The Racialicious Roundtable for Nikita 1.3
Hosted by Arturo R. García
So, three weeks in, Nikita’s ratings performance isn’t exactly inspiring: according to Spoiler TV, the show finished last in its’ time slot, last in the 18-49 demographic, and last among CW shows for its’ time slot. Yikes.
Worst yet, “Kill Jill” wasn’t as clever as its’ title would have you think. While it did sort of try to address one of the more logical questions about shows like these – why wouldn’t Nikita just go public with the goods on Division? – mostly the episode had the feel of wheels spinning in place. There’s a bunch of set pieces developing, and they’re threatening to bog the show down if the creative team isn’t careful. Let’s see what the Roundtable thinks.
SPOILERS AHEAD
On the bright side, one of those set pieces seems to be the Maggie Q Frak Yes Moment Of The Week. This episode’s installment: Mags with a trenchcoat and a shotgun.
Mahsino: She was also in stilettos, which killed whatever believability I had reserved for that episode.
Arturo: Huh. Didn’t even catch those. I just dug the trench, I guess.
jen*: None of that registered with me. I’m not actually impressed with wardrobe on this show.
Diana: Meh and Blah.
On the not-so-bright side, another week, another Flirt-Kill-Cute between Nikita and Michael. At this point I’m almost rooting for dude to find a new gf so we can get past the angst.
Mahsino: I guess the fact that I can’t really muster any energy to comment on that snoozefest of a supposed relationship is its own commentary.
jen*: Seriously. I’m already not digging old Shane West – now he’s doing Nikita I’ll-let-you-live-this-time-so-I-can-get-some-booty-next-time favors?
Diana: Jen*, I guess that’s his way of keeping the spark in their relationship.
The show’s foundation is the Nikita/Alex relationship, of course, but this time we also saw Nikita protecting Jill the Annoying Journalist. On the whole, how do you think this show handles interpersonal relationships between its’ various female characters?
jen*: Remembering back to the old show (USA in the 90s), Nikita used to be more of a solo artist – with Michael as backup – similar to situations on Alias. Nikita/Alex/Jill seem like they’ll all be working together in the future somehow. This Nikita is much more interdependent, though I did like how she just went on without Alex’s help on this mission. Overall, I’m still getting that this is a vehicle for developing Alex into a star, with Nikita being more of a narrator/there-when-you-need-her heroine. And there is no better name than Jill the Annoying Journalist.
Diana: I didn’t watch the old show, but based on the original film, Nikita is supposed to be solo. She’s a bad apple with no family who is turned into an assassin. She does not have a normal life within traditional social constructs. So all this female bonding is getting in the way of what should be a straight forward story about a woman who comes to kick ass and nothing but ass-kicking.
Mahsino: I haven’t seen either, but the idea of her just going it alone sounds like it could make this show a little better.
Nikita’s interactions with Jill also revealed a big hole in the series: wouldn’t exposing more of Division’s operations do more damage than random intercepts? Or is that too logical for everybody’s good here?
Mahsino: I don’t get her supposed plan. I don’t mean to underestimate her or anything, but I fail to see how she managed to gain the logistical skills to destroy Division.
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