First Look at The CW’s Upcoming Series “Nikita”

It may seem like the major television season just ended but here we are in mid-July with eyes beginning to turn to the fall season and the new series that each network will unleash upon us to become either prime-time mainstays or quickly forgotten flashes in the pan. This week I had the pleasure to get an early look at two new shows for The CW – Nikita and Hellcats. Both series seem aimed to break up the more dominant soap opera-esque dramas of the current CW lineup and I couldn’t be more on board with that. I’m just not sure these are the two shows that change the network forever.

I’ll discuss Hellcats in greater detail in a future article, so let’s start with Nikita, which seems naturally poised to pique some interest based on the fact that it already has a fan-base out there somewhere due to the 1990 French film La Femme Nikita and the television series of the same name that ran on the USA Network from 1997-2001. Granted, said fan-base may actually only be a couple of guys in Quebec but it’s better than no name recognition at all I suppose!

Stepping into the assassin boots this time around is Maggie Q who is no stranger to the spy game having previously appeared in Mission Impossible III opposite Tom Cruise. Q is well suited for the role and easily the show’s greatest asset as things play out in the pilot episode.

The pilot begins with a serious voiceover by Nikita as she assembles an assortment of weapons talking about being the only one who has escaped and being determined to rescue others like her. At this point we aren’t entirely sure what she’s talking about but we come to learn that Nikita was once a troubled teen who was arrested for a murder that she doesn’t remember committing. And the reason she doesn’t remember is because she quite frankly didn’t do it. Instead, a secret government agency known as Division framed her and then faked her execution for the crime and sent her to an intense training school where she became a master spy and assassin.

Unfortunately for Division, Nikita didn’t so much enjoy just killing at their behest and so became the first agent to escape their ranks. But rather than simply go into hiding and start a new life, Nikita is on a quest to bring down Division and free her fellow assassins employed against their will. And if this pilot episode is any indication this will be an all-out war that might actually be fun to watch. In this first hour alone she manages to kidnap a high-ranking Division official, foil one of their major assassination jobs, get herself into a swanky Washington DC event just to taunt Division leader, Percy (Xander Berkeley), and even put a bullet into her original recruiter. Needless to say, this girl is busy.

This pilot episode also introduces us to Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) who is arrested in a robbery gone wrong but instead of jail finds herself in the Division training school under the watchful eye of Michael (Shane West) and Amanda (Melinda Clarke who you may know as the skanky mom on The Vampire Diaries). Alex is essentially in line to become the next ultra-killer like Nikita and judging by her inner rage she just might be able to reach that level but the competition is certainly fierce from fellow trainees like Jaden (Tiffany Hines) and Thom (Ashton Holmes) who are almost at their peak skills to be released out into the field.

The episode plays out at a nice pace as the separate storylines of Nikita and Alex lead to a fun twist at the end that adds a little intrigue to future episodes. I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it here but it gives the show a little more hope than I had for it before the revelation. What ultimately might still bring down the show though is a lack of imagination on multiple levels. On a technical level the dialogue was painfully cliche-ridden and worthy of eye-rolling. In one flashback scene Nikita purrs to her former fiance in bed to “promise me it’s not a dream.” Like we haven’t heard that one before.

On another front I’m just not sure the writers and producers have what it takes to properly wow us in the espionage department. We’ve all seen countless movies and shows about spies and killers and have therefore seen just about every possible way to break into a secure building or kill a hard to reach target. To make something like this really spark and succeed you have to show us brilliant things that we haven’t seen before and that unfortunately never happened in this pilot episode. I won’t write it off yet but they will really need to step up the game in this department if this show is to succeed.

The cast itself did reasonably well with the material they were given. The only real misstep in casting would probably be with Shane West who appears a little out of depth playing an apparently seasoned government killer and trainer of killers. He tries his best but it will take more than a little facial hair and making his voice growly to make this character believable.

All in all, the pilot episode of Nikita represents a mixed bag of potential. The show is certainly not doomed from the start, nor is it a guaranteed hit either. If the writers are able to kick the writing up to the level of the glossy production values that the show features, we might end up with something special but until that second episode airs we can only wait and hope.

Originally published July 19, 2010

Nikita airs on Thursdays this fall on The CW starting September 9.

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Photographs courtesy of The CW Network and Ben Mark Holzberg.