Nikita 1x19 Review

[iaria]

Girls Best Friend

I really enjoyed this episode. I loved getting back to Nikita and Alex working a mission together.

- “Once you’re free you’re going to have to be alone for awhile. I know you’ll be smart and I know you’ll be careful but... please be strong. For yourself. God, knows you’ve been for me.” ♥ I adore the Nikita/Alex relationship. I loved the moment when they met on mission and Nikita says goodbye with a tight hug and teary-eyes.

- While I love Michael and Nikita finally getting together and I’ve been really enjoying their interactions I’ve also been a little worried/uncertain about the fact that they got together so early in the show. I mean it’s only the first season and already they’re on the same side, sleeping together and working together and Nikita has said ‘I love you’! If this show lasts for several seasons how are they going to keep that relationship going without breaking them up and putting them back together over and over? I’m rather skeptical that they’ll just keep them together for the whole series. It really feels like the whole enemies-with-feelings and reluctant occasional allies/enemies relationship they had for most of the season is something that could have been extended to last much longer (LFN certainly managed it).

- One thing that was really interesting about their conversations in this episode was the exploration of how Division could be used for good. Michael and Nikita started the episode on opposite sides with Nikita hating everything about Division but by the end she has definitely softened on that stance. In large part because of the success in stopping the terrorist attack but also because of Alex’s decision. The show going in the direction of Nikita and Michael working together to take down Percy and his like but also to make Division great is something I can get behind.

- I loved Michael bringing up the option of Nikita running Division as if it was just as possible as Michael doing it. I love the idea that the show could end up with Nikita running Division with Michael and Alex as her right and left hand.

- I was pretty shocked by Nikita’s ‘I love you’. First, it was said so casually, as if it’s something she’s said often. And yet I can’t remember her ever saying it before. It’s certainly been the subtext of their relationship – their love for each other – but I don’t think it has ever been said out loud. It’s actually for that reason – the length of time it’s been true but unsaid – that I was really expecting for there to be a big deal about it finally being said. Also this is Nikita who closes herself off and their relationship is so new and it just felt weird to me.

- “I’m an agent all over again. Isn’t that some kind of fantasy of yours?” LOL. I love the way that Nikita and Michael work together and how exasperated he gets with her. His body language in that scene was excellent and amusing.

- In the beginning I was not happy at all about Shane West being cast as Michael. Even though it had been years since LFN I still found myself comparing him to Roy Dupuis – and he came off badly. However I’m going to have to eat crow because he has really come into his own in the role and I am now loving Michael.

- I am really happy that Jaden is finally being given some depth. I like that we’re getting some background, though sigh at it including yet more sexual assault, and more importantly that Alex got to hear about it. I liked that she got to be competent and professional and saved Alex’s life. So many of her scenes have involved her simply trying to get Alex that it feels like she’s moving into being her own person.

- I like Alex and Jaden's antagonistic relationship and while I'd love for them to become friends at the very least I want them to have a complicated and layered relationship. I don't want her to join team Nikita, yet, because I think Jaden remaining loyal to Division while she and Alex form a reluctant friendship and trust would be far more interesting. I enjoyed them working together and now that Jaden’s a full agent it would be excellent if they were made partners so we could keep getting them together. I loved Alex giving Jaden the scarf at the end.

- While Alex dying on mission was a good plan it wasn’t their only plan and yet Nikita was acting like it was Alex’s only chance to get out. Before the mission had ever came up they’d been planning a different type of accident. I don’t know why with that to fall back on Nikita was so focused on Alex ‘dying’ on that mission.

- “What would Nikita do?” Ha. I love that Alex did that to decide what to do. But at the same time I feel like she would have made that decision regardless.

- That last scene between our main three with Alex making her decision really had me thinking of Michael and Nikita as proud parents more than anything. The blocking of the scene had the two of them very much as a unit which was interesting. Actually the whole episode really felt like Nikita & Michael as Alex’s parents/guardians complete with arguing over what’s best for her.

- It was great to see Zoie Palmer even if she could have been mistaken for a robot. Did she change her expression at all throughout the episode? I loved her fight with Nikita. It was surprisingly vicious. I can’t remember the last fight that was so ‘knockdown-drag-out’ and I spent a lot of time wincing. I think at the end there Nikita would have needed far more ice than just for her elbow. I hope we get to see Anya Vimmer again. I would love if Nikita could get a female nemesis. That would be fun.

- The Alex nightmare at the beginning was interesting because I’ve wondered since his first episode if Nathan might be a Division agent sent to watch Alex. It’s completely something they would do (probably Amanda). I'm personally hoping for it because it's the only thing that makes him interesting to me. So could it be foreshadowing? Alex took the completely opposite view of it from me and decided it meant she should tell him the complete truth. Considering that the dream was about him betraying her when she did I don’t know how she came to that conclusion.