New Shows Midseason Wrap-up: The Action (Nikita, Undercovers)

Nikita 
Maybe it’s because I got to see the cast at Comic Con (good times, still need to upload my videos), or that I, and every other girl in my age range, once harbored a crush on Devon Sawa back in the day and so it’s nice to see him make a badass comeback (ditto Landon Carter Shane West, though not as badass), or maybe it’s just because I love seeing women kicking butt, but Nikita has undoubtedly become my favorite new show of the season, and it just keeps on getting better (imo, and fingers crossed CW does not mess with it too much). The show doesn’t take itself TOO seriously and has no problems racking up the body count, but it does try to explore the various complicated relationships amongst its characters and the personal and moral dilemmas they face.

Maggie Q plays a fittingly cold and jaded ex-assassin – this is not Nikita as we’ve seen her before, but I don’t think she’s suppose to be, given her new history. I’ve never been too impressed with Maggie Q’s dramatic acting before, but I think she is doing a great job here as someone who's lost everything and is fixated on revenge (but with morale boundaries of course), and she even manages to sprinkle in some pretty funny/snarky moments every once in a while. We all know she can own the action scenes (checkout the midseason finale if you are not yet a believer). She also has great chemistry with Shane West’s Michael (team-Mikita!), and it’ll be interesting to see how their conflicted/hunter-prey relationship develops and to find out more about their sure-to-be-messy history. In the meantime, I’m all for the Nikita/Owen (Sawa) alliance to bring down Division. I’m not really keen on romance between these two, given the history, but I’d love if they could bond (and in Nikita’s case, forgive) and become great friends.

The central “couple” of the show to me though, is actually Nikita and Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) – I just love their mentor-protégé and all-out girl power dynamic, and I don’t think I’d ever want this to change (probably the main reason of many that I just cannot in any way support a romantic Michael/Alex relationship). With all the betrayal that we’ve seen and that is sure to come on this show, I want to see Nikita/Alex be the one consistent and loyal pairing.

I think the show has a lot of material to delve into upon its return. I’d especially like to see some of the side characters more fleshed out. Xander Berkeley (Percy; loved him on 24!) makes a great villain, but I honestly didn’t think he was bad enough until he snapped a certain likeable genius’ neck in cold blood in one of the more recent episodes. In retrospect, I can appreciate his malevolence being revealed in this manner (after all, it was only after witnessing this that Alex realized how wicked he really is). I’m also curious how witnessing his somewhat-mentor getting offed in such a matter will affect Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford, Pyro from X-men) going forward. I still need more from Amanda to be as afraid of her as the show wants us to be (so far Melinda Clarke is doing all the work with very little support from the writing). Also wonder what Robbie (grown up Alfalfa from Little Rascals – shocking but true) is up to – hope he makes a comeback. Basically, cannot wait till the show is back. Looking forward to Alex being out and about and dealing with/moving on from Thom (so sad I really liked him, but Y&R fans – look out for JT/Colleen reunion!).

Suspension of Disbelief:  Division not having internal cameras … really?  Even some cheap ones from radioshack would have worked!

Undercovers

R.I.P. This was cute and not entirely believable, but enjoyable spy-fare nevertheless. Not exactly what one might expect of JJ Abrams, though the last few episodes alluded to a grander conspiracy and story-arc. Sadly the set-up took too long, and we will probably never figure out the payoff. Still, I had fun while it lasted, and I give mad props to Boris Kodjoe for all his language skills. All the main characters were charming and likeable (or just likeable in the case of Shaw). At least I didn’t let myself get too attached to this one ...

*   *   *   *   *
Every once in a while, I'll catch Hawaii Five-O, which is apparently the highest rated new show this season (happy for Daniel Dae Kim aka Jin from Lost), and Chase. Solid, but I rarely get into procedural-type shows. On that note, wrapping up the post with this final thought: I really miss Lost ... : )