What I’m Watching: Nikita (Season Finale)

Nikita: Season 1, Episode 22 “Pandora” (C)

Here we have exactly what we would expect from a season finale, especially one on a broadcast network, coming at us from all sides. That is to say, an enormous game-changer with a new shadow group in power as the bad guys coupled with a major alliance-switch or two. To presume that both Birkhoff and Amanda, for different reasons, would just let Michael and Alex go by releasing their handy electric handcuffs is quite a stretch, and it shows just how little character development has actually gone on this season. Their motivations are equally childish: Birkhoff thought Michael was his friend (a paler version of Casey just wanting to be included in Chuck and Sarah’s off-book shenanigans in “Chuck”) and Amanda was sick of not being told about anything important. Birkhoff’s change of heart could fly, but Amanda suddenly becoming a trusted member of the shadow organization that wants to somehow bring Percy down by putting all the blame on Nikita seems like a hardy fast track. A bloodied Percy yelling “kill them both!” into a microphone while watching his teams was the ultimate example of chewing scenery, and a bit much to take seriously. Roan is officially the worst cleaner ever, taking his sweet time meticulously documenting a dead body and then allowing Nikita to escape. Where the show heads from here is questionable, as will whether it’s headed anywhere at all, since its fate won’t be officially determined until Thursday, when the CW announces its fall schedule. It will likely be back, and I can only hope that it will contain some much better writing, since this show didn’t start out so bad.

Season grade: C+
Season MVP: Xander Berkeley as Percy