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La Femme Nikita: Simone

"It's too late, Michael. I'm already dead."

She should have stayed dead. Not completely terrible, but I had some problems with this one. Like:

1. How did Michael miss the fact that Simone was still alive three years ago? Wouldn't a man like Michael insist on seeing and/or recovering his wife's body? (On second thought, maybe Section lied to him about it.)

2. Wouldn't the bad guys have found out J.B. was a guy, even from the most cursory type of background search?

3. Nikita looked nothing, and I mean nothing, like a computer geek. Siobhan the girl geek was much more convincing. Yes, it wouldn't have worked with Michael, but why didn't they send Birkoff on this assignment? Wouldn't he have been perfect for it? Of course, he's not the star of the show.


What was fun here was that Roy Dupuis got to chew the scenery: disrupting the initial briefing, losing it with the real J.B., crying with Simone, and so on. And while Michael was busy losing it, Nikita got to be all professional undercover agent, so fun role reversal time. But this is the sort of episode that probably would have worked better later on in the series, when we would have realized how out of character it was for Michael to lose control like this.

Near the end, Walter told Nikita that Michael shut himself off when Simone "died" three years ago. "He didn't talk to anyone until you came along, sugar." Meaning that Nikita is indeed special to Michael. And that Michael is capable of emotion. He really did love someone once, strange as it may seem.

My favorite Michael moment was the final scene, where he thanked Nikita and she asked him out for coffee. He said, "If it weren't for the Section, none of us would have a life. What right do I have to feel cheated?" And she replied, "You have a right to feel any way you want." Very in character comments for both of them.

Bits and pieces:

— Nikita was a lot more relaxed with Walter than in the previous episode, and comfortable with his flirtatious manner.

— Carla noticed the "Josephine" phone calls.

— There was reference to a "cold mission," which appears to be gathering intel.


— Why was Nikita making a plastic fish out of wires? Is creating abstract sculpture her hobby? Doesn't she read or watch television? :)

— Simone's facial injuries looked like bad make-up.

— Roy Dupuis had a big bruise under one of his fingernails. It stood out, you should pardon the expression, like a sore thumb.


— Glass Curtain, with Sparks and girl geek Siobhan and the classical music, were actually very interesting villains. (Note from later: Death! from Supernatural!)

— Cancelled scene: Carla and Nikita are dressing up in Nikita's bedroom and talking about dating. Michael comes to the door. Carla assumes Michael and Nikita are dating, and leaves them alone. It's a personal visit; Michael asks Nikita how she is doing, and she offers him a drink of water. He gets a call and hangs up, turns to her, and says, "Josephine." She turns the glass of water upside down and spills the water instead of giving it to him.

Quotes:

Siobhan: "I don't like her."
Sparks: "I don't like you."

Teenage recruit: "What's J.B. stand for? Juicy Bod?"

One out of four stars,

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

7 comments:

  1. I agree -- huge plot holes about not checking that Simone was really dead on the previous mission. It seems the writers were lazy in order to create drama by rediscovering a "dead" wife, rather than remaining true to the competence of Michael's character. Luckily, Roy Dupuis is such fun to watch that I can still tolerate this episode.

    By the way, the few martial artists I've known were always bruised and scraped from sparring. I should think that Michael would sustain minor injuries to his hands constantly on missions and in practice, so Roy Dupuis' bruised thumb didn't "stick out" as a continuity problem for me ;-)

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  2. I can't stand the idea/thought of Michael loving another like he does Nikita!- so i didn't like this episode too much.

    Anyway, Michael 'losing it' as Billie put it was great fun to watch - roy has talent and he does the most work to salvage this plot! The end was also a beautiful moment betweeen them.

    Like Billie however i'm a tad surprised that section's plastic surgeons who can wipe away all traces of a bullet wound do not seem to have a remedy for a simple bruise!

    jeri

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  3. I don't know about this one. I've seen it a lot of times, and while I agree it would have had more impact later in the season (or early in season two), it's also possible that the entire Michael/Simone thing could have been if not exactly fake, not as monumental a love as is made out. Michael's key goal in season one (spoilerish?) is to control Nikita, and by showing his depth of love for Simone in such an obvious (and un-Michael like-way) way, he instantly captured her sympathy.

    I also never really understood how Section could be cool with Michael marrying Simone and yet be so violently opposed to a relationship between him and Nikita.

    I don't think the writers really thought this episode through and it sticks out like a sore thumb (ha!) when put up against the rest of the series.

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  4. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the plot holes were enormous.

    Every series we love has one episode at the beginning that shows us the writers/producers/directors finding their way. I have become much more tolerant of them.

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  5. Not a favourite for me by far. I can't put my thumb on exactly why but I didn't feel for Micheal or Simone in this episode. Something comes across as insincere to me even though Roy was his usual fantastic self. Maybe I'm just resentful because Simone is just another thing between Michael and Nikita.

    Overall it felt like the episode wasn't about Micheal's lost love but more about how Micheal and Nikita can grow closer. A means to an end and although I am rooting for Nikita and Micheal, there are episodes that allow me to do that while still retaining their significance.

    Favourite scene- when Operations talks to Micheal just after Nikita activates the tracker. He tells Micheal to "just be prepared for anything". Is he saying this because he knows Simone is alive? Or does he just want to make a dig at Micheal because it was Micheal's choices last time that ended with Simone being killed (or so they thought).

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  6. I just started rewatching this show and I’m sooo glad I came across this website. Definitely adding it to my bookmarks.

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  7. I agree with all these comments about not being able to reconcile this episode with what we learn/see in later seasons.

    My favorite scene is perhaps a bit unconventional on this one:
    Nikita: "What's an IRC?"
    Birkoff: "Someone wasn't paying attention in computer cla..."
    Michael: *Smacks Birkoff upside the head* "Not today."

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