What I'm Watching: Nikita

Nikita: Season 1, Episode 8 “Phoenix” (C)

It's a bit hard to appreciate the moral ambiguity on this show when good guy Thom's first kill isn't some poor, innocent woman caught up in a corrupt scheme but instead a willing Russian spy. Somehow, Nikita managed to get on Division's trail and track the woman without having the slightest suspicion that she might actually be a guilty victim. The use of one sole fake family photograph is quite the Achilles' Heel, and at least Nikita is able to see through something to peg the mourning parents as the spies they were. Nikita really isn't good at gaining allies, whether they're disgruntled Division recruits or enemies of enemies. The way that both Thom and Michael are written, you'd think that they would make for the perfect friends to have in the right places, yet she just can't seem to get along with anyone except for her trusted ally Alex, who really comes through for her in this episode in a way that she hasn't yet been called upon to do. We also have people like Owen the Guardian and Robbie the Cleaner running around somewhere in plot limbo, and I'm fairly unsure of when, if ever, they're going to come into play. I think this show might be well served to go the route that the now-cancelled “Undercovers” was going to go, to pursue the overarching storyline more actively rather than episodic cases with throwaway heroes and villains. It would certainly make for a more compelling case and give the show a reason to be renewed.