Nikita – Here’s the real game change

The Nikita season premiere might have been called “Game Change,” but it’s this week’s episode that lived up to the title. It was more than worth the couple of weeks’ wait.

There were so many moments in this episode that made me think, “That’s going to change something. That opens up some more possibilities for the story.” Season two of the spy show has been uneven, but “Clean Sweep” actually made me excited about the show’s future again.

Here are my highlights, in no particular order:

• Percy finally getting out of his box! I’ve pleaded for it all season, and it was great that it finally happened. Xander Berkeley was at his snarky, bitchy best, whether it was cold-bloodedly killing a carful of Division agents, or taunting Nikita, Michael and Sean. (I love his crack about Michael’s hair, considering that Shane West‘s new hairstyle has been a topic of discussion amongst certain groups of fans all season.)
• Guardian Patrick Miller (William deVry) killing all of the members of Oversight with the exception of Senator Pierce was something I didn’t see coming, and I’m intrigued to see who their replacements will be, or if they will be replaced. Granted, they didn’t necessarily do much that we saw, but without Oversight, Division is unchecked.
• Senator Pierce (Alberta Watson) offering to clear Nikita and Michael’s names with Presidential pardons if they could bring down Division without exposing it. What an intriguing offer, and Michael’s right, it gives us hope for them — even if we know that it might be a long while before they complete their end of the deal (unless we ended up with a truncated or reimagined show).
• So Amanda’s co-conspirator is Ari (Peter Outerbridge). And the two of them are bent on dispatching their bosses and … then what? World domination? I’m not sure, but they do make an interesting pair. It makes you wonder how long they’ve been collaborators … and how that might have affected how Amanda’s been interacting with Percy all season long. If she really thought he loved her, might things have turned out different? Ah, the what-ifs of television.
• Speaking of Amanda, Melinda Clarke also turned in an intriguing performance tonight. Believing Division was about to be exposed to a gas attack that will kill everyone, Amanda slipped into her office, tinted the windows, and pulled out a gas mask. But there was moment of emotion (regret?) on her face, as if she was conscious of how many corpses she was about to have to step over. It was gone just as quickly, but it was a nice bit of shading to not have her be completely cold to the impending body count.
• We’ve got plenty of different sides to root for now. The show is no longer Team Nikita vs. Division; now we have Team Nikita, Team Division (or Team Amanda/Ari), and Team Percy … at a minimum. I doubt the situations are going to be black and white every week; we might be playing a lot of “lesser of two evils.” And that should be a whole lot of fun.

Where do you think Nikita will go from here? Anywhere in particular you want the show to go? Let’s speculate below, and wait to watch Percy get his evil back on next week.

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on Feb 04, 2012 @ 09:09 EST5EDT