Nikita 1x20 Review

[iaria]

Glass Houses

This episode left me feeling annoyed. I thought the guardian story was all right but the resolution was badly done and the Michael/Nikita stuff was all right but the Alex storyline really frustrated me. I think that as far as plot holes and my overall aggravation at the end of the episode this was actually the worst episode of the series thus far for me.

- I am really not happy about Jaden’s death. I think it was a complete waste and I don’t know why the show went there. If they just wanted Alex revealed they could have found some way of doing it without killing Jaden. I think there could have been so many more interesting stories about Jaden as Alex’s rival/enemy or even eventual frenemy while killing at this point in time doesn’t really add anything of interest to the story. It revealed the truth about Alex but that could have been have achieved anyway and it’s caused Alex some angst but not really a lot.

- I am particularly irritated that Jaden ended up being killed by Nathan saving Alex’s life. Ugh. That whole thing just really left me with this really strong ‘do not want’ feeling. If Jaden had to die it irritates me that civilian male Nathan was the one who did it and that he did it to save Alex’s life. Alex who is the spy. I think it would have been far more effective all around for it to have been Alex who killed Jaden. Alex knew her and Jaden would be the second person she knew personally that she would have killed. That would have caused a lot more pain and angst for her than having Nathan do it. It would also have had Nathan seeing who Alex is – a killer just as she told him – instead of him being the one doing the killing. I just really hated him being the one to kill Jaden.

- At the back of my mind I’ve always kind of thought Nathan was a Division agent and the reveal that he really isn’t threw me a little. I find him and his romance with Alex boring and that kind of reveal would have really improved things retroactively. Now that it’s confirmed he is just the guy next door I’m feeling let down. I found it a bit strange that he reached for a gun instead of trying to stop Jaden in a less lethal way like throwing something at her or hitting her with something.

- I’m confused about the end and the confrontation between Alex and Amanda. If Amanda overheard everything that happened in that apartment then she knows that Alex is working with Nikita – she called her – and yet Amanda not only didn’t mention Nikita once but the ending ‘shock’ moment of the episode was Amanda revealing that she knows Alex is Alexandra Uldonov. Um. What? Seriously where did that come from? No mention about Alex’s true past was mentioned in the apartment but Amanda apparently went from ‘working with Nikita’ to figuring out Alex’s true identity. It confuses me. I’m guessing that Division knowing Alex’s true identity as Alexandra is going to keep her alive till the finale.

- The resolution of the Nikita storyline didn’t make a lot of sense to me. How the hell is Michael supposed to explain the deaths of his team and the fact he survived as well as the disappearance of the Guardian and the loss of the black box? I can see no way for him to explain all that satisfactorily. I mean he could state that the guardian travelled with him, then shot his team because apparently she had gone native but that still doesn’t explain why she would let Michael live or why Michael didn’t immediately call in to tell Percy that his team was dead/the guardian was gone.

The episode ended with Michael and Nikita happy and in each others arms and while I love that scene for them I was also left aggravated and frustrated at their lack of focus. What the fuck are they going to tell Percy?! This is huge! I don’t understand why the show just swept it all under the rug. At the very best this whole thing has made Michael look incompetent and I think at the least it should make Amanda suspicious about him.

- “It has been a long time since anything as good as you has happened in my life.” Aww. I loved that. The Michael/Nikita stuff this episode was really great.

- I found myself a bit confused by the opening scene between Nikita and Alex and for a moment there I actually thought that I’d missed an episode. The last episode had Alex resolutely deciding to stay to fight Division instead of running and Nikita only reluctantly accepting it. Then suddenly Alex wants to stay in town to fight Division but to leave Division itself and Nikita is against Alex leaving. It made me go ‘wait, what’.

Alex is all attached to Nathan and in this episode she tells him that he needs to leave, and leave far, because she cares about him and Division would know about it. There’s this implication she wants to be with him and yet she says she wants to stay with Nikita to fight. So what exactly was her plan here? Was she just going to send Nathan off to a new life far away in order to protect him when she disappears from Division and joins Nikita?

Then there is Nikita who apparently has changed her mind about Alex being a spy because... working with Nikita as not a spy would be more dangerous? In what universe is that logical? Alex is in danger every second that she is in Division, they know that Amanda is suspicious of her, she still has the kill switch implanted in her and with every time she spies on Division she puts herself in even more danger.

Faking Alex’s death and then having her working and living with Nikita is in no way more dangerous. In fact just by removing the kill switch, which they would have to when she disappeared, she would automatically be a hundred times safer. Sure, Alex could be identified as Nikita’s accomplice at some point but what exactly is Division going to be doing about it? It wouldn’t really put her in that much more danger than just being an ‘unknown’ ally of Nikita’s would be. I mean Division wouldn’t know how to find her either and missions are dangerous regardless of whether Alex is known or not.