Nikita - Rough Trade

Network: CW
Time: Thursdays, 9:00-10:00pm
Cast: Maggie Q, Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, Ashton Holmes, Tiffany Hines, Melinda Clarke, Xander Berkeley

Summary: Nikita tries to right a past wrong when she posed as a nanny for a government official who ended up dead.  Michael comes to Nikita's aid during her quest, and also begins to question Percy's motives.  Meanwhile, Amanda forces Alex to deal with her claustrophobia after she has a panic attack.

Review: I'm constantly surprised by how much I like this show, and how quickly it became something I anticipate watching.  The writers did a wonderful job creating characters that are likable despite the horrible things they sometimes do, and I find that I am sympathetic towards almost all of them (not Percy, but they really haven't done much to expand his character yet).

Every episode provides a little more backstory into characters' lives, and this one was no exception.  We finally got to see a little more of Alex's life before she met Nikita, and we got just a small hint of Michael's past as well (did you catch that last line?).  We also saw a flashback from when Nikita was first recruited, when she was happy to be working for them, and her hair was messier.  I imagine we'll see more of the chemistry between Michael and Nikita as the series goes on.

As much as I liked the backstories, I wasn't as wild about the present day mission Nikita was trying to pull off.  It stemmed from her first kill, and she wanted to make amends by taking down the group that hired Division to kill him.  But there was a slight twist that I wasn't wild about, since it warped Nikita's reason for doing what she was doing.  I don't want to spoil it by giving anything away, but I like when Nikita has the moral upper hand, and this twist brought her down a little.  That being said, it did create an interesting moment for Michael, who is starting to realize that he has no idea why Percy does anything he does.

I really enjoyed Alex's present-day story too.  She hasn't been doing much but acting as a mole for Nikita in the past few episodes, so it was nice to see her with her own story to carry.  In this case, she has claustrophobia due to a traumatic event from her childhood, and Amanda is trying to "help" her get over it.  We got to see some real strength of character in Alex, not giving Division a win over her, even if she made it look like they did.

Between this episode and the summary for the next, I'm starting to get little prickly warnings about Alex's sort-of friend Thom.  Right now he's pretty gung-ho about Division, and I can't imagine he'd be okay with the things Alex does to help Nikita.  Which leads me to believe that Alex should not be getting as close to him as she seems to be.  I'm curious to see where that road leads.

Like I said, I never expected to like this show as much as I do.  It's ratings are a little shaky though, and I'm hoping the CW doesn't pull it before it really has the chance to develop into a great show.

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My Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad