious trust issues with Nikita). Second, by not recognising the tension between Alex and Nikita at the end, or if he did recognise it choosing to ignore it instead of leaving. Third, by only seeing the positives of what happened - the black box back, Ari dead - and not the negatives - Ari dead, Larissa dead, anger between Nikita/Alex - and that is not a good sign in a boss. Worst of all, his chipper attitude seems to indicate that he didn't really learn any lesson from this mission and there were several he needed to.
• "Because one day what you want and what Nikita wants will come into conflict and I can’t wait to see Nikita’s face when it does." - Amanda. … except been there done that? Early season two? It does appear though that this conflict/break up is going in a different direction than the previous time so there's that. This time there seems to be some real animosity and anger happening.
• So with the Nikita/Alex division right now does that mean that Michael lying to Nikita/keeping the truth from her won't go anywhere? They fought for a minute and that's it?
• Aw, damn. I figured that Ari was likely to die. That's too bad; he was a fun character. It makes the fact that he didn’t speak with his son one last time even worse though.
• "Yeah, uh, Michael wants to talk to you." - Birkoff. LOL. Michael's expression was great. But Birkoff was against keeping Nikita in the dark so fair's fair.
• I loved that Birkoff was completely appalled by kill-chipping Ari and very much against keeping Nikita in the dark.
• How does Amanda keep getting minions? I mean every episode she’s in she loses most of her red-shirts of the episode, fairly often she kills them herself. You’d think at some point people would stop agreeing to work for her.
• Short hair is a good look for Amanda. Craziness, not as much. She's someone who relies on manipulation and using truth against people and the fact that she's basically turned her abilities against herself - by re-writing what happened with Ari in her mind and truly believing it - really does make it seem like the first step in her truly losing it.
• I loved that Larissa recognised Alex. She's famous! More people should.
• "Only Amanda could use love as a weapon." - Nikita. Now that's just silly - people use love as a weapon all the time. I liked Ari calling her on it.
• It was interesting to see Sean actually defend Nikita to Alex. I think this is part of the reason I've never warmed up to him as much as other re-occurring characters. He doesn't actually like Nikita that much and he doesn't trust or like her connection to Alex. And on the one hand, okay, he loves Alex and he doesn't think Nikita deserves Alex's devotion or returns it as much as Alex deserves so I can understand that. But on the other, I adore Nikita and Nikita/Alex and he is just wrong and needs to back off. I wonder if he's going to find himself not liking the new distance between Alex and Nikita.
