Nikita

[sardonictart]

Loved the last episode...and only partly because Sean was half-naked for the majority of it. Ahem. Boy has got some fine arms and shoulders. *drools*

Anyway, liked the cliffhanger ending, and Sean's joining up with the group. Though I have to say that I think he may dead by the end of the season. He's too moral in a way that will cause him to fuck up and then die for either his mother or Alex.

Didn't see the fact that Amanda had a thing for Percy coming. And, ew. Looking forward to the next ep and some more half-naked Sean.

[Witchie]

I like Sean, but he was dumb as fuck to go after Nikita by himself. Bound to fail. He does have a fantastic body & I did not mind looking at him.

Poor Amanda, but damn...you don't piss her off. I thought they had something, so the reveal wasn't much of a surprise. Percy dissing her, though, was a huge surprise.

People are going to die. The cast is too big. Too many side stories. I would not be shocked to see Michael killed, so he can go off and raise his kid. Amanda will probably be killed & Madeleine will replace her. Sean is probably a goner. I wish for Alex's death all the time, but I doubt that's going to happen. Only ones who are probably safe are Nikita, Alex, and Birkhoff.

[sardonictart]

I'm afraid you are right about the cast size being shrunk down. Unfortunate, really. I like this show a lot, so I hope that the CW doesn't cancel it.

[incognito]

I hope Alex doesn't die. I think that the relationship between her and Nikita is what really sets this show apart from most others on television, including the old LFN. As someone on TWOP said, one of the issues with the original show was that the female characters were largely isolated from each other, and that there weren't as many of them. If Alex were to die, then part of what makes this remake so great would go away IMO.

I don't think they're going to kill off Michael. Sean is probably the most expendable among the main cast members, especially if they wind up Oversight's arc this season.

[Witchie]

I'm all for more women on the show, but I don't like Mary Sue Alex. She was fine as a recruit, but trying to place her on equal footing as Nikita was a stretch last season. Amanda regularly eats her for breakfast. Percy manipulates her like a violin. Even Sean was able to trick her. So, I'm baffled why everyone likes Alex. She seems like a lost little girl playing at being a spy. I guess that' why I don't have a problem with LFN either. I didn't see the need for female friendship because I understood Nikita was living a day-to-day existence where ties were dangerous, not only to her, but to those she befriended.

[incognito]

How is Alex a Mary Sue when, as you point out, she's pretty much been in way over her head when it comes to Division/Gogol/etc.? She's not portrayed as being perfect. I don't think she was really set up as being Nikita's equal at all last season; on the contrary, more than once we saw Nikita coming to her rescue (or attempting to, a la the ep "Resistance"). She did save Nikita's life when she fake-killed her at the very end, but that was about it. If anything, I'd say that Nikita is more of a Mary Sue than Alex (but I don't think that either of them are, as they both have some well-developed flaws). Alex was incredibly naive and easily manipulated, and we were shown that.

This season has been a bit more give-and-take, but I don't think it's been out of the realm of believability. Nikita and Alex are still set up in a type of mentor/student relationship.

I didn't see the need for female friendship because I understood Nikita was living a day-to-day existence where ties were dangerous, not only to her, but to those she befriended.

I think the point was that in LFN, aside from Nikita and Madeleine, there weren't that many female characters at all compared to the men. And Nikita and Madeleine were relatively isolated from each other and therefore not interacting. I like that this new Nikita passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors. (And I realize that the Bechdel Test isn't some definitive guide, but it is a pretty good starting point IMO, and it says something that relatively few shows can pass it, whereas the men on said shows have no such problem.)

I also like that Craig Silverstein himself has described Nikita and Alex's relationship as being the great tragic love story of the series.

[Witchie]

Alex shouldn't be anywhere near as good as Nikita, but she is. She's held in the same regard as Nikita by Division/Oversight and there's no reason for it. She wouldn't have succeeded without Nikita's interference. That's why I say she's a Mary Sue. She's only shown as the naive, little girl when the story dictates. Otherwise, she's Nikita's equal as an agent. Umm...why? She hasn't earned it.

I guess my biggest problem with Alex is the amount of time focused on her and her family story. It's not that interesting. Who knows maybe there will be a parallel with Nikita's, but at the moment, there isn't and I just don't care.

I don't know what the Bechdel test it.

[incognito]

I don't think Division/Oversight necessarily sees her as being as good as Nikita is. Remember in "All the Way" when Nikita entered the room full of recruits and everyone looked like they were about to shit their pants? AWESOME. They don't seem to fear Alex nearly as much (or at all). Division feels like they can just manipulate her to their own ends, like when Amanda had plans to set up Alex as head of Zetrov so that she'd be a puppet for Division's needs. I've never gotten the impression that they truly respect her as much as they do Nikita.

I think that Alex reminds them of what Nikita was like at the beginning of her journey, like when Michael said as much in the pilot. That seems to be the motif of the show, i.e. Alex is on Nikita's parallel path. She's Nikita 2.0, but that doesn't mean she's Nikita's equal yet. And IMO nobody really treats her as such except perhaps for Nikita herself, who is trying to atone for her previous mistakes with Alex by treating her as an equal partner. But that's been a very recent development.

This is the Bechdel Test:

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

Like I said, it's not a definitive test or the final say on how feminist a show or movie is, because it's entirely possible for a show to pass the test and yet still be deeply misogynistic, and vice versa. Still, I think when you compare the relatively few works that can pass this test to the high numbers that could pass the male equivalent, it's pretty sad. So I guess, for me, it's just nice to see a show where the friendship between these two women is the dominant relationship in the series.

(Also, writing this post makes me want to rewatch "All the Way", just so that I can see Nikita kicking ass in Division HQ. I remember when Maggie Q got such shit because people said she was too skinny to be a believable kick-ass fighter. )

I guess my biggest problem with Alex is the amount of time focused on her and her family story.

LOL, well, I'll agree with you on that much. I didn't like how the latter half of season 1 morphed into the Alex Hour. I like Alex as a character, but how about spending some more time with the TITULAR character, mmmkay?

[Witchie]

Jan 29, 2012 18:54:49 GMT -4 incognito said:

I don't think Division/Oversight necessarily sees her as being as good as Nikita is. Remember in "All the Way" when Nikita entered the room full of recruits and everyone looked like they were about to shit their pants? AWESOME. They don't seem to fear Alex nearly as much (or at all). Division feels like they can just manipulate her to their own ends, like when Amanda had plans to set up Alex as head of Zetrov so that she'd be a puppet for Division's needs. I've never gotten the impression that they truly respect her as much as they do Nikita.

I think that Alex reminds them of what Nikita was like at the beginning of her journey, like when Michael said as much in the pilot. That seems to be the motif of the show, i.e. Alex is on Nikita's parallel path. She's Nikita 2.0, but that doesn't mean she's Nikita's equal yet. And IMO nobody really treats her as such except perhaps for Nikita herself, who is trying to atone for her previous mistakes with Alex by treating her as an equal partner. But that's been a very recent development.

This is the Bechdel Test:

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

Like I said, it's not a definitive test or the final say on how feminist a show or movie is, because it's entirely possible for a show to pass the test and yet still be deeply misogynistic, and vice versa. Still, I think when you compare the relatively few works that can pass this test to the high numbers that could pass the male equivalent, it's pretty sad. So I guess, for me, it's just nice to see a show where the friendship between these two women is the dominant relationship in the series.

(Also, writing this post makes me want to rewatch "All the Way", just so that I can see Nikita kicking ass in Division HQ. I remember when Maggie Q got such shit because people said she was too skinny to be a believable kick-ass fighter. )

I guess my biggest problem with Alex is the amount of time focused on her and her family story.

LOL, well, I'll agree with you on that much. I didn't like how the latter half of season 1 morphed into the Alex Hour. I like Alex as a character, but how about spending some more time with the TITULAR character, mmmkay?

I can see your points & give a /preach it sistah! to the bolded.

[sardonictart]

Anyone else think that Amanda might be Alex's birth mother? Or long lost half-sister? I'm just not getting why she would care whether Alex dies or not, and it looked like she did when chatting with Ari.

And this episode was missing naked Sean. Ahem.