I don’t have anything negative to say about this week’s episode of Nikita, directed by Jeff Hunt and written by Albert Kim. Although it focused on Owen’s obsession with the second black box, it opened with Michael and Nikita’s physical relationship, investigated Owen’s withdrawal from the Guardian drug cocktail, and showed Alex’s lies unraveling themselves.
I continue to enjoy the show because it doesn’t pretend that its characters (or audience) are idiots. I’m glad that Amanda didn’t ignore Alex’s conversation with Jaden. Alex is seriously shady, and a good, clandestine manager for an evil operation should flag that. All the same, does Alex deserve cancellation? Division has too many ensign red shirts (or disposable black turtlenecks). Even when working for Nikita, Alex remains the most promising operative. If they continue to cull the herd for only the most loyal, they’ll end up with operatives who are easily beguiled, like Thom; can’t control their anger, like Jaden; or just blatantly walk into traps, like the extraction squad.
Yet, despite their cunning, I’m still disappointed by Alex, Nikita, and Michael’s naivete. I’m shocked Alex assumed Division didn’t keep backups and assumed that Amanda, who probably created the Nathan file, wouldn’t check her file or notice it missing. Deleting a hard drive != (does not equal) deleting a human memory. And, speaking of wide eyed and innocent, I didn’t like that Nikita shared so many secrets with Michael, even if he probably guessed i.e. letting him know about the scrambler. Also, Nikita’s nudging Michael to find guardian information or to help Alex, reminded me of how Nikita worked Alex as a mole. I didn’t like it, because although on Nikita’s side, Michael never volunteered, forcing Nikita to resort to emotional appeal. I mean seriously, does his idea of supporting her Percy take down just not go past the bedroom? Also, what happened to Michael’s poker face?
I continue to enjoy the Owen character and Devon Sawa’s interpretation. While I’m glad that Nikita’s relationship with Michael didn’t cancel out her friendship with Owen, should she really let a stone cold killer with barely a 90 days supply of illegal drugs to keep him sane? How will he find any of that information without resources? I loved Owen calling Michael “scrawny,” and I loved the delicious man meat sandwich of shirtless Michael and tattooed Owen. I feel the producers finally realized they had females in the audience. However, drugs or no, Owen did push Nikita into a moving car, and we know he’s a ticking timebomb. (And as a public service announcement, make sure you seek local help for withdrawing from drugs if you’re having issues with that. …)
However, a couple things didn’t make sense:
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Apr 15, 2011 @ 08:19 EST5EDT
Perhaps the laptop had a wireless card in it? That’s what I chose to take from it, anyway! (Of course, Owen making that assumption and being right…well, I’ll suspend my disbelief and just go with it!)
Otherwise, I agree with you mostly. It was a good episode. Not the best, not the worst. It moved the story along solidly.