Nikita 1x01-1x04

This is the third fourth iteration of La Femme Nikita, the first being a French movie and the second being a Canadian TV show that aired about ten years ago. I watched the movie a long, long time ago, and I've seen maybe half of S1 of the TV show.

The set up for Nikita is that six years ago, Nikita had a fiance as a cover, but Division ended up killing him, which in turn led her to escape Division. Now she's ready to take Division down. It's an interesting amalgamation of the movie and LFN, with many of the characters named after or echoing LFN (Percy as Operations, Amanda as Madeleine, Michael and Birkoff as themselves, but so far no Walter), and some elements taken from the movie (the cover life that Nikita wishes were her real life). It looks as though they're trying to keep the romantic tension between Michael and Nikita intact, only this time with them as kind of friends turned enemy: having Michael as a trainer probably wasn't very friendly, but at least more so than actively working to sabotage Division!

I find that making Division a outright villain is less interesting than the extremely drastic measures Section One of LFN would take to protect national security; on the other hand, the switch gives Nikita a LOT more agency. Maggie Q's Nikita also reads as much colder and experienced than Peta Wilson's. Alas, there are too many scenes of Percy and Michael talking to each other about the latest scheme, and although there still is a bit of the claustrophobic atmosphere of LFN, I kind of miss Operations and Madeleine. Percy is much too blunt and not nearly twisty enough for someone running Division.

The plot of the first three episodes is mainly Division getting a mission and Nikita countering that mission. Despite the absolute awesomeness of Maggie Q, the writing and acting are terrible. You'd think a double-crossing spy show would have tons of moments of not-touching and angsty staring and whatnot, but sadly, it is largely limited to Maggie Q. Michael in particular is terrible when he tries to emote his manpain! I'm also not too fond of the possible relationship going on between Alex and Thom, and I hate that Alex and Jaden have been set against each other and that Jaden is currently just the Angry Violent Black Girl.

I probably would have watched quite a few episodes just for Maggie Q, but there's a twist in the set-up in episode 1 that also piqued my interest. And then... episode 4 isn't exactly wonderful, but it finally pulled plot twists I didn't see coming, and as a bonus, it has flashbacks! I think they still need to work a lot more to make me buy the Michael/Nikita UST.

I am still on the fence re: how they're shooting the women versus the men in the series; I wish all the recruits had the same white tank top instead of Thom getting a baggy gray t-shirt and Jaden getting a midriff-baring sports bra the entire time. I feel like Nikita's clothing has gotten more utilitarian as the series goes on, although she still has improbably tall heels, but admittedly, I have been very bad at focusing on this since every time Maggie Q is on screen I am kind of just making swoony eyes at her.

( Spoilers will put you in danger )

In conclusion: (Maggie Q + guns) - good dialogue + boring white guys + passing the Bechdel test = still watching.