REVIEW: La Femme Nikita Finale (SPOILERS) (Rename it: "L'Homme Nichael"...)
Ian J. Ball
SPOILERS below...
First things first: after seeing this finale, I now hope that all rumors
of an 8-episode "mini" season #5 are false. Pretty much everything was
tied up here, and I can't think they'll get anything worthwhile out of
anymore episodes. Bottom line: I just don't want (or need) to see anymore
"Nikita". It just ain't necessary...
Now, on to the main event...
It's clear that series finale author Michael Loceff, previously among
"Nikita's" best scribes, has been unduly influenced by relative "Nikita"
newcomer Larry Herzog (formerly of "Nowhere Man", and who's only been
around since season #3). In some instances, this might not be a bad thing.
But in the case of "Nikita's" continuity, it most defintiely *is* a bad
thing.
You see, what we get for the "Nikita" finale is final mindf*cking "twist",
one that's supposed to throw the viewer for a loop. Oh, and it does that,
but not in the way intended.
Because of the confines imposed on "Nikita" but its American viewing
outlet, the USA network, the entire premise of the "Niktia" series was
changed from the two "Nikita" movies. The two movies were about the
journey to "righteousness" of a thoroughly worthless and dispicable human
being coerced into performing "good deeds" (i.e. righteous "hits") for the
government in question.
"Nikita" the series was about something else entirely. Something, it turns
out, almost, or perhaps even more, interesting: the plight of an
"innocent" coerced into doing "horrible" deeds (i.e. righteous (and
sometimes less than righteous) killing) for the "greater good".
In its first season, "Nikita" pretty well stuck to this theme. While still
clunky in many ways, "Nikita's" first season turns out to be, in
hindsight, probably its best. The second season, while highly uneven, also
managed to keep to the original theme pretty well. These were stories
about the character of Nikita trying to maintain her "ethics", and her
dignity, against the onslaught from much more shifty characters like
Operations, Madeline, and even Michael.
So what does the series finale manage to do? It turns this whole concept
on its head!
In a retcon unseason since the frightening depths of "Voyager", it turns
out that Nikita is actually a scum bag on a level of Madeline and
Operations! In other words, the finale is the best example of
"self-nullification" by any series since the cop-out finale of "St.
Elsewhere"! Well done, guys... NOT!
Luckily, this "retcon" of Nikita only goes back to the start of season #2,
so those of us who liked season #1 can still hold that dear to our hearts,
if nothing else.
And I must say, this development does help explain certain "weird"
circumstances previously. Things like: Why Nikita was chosen as
Petrosian's right hand in "New Regime". Why Nikita inexplicably sided with
Operations against Adrian in the implausible season #2 finale. And why
Nikita failed to assasinate that bastard Operations when she had the
chance. It also makes the compare and contrast with "good agent" Helmut
Volker in the earlier season #4 two-parter that much more stark.
So, this "twist" isn't a total wash.
It just happens to invalidate the whole central premise of the "original"
"Nikita". Self-nullification indeed...
Thanks to this finale, it actually has turned out that it's *Michael*
(that's right! Michael!!!) who is the real "hero" of the series. (Along
with Walter, of course, but that goes without saying.) Michael, it turns
out, is the real "moral center" of "Nikita", not the "new" Nikita, who
exposed as a duplicitous bitch on the scale of Madeline.
That's why, one of the few things I liked about the finale (along with
Walter being "retired" to a cushy teaching gig) was that Michael,
ethically, rejected Nikita's last offer of life, and walked off to his
doom.
This is the way I want to remember Michael, how I want to see the guy go
out: Doing his job, finishing his mission, and giving the proverbial
finger to Section One and that bitch Nikita.
And that's why I don't want any more episodes of "Nikita". Let's just
finish this baby where it is, declare a partial victory, and get the Hell
out!
In other words, the perfect "Section One" finish...
--
Ian J. Ball | Ray (S. Wayans): "So, wasszup G?"
TV lover, and | "Scream" killer: "Just chillin'... killin'..."
usenet slacker | - from "Scary Movie" (2000)
ib...@socal.rr.com | http://members.aol.com/IJBall/WWW/TV.html
Eric Gorr
> I'm not big on SPOILER SPACE, but I'll be perfunctory here:
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> SPOILERS below...
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> This is the way I want to remember Michael, how I want to see the guy go
> out: Doing his job, finishing his mission, and giving the proverbial
> finger to Section One and that bitch Nikita.
>
> And that's why I don't want any more episodes of "Nikita". Let's just
> finish this baby where it is, declare a partial victory, and get the Hell
> out!
>
> In other words, the perfect "Section One" finish...
Personally, I think you've got it all wrong and there is another way to
interpret the events.
First, Michael did deserve to be canceled based on the rules of how
Section must operate. What Nikita did was to merely make that point to
Michael in the clearest way possible. He really was about to be canceled
and there was nothing he could do about it. However, Nikita saved his
life and therefore gave him an opportunity to come back to Section.
Nikita was likely praying he wouldn't take that electronic device as
that would have proved, once and for all, that Michael was no longer fit
to be a part of section.
If we do get more episodes, I have a feeling this is how the "twist"
will be partially undone.
--
== Eric Gorr =========================================== ICQ:9293199 ===
"Therefore the considerations of the intelligent always include both
benefit and harm." - Sun Tzu
== Insults, like violence, are the last refuge of the incompetent... ===
Lisa nor Jeff
[Could someone post, with appropriate spoiler space, more details
on the finale and how Nikita changed as Ian described?]
I orginally watched the American movie version because I'm a fan of
Bridget Fonda. I didn't care for the movie because (1) it was
unnecessarily excessively violent and (2) Fonda was not a good
choice.
But I did like the basic premise of the movie as it was executed.
So, when the TV show came along, I decided to check it out.
As Ian mentioned, they made a big change in that the original
Nikita was bad, but the TV Nikita was good and innocent. I
didn't think that change necessary. Also, they could've
tamed some of the violence of the film without changing the plot
as they did in Nikita.
Of course, they had to make a key change in that a TV show was a
continuing series while the movie was a one time with a definite
ending.
I found the TV show difficult to watch and never kept up with it.
I was curious about how the themes would be handled, but not so
to watch it regularly.
I thought it was absurb that Nikita would willingly come back to
Section after being on the run for so long.
Taking into account it was an ongoing series, I think Nikita could
have been a better, more creative show. I think it was too much
"Nikita vs. the organization"
ar...@ix.netcom.com
The 8 will comprise a story arc and all the regulars will be back
albieit to save money not all will be in each episode. The actress
that plays Madeline will be in at least two. Is she not really dead
or will there be flashbacks? Who knows
Karen Kaiser
chemo but she did win the battle against her cancer.
John Schilling
I think the reference was to the *character* being dead. It sure as hell
looked like she committed suicide in the final episode.
Of course, if the focus groups like Madeline, well, she was just faking
it. Or she secretly had a twin sister all along. Or someone cloned her.
Or they made a perfect computer model of her personality and a hologram
projector. Pick your gimmick.
I really, really hate people who think complex multilayer conspiracy plots
are something they can make up as they go along.
--
*John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
*White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
*schi...@spock.usc.edu * for success" *
*661-951-9107 or 661-275-6795 * -58th Rule of Acquisition *
Ian J. Ball
Schilling) wrote:
> I really, really hate people who think complex multilayer conspiracy plots
> are something they can make up as they go along.
"Nikita" has really suffered from this, and I kind of blame Larry Hertzog.
I think he became so enamored with such stories after doing "Nowhere Man",
that his thinking kind of infected the other "Nikita" writers. Because the
first two seasons (pre-Hertzog) were definitely better than the past two
seasons.
Karen Kaiser
Paranormal titled Two Old Men. US TNT will start airing PF repeats on 9/5
and one of the september eps is Two Old Men.
Karen Kaiser
John Schilling
>In article <8om0ti$7t7$1...@spock.usc.edu>, schi...@spock.usc.edu (John
>Schilling) wrote:
>> I really, really hate people who think complex multilayer conspiracy plots
>> are something they can make up as they go along.
>"Nikita" has really suffered from this, and I kind of blame Larry Hertzog.
>I think he became so enamored with such stories after doing "Nowhere Man",
>that his thinking kind of infected the other "Nikita" writers. Because the
>first two seasons (pre-Hertzog) were definitely better than the past two
>seasons.
I'll buy that. First season, definitely. That was good stuff. Second
seasons suffered from gratuitous abuse of the reset button, which I put
down to general fear of change. But on reflection, I don't recall much
"That was never really true, just a cover for the next layer of the Big
Conspiracy" interepisode retconning there. If that's when Hertzog took
over, it fits.
Third and most of the fourth season had both gratuitous reset button
abuse *and* make-it-up-as-we-go-along conspiracy theorizing, and yes,
they did suffer greatly for it. Things started looking up when they
started actually shaking things up towards the end - I *really* liked
the penultimate episode.
The finale, well, I think we'll file that one in the same place as
"Highlander II".
And, for that matter, the entire run of "Nowhere Man".
And for anyone who thinks Chris Carter is just the Coolest Writer in the
History of Television,
A - He's not, and
B - You can be even cooler if you sit down and figure out your entire
conspiracy, all the main players and their agendas, the plots and
the cover stories, and above all the underlying truth, *before you
write the first episode*
Aaron Bergman
>
> The finale, well, I think we'll file that one in the same place as
> "Highlander II".
For those of us without cable over the summer, is there any nice summary
of the last few episodes out there?
Aaron
--
Aaron Bergman
<http://www.princeton.edu/~abergman/>
Ian J. Ball
Bergman <aber...@princeton.edu> wrote:
> In article <8omgjv$d7f$1...@spock.usc.edu>, schi...@spock.usc.edu (John
> Schilling) wrote:
> >
> > The finale, well, I think we'll file that one in the same place as
> > "Highlander II".
>
> For those of us without cable over the summer, is there any nice summary
> of the last few episodes out there?
Give me to the weekend, and the last of my "Nikita" episode guide should
be up. Though that isn't a full episode summary guide, so it'll only tell
you some of what you want to know.
There are other "Nikita" sites out there with full transcripts though...
--
Ian J. Ball | "IMO, even if you're not cursed, trying to
TV lover, and | change yourself for the better is not wrong."
Usenet slacker | - Dan Damouth in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer
ib...@socal.rr.com | http://members.aol.com/IJBall/WWW/TV.html
Steve_2000
Please note this started as a brief somewhat OT reply on more info on
early Matthew Ferguson TV appearances. One thing led to another and it
has turned into a longer post, mainly OT but with some Sci-fi and
societal tie ins, imo. Feel free to read or skip it, comments always
welcome. Thanks-Steve
-----
A bit OT, but also relating to Matthew Ferguson:
FWIW, I'm pretty sure he also had a small part in a mid 90's
Spencer-For-Hire TV movie. I saw part of it a few weeks ago on
something like A+E. It was when they were still using Robert
Urich/Avery Brooks as Spencer and Hawk and had gone to producing semi
annual Spencer vehicles as TV movies-shot in Canada-tho most are 'set'
in 'Boston.' The Canadian production may have something to do with
Matthew Ferguson being cast.
In this one-a Robert B. Parker screenplay written from one of his
Spencer novels-Ferguson plays a corrupt local sheriff's teenage son, is
mentally disturbed and running drugs for the local cocaine king. It's a
small but key role. Mucho murder is involved, of course.
It took me a little while to figure out who this familiar seeming actor
was, then I realized it was "Bergoff," much younger and playing an
almost retarded character.
These new Spencer TV movies are much better than the series, imo, as
Robert B. Parker is doing the writing-bringing some of his more popular
novels to TV and has some production control. Parker makes sure the
trademark Spencer smart-ass witty dialog (love it or..:) and other
'novel nuance' is as much in evidence as can be done in bringing a book
to a (TV) movie. He also gets in most of the main plot elements from
each book they produce. They aren't just formula cop-show teleplays
which were ground out weekly by various writers for the old series. (It
could be said that the whole Spenser novel thing-as with many detective
characters in pop/pulp crime fiction novel 'series'- is a formula, but
it's generally well done-even if it's getting a bit overdone after 20+
years-and just meant to be the good entertainment it is for a lot of
folks. No pretense at 'art' on Parker's part. He's cranking out pop
entertainment.)
The current production team did 3 or 4 of these Urich/Brooks TV movies
before Urich had his cancer battle. Brooks was shooting them at the
same time he was shooting the Deep Space 9 episodes-the productions'
timeframes coincided.
It now appears Urich and Brooks as Spencer and Hawk have been retired.
Parker is continuing the TV movies with Joe Montegna as a middle-aged
Spenser (heck, that's what Urich is now..maybe his health problems
forced the recast). All the other lead characters are also recast (and
less glamorous, more down to earth..I guess) and they continue to shoot
them in ever-economical Canada.
I notice that Avery Brooks is currently spokesman for part of IBM's
current TV ad campaign. He plays an interesting character, seems like
part DS9's Captain Sisco (sp) and part the menacing Hawk. An
intelligent man forcefully pointing the way to (an IBM enhanced) future.
Re: Our society and technology in the millennium year-"Where are the
flying cars?! I was told there would be flying cars??!!"
No problem, Brooks explains. Computers, the internet and IBM software
are making transportation of our physical bodies (quickly and through
the air) a somewhat archaic concept. Just log on where ever you are and
start working.
Reminds me of a song written in 1982 by Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan).
He had released a solo album, the Grammy winning 'NightFly.' Steely Dan
was beginning what would be a 12 year 'hiatus'-unofficially broken up.
Steely Dan's lyrics were twisted tragicomic, cynically absurd,
sometimes surreal, sometimes right-on sung by the characters (as
narrators) that Fagen and Becker created for the uniquely weird
protagonist/antagonist/victim/loser songs. Several of their songs are
set on other planets or parts of an Earth that only exists in Sci-fi.
Unlike Steely Dan, Fagen's own "Nightfly" was a semi-autobiographical
masterpiece which reflected on his growing up in the New Jersey Suburbs
in the late 50's. There are period references in many of the songs: A
(Cuban) military coup, having a barbecue/party in the backyard near the
bomb-shelter his dad built, all night jazz-talk radio shows on low
powered stations...
And IGY. IGY stood for 'The International Geophysical Year." It was a
year in the late 50's when the 'cooperating' countries during that cold
war time agreed to pool the knowledge of their scientists and others in
an effort to come up with a 'picture' of where the world was..and was
heading-in the bright optimism with which the whole concept was painted.
'IGY' was written from the viewpoint of a kid in the 1950's-who had no
doubt been taught about it in school and probably read about it in the
'Weekly Reader' newsmagazines that were given out in most US schools
during that time, telling of our 'beautiful world' and 'glorious time
to be free.' A time in which we were living in great and ever improving
social and technological circumstance. And the future was Bright.
Kennedy coming into the White House, the space program was going full
speed. (It coincided with development of nuclear weapons, but that was
generally downplayed.)
Although it was written from that era's viewpoint and has an
approximate 'future of the late 70's', some of the things Fagen writes
about looking forward to-he has always said a lot with a few
words-could have been written in his current day with an eye toward the
millennium.
When I hear this song, I am reminded about my first (long ago) visit to
Disneyland as a kid. Specifically TomorrowLand, where the 'Monsanto
House of the Future' had all kinds of 'Jetsons' style conveniences
(some of which even worked).
There was also an exhibit by Bell Telephone (before the breakup of the
big national phone monopoly) where you could make a 'video-phone call'
....to the booth right Next Door to you-so you could See and hear your
parents or whoever while you talked. Being on TV was way cool, even if
it was a tiny closed circuit screen sending your image to another
screen 5 feet away...
An eerily accurate harbinger of things to come where so many folks have
home video cams... and some of the most successful shows on TV seem to
be about (greedy or fame hungry) 'regular people' just getting on TV
and doing whatever they are told for the money or spilling their
frequently ugly/disgusting/dysfunctional life secrets for 30 mins of
'fame' on the talk shows...
As writer Loren D. Estelman's Amos Walker character noted in the 1999
novel 'The Hours of the Virgin,' written pre-"Survivor/Big Brother" and
"Who Wants to Be A Millionaire:
"Everything's televised today. Births, deaths, court trials, police
beatings, the act of love (and all the absurd greed/fame driven
psueudoreality-dumbdown quiz-and psychogarbage talk TV shows.) The
joke's on George Orwell. Big Brother is Us."
Anyway, here are the somewhat more optimistic IGY lyrics from Fagen.
Steve
----------------
I.G.Y.
by Donald Fagen
Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by (seventy-six) we'll be A.O.K.
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free ---
© 1982 Freejunket Music
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