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La Femme Nikita: Love, Honor & Cherish

"Welcome aboard the good ship Volker. I'm sure you'll find it interesting."

Holy Nikita plot twist, Batman! I started wondering about Helmut when he said he wanted "Anna" off drugs; I thought, oh no, please don't tell me he has redeeming qualities. But I absolutely did not see that Interpol thing coming.

Born into extreme wealth, treated as if he were worthless by his father, Helmut could have easily chosen to be exactly what he was pretending to be. It took serious strength of character to make the choices that he made. In fact, with his compassion for innocent people and determination to do the right thing even against orders from Interpol, Helmut is actually a lot like Nikita. He would certainly be (dare I say it?) easier for Nikita to love than the controlling, ruthless, and emotionally distant Michael.

I knew right away that Nikita would defy orders and save Helmut's life, but the way she brutally killed the other Section agents surprised me. Has a bit of robot girl rubbed off after all? Speaking of which, why didn't Nikita let Michael kiss her when they were alone? Did she just feel uncomfortable about the whole situation? Was she starting to feel attracted and/or committed to Helmut? I wonder.


I also wonder if Helmut will return before the end of the series. He's still alive and out there, and he and Nikita are still married, after all. Or are they? Is it legal if you marry under an assumed name?

Bits and pieces:

— I thought Maxwell Caulfield did a marvelous job. It had to be difficult playing a character who was essentially written to come between the spy world's Romeo and Juliet.

— When Helmut revealed his agent status to Nikita, Operations looked like he was about to implode.

— Section has an operative in Interpol? Spies spying on spies who are supposedly on the same side?

— The Devos were back, briefly. Davenport was back, too. He's turning into a continuing character.

Quotes:

Michael (to Operations): "Perhaps it's your numbers that should concern you."
The Operations/Michael scenes are always hostile now. Michael is no longer obedient and respectful, and refuses to engage. I love Michael like this.

Nikita: "We live with ourselves. We die with ourselves, and the choices that we make."

Michael: "Good men are hard to find."
Nikita: "Yes, they are."
Was that meant to be a negative shot at Michael?

Another terrific plot arc. Three out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

12 comments:

  1. i love that i can write comments. why wasn't i able to do this years ago????
    anyways, this arc is my favorite. I came to like helmut and nikita in this one. michael was kind of on the sidelines.

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  2. This sequel to “Man In The Middle” is more of a character drama, as the episode provides only a very simple plot and ends with an unimaginative action sequence. The only positive aspect of this script is that the guest star’s character is given more depth, but then the writing takes a sharp turn off a cliff as Helmut is revealed to be a far better person than our heroine. We can thank writer Hertzog for this character assassination of Nikita, and also Wilson for her ongoing disinterested portrayal of her role.

    Spoilers follow...

    While the plot twist of Helmut’s true allegiance has several logic flaws, at least the audience can feel some sympathy for the suffering he endures to protect his family. Unfortunately, the story is rather poorly realized. For instance, the pivotal betrayal by Helmut’s brother is revealed only in exposition, undermining its effect, as the audience has only witnessed a brief scene showing the interaction between the two siblings before Kristof is dispatched off screen. Guest star Caulfield has to work quite hard to overcome the shortcomings of the script, but he does manage to convince the audience of the emotional impact of both Helmut’s loss and his moral dilemma. By the end of the episode, the viewer really cares what happens to Helmut as he tries to remain true to his morals in a world where the end justifies the means.

    Not so for Nikita. The viewer progresses from disgust at her continued rejection of Michael, to utter horrified shock when Nikita casually dispatches her wounded fellow Section operatives in the final action sequence. No character has killed with such nonchalance since the psychopathic villain in “Threshold of Pain”. Even Michael, who is focussed and expressionless on missions, has never shown such complete disregard for the lives he takes. Wilson chose not even to hesitate before callously murdering her fallen comrades, which makes no sense at all since Nikita has always shown regret when she has had to kill someone. In addition, the only reason to kill the other operatives is to conceal her involvement in Helmut’s escape, and Nikita has never valued her life so selfishly before (“Mercy”, “Friend”, “Rescue”, “Adrian’s Garden”, etc.). It would have actually made more sense, character-wise, to have Michael decide to kill those operatives in order to protect Nikita from cancellation. Between Hertzog's writing and Wilson's acting choices, the character of Nikita completely alienates the audience in this episode.

    Logic Flaws:
    Really, Interpol thought it would be a good idea for a deep cover agent to marry the first heroin dealer that comes along? Why, because heroin dealers are intrinsically trustworthy, and can be counted on to keep state secrets and care about the welfare of others? This makes absolutely no sense.

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  3. Billie, i beg to differ on this phrase:' He(Helmut) would certainly be (dare I say it?) easier for Nikita to love than the controlling, ruthless, and emotionally distant Michael.

    Nothing and noone compares to Michael, Helmut may be a nice guy and all but he lacks chemistry, he is not the challenge and mystery that Micheal is.

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  4. Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Billie, i beg to differ on this phrase:' He(Helmut) would certainly be (dare I say it?) easier for Nikita to love than the controlling, ruthless, and emotionally distant Michael.
    ---------------------------------------
    Nothing and noone compares to Michael, Helmut may be a nice guy and all but he lacks chemistry, he is not the challenge and mystery that Micheal is.

    ------------------------------------

    I totally agree with you. It's such a struggle to me when someone else is near Nikita and Nikita even wants to have a relationship with him because she can't have Michael. I had a few favourite couples who didn't end up together but did end up with someone else. I really don't like triangles or squares and these types of relationships. The worst thing about that is that I'm almost always interested in couples which have the other people involved in the relationship, not only two people so it hurts to see Nikita with anyone else. The same thing happens when some woman is with Michael too BUT... it's still different because I don't know but it was almost always clear that no matter what Michael would always prefer Nikita over any woman (I don't count Simone because he was involved only in one episode).

    Nikita you can't help who you love even if he's a bad guy and doesn't show much emotion. If you want to be with someone else you have to talk to Michael about your relationship take some time to think about your feelings for him and then try to get over these feelings but you can be sure it may not work out :))

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  5. Actually, I disagree with the assessment of Nikita's character. As she kills her comrades lying on the floor, yes she had no remorse. Before the gelman process she wouldn't have killed anyone, but I was never convinced that she was completely back to her old self at the time of that episode. By the time Birkoff was killed, that was when I truly believed that she was her old self again. Michael used love to try to turn her back, and not any of the other emotions that Adrian had mentioned. There were previous episodes that Michael explained to Nikita that he lives his life split in two. You have to be ruthless in section, but in the episode Into the Looking Glass, it's the first time that, in my opinion Michael showed his emotions towards Nikita by telling her that he couldn't live without her, and her reaction. Not to mention the lengths that he went to try to bring her back to the way that she used to be. I saw more of his emotions alot more in season 4, and in season 3 after the mission with Elena and his son was over.

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  6. By the way, one last point. I believe that when Michael says, "Good men are hard to find," and Nikita agrees. I don't believe that it was a shot at Michael. She thanked him first for not shooting Helmut. I believe that she was insinuating that he is also a good man. Before season 4 and after he rescues Nikita in season 3, Michael would blindly follow orders, at any cost. But I believed that changed after the mission with Elena and his son, and after Operations and Madeline used the gelman process to turn Nikita into a robot without feelings. I also believe that Nikita softened him to some degree. He wasn't so eager to follow orders blindly as he so often did.

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  7. The fact that bothers me the most is that how can you get over someone that you've been through with hell and back! They both cared about each other all their life and considering the fact how Michael risked so much to bring her back to her senses gets a backseat over someone she felt was more noble and compassionate than someone who stood by her in her time of need and even saving her life from Section 1 from time to time! How could she sideline him and make him feel like he's not good enough?

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  8. This series never explored the Pygmalion relationship between Michael and Nikita. He did train her in everything including manners and poise just as Professor Higgins in that and My Fair Lady. They even give Michael the cover name of Freddie in this sequence, but as they also didn't explore in the last story arch with Jurgen the writers just seem to set Michael aside to play with Nikita. Very irritating.

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  9. Worthless writer is back..hate this story arc as much as I hated the Jurgen one back in season 2...ugh

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  10. While I found Section's efforts to separate Nikita and Michael and the whole endless crusade against happy relationships ridiculous, I grew to like this arc.
    I like how Helmut turned to be much more than he seemed, and how his brother, on the contrary, was much less under his good son mask.
    I like how he fulfilled Nikita's dream to disobey the cruel "greater good", and she helped him. And how Michael kinda sided with them as well. Would have been funny if Helmut had turned around and saw "Freddie".
    In the end I liked Helmut himself, and I kinda agree with Billie. You can get tired of "mystery and challenge" - even if you know there's a good guy (if you compare with the majority of Section) under the cold armor. But on the other hand Michael and Nikita complement each other more, and they learn from each other. It's hard to say, their relationship was shaped a lot by Section life and what they've been through together. And if it wasn't for that, well, Michael could have also been more open and compassionate, so who knows :)
    I also liked that dialogue about how you have to see and support goodness in yourself, and not to rely on other people.
    Not sure why Nikita acting a bit distant surprised many people. After intensive brainwash including drugs, hypnosis and who knows what other experimental technology - how could we even expect all that to be gone in a day without a trace? I'm curios about this new "hardened" version, though I really hope that's not her new normal. Killing other operatives without a flinch was so out of character, even after years in Section.
    I wonder how she explained all that? Walter confirmed the bullet that hit Nikita wasn't Section issued. What about the bullets in dead operatives, did she use the gun Helmut gave her?

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  11. Honestly surprised no one mentioned the best quote/discussion of the entire episode.

    YEAH, BUT ISN'T GOODNESS IN
    THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER?

    AND WHO, BESIDES YOU,

    COULD BEGIN TO
    BEHOLD SUCH A THING?

    YOU.

    THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE, HELMUT.

    THAT'S THE BEST ANY
    OF US CAN EVER GET.

    WE LIVE WITH OURSELVES.

    AND WE DIE WITH OURSELVES
    AND THE CHOICES THAT WE MAKE.

    WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK...

    SO WHAT, WE LIVE
    IN ISOLATION, ALONE?

    WITHOUT CONTACT, WITHOUT LOVE?

    COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?

    I HAVE.

    ALWAYS?

    I DON'T KNOW.

    I THINK IF YOU LIVE WITHOUT
    SOMETHING LONG ENOUGH,

    YOU MAY NOT RECOGNIZE
    IT IF IT HAPPENS TO FIND YOU.


    ___________________________
    Among one of my favorite episodes for sure!
    LFN forever~!

    ReplyDelete

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