Nikita
Episode 22: 'Til Death
Do Us Part
The Season Finale
By: Carlos Uribe
Nikita
is a show about a female spy who does missions for a secret,
undercover government agency.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
The
previous episode had set up the finale by basically isolating Nikita
from the team as she's tasked with assassinating the President. She
can't communicate with her friends which basically means she has to
subtly give them coded messages that they'll be able to decipher.
Nikita remains a pretty competent protagonist as she doesn't need
their help to infiltrate the White House. She's able to use a fake
identity to get herself on the President's schedule and she's able to
gain entrance into the White House. She does need some help from
Amanda to ensure she can actually get to the President. A secret
service agent that works for Amanda is able to get Nikita into the
oval office. Only Nikita's friends were able to communicate with her
and they lead her to believe that they have gotten an antidote for
Michael. She believes that his life is no longer in danger which
leads Nikita to believe that she doesn't have to kill the President.
Only there's a major twist when she tries to warn the President about
the attempt on her life. The President picks up Nikita's gun and
shoots herself. It's a moment that had my jaw drop because I didn't
see this coming. Nikita is being framed for being an assassin but
there are some loose ends. The first thought that came to my mind are
the security camera feeds but I guess Amanda could have used her
secret service agent to wipe them. The second thought is the autopsy
but the Shop could easily put in a mortician that supports their
narrative. The final thought is that Nikita's story could come out so
Amanda tries to have her killed. Nikita is able to get away but she's
now on the run from the government. She's a wanted fugitive. Her
friends try to rally around her so they can clear her name but she
doesn't want them to live in the underground anymore. She wants them
to be able to move on with their lives. She doesn't want them to be
associated with America's new number one enemy. She runs away to be
by herself. She's choosing to be alone. She basically breaks up with
Michael by leaving her ring behind. The next season has been set up
by having Nikita be on the run all by herself. Well that's not
entirely true.
Nikita
might have left them behind but her friends aren't going to give up
on her. The major case in point is how they helped her even as she
pushed them away. They were able to decipher what she was trying to
tell them. They figured out that Amanda managed to put a
communications device in her brain and that her mission is to kill
the President. They're able to use this information to get into
contact with her without Amanda figuring it out. When they find out
that Micheal’s body has been infused with the nanobots, they decide
to cure him while Nikita pretends to go ahead with her mission.
Amanda would suspect there's nothing wrong and the President gets to
live. Only the one doctor who could have cured them had been infected
by the nanobots. The Shop is able to take him out when they seek his
help which leaves them without any cure. They lie to Nikita but they
do manage to figure out a way to save Michael. They have to kill him
for twenty minutes so that the nanobots lose energy and get
deactivated. They do this but the show adds in a complication with
the Rogue 30. They only managed to track down a few of the rogue
agents so it's a clever way for the show to wrap up this part of the
plot. They would have been out there and it would have been an
unresolved plot if they weren't hunted down. Using them as a small
army to try to wipe out Division is a way to get rid of them and
basically end the narrative that drove the first half of the season
before disappearing into the background. The show was able to use
these agents as a great twist that helped elevate the stakes. The
characters not only had to defend themselves but Micheal’s recovery
was jeopardized by their arrival. Nikita is able to come in and save
her team in the last minute but it was a close call.
The
twists in the episode were pretty unexpected: the President shooting
herself, Nikita leaving her team behind, and the reappearance of the
Rogue 30. The next season is primarily set up with Nikita on the run
while her friends try to clear her name. There was a twist at the end
that didn't work as well. Amanda might not be happy that Nikita is
still alive but the Shop is satisfied with the results. The President
is dead in the eyes of the public and Nikita got blamed for it. The
twist is that the President isn't actually dead. She was kidnapped
during the G20 summit and the dead body is actually a double that the
Shop had put in. This was a really over-the-top twist, even for this
show, and felt like something out of a children's cartoon than from a
more live-action series for adults. It sort-of explains the twist of
the President killing herself but it's a pity that the explanation
had to be so convoluted. There is no doubt that rescuing the real
President is going to be a goal in the next season as a way to clear
Nikita's name. The other aspect that's going to help is that Alex is
going to accept the job at the United Nations which will help the
team investigate the worldwide Shop network. There might be no
Division to back them up but they did manage to take down a black-ops
group on their own. The Shop might be bigger and more elusive but
there's no reason to think that they wouldn't be able to take on this
new group.
The
third season of Nikita has been a very good one. It started out
concentrating more on the weekly missions than an overall arc as the
new Division tried to track down the Rogue 30. The missions were
exciting but the season slowly built up to the second-half as Amanda
tried her best to undermine the organization and seek revenge on
Nikita. This culminated with Amanda messing with Alex's brain so that
Division would be destroyed by the inside. There was a coup and the
organization is basically dead. The characters weren't done as they
still had to deal with Amanda but this turned out to be more
complicated than they thought. Their quest to bring her down has only
made life more difficult for them. They have lost any support from
the government and Nikita is now wanted for killing the President.
She's split up from her group of allies. All-in-all, it's been a
narrative that has been handled expertly. It's transition from weekly
missions into a serialized narrative was masterfully done and the way
that the narrative went from one place to another was skillfully and
largely subtly executed. It might not have been as thrilling as the
second season's momentum but it did manage to come close towards the
end. The first two seasons had been about taking down Division. It
was a major shift in killing Percy and having our protagonists rejoin
Division. It makes sense since Division has always been a presence in
this show. Now we're going to enter a shortened season where Division
itself is gone. Will Nikita be a completely different show? Only
slightly as the Shop will be taking on the role that Division held
for it's first two seasons.
The
season finale for Nikita was good and it sets up the next season in a
spectacular fashion. I must admit it's disappointing we're only going
to be getting six episodes but that might be a good thing. It
guarantees that there's not going to be any filler episodes which is
only good for the overall narrative momentum. The promise that it's
going to be the final season is good because it means fans will get
closure. It's a very small episode order but considering the ratings
of Nikita, I'd say it's best to take what we can get. Nikita is
currently one of the best shows on television and the final season
should be a smart way to wrap everything up.
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