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La Femme Nikita: There Are No Missions

"We can take all the precautions in the world, but this is Michael we're dealing with."

Michael vs. Section, and it was just as much fun as it could possibly be. I loved seeing Michael as the romantic superspy, using all of Section's tricks against them, breaking in, manipulating everyone, and even stealing a woman in cryofreeze. He brought Section to a standstill. James Bond couldn't have done any better.

I didn't think Section could be worse that it was already was, but the thought of Operations and Madeline using the Gelman process on all of their operatives just made my skin crawl. And Michael was absolutely right: that is exactly what they would do if they could. That kind of conditioning would be a living death.

Nikita showed her true robot girl colors: kissing Michael while trying to reach for her gun, so determined to kill him that she ran out into the street with her coat open and her bra showing. (Nikita shopping for black clothes at the black clothing store had me in stitches. Pun intended.) There were mirrors everywhere in that scene. Very appropriate, since Nikita was just a cold reflection of her former self. It's hard to watch Nikita without a soul. Her emotions, her zest for life, her kindness and compassion for others, and her all-encompassing love for Michael have always defined her as a character. Okay, I want the real Nikita back now.



I thought at first that the rebellious Dori was just going to be a new sexual playmate for Birkoff, but her role turned out to be a lot more poignant. What happened to her was meant to show us that Section is still omnipotent and inescapable. Ironic, considering she was watching them try to track Michael, who had clearly succeeded in escaping.

It made perfect plotty sense for the initial Gelman subject to be Adrian. Poor Adrian was a blank, though. Not a vegetable, perhaps, but still edging into the broccoli family. So now what?

Bits and pieces:

— This was (I think) the first mention of level 20. And it was a hologram.

— As soon as I saw the cryo units, I knew someone was going to die a horrible freezy death. And sure enough.

This photo makes me laugh

— Michael has not only recruited Birkoff and Walter, he also has Mick doing his bidding as well. I thought for a moment we were going to lose the ubiquitous Mick, and I thought, No! Don't kill Mick! I never thought I'd say that.

— So much for Michael's car. But he appears to have another. Maybe he's stealing them.

— Davenport was back. I used to like Davenport. Bad Davenport, no biscuit.

— This week's wardrobe note: Madeline's black suit had an oddly inappropriate fuzzy collar. And we found out that Nikita wears a size six.

— Cancelled scene: Nikita looks at the information on a disk that Madeline gave her. This clearly has something to do with maintaining the Gelman process. The screen shows a street scene (which was never filmed, so the computer screen just has words on it saying "street scene"). Madeline and the female Devo change the screen Nikita is watching to images of Michael (also never filmed, too bad) in order to set a "baseline."

Quotes:

Nikita: "You want me to kill Michael?"
Madeline: "Is that a problem?"
Nikita: "No."

Michael: "Adrian is alive."
Birkoff: (freaked out) "I don't want to know this."

Mick: "Is it that time of the month? They've got these marvelous blue pills."

Madeline: "Good luck."
Dori (under her breath): "Bitch."

Omigod, so much fun. Four out of four stars,

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

3 comments:

  1. This episode plays like a weird hybrid of Star Trek and James Bond. Now, I love both of these genres, but they don’t really belong in the darkly skewed, near-future urban setting of LFN.

    Spoilers follow...

    The story begins in a somewhat believable fashion, with Michael outsmarting everyone to get back into Section by using his knowledge of Section procedures and technologies. But this is followed by such far-fetched scenes as Michael bypassing Section security by lowering himself on a cable down a wall of electronics panels reminiscent of the Enterprise warp core set. Then there is the ridiculous conceit of a fully-functioning human cryogenics lab on level 17, plus a “holodeck” on level 20. The little blue LED device that “stuns” people pales in comparison to all the other over-the-top genre ripoffs thrown into this episode.

    If the viewer is able get past the incongruous mishmash of sci fi clichés, the episode at least offers up some interesting action sequences, and, most importantly, progresses the central story arc. Since apparently Section will no longer be fighting terrorists until Michael and Adrian are “contained”, I find I am rather impatient for this thread to be resolved, especially since it is so difficult to engage with the lead characters: Nikita is a “robot”, and Michael is almost as remote as he performs his mostly solo mission. Birkoff actually becomes the character the viewer relates to the most in this episode – too bad the Dori storyline is nothing new, and the guest actress is nothing special, either.

    Favourite Scenes:
    The elaborate ruse Michael devises to sneak back into Section: I guess LFN is required viewing at CTU, since holding onto the vehicle’s undercarriage is a tactic adopted by Jack Bauer in Season 6 of “24".

    Birkoff surprised by Michael in Section: Ferguson is completely sympathetic as Birkoff overcomes his panic to scrape together enough courage to help.

    Continuity Issues:
    In “Gray”, even the threat of assassination hanging over every single operative did not shut down Section’s anti-terrorist activities (Operations: “Because [we] have a job to do, and if [we] stop doing it, it’ll leave the civilian population unprotected.”). Three seasons later, Michael’s abduction of Adrian is sufficient cause for Section to completely neglect its duties (Operations: “Until this matter is resolved, there are no missions.”). So much for the “unprotected civilians”! And wouldn’t George notice they’ve ceased all operations?

    Really, would “Gelamanized” operatives actually be better? True, they would be more obedient, but what about undercover assignments or missions that require improvisation, creativity, or imagination? I guess we are supposed to believe that Operations and Madeline have become so power mad that they would prefer robotic operatives to versatile ones.

    Over The Top:
    Apparently the lower levels of Section are filled with preposterous science fiction clichés: human cloning (“Imitation of Death”), cryogenics labs, holodecks... What else is down there? Aliens? A cloaking device?

    ReplyDelete
  2. So ... the series is not science fiction
    in a stupid way, talks about important issues
    holograms, cloning, are possible
    the mind control programs existed in 1970 , allegedly interrupted

    see DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and
    Project MK-Ultra

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautifully choreographed sequence to "Everything But the Girl" by No Difference. As we follow Michael walking in time to the music down the sidewalk and into the clothing store.I loved the way they would do that. (Note - There was a period of time back in the 1990s when an awful lot of black was worn for business even for women.) The science fiction style elements don't bother me. Hologram made sense as something that would be useful to Section missions. This is supposed to be trending into the future so high tech is not a problem. The cryo chamber was a bit over the top but if anyone had one it would be Section 1. So last episode we had Michael leaving to avoid being killed but now he seems to be back with a plan. I really start to see the value of an extremely intelligent obsessive perfectionist as an employee. Unless of course you have just lost that business asset by trying to kill him.

    ReplyDelete

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