Nikita: Season 2 Premiere

Any other year Nikita may have become one of those guilty pleasure box sets you buy at a marked down price with the optimistic tag line ‘Complete Series’ emblazoned on the box. Last year however, the vast number of flops meant that a number of “Generally Favourable” shows were green lit for a second season; Nikita was one such show. Since the news of a confirmed second series the show began to flourish and its return on Friday night saw the surviving season regulars return for more of the same, only different.

The episode, aptly titled ‘Game Change’ picks up months after the events of the series one finale with a number of the characters in a much altered surroundings from which they usually find themselves. With season one antagonist Percy (Xander Berkeley) now imprisoned the often sinister Amanda (Melinda Clarke) is now at the helm of Division and Nikita (Maggie Q) herself has a new sidekick/love interest in the form of newly rogue Michael (Shane West). Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca), slightly confusingly is now seemingly working freelance for Amanda, but I’m sure, if the last series was anything to go by, there’s plenty more to her motivations than meets the eye.

Behind the scenes, series producer and writer of the impressive pilot episode, Craig Silverstein returns to the writer’s chair, bringing a pleasing sense of coherence to this second series. Despite the dramatic twist in character roles, none of the action appears out of character. Seymour Birkhoff’s (Aaron Stamford) transformation from put upon “Nerd” to Millionaire mercenary seems conceivable, timely and somehow Zuckerberg-esq. It is developments like this that could see the CW’s gamble pay off.

The format itself remains much the same: a mission of the week acting as a backdrop for burgeoning relationships and duplicitous allegiances. Whilst revenge seemed to be Season One’s modus operandi, it would seem that this time around Nikita is motivated by a sense of duty. Whilst their introduction towards the beginning of the series wreaked of ‘serial element after thought,’ Percy’s black boxes have become a driving story element. It now appears that the black box decrypted by Birkhoff and Michael in the season finale will be the source of our weekly stories with Nikita and Michael taking it upon themselves to right Percy’s many, many wrongs. 

This week the Black Box secret reveals just how Division funds its unscrupulous activities. Nikita and Michael learn that “Operation Game Change” saw Division Operatives steal huge sums of money whilst masquerading as military personnel. The military investigator tasked with investigating the missing money found himself framed for murder and behind bars quicker than you can say ‘Percy did it’. Now, with their moral compass pointing strictly North, the triumvirate of Division defectors (Nikita, Michael and Birkhoff) reunite to see Justice done. Of course, nothing goes according to plan, and when the innocent prisoner refuses to escape from prison, Nikita soon realizes there’s more to Percy’s web than a simple frame up.

Things are further complicated by the arrival of Michael’s replacement at Division, Oversight agent Sean Pierce. Despite his season one role as the (not quite so) big bad, there was always the implication that Michael’s allegiances may lay with Nikita rather than Percy. As a result Michael’s pursuit of the titular rogue agent lacked a significant degree of dramatic resonance. With the addition of Pierce, it seems that the writers are no longer willing to pull any punches and Nikita may no longer be able to charm her way out of the tighter spots.

But what really makes this episode pop is this notion of change.

After the dramatic events of the finale, no two relationships remain the same, enemies are now allies, and vice versa. This seems most pertinent in light of the warped relationship between Nikita and Alex. Whilst Nikita’s maternal instincts have been grounded in a number of earlier episodes, it seems to have renewed resonance now that Alex is well and truly out from under her wing. I have no doubt that it’s this relationship that will inform the majority of ongoing story, but the nice thing is, unlike Nikita’s season one relationship with Michael, it could still go either way. Alex’s volatile nature and ambiguous destiny means that having moulded the youngster into her greatest ally, Nikita may have become the master of her own demise. As a result, the show has a renewed energy that is often lacking in a returning series. It’s also allowed Silverstein to maintain the ‘coherence’ I mentioned earlier without sacrificing character credibility.