Nikita – Lessons from a terrorist in a wheelchair

I didn’t necessarily learn anything about the content of tonight’s Nikita, but “Knightfall” sure provided me a sample case to think about the expectations and tells of television. In one hour we had everything from legitimate surprises to obvious stylistic conventions. Here’s just some of the food for thought I noticed.

• Surprise: Villain of the Week Ramon turns out to be wheelchair-bound, since Percy crippled him. I did not see that coming. Unlike Nikita, I actually felt sorry for the guy. Hope he’s in a better place now.
• Not a surprise: Was there anyone who didn’t think Alex would go through with shooting Anton? I’m just interested in seeing how much (read: a lot) fallout there’s going to be when Amanda and Sean find out about it.
• Useless fact: Dillon Casey (who plays Sean) still reminds me of Jeremy Sisto.
• Not a surprise: Michael’s cover as a CNN producer is quickly blown by a reporter who turns out to be a Division agent. Even if she wasn’t a Division agent, his body language and the size of his biceps would have been huge tells for me. That said, Shane West was adorable.
• More flashbacks: This show loves its flashbacks. At this point, whenever a character says that something happened however many years ago, I pretty much just expect there to be a flashback. Though I appreciate the information, it’s a tool that’s getting a bit overused.
• Not a surprise (in a good way): Amanda putting the squeeze on Nikita by using her emotional attachment to Michael. It might be cute to see Michael and Nikita as a couple, but that’s also their biggest weakness — and as ruthless as Amanda is supposed to be, she’d be slacking if she didn’t exploit that. The same goes for Alex’s desire to avenge her father’s death. It’s an obvious flaw ripe to be used. Kudos to the writers for showing real consequences, even if it means bursting the fans’ fairy-tale bubble.
• Career advice: If Nikita ever gets cancelled, Shane West would be awesome in a reboot of MacGyver. Never mind that The CW (back when it was The WB) already tried one with Jared Padalecki.
• Great acting of the week: Maggie Q knocks it out of the park in Nikita’s last scene with Ramon. He pushes every last one of her buttons and makes her question her crusade against Division. We see cracks forming in her “holier-than-them” convictions, and Maggie communicated Nikita’s frustration and distress perfectly without lapsing into melodrama.
• Totally not a surprise: Nikita may have thought that Michael blew up, but of course he was just slightly singed. Nikita kind of needs its male lead to stick around.

Next week, Nikita meets up with her former Division partner (played by Katheryn Winnick, best known as Booth’s ex Hannah on Bones). I sense more flashbacks. And hopefully more Xander Berkeley.

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on Oct 08, 2011 @ 10:15 EST5EDT