Pretty Killer

It’s not often that the CW really does things right, but after last night’s awesomeness squared, it’s safe to say they are right on the money when it comes to Thursdays. After the stellar sophomore outing for The Vampire Diaries (which was basically an hour of “Did that (and that and THAT) really just happen?!” Seriously? Damn.), I had to assume the CW’s latest new series would pale in comparison. While Nikita couldn’t quite measure up to the edge-of-your-seatiness of TVD (who could?), this reboot certainly held its own and even managed to take a seemingly familiar story and make it fresh, intriguing, and literally kickass.

I’m honestly not too familiar with the Nikita franchise and have little knowledge of previous iterations. The presumed similarities in the conceit are based on my love of Alias (which, as I understand it, owes quite a bit to the original La Femme Nikita). Based on the trailer, I went in expecting things to have come full circle. La Femme Nikita spawns Alias which then morphs back into the latest Nikita. As the pilot began, complete with a covert branch of the government that’s gone rogue, a handler named Michael, murdered fiancé named Danny, and new versions of both Sloane and Marshall, I assumed I’d have to resign myself to yet another rehash, but much to my delight, Nikita is an entity unto itself. While various basic elements and themes are familiar, the look, the tone, the interpersonal dynamics, character motivations and profiles, and overall story arc make for a different animal than what I’ve seen before.

In this incarnation of the spy thriller, we have Nikita, a former spy who was recruited by Division (basically, SD-6), the mysterious black ops branch of the CIA that trained her to be the ultimate assassin. Similar to our old friend Sydney Bristow, Nikita breaks the rules and is faced with her fiance’s murder as a result. I know, it sounds seriously familiar, but really, Nikita has a foundation that we’re familiar with, but it builds its own universe and narrative on top of that. While Sydney was a super-secret double agent, sneakily trying to destroy an evil organization, Nikita takes a very straight-forward approach to vengeance and makes sure her countermeasures out in the open. She wants her foes to know they’re being hunted and makes sure they know that she’s the huntress. This manages to take the base concept and give it a very different vibe. With that kind of major tonal change, the show itself takes on a whole different feel.

Badass Maggie Q stars as the titular Nikita and sells the character in a matter of minutes. I’m not familiar with her previous works, so going in, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to carry a series. I think it’s safe to say I was I wrong. I bought her character, the construct, and her drive for vengeance almost immediately. It’s always a blessing when an actor embodies a character so well that they’re almost instantly believable. Nothing will ruin a pilot quicker than actors who can’t sell their characters. If I have to struggle to suspend my disbelief, I’m probably not going to enjoy a series. Maggie Q quite simply is Nikita from the very first moments you see her onscreen. She manages to imbue the character with a disturbingly cool demeanor and white hot passion at the same time. Best of all? She makes it look easy. Nikita is a smooth operator who’s collected and calm under pressure. She’s a legendary killer and one of Division’s finest achievements. And now she’s their greatest enemy. When a role depends on the audience believing that one determined person could take down an evil empire, you need to have a power-player at the helm. Much to my delight, Maggie Q pulls it off. She also manages to juggle the more in-depth emotional side of her backstory and inject some soul into her otherwise stoic façade. She’s charming and enigmatic and had a lot to work with. From only a pilot, it’s difficult to sum up a persona entirely, but this character has a lot of room to grow and with someone of her talents in the role, I expect great things.

The rest of the casting is pretty solid, although Shane West’s turn as Nikita’s former handler could have been better. He wouldn’t have been my pick for the role, but he manages. I think once he really settles into the role, it could turn into something more compelling, but for now, he just feels a bit out of place and I’m not quite buying it yet. At present, his character is only interesting because of his dynamic with Nikita. Former allies who depended on each other (and had an alluded to romantic connection) who are now enemies… that always makes for a slippery and exciting dynamic. Neither knows if he/she can trust the other, what motivations are at play, what mitigating factors will have an impact, or where this crazy train is headed and I can’t wait to see it play out. Nikita is enigmatic, dangerous, and unpredictable and I wouldn’t want to be any member of Division, even someone who used to trust her. After cornering Nikita in an alley and agreeing to give her a head start, she turns around and shoots him in the chest. I honestly didn’t see it coming and had to question Nikita’s motives, moral compass, her loyalties, and her thirst for revenge. Maggie Q plays it very well and even after it’s made clear that she shot him in order to give him a cover story of trying to stop her, I was still questioning how much of that was true and how much she just really wanted to shoot him.

I suspect the relationship between Michael and Nikita will form the basis for the show, each hunting the other and at the same time, wanting to protect the other, but in the grander scheme of things, this show is a royal rumble between Nikita and Division, each stopping at nothing to destroy the other. The Arvin Sloane of the series (now called Percy, because that’ll strike terror into the hearts of millions) doesn’t yet have the truly menacing flavor that Sloane had, but I’m hopeful for more. In his Division arsenal, the fabulous Melinda Clarke (aka Julie Cooper Nichol Cooper Roberts Cooper) provides spy training in the more delicate arts (conversation, seduction, blending in, manipulation), a role for which she’s abundantly suited (although I’d love to see her play against type more often). Her ice queen façade is chilling, yet disarming, a role Clarke wields with delicious aplomb. We also have the requisite tech savvy nerd, but even his seemingly standard character has a slightly different edge to him than usual. Again, having worked with Nikita in the past, their relationship is tenuous and inscrutable. The show does a very nice job establishing ambiguity between their loyalties and sets up a believable construct for the twist at the end of the episode (so well done, in fact, that I honestly didn’t see it coming). I don't remember the character's name, but the computer specialist also provides some much appreciated levity and snark to the episode (as is the wont of this character type from show to show). Having been kidnapped by Nikita, his rescue team rushes in, guns ablazin', finding him alone and duct taped to a jungle gym toy. To which computer guy annoyedly reponds along the lines of, "She's long gone, guys. But that was impressive. Good hustle." Heh.

Rounding out the cast is the daughter from How I Met Your Mother (you know, she’s the girl in the beginning when Bob Saget’s voice starts talking to the kids), who plays street urchin Alex, Division’s newest recruit. Having only ever seen her sitting on a couch and pretending to listen to her dad’s ramblings, this was yet another case where possible talents were essentially unknown to me. And yet again, I was pleasantly surprised. She plays the role of street kid who had to learn to be brutal in order to survive quite convincingly. I found myself easily invested in her story. The show sets up Alex’s character in such a way that you’re not entirely sure how she’s going to fit in with Nikita. I had a few theories as the pilot ran, but I didn’t foresee the twist at the end. Having established that the computer guy’s moral compass is somewhat less than fixed, I was willing to believe that he had set things up for Nikita so that she’d receive messages regarding Division’s missions. At the end, however, when it’s revealed that it’s actually Alex who’s conspiring with our femme fatale, I was delightfully surprised. The ambiguity in timelines made it a little harder to see this coming as well (e.g. people’s ages, when everyone did whatever they did, etc). Given Alex’s fighting ability and grit, I probably should have theorized that she and Nikita were already linked (as mentor and protégé, as it turns out), but instead I guessed that the first season would focus on Nikita either establishing a relationship with Alex in order to take down Division or that Alex would be used in some way to draw Nikita out. Either of those options would have been intriguing, but the actual situation is even more tantalizing, methinks. The very fact that the pilot had me interested enough to start guessing and theorizing at all is a very good sign.

Nikita is a slick, high-budget production that doesn’t skimp on the action. Pilots generally get cushier funding than subsequent episodes, however, so hopefully they’ll be able to keep up the production values as the series progresses. The plotting and pacing are satisfying and are varied enough to keep you on your toes. The pilot managed to establish a hell of a lot and did so in a solid, logical way. There was a boat load of exposition that had to fit into only 43 minutes, but it only rarely felt forced or awkward because the dialogue was well-written, and more importantly, delivered with conviction. It didn’t feel like anyone was phoning it in and that everyone committed to their roles. Dialogue is an area that usually leads to a lot of cringing, but the writing in Nikita is crisp and grounded, even in spite of the over-the-top spy universe in which it operates. There were a couple of lines that felt a little clunky or cheesy, but I think that can be chalked up to Shane West’s delivery more than to the writing itself. All in all, it was a solid narrative that has huge potential for the future. I could see where this is the kind of show that could reinvent itself season to season as allegiances change, players fall, and agendas are revealed. Plus, without the oppressiveness of Rimbaldi hanging over the proceedings, the show will be allowed to have a more fundamental drive to it rather than the never-ending search for music boxes and sketches.

On the whole, the pilot was quite good, but it wasn’t without flaws. There were several instances where CIA/Division standard operating procedures seemed a bit ridiculous and elements of the action that were just a little too convenient. I’m sorry, you guys have detailed surveillance footage of Nikita visiting her late fiance’s grave, but you don’t have footage of her dragging a full-sized Nikita mannequin to that same grave a few minutes later? Really? You guys saw that she was at the grave and decided to turn off the cameras? And then you leave the computer guy alone in the van in close proximity to your target because, well, she was at the grave a while ago, so surely she’s still there, right? You guys decided to take five while she was propping up a dummy? Oy. Anyway, instances like that were thankfully few and far between, and to be honest, while it was happening, the action was engaging enough that I just went with it. It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that that was kind of ridiculous. Pesky Fridge Logic. Anyway, the fundamentals of the show were strong enough that I can forgive the few finer points that were a bit lacking. It wasn’t perfect, but I was enjoying myself enough that I was happy to go along for the ride.

In terms of genre, I think I’ve had my fill of lawyers, doctors, and cops, so even though there are a fair number of spies on air at the moment, I’m happy to have another. In terms of job description, the spy game has a lot more options than a crime procedural or medical drama would, so even when operating in the same genre, there’s a lot more room for originality. This show has a lot of potential and made a good showing with its pilot, so I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t be a force to be reckoned with. It performed well in the ratings and retained nearly all of The Vampire Diaries key demo audience, and even built a bit on the total viewers. Granted, this is the series premiere, which generally performs better than subsequent episodes, but the fact that Nikita retained its audience throughout the whole hour means that viewers who started watching, finished watching, and are likely to come back next week.

I certainly will.

Pilot Grade: B+