Operations: "Why is she still alive?"
Madeline: "Apparently, we trained her too well."
Michael is married. Holy shit.
It was a good thing Michael's motives were explained almost immediately, because all I could think of at first was, how could he? How could anyone with anything resembling a conscience create a family that would be in such constant, terrible danger? Not to mention that his life expectancy is bleak and they're certain to lose him sooner rather than later. It's bad enough that Michael has to screw for Section, but marry? Geez Louise.
Discovering it was a mission still didn't explain Adam, though. Did Michael let it happen to secure his cover? (If so, fie on you, Michael!) Was he ordered to get Elena pregnant for that very reason? Did Elena get pregnant by accident, leaving him with no choice? Poor Elena. My first thought when I realized Michael was married was, that poor woman is toast. Is Elena the reason why Michael has kept Nikita at arm's length?
My favorite scene in this episode was the Nikita/Michael scene in the hallway, where she asked him in a mildly sarcastic tone of voice just what the hell his marriage was. We can actually see Michael deciding to trust Nikita with the truth about his son, and that was no small thing. Michael trusts Nikita. In a way, that's as strong an emotion as love.
Nikita did just fine here with both the emotional drama of finding out that the love of her life had a secret wife, and on her own in an exciting John Woo-like action scene in Shanghai as she foiled Operations and Madeline's attempt to take her out. It was also fun to see her use her feminine wiles (successfully, too) on the creepy and despicable Ferreira, and I absolutely loved the scene where Nikita, Michael, and Birkoff ambushed and blackmailed him.
So George, whom we finally met in this episode in the strange new triangle-shaped set, was very fond of Adrian. He told Operations and Madeline: "If I discover any harm has come to her... I will crush you both. Figuratively and literally." Oops. I sure liked seeing Operations and Madeline sweat. One thing puzzled me, though. Michael knows about Adrian, too. Why aren't they trying to bump him off as well? Is it his level five status? His undercover assignment with Elena? What am I missing?
Bits and pieces:
-- In the opening scene, I thought at first that one of the dying men was Michael.
-- Pollack, Deshy, and Pierce. Sounded like a law firm.
-- How old is Adam? Four? Five? Has Michael been married to Elena that long? Was he married to Simone at the same time?
-- What does Elena think that Michael does for a living? Has she noticed his bullet wounds? He must be away from home constantly; just think of the week he spent with Nikita in "Psychic Pilgrim."
-- Odd that the people in the Shanghai street scene didn't seem to notice the tall, blonde woman in black with the guns. I mean, I'd notice, and I live in Los Angeles.
-- Michael has an orange sports car and a motorcycle? If I had to pick a vehicle that matched Michael's personality, it would probably be a black Mercedes.
-- George has to be in Stockholm in an hour. Is this our first solid clue that Section One is in Europe?
-- Nikita wore black throughout. She's much more comfortable in Section now, even when they're trying to kill her.
-- In this season's hair report, we had a virtual plethera of new do's: Operations went white, Madeline went short and black, and Michael got a somewhat shorter, designer sort of thing. I think the changes made Operations and Madeline look older. I'm not sure I like Michael's all that much, either, but it's hard to make Roy Dupuis look bad.
-- Walter: "People die every day in this place. If they wanted you gone, you'd be gone." Not entirely true. According to Birkoff, "Deshy and Pierce didn't die by accident. Neither did Pollack. Neither will you."
-- Nikita: "Can they shut down Section?" Birkoff: "More like incinerate."
-- Cancelled scene: The DVD has the same George, Operations and Madeline scene, but with another actor playing George: Jan Rubes, who they decided just wasn't scary enough to play the character.
-- The DVD deleted scene for the season two finale showed Nikita following Michael home and seeing him with a wife and two small children. I saw it before I saw season three, and it completely freaked me out. How would I have felt if I'd had to wait an entire season hiatus to find out what happened?
Four out of four stars. Unfreakingbelievable.
Billie
2 comments:
This season opener is the beginning of a thoroughly engrossing four-part story arc, and delivers exceptional action sequences for Nikita, plus a jaw-dropping character revelation for Michael. In addition, Birkoff proves to be a staunch ally and very cool under pressure as he helps trap a slimy fellow operative and foil Operations and Madeline. The climax is especially skilful, culminating with the clever visual effect of a bulls-eye super-imposed over images of the characters to heighten audience suspense as to whose gambit has won, and who has been targeted for cancellation.
Spoilers follow...
In the frantic aftermath of a disastrous mission, Nikita realizes that all of the witnesses to the events of “End Game” are deliberately being set up to die, and she’s next. She urgently tries to contact Michael before she is sent out with Ferreira as team leader, but Madeline has ensured that Michael is out of reach.
Sure enough, Nikita is isolated and ambushed during the mission. Though Nikita gets the jump on the first hostile with a hidden gun, she is soon outnumbered, and has to perform some amazing stunts to survive: attacking from the ceiling of the elevator, diving down a cargo chute, crashing though a window, landing on the roof of car while avoiding bullets shot up at her through the roof, then somersaulting off the car and taking out the remaining hostiles. Madeline’s rueful comment (“Apparently we trained her too well”) actually made me laugh out loud! Though it is obviously Wilson’s stunt double doing much of the action, all is forgiven because of the sheer excitement and innovation of this fantastic sequence.
More convinced than ever that Operations wants her dead, Nikita recruits Birkoff to help her locate Michael. But when Nikita finally arrives on Michael’s doorstep, she is in for an even nastier surprise! My first reaction was the same as Nikita’s: “Is this for real?” But after the shock wore off, I actually applauded the writers. Because the scripts in past seasons had been sufficiently vague about Michael’s life outside Section, the plot twist of giving him a wife and child actually holds up when considered with previous episodes.
Once Michael is made aware of Nikita’s jeopardy, he devises a desperate plan to use the slimy Ferreira to blackmail Operations and Madeline. Then it becomes a race against time for Michael to arrive at Section in time to threaten Madeline and head off the air strike against Nikita. But when Madeline turns around and cooly counters Michael’s threat, I was sure it was all over for our heroes! What follows has to be the most nail-bitingly suspenseful scene of the season ;-)
Continuity Issues:
Thankfully, there are logical reasons given for keeping all three insurgents (Michael, Nikita, and Birkoff) alive. But it looks as if Operations and Madeline will simply bide their time and wait for another opportunity.
Regarding the hairstyle changes: Dupuis’ haircut actually made sense (an operative shouldn’t have to tie his hair in a ponytail on every mission), and, in my opinion, was a very attractive look. Of course, it didn’t last long, as he started to grow it out almost immediately. As for the others: according to the book “Inside Section One”, Alberta Watson was growing her hair back after chemotherapy, and was tired of wearing wigs, so she asked the producers to allow her character to have short hair for the third season. Glazer also got approval for the blond dye job, but he quickly regretted it, since it was a huge hassle to maintain. It definitely made him look older, as the colour looks more white than blond.
Michael is married. Holy shit. Holy shit is right!
OMG, talk about receiving the shock of my life when I saw this episode (avoided spoilers at the time)! Such a nasty surprise it was - I couldn't tell you who was more shocked, Nikita or I. I think it was me, to tell you the truth.
Love both your reviews. Nothing to add. Hats off to you!
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