New day, new Division. Same ol’ Nikita.
Nikita busted open the door of its third season tonight and just like a rogue agent in the field, it was slick, unpredictable and kicked a whole ton of butt.
After the explosive events of the second season finale, we’re into new territory with the third season. I’d contend that the biggest question at this point is if the show can survive without the guy we loved to hate: Percy. In that sense, Season 3 is a reboot sorts as Nikita sets her sights on a whole new brand of villains.
Here’s the good, bad and the ugly of the Season 3 kickoff, aka Life after Percy.
The New Division
Gone are the days when Division was a prison for agents-in-training. Now these walls fight for good. Ryan Fletcher now has the juice, being commissioned by the POTUS run Division. It’s a bit weird not seeing Percy or Amanda calling the shots from the office and you can expect Ryan’s by the book approach to conflict a lot with Nikita’s by-the-gut style, as it did tonight.
The Dirty Thirty
How do you replace uber-villain Percy? Not with just one mere person, that’s for sure.
That’s where the Dirty Thirty come in: thirty rogue agents who all decided to ignore Division’s post-Percy command to report it. Nikita and friends successfully took out one tonight, and you can expect the rest to be fodder for our mission-of-the-week installments going forward.
I’m sure the writers will mix things up here from episode to episode, but Percy’s absence is felt in the premiere. These little side missions are always fun and exciting, but the presence of a big, looming danger has served the show well. That brings us to…
Amanda
The vixen was nowhere in sight in the premiere, though we know she’s out there causing trouble. I hope that when she does come back in (somewhere around episode 4), she’s even viler than we’ve seen in the past. And hopefully, Ari is with her.
Birkhoff
“Oh, No she didn’t!” Everyone’s favorite hacker was back doing what he does best: providing the comic relief just when things are getting a little crazy. But his crush on Sonya has hit rocky times and we don’t know just yet what he’s done to piss her off.
Mike Liked It, So He Put A Ring On It
Only would a rogue agent bring an engagement ring on a mission. Mikita fans must have done a touchdown celebration when Michael proposed to Nikita. While these two have been an item for over a season now, I don’t think anyone expected them to get engaged this early. Sure, there’s the whole carpe diem thing, but I’d imagine they’d be more focused on ending their spy game and then walking off into the sunset later. That makes me believe more rocky times are on the horizon for these two.
Nikita’s Entourage
With Michael, Alex, Ryan, Birkhoff, Sean and a roving Owen, there’s a whole lot of good-doers on Nikita’s six. The jury is out if this is a better approach for the show, which focused primarily on Nikita and Alex taking on all the bad guys back in Season 1. It’s a bit hard to spread screen time to all these guys, so maybe some of the ‘fat’ will be trimmed before we bid Season 3 adieu?
Overall, “3.0″ was a fine start to the season. Nikita is a show that is constantly evolving, yet never fails to deliver the goods. Hopefully it fares better in the ratings as it takes on its second straight season in the 8PM Friday slot.
