We finally got to say goodbye to Madeline. Her death was almost an afterthought at the end of season four. This was an episode they really needed to do.
Yes, Operations missed his Madeline. And they were lovely together here. My favorite scene was the two of them dancing cheek to cheek in the perch. It was nice to see the softer side of Operations. And it was great that the beautiful Alberta Watson got to look so good in her final episode, with the sexy low-cut dress and the beautiful hair style.
After "Abort, Fail, Retry, Terminate," I thought they'd go the predictable route: the artificial intelligence Madeline doppelganger would end up taking out half of Section and they'd have to outwit the program in order to take it off line. But – much better – the ending was poignant, with "Madeline" realizing that she wasn't functioning up to par and recommending her own cancellation. When "Madeline" slowly disappeared, her eyes went last. It was very effective. I actually got teary.
Nikita, hot on the trail of her past, discovered that she has a father, code name Flavius, and a sibling in Section whose name starts with M. Who could it be? It can't be Michael, since they're trying to appease the fans, not piss us off. We already know about Madeline's childhood, so it couldn't be her. And Quinn's first name is Kate.
Nikita and Operations are getting along like a pair of rabid dogs. After all the time she spent at his mercy, it was great to see Nikita bite back, as it were. Operations: "Your experiment already failed. And that's exactly what I'm going to tell Mr. Jones." Nikita: "And while you're at it, let's tell him that you're dating an inflatable computer program."
Bits and pieces:
— It was nice to have the real Nikita back. This Nikita was warm and flirtatious with Walter like Nikita of yore, back before season four. Walter said "Hello, sugar" to Nikita as if everything were back to normal.
— Operations and Madeline were indeed occasional lovers. The whole sneaky pretend sexual harassment plot confused me on that issue.
— Quinn is an ambitious suck-up. And she just made level three. Sort of insulting, when you consider how long Nikita was at level two.
— They're still bringing back guest stars from past episodes. This week, it was young Jasmine from "Time to be Heroes," who got to take part in Nikita's "normal life" pilot program. Didn't seem to go too well, though.
— The "terrorist conference" and the Collective appear to be LFN's second continuing villain. The first was Red Cell. Oops, I forgot the Freedom League.
— Nikita found two sets of bronzed baby shoes in the house that blew up. Why bronze baby shoes for babies you didn't keep?
— Cancelled scene: Very brief scene of Quinn searching Birkoff's files.
Quotes:
Jasmine: "So why hasn't Operations had you stuffed and mounted by now?"
Nikita: "Not for lack of trying."
O'Brien: "There's nothing here but flowers. You want us to bring you some?"
Madeline: "Paul, I'm not flesh and blood."
Operations: "Some say you never were. But I know better."
Another good one, and a fine farewell for Madeline. Three out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
A boring, pointless, and plotless episode – the lack of a story may work on a soap opera, but does not pass muster for what is supposed to be action-adventure. The two token mission sequences are clearly cheap as well as deadly dull, plus the re-introduction of the wooden Jasmine from “Time To Be Heroes” had me quickly wishing for her demise. Quinn is still weak, O’Brien is still bland, and Nikita came off once again as completely ineffective. At least there was some closure given to the significant character of Madeline, though the writer was forced to produce some pretty contorted reasoning to try to justify Madeline’s untimely death in “Four Light Years Farther”.
ReplyDeleteFavourite Scenes:
Glazer and Watson are quite moving as Operations says his final good-bye.
Cringe-worthy:
Nikita to Walter: “If you’re my friend, you’ll help me.” A little rich, coming from someone who betrayed all of her friends!
The seriousness with which Nikita and Walter discuss only three options in all of the Sections and Centre for people with a first initial “M” is just ridiculous.
I kinda liked this episode. Gave the viewer a bit of closure on the death of Madeline.
ReplyDeleteI only have one comment... where the frak is Michael???
Serena, do you even like LFN? I read a few of your reviews and you never say anything good about the serie.
ReplyDelete