Nikita Series Premiere Review: What Did You Think?
I was the first recruit to get out, and I’m going to make certain I’m not the last.
- Nikita
After watching the pilot, I’ll start out by saying that Nikita was the perfect choice for The CW to place in the time slot right after The Vampire Diaries. It’s full of action and excellent performances by Maggie Q, Melinda Clarke, Lyndsy Fonseca and Shane West. There is no show that can be compared to this on television right now, which makes for original and unique storylines.
In the opening scene, the plot of the show is explained: Nikita was taken out of prison, and forced by a secret unit of the government called “Division” to be an assassin. Years ago she escaped and has been pursued ever since. Her goals: make sure that the other recruits get out and avoid her life, while ensuring the government gets shut down.
The first scene is a masked heist, in which we meet a very young girl, Alex (Fonseca). Someone shows up in a pig mask, killing the civilian that threatens to kill Alex. In the end, you learn that Nikita was the "pig," and saved the heist, leaving right before the police arrive so Alex could be arrested. Nikita is a woman who wants crimes to be committed, only so the government can fail to stop them.
Alex is a real live-wire, with a lot of fire and fight, which catches the eye of the government's recruiter, Michael (West). It's hard not to admit: this girl would make a perfect assassin. She threatens to kill her “military charm” coach Amanda (Clarke), only to be told that there is no way out. She’s in for life.
When the criminals are brought into Division, they are announced dead by suicide or fake execution to the public. To the world, they no longer exist, and this program “gives them a new life, where they will serve their country," and that’s the line they use to seduce these troubled kids. Alex is shocked by the program, which shows kids training for the kill.
I enjoyed Nikita’s antics throughout the episode, along with the cat-and-mouse games she created with the government. She pays visits to her dead civilian fiancé's grave, who was killed by Division; and her formerly abusive adoptive father. Nikita knows Division inside and out, and plays their games twice as good as they do.
During most of the episode, I felt sympathy for Alex. However, my jaw dropped at the end when it was revealed that she is in cahoots with Nikita to bring down the government assassin program.
I am extremely curious as to how exactly Nikita ended up in prison, and eventually in this program, and how Alex will be used to free these kids.
The pilot also hints at some kind of relationship between Nikita and Michael, which I’m hoping they delve deeper into. The flashbacks of Nikita and her civilian fiancé are extremely heartwarming, and I hope to see more of her life before she was recruited.
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February 3rd, 2012 10:18 AM
You guys are unbelievable! You can't judge the show by watching the first episode only! What exactly don't you like? The perfectly written script? Or the amazingly chosen cast?
Please stop hating and bitching about the show. There are worse shows being aired now, and surprisingly, everyone's falling for them. SMH.
December 31st, 2010 7:16 AM
If anything, Alias ripped off Nikita. I'm actually enjoying the reboot even more than LFN and I thoroughly enjoyed the USA series back in the day. I love Maggie and Shane in the roles and their chemistry together. But, to each their own.
October 29th, 2010 1:32 AM
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The clip is singularly unimpressive, to the point of boredom. Which bodes ill indeed. "La Femme Nikita" the series didn't need a remake any more than Hitchcock's Psycho did -- but there will always be idiots who will try. Still, if you're going to remake a classic, you'd damned well better do it well. I see no evidence of that here.
The first impression is that we can't possibly be looking at the right person: Maggie Q is a beautiful woman, but she looks every bit the suave, self-possessed 31-year-old that she is and way too old to be playing the rapidly schooled, desperate novice Nikita, barely out of her teens at the start of her new 'career' with Section (now rechristened 'Division' -- really, was there any pretense of a good reason for a change that meaningless?). And the scene is very nearly a copy of the same (and equally flat) scene in that awful Bridget Fonda film version, Point Of No Return, which was a similarly misbegotten remake of the French original. Americanized, h
October 20th, 2010 3:09 PM
None of the so called elites of Division would measure up against those of Section 1. In fact, I'm sure all of Division's recruits would be canceled after a day in Section 1.
Maggie Q can act? Wow really?! Yeah, and pigs can fly.
And Birkhoff (of Nikita 2010) or any of Division's security measures can't detect Alex communicating with Nikita? A so called elite hacker like him being out-smarted by some teenage druggie.
Division must be so tight budgeted that they have to keep the training room right next to the operations room. Where is Ammunitions? Or Medical? Or the White Room?
October 5th, 2010 5:06 PM
Jules right guys.. it is not another version/copy of alias. In fact, it's the other way around.
This series is a remake from an old series "La femme of Nikita" which inspires the making of "Alias", which i honestly think the storyline (in spy world) is more realistic compared to Alias that has a very-predictable and easy-solution ending.
September 17th, 2010 3:55 AM
I'm watching the second episode, and this just doesn't do it for me at all. Just for the record, the "genealogy" is that first there was a French film, "La Femme Nikita," followed by the US version with Bridget Fonda (Point of No Return), followed by the series with Pita Wilson also called "La Femme Nikita." My personal favorite is the latter, which I enjoyed thoroughly. The problems I have with this series is that I don't think Maggie Q can act (pretty though she is) and the sound quality sucks--music overshadows the dialog, or it sounds as though they are speaking underwater. Or something, but it isn't good.
September 13th, 2010 9:26 AM
I thought the show was great, because it's managed off the bat to head in directions different than both the original series/movie, as well as Alias which I see people are already connecting it to (reality check: Alias ripped off Nikita, not the other way around). The only thing that bugged me was the fact Nikita is revealed as the killer of the innocent bystander in the first scene. While the show makes clear that the stakes are high, that sort of thing isn't what you're supposed to do with a sympathetic lead character (even Dexter leaves innocents alone). Hopefully the show won't just sweep this under the rug ... unless of course we have even more twists in store regarding who the real Nikita actually is...
September 11th, 2010 5:16 PM
Very good first show, I like the fact they continue the story, not repeat the old show !
Bravo!
September 11th, 2010 11:29 AM
For some reason this reminds me a little of Dark Angel. Wich isn't a bad thing..
September 11th, 2010 8:25 AM
Guys, this isn't Alias, the series is a continuation of the movie starring Bridget Fonda called Point of No Return/The Assassin. The movie explains that she was a drug addict who killed someone in a robbery and she was sentenced to death which is how she got into the program. She falls in love and her handler Bob (like Michael) lets her get away. Amanda is the polisher/groomer in both the movie and the show. It's actually nothing like Alias because Nikita knew all along who she was working for.