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La Femme Nikita: Missing

Nikita: "I want out. I want freedom."
Operations: "Ask for something else."

It's character development time again. Operations has a grown son, a heavy-duty past, and even a last name.

What did we learn about Operations? That he was a prisoner in Vietnam, and never went home. That he's supposed to be dead, like everyone else in Section. That he's a master chess player, which is not a surprise considering how easily he sacrifices Section operatives like pawns. It was typical of Operations that he went out of his way to ask Nikita for help, and then refused to assign a back-up team to protect her; we knew throughout that he was lying to her, that he was never going to let her leave Section.

Like father, like son. Stephen Wolfe was a mercenary who sold intel for cash, but still, not as evil as his father. The implication was that Stephen turned out badly because his father never came home, making Stephen's criminal life (indirectly, anyway) Operations' fault. Would Stephen, and Operations, for that matter, have turned out to be better people if Operations had gone home from the war? Probably.

Nikita faced possible rape and death with great elan, playing cards and flirting mildly with Stephen ("You like playing with your gun"), counting on Michael to return in time, which he did: barely. It was possible that Nikita could have fought her way out of that one, though.



I don't have a favorite Michael moment (it was more about Nikita and Operations), but I enjoyed Michael hanging off the truck with one hand and shooting with the other. I also loved him walking in nonchalantly to rescue Nikita at the stroke of midnight, with those big black glasses and a very twee smile. "Hi. Problem?"

My favorite scene was the final one. (Great music here.) Nikita's attempt at freedom failed. It was like she felt compelled to make the attempt but knew it wouldn't work out, because interestingly enough, she wasn't upset. She looked down from CIC and blew a kiss to Michael. Why?

Bits and pieces:

— Stephen said that his mother died of a "broken heart."

— European licence plates this time.

— In Section, nearly everyone wore black or dark colors. Nikita wore white in one scene, and blue in another.

— Silly hair: pink barrettes and curly bangs that went well with the snapping gum. Nikita had an excuse, though, because she was undercover.

Quotes:

Dean: "She's new, that guard. How'd you like to breach her security, huh?"

Stephen: "I know it's cliche, but I can't resist. What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Nikita: "Maybe I'm not such a nice girl."

Nikita: "He's cold, hard, ruthless and greedy. You can be proud of him."

Three stars for good character development. I still dislike Operations intensely, though. You can explain him, but you can't excuse him.

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

5 comments:

  1. Another excellent episode: a multi-layered plot, fantastic action sequences, a sly undercover mission, a sympathetic guest star, and some serious back history for Operations. Plus, Nikita steps up her game and tries to tackle Section on its own terms. It’s a lot to pack into an episode, and the fact that all of these diverse elements are handled so well is a testament to the talented cast and crew of LFN.

    Spoilers follow...

    The mission is exciting and convoluted: catch the buyers of a classified chip by stealing it first and infiltrating the crew of thieves. I really enjoyed this plot thread, as Michael and Nikita go undercover to join up with the crew and steal the chip. I found Michael’s alter-ego to be especially amusing: his smugly sly comments, his extreme nonchalance, plus the way a pair of glasses enables him to be completely underestimated by the thieves (hey, it worked for Clark Kent, didn’t it?). Then the amazing Mission Impossible -style action sequence to break into the heavily-secured building, only to find that the chip is no longer there! Now Michael is really under pressure, having to liberate the chip from a speeding van before the crew of thieves kills Nikita by the midnight deadline. Then it’s Nikita’s turn to perform some “aggressive negotiations” in order to arrange the meet, and in the final showdown, she cleverly manages to achieve all of her objectives. Watching how well Michael and Nikita work together is always a treat, and all of this action and suspense act as a counterpoint to the emotional arc of the story.

    For Nikita has been secretly contracted by Operations to act outside mission parameters and keep one of the crew alive: his son. The fact that Operations has a son was a complete shock to me – I rather assumed that Operations just crawled out from under a rock somewhere, and didn’t have a family like ordinary humans. Of course, as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that this revelation doesn’t change his character one bit – he is still willing to sacrifice both Nikita and Michael for his personal agenda without the slightest hint of remorse. But his son, Stephen, actually becomes quite a sympathetic character. Though he is a criminal, he still has a sense of honour (he would have defended Nikita from the more violent member of the crew), and a truly heart-breaking motive for acquiring large sums of money: to find the father he believes to still be alive in a Vietnam POW camp. After hearing this back story, my respect for Operations increased, but my sympathy was only for Stephen, who has wasted his life trying to help a father who doesn’t need it.

    Then, of course, we have Nikita’s character development, as she shows tremendous courage standing up to Operations and bargaining for her freedom. Initially, she was willing to try to keep Stephen alive just because it was the right thing to do. But after Operations refuses to provide backup, clearly willing to sacrifice her life in order not to endanger his son, she feels she deserves some compensation for the risks she is taking. Though she asks for Operations’ word, she knows better than to trust it, and tries to put to use the methods she’s learned from Section to protect her interests (as Operations ruefully puts it, “We’ve trained you well, Nikita.”) In the end, of course, Operations uses Michael (whom, ironically, Operatiions was also quite willing to sacrifice) to thwart Nikita’s plan. In spite of losing this round, Nikita’s attitude in the final scene is not defeated. It seems to me that Nikita is learning to play Section’s game, even blowing a kiss at Michael to let him know that she is aware of his involvement. I get the impression that she learned from her mistakes, and is going to wait for another opportunity to present itself so she can try again.

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  2. "I found Michael’s alter-ego to be especially amusing: his smugly sly comments, his extreme nonchalance, plus the way a pair of glasses enables him to be completely underestimated by the thieves (hey, it worked for Clark Kent, didn’t it?)." - I had the same thoughts when I watched this scene and made the same comparison to Clark Kent's disguise.

    I also love it when Michael and Nikita get to work together. They're an awesome team.

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  3. 'The fact that Operations has a son was a complete shock to me – I rather assumed that Operations just crawled out from under a rock somewhere, and didn’t have a family like ordinary humans.'

    Serena, your statement (above) summarizes my perception of operations perfectly!

    It's not my favourite episode but it had some nice scenes like Michael channeling clark kent with the glasses and Nikita's courage in the face of imminent death and possibly rape, while she waited for Michael to arrive before midnight.

    jeri

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  4. I'm having trouble with the site where I used to watch LFN's episodes. It is so frustrating...
    Could anyone recommend me another site, please?

    ReplyDelete

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