Nikita - A Michael Bay Movie Only With Good Acting!

Someone grab a mop and a bucket. I’m going to spill my guts. I simply love this show! Honestly, I want to be Nikita. I want the cool spy toys, the “off the grid” life, the couture fashion, and the hot guys in suits. Stop and ask yourself this question. Other than Mad Men, what other show has sexy guys in suits and ties? Nikita has it all – sexual tension, adrenaline rushes, and awesome eye candy. Why can’t my life be more like Nikita’s?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. We’ve seen this before. Girl assassin seeks to destroy the organization that’s made her a monster. But with this Nikita, it’s not what we’ve seen but what’s fresh that make it unique.

First and foremost – it’s the acting. Maggie Q excels at pulling off the rogue assassin Nikita. She helps us feel Nikita’s personal challenges to protect the recruits facing a similar fate as her, as well as, her sometimes irrational need for revenge against the man that owns this world; a world known as Division that even after her escape still controls her life.

Maggie faces considerable challenges portraying this character. She must keep the audience interested in her mission which could seem routine if it’s her only motivation. Thankfully, she’s able to focus on a broader range of issues showing her vulnerability and humanity. Plus, she has to help us love her. If we don’t care about Nikita, we don’t watch the show. And, she must provide the moral lesson each week. I sometimes worry when she’s given life’s lessons to share but, Maggie pulls it off without coming across as cheesy or artificial. She’s able to hit the gamut of emotions and let us feel what she’s feeling. One minute she’s a cold blooded killer taking out Division agents like she’s playing Call of Duty Black Ops and the next minute, she’s cooing over an orphaned Jack Russell Terrier.

Maggie takes us by the hand and guides us into Nikita’s world. We see her as a recruit; high spirited and magnetic and as a woman that just wants to love and be loved. We’re able to peek into her personality before she’s transformed into a killer. Maggie shares the heartbreak of this transformation and it’s palatable.

But, as many of you know, the backbone of the show is the relationship between Nikita and Michael. Shane West does a superb job of playing Michael to Maggie’s Nikita. Like Maggie, Shane has huge hurdles to leap. He must show the audience his feelings usually without the benefit of a word of dialogue. Shane is a master at conveying the turmoil brewing inside Michael over his loyalties for Division and his love for Nikita. Yes, I said love even though that’s a word that would stick in Michael’s throat. I can tell you that Shane’s Michael knows Nikita is his soul mate and hence the struggle within. Shane casts Michael as more of a tortured soul than even Nikita. Given Shane’s breadth of work, it’s not difficult to see how he’s able to push the audience to love Michael as much as Nikita loves him.

And of course honorable mentions go out to the supporting cast as well including Xander Berkeley as Percy – the greedy, narcissistic leader of Division; Lyndsy Fonesca as Alex – Nikita’s partner in her mission to destroy Division; Aaron Stanford as Birkhoff – the computer genius that never takes anything too seriously; Melinda Clarke as Amanda – the psychologist without a conscience; Ashton Holmes as Thom – the recently turned agent with a heart of gold; and Tiffany Hines as Jaden –Alex’s nemesis at Division.

And the other key element to the success of this show is the writing. The stable of writers are able to move the characters’ relationships forward within the backdrop of the world of espionage. The weekly threat of life or death situations intensifies the feelings these characters show for one another.

In the pilot, Michael chases Nikita into an alley. When faced with the reality that she would force him to kill her or let her go, Michael shares our first glimpse into his inner struggle. It isn’t just that once he was her teacher. Now, it’s more powerful than that. Now, he realizes there’s a deeper connection between them.

Later in the series, the tables are turned. Nikita takes Michael prisoner holding a gun to his head in order to escape a no win situation. Michael tells his partner, “She won’t hurt me” and the audience knows it runs both ways. She won’t hurt him. In fact, given the opportunity, she will save his life.

And that brings us to the title of this article. Division suspects Nikita is dead. Birkhoff confronts Michael about how he’s dealing with her death. Michael is visibly shaken by the discussion. He refuses to accept that Nikita’s gone. That’s because she is, as Birkhoff puts it, “a force of nature. Like a Michael Bay movie only with good acting.” And that’s truly a description for this series as a whole.