Nikita season finale – Here we go again

Many shows promise game-changers, but Nikita is one of the few that delivers on that promise.  At the end of the episode, we’re left with Percy dead and all his machinations foiled, Ryan and Nikita in charge of the remnants of Division, and Amanda in the wind, having just decrypted one of the Black Boxes. While I’m happy to get more next season, I also think the episode could have worked nicely as a show finale, since it’s probably as close to a happily-ever-after as this show will have.  Nikita and Michael are still together, Sean and Alex are making moves to get closer (and they are just the cutest), and even Birkhoff got to kiss Sonya in front of all Ops, with Ryan watching in bemusement.

The episode is called “Homecoming” and as Nikita realizes, Division is the only home she’s ever known. All that she’s done previous to this wasn’t really to bring down Division, so much as bring down Percy and the corrupted ends to which he put Division. I would question whether any individual with that much unfettered access to information, trained killers, and inadequate oversight would not also be corrupted in some way, though I expect next season will likely deal with that question of how far the “new and improved” Division will go to pursue their goals and what lines they are prepared to cross.

In any case, they will have to do it without Roan and Percy. It’s always a little sad to lose good antagonists, but it was time for Nikita to win. Allowing Percy to fall to his death was not an ethically challenging thing to do, in my opinion, but he certainly made it easy for her with unnecessary killing and a really smarmy attitude of untouchability that made me want to shoot him much earlier.

A few niggling things bothered me. While Ryan did mention briefly being able to get Sean and Alex clear of the perimeter to go chase Roan, it felt too easy not seeing any of that. Also, whatever happened to the plutonium Roan dumped in the coolant system?  While obviously the reactor didn’t enter meltdown, and it was nice that Sean helped Alex after their tag-team beat down, there was no urgency to contacting anyone on his part to fix the situation, which felt odd. So there were a few things on the Team Alex side of things that felt rushed.

However, the show did nicely slow down at the end.  It was good to see Nikita and Alex together again, coming full circle from the first episode. The small flashback touches added to that impression, of Nikita’s early memories of Division back in a time when she still believed in it.  The final beautifully-filmed scene with Nikita and Michael emphasized their bond and Nikita put words to where Nikita’s really been struggling to reach all season. She has come to terms with the legacy of Division, I think, and, hopefully, now she can turn it around into a force for good. Or at least clean it up so it’s no longer a force for evil.

It’s been a strong season, which has seen the discovery and resolution of Alex’s past, the introduction and integration of Sean into the team, the defeat of Percy and Amanda, and seen the rise of Nikita and Michael from wanted fugitives into presidential assets.  Next season we begin an all new chapter.

Or, as Nikita said, “Here we go.  Again.”  And thank goodness (and the CW) for that.

Clacked by Liz Tamura
on May 19, 2012 @ 09:07 EST5EDT