Nikita, Season 3, Episode 4: “Consequences”
Written by Kristen Reidel
Directed by Nick Copus
Airs Fridays at 9pm (ET) on the CW
Division’s search for the agents who didn’t come in from the cold following Percy’s demise was bound to turn up a familiar face for Nikita sooner or later. After all, her own crusade against the institution brought her close to many agents who similarly had a vendetta against Percy himself, or the institution at large, and such a reunion would doubtless lead to some interesting conversations, as well as add previously missing personal stakes to the mission. This episode explores how the new Division reacts when an old friend pops up, resulting in one of the most thrilling episodes of the season, and one that potentially sets up several storylines that promise to advance the show beyond this week.
Owen’s questioning of the new Division’s tactics is a great thread to carry over from last week. No matter Nikita’s justification, the hard facts are that every rogue agent they have tracked down and tried to recover has ended up dead in one way or another. This makes the new Division disturbingly like the old Division and makes the hesitance of agents to come in perfectly understandable. How Nikita and Ryan deal with this going forward should be interesting, as Nikita’s ideas of how to bring agents in may end up clashing with Ryan’s obligations to the government. If Division continues down this path, however, alienation of agents is also a distinct possibility, and now with the knowledge that Amanda is actively recruiting ex-agents, the margin of error for Division has become a lot smaller.
Speaking of Amanda, it was good to see her return, and know that her time in the shadows had not weakened her. Having a strong, formidable opponent to face off against adds a lot more focus to the season, and moves it away from the procedural elements of the first few episodes of this season. Season 2 thrived when pursuing larger story arcs, so this can only be a good thing. Amanda’s personal vendetta against Nikita, as opposed to a simple desire to return back to a position of power in Division, is an interesting direction for the character that smartly avoids comparisons to Percy. It will be fascinating to watch if, in light of the deaths the place has seen lately, some Division agents do take Amanda up on her offer. Particularly people such as Owen and Alex, the latter of whom may end up making some bad decisions if her addiction takes hold of her once again. The lingering question, of course, is also where Ari fits into all these plans and how he’ll react if he ever does find out the extent of Amanda’s plans.
Alex’s imminent character arc is also an interesting aspect to the show. For all her protests about owing something to Nikita and thus staying on at Division, there seems to be something deeper driving her. After all, before Nikita recruited her, Alex was a lost soul; training with Nikita, then being inserted into Division, gave her life purpose, and with Semak’s demise, her father has been avenged as well. All that she has to look forward to now is being a heiress, something that can be hard to adjust to for her, considering she was ripped from her own wealth at a young age. How her budding re-addiction to drugs creates problems in the field is something to watch out for, as well as how she chooses to go about dealing with her conflicting loyalties.
Overall, this is a gripping thrill ride of an episode that serves as a very effective reminder of what this show does so well. The storming of the Amanda-Ari hideout is very reminiscent of Division missions from the first two seasons, in a good way. It is nice to see Nikita and Ryan smoothly working together to take down Amanda and hopefully this is not the last time that will happen this season. Birkhoff’s discovery that there’s a mole inside the organisation adds an interesting new wrinkle to the proceedings from here on out, as the mole may end up giving Amanda information that could jeopardise future missions, something Division cannot afford. But the most interesting thing going forward may be seeing how Owen adjusts to the new Division and being a vital member of a team again, after being on his own for so long. What storylines turn out to be larger arcs, and how they get resolved, holds a lot of promise, and that’s enough reason to tune in next week.
Deepayan Sengupta