Nikita – Has this show opened its own Pandora’s Box?

Don’t get me wrong. I know that the series is supposed to have an element of mystery to it, and I’m not asking for everything to be spelled out for me, but there’s a difference between leaving the door open for a second season and not having a solid direction. Evaluating “Pandora,” I’m worried that Nikita is leaning toward the latter.

The show played its trump card earlier than expected when it had conflicted Michael (Shane West) turn sides in “Covenants,” leaving him free to romance Nikita (Maggie Q) and become her inside man. While Michael finally got to trade punches with boss Percy (Xander Berkeley) and had Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford) decrypt the head honcho’s black box, most of what was given to him had to do with Nikita, and they drove off into predictably inclement weather together. I’d love to see more non-relationship material for Shane West to sink his teeth into, because we know he can more than pull it off. And I’m still waiting for a new antagonist that will be as interesting as Michael was.

“Pandora” implied, and creator Craig Silverstein has confirmed in a TVLine interview, that should there be a second year, the new antagonist will be Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca), who actually died for twenty-five seconds thanks to that pesky electric chair. Alex, still out to kill her father’s right-hand man for ordering his death, made a deal with the devil. She will be working for Division again – this time under the command of Amanda (Melinda Clarke), after Percy was knocked down a few pegs by his bosses from Oversight (including a fab but underused Alberta Watson). Amanda got her revenge on Percy in the end.

This is part of the finale that I loved. Both Fonseca and Clarke acted the heck out of their parts, and I’m glad that Nikita didn’t have Alex quickly become BFF’s with Nikita again; Alex has really developed over the last few episodes, and that has given Fonseca a lot more to work with. Is Alex going to be as compelling a villain as Michael was? That I’m not so sure about, and I don’t want to repeat Michael’s story arc waiting for Alex to re-join Team Nikita. Only time will tell, though, and given her fantastic performances of late, I’ll give Fonseca the benefit of the doubt. Not to mention, seeing Clarke and Berkeley oppose one another should make for some great television.

It looks like season two will be a vastly different show than season one. It sounds interesting, for sure, but I’m not looking at it just from a standpoint of what’s entertaining – I’m looking at it as a writer, wondering if it’s a strong enough story to build a second season (and hopefully third, etc) on. I can’t help but think back to early in the season when it was publicized that CW wanted Nikita to lighten up in order to attract more young women. What happened? Michael became a ‘good guy’ by the middle of season one, which might have satisfied the demographic by allowing the Michael/Nikita romance to happen, but it also eliminated that continual source of conflict. With going to that story point so early, the show has had to come up with something to replace that tension and character development with. It seems like the romance was supposed to fill that void, but romance and conflict are two differing elements. So the question remains going into season two: is something going to be there that’s going to be as good as watching Michael and Nikita at odds? I’m not so sure just yet.

Before you get out the torches, “Pandora” was still a watchable finale. Most importantly, I didn’t feel cheated in any respect, as every character has a new place to start going into season two. Birkhoff having his own doubts about Division made me happy because I like him, but then I wondered, “How many more people are going to join Team Nikita?” The episode balanced things out, though, because CIA agent Ryan Fletcher (Noah Bean) won’t be around to help anymore — he’ll be doing prison time after hitting a CIA director with a chair. I know a lot of people disliked Ryan, especially after he kissed Nikita, but I always liked the guy. Hopefully, Nikita will bust him out like she promised.

And in addition to the great acting from Fonseca, Clarke and Stanford, I loved seeing Michael and Percy (and to an extent, Nikita and Alex) slug it out, although both battles were too brief for my taste. It’s impressive that Nikita‘s characters come to blows and don’t just make idle threats that mean nothing — not only is it fun to watch, but it gives what they say credibility because we’ve seen them willing to act on their words.

Taken by itself, “Pandora” is a pretty good episode. I don’t know if it’s the best episode, or particularly jaw-dropping, but I liked watching it and it was a satisfying end to the first season. I just can’t rave about it like so many others, because looking down the road to Nikita‘s future seasons (fingers crossed!), it didn’t abate my worries about what lies ahead. I’m an optimist, though: after all, season one started badly and became a pleasantly awesome surprise. Here’s to hoping history repeats itself.

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on May 13, 2011 @ 09:23 EST5EDT