NIKITA 2.12 and SUPERNATURAL 7.12

The CW served up a couple of new episodes of NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL tonight, and watching them reminded me of what I’ve been missing: action drama and a big dose of fun. NIKITA showed more originality with its story, but nothing beats the chemistry of the Winchester boys – even when they’re separated by 68 years.

The big development on NIKITA is that Oversight was about to kill everyone in Division with a secret failsafe protocol using VX gas to murder everyone. But Nikita (Maggie Q), Michael (Shane West) and Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) managed to turn Sean (Dillon Casey), who told them about the gas. But before they do anything about it, Percy (Xander Berkley) put a plan of his own into motion to have the Guardians take out Oversight – just as Amanda (Melinda Clarke) was about to drug Percy into a permanent coma.

NIKITA 1.21: Betrayals

Percy (Xander Berkeley) had Nikita’s (Maggie Q) mole, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) in his power. Amanda (Melinda Clarke) wanted to interrogate her, but Percy wanted her canceled – until he learned that “Alex” is actually Alexandra Udinov, the daughter of a powerful Russian crime lord killed by Division. Then he decided to turn her against Nikita. Amanda tried to get information about Operation: Sparrow, but Percy stonewalled her. She and Michael (Shane West) tried to bluff each other that they were privy to more information than the other had. Percy really did have info that Michael didn’t: He knew Michael was cooperating with Nikita and Alex. Meanwhile, Nikita kidnapped an expert to figure out how to open Percy’s black box, believing it held the key to Operation: Sparrow. Percy sent Alex back in to “pull the trigger” on Nikita. The episode ended with a bang as Alex literally pulled the trigger and shot Nikita.

Soap Opera Weekly: 9/17/10

The new fall season is getting under way in stages, and I have to say that the new shows I have started watching are not exactly blowing my socks off.

This week’s premiere of SURVIVOR: NICARAGUA probably disappointed me the most, because I actually had fairly high expectations for it, based on the series’ track record of being entertaining. However, this cycle’s charisma-challenged cast left me cold.

The CW has trotted out two new series, and while not awful, HELLCATS and NIKITA have not wowed me. I was hoping HELLCATS would be more like MAKE IT OR BREAK IT than…what it is. Although the second episode was an improvement over the premiere because it focused more on characterization and deepen the relationship between the girls and their mothers, I think it would help greatly to reimagine Gail O’Grady‘s Wanda as much less-cliched character. And, if HELLCATS is planning to appeal to the GLEE demo, it should add more performance segments.

NIKITA arrives with a lot of baggage because it is carrying the legacy of two movies and an earlier TV series. That’s a lot to live up to, and so far this version of the female-assassin story is keeping it low-key. Surprisingly for an action series the pacing of the episodes has lagged. By far the best thing about NIKITA is star Maggie Q, whose smooth and controlled line readings give Nikita an unflappable calmness and confidence. I’m not sold on Shane West, but Lyndsy Fonseca (ex-Colleen, YOUNG AND RESTLESS) is growing on me as young operative-in-training Alex.

I just hope NIKITA and HELLCATS keep practicing…until they get it right.

Originally published on SoapOperaWeekly.com

NIKITA 1.3: Kill Jill

NIKITA struck a blow for bloggers in the latest episode. Well, not really, but it was nice to see the-powers-that-be keeping up with the times for their reimagining. Newspapers and TV are so last decade.

Percy (Xander Berkeley) ordered muck-raking blogger Jill Morelli (Julie Gonzalo) silenced before her latest discovery — clandestine video of Division agents retrieving smuggled cocaine from an AirMerica crash site — can be published, ruining and its CEO Sampson (Christopher Cousins), a crony of Percy’s. Agent Donnegan killed newspaper editor Jeremy and framed Jill, but Nikita (Maggie Q) was able to stop Jill from being kidnapped.

NIKITA 1.2: 2.0

This episode of NIKITA had something of a split personality, which was fitting, considering that it told two stories; one set in the present, and one dredged from the past.

In the present, Percy (Xander Berkley) had hired out Division as a protection service for war criminal Mirko Dadich (Kristof Konrad). Division is supposedly holding Dadich in “protective custody” while he awaits trial, but Percy is after nuclear materials that Dadich hid before being arrested. Percy also engaged in literal pimping, when he ordered Michael (Shane West) to procure one of the young female trainees to serve as a… er, companion for Dadich, who was fresh out of prison and feeling a bit…frustrated. Michael took it upon himself to pull Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) out of class, had Amanda (Melinda Clarke) doll her up, and then delivered Alex into the lion’s den. A smart kid, Alex quickly realized what was expected of her, and she managed to alert Nikita (Maggie Q) that Dadich, the very target Nikita had been hunting on her own, was in the room with her.

NIKITA 1.1: Pilot

If the third time’s the charm, what does that make the fourth time around – old hat? The latest iteration of Nikita (a.k.a. La Femme Nikita) takes the form of NIKITA on The CW. And while it is one heckuva sleek and sexy form, we’ve seen all before – and some of it (much) better.

The basic skeleton of the story remains the same as French writer/director Luc Besson created for the silver screen in 1990’s Nikita: A drug-addicted street kid (Anne Parillaud) is arrested for killing a police officer and sentenced to death. But a secret government agency sees something in the amoral girl, fakes her death and spirits her to a secret facility where she is instructed in everything from how to kill with her bare hands to which fork to use at a dinner party. Then she sent out on missions as a covert assassin codenamed Nikita. She falls in love with her cover and the man is executed by her government handlers, causing Nikita to rebel and escape. With a few variations, those events play out in the 1993 American remake Point of No Return (which inexplicably designated Bridget Fonda’s assassin “Nina”) and the TV series LA FEMME NIKITA, which ran for five seasons on USA and posited that Peta Wilson’s Nikita was wrongly accused of killing the cop.