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Nikita: Canceled

Nikita: "You just had to twist the knife, didn't you?"

They went back to the beginning, and gave us an ending. I'll admit this season hasn't been my favorite, and I'm sure I could ask for more, but honestly this was a very good send off for a show that probably went out before its time.

So the Shop turned out not to be such a big unwieldy threat after all. The group was made up of only eight guys -- eight. I guess that was the reason why they had to kept their presence a secret for so long, they were vulnerable to destruction. In the end they were just a bunch of high profile finance guys with their hands dug deeply into some pretty extreme and experimental technologies. Yet when it came down to it, those freaky technologies didn't play as big a part in the story as they could have. It was like the Shop were your garden variety thugs brandishing futuristic ray-guns for no real reason except for... shiny.

Thankfully Amanda finally clicked for me as a villain. It was almost like Amanda finally became Amanda. I know that might sound weird, but it probably has to do with how she went down. Her own play was to yet again dupe poor idiotic Mr. Adrian into doing exactly what she wanted him to do by getting him to bring all the heads of the organization to one place. Her plan hinged on Nikita taking out the rest of her competition so that she could take over the Shop. This was set up nicely throughout this season, with little moments where Amanda thought Nikita crossed a few important lines. Lines that brought Nikita's buried darkness to the surface. Which all led to that scene in the cabin in upstate New York, which was pretty intense.

I loved that Alex backed Nikki up without question, and that Michael ended up working against Nikki in an attempt to try and save her from herself. Yet throughout the entire scene, and all the previous scenes with Nikita and Alex taking down the Shop members one by one, something didn't sit right for me. Nikita has never been this bloodthirsty, even when she's lost people. Her wanting to get revenge for Ryan did work as a reason for her to go so far, like his death was the straw that broke her resistance to violence, but I didn't quite buy it.

So when Nikita stepped out of her shackles in that final scene in the prison and grabbed Amanda by the throat, I practically cheered. Even if a part of me saw it coming, it was a good twist. Amanda's end wasn't quite the painful death I was hoping for, but a life sentence in a box feels pretty good, too. I guess she'll never get that scar Ryan gave her fixed by her Shop doctors. Nikita even got the final word and said goodbye to Amanda once and for all by calling her by her real name, which effectively tore away Amanda's carefully crafted persona

As for everyone else's ending; Alex and Sam went off together as millionaire heiress and humanitarian and body-guard respectively, with a small nod to a future romance. Birkhoff and Sonya stayed together, and created an open source version of Shadow-net for the entire world. And of course Nikki and Michael went off to elope, but couldn't just live a normal life. Having them continue to fight the good fight was just about perfect. Much like the small vision of Ryan giving Nikki the nod towards her true path at the end.

Bits:

The title is probably one of the most blatant examples of writers flicking off the network PTB's that I've ever seen.

Why did they have the scene with Michael and Sam heading towards the Super-max prison if it was all a ruse? To mess with the audience?

Ryan got one of those memorial CIA stars, which was a lovely moment.

Of course the nasty military guy was a double, though I didn't see that one coming.

The flashback to Division was just after Nikita arrived in 2004. It also brought back the eyebrows of doom, scary.

Quotes:

Nikita: "I want out."
Amanda: "Of course, when you're ready. When you learn that brute force will never be as effective as deception."

Birkhoff: "Amanda, why can't you stay dead?"
Amanda: "It wasn't a good color on me."

Amanda: "She's murdered three people in cold blood, what happens if she turns Adrian's place into a slaughterhouse? Do you really think there'll be anything left of her soul then?"

Nikita: "My head is clearer than it's ever been."
Sam: "It's not about where your head's at. If Owen was here, he'd say you're hurtin', and that now's the time to trust the people that care about you. He'd tell you it's not about your head, it's about your heart and your soul. That's what Owen would say."

A nice proper game of deception made for a very fitting end to the series. It may not have been perfect, but I think the show went out on a high note.

4 out of 4 Plot Twists and Turns

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on finishing Nikita, J.D.! The title "Canceled" was inspired. I really liked that the title of the penultimate episode was "Bubble". :)

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  2. I think the scene of Michael and Sam in the car was supposed to appear like them preparing to break into the supermax on first watch, but post reveal was actually them preparing to break out all of the doubles being held captive.

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  3. I didn't love it. Nikita going off the reservation didn't sit right with me and all the stuff at the end was just rushed and a tad too happily ever after.

    But, it was better than I expected and an all right end to the show. Thanks for covering the final bits, J.D. I probably would have given up without your reviews to keep me going.

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