Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Man Troubles
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.07.2010
Next thing we see, Owen is in the bowels of some ship, getting the snot beaten out of him by Roan. Roan apparently didn't have a Judas Cradle on hand, so he had to make do with tying Owen to a regular chair. Percy watches, arms folded, and chastises Owen for taking something of his. Owen takes the hits without saying anything. Percy wonders what Nikita told him. "That Division is the evil empire and I'm the big, bad wolf?" Don't flatter yourself, cupcake. Instead of answering, Owen recounts how he met Emily (by taking her to her dialysis treatments) while Percy looks mightily bored. "You took something of mine, too," Owen says, his mouth full of blood. Roan beats him again. Meanwhile, Alex is messaging Nikita what she learned in Percy's office. Nikita says she needs just one more thing.
Charm School. Birkhoff is sniveling to Michael because the security logs show an entry into Percy's office, despite their best efforts to cover their tracks. Michael says he'll explain it to Percy as "legitimate Division business" but Birkhoff's still worried. A nameless drone announces that Michael has a call from Nikita. Alex goes up to Birkhoff under the pretense of thanking him for his Bluetooth help, then slips it into his pocket, like he won't wonder later what it's doing there. Michael goes to Ops to take the call. Alex, wearing a headset concealed by her hair, hears the conversation from the training floor. Nikita tells Michael she wants to talk to Percy. Birkhoff, in an effort to trace her location, patches her through to Percy. "Your ears must have been burning," Percy says. "I was just talking about you to your boyfriend." Michael, listening in, makes a face. Heh. They chat in a friendly way about how much Nikita would like to kill Percy, but that's not going to happen, unless, as Percy says, she wants to do "irreparable damage to the country." She proposes trading Owen for the black box. At this point down on the training floor, Jaden gets onto Alex for being sneaky. At first Alex thinks it's about Percy's office, but it's actually about Alex being in Thom's room. "You want Thom? You can have him," Alex says. She's too busy listening to other people talking! Percy thinks Nikita is bluffing. She rattles off the serial number she got from Alex. Percy thinks Owen gave it to her, and Owen plays along. Birkhoff traces Nikita to a location near Percy, then says Percy's location out loud so Alex can hear it, too. Alex immediately walks off the training floor to report to Nikita.
The recruits are assembled on the training floor. Birkhoff tries to blame one of them for the security breach, but no one steps forward. Thom glares at Alex, but says nothing. He has a super hot glare, by the way. Birkhoff tries to pin the blame on Jaden, but Michael interrupts, disgusted with Birkhoff's weaselly ways. Michael says he'll take the blame. "If there's any blowback, it'll be on me and me alone."
Shipyard, night. Nikita quickly takes out the two Division guards on duty. Roan hears the resulting thuds and tells Percy to get to safety. Roan then turns his attention to Owen, who suddenly gets up, spins around, and uses the chair he's tied to to whack Roan. A high-octane fight ensues. Devon Sawa has the perfect physicality for this role. Owen's fighting has a certain feral, realistic quality. I enjoy a good fight scene, what can I say? Owen knocks Roan right over a railing and he lands unconscious on the floor below. Owen then takes a gun and heads topside. Percy tries to sneak away, but Owen comes up behind him. Then Nikita comes up behind Owen and orders him to drop his gun. She can't let Percy die yet or the black boxes will get out and innocent people will be hurt. She tries to appeal to him on dead Emily's behalf, but Owen doesn't care anymore. He wrestles Nikita for her gun. Percy shoots Owen in the side. Nikita grabs his arm and drags him away amid more gunfire. Together they jump ship. Percy shoots into the water.
Charm School. Thom's in his room, working on some computer project. Alex comes in and teases him about his project not going well. They joke and smile, then she sits on his bed and starts to thank him, but he just goes, "You're welcome." He sits beside her and gives her a pep talk about her second chance at life. She hugs him. He kisses her and she murmurs, "Don't." He gets all embarrassed and tries to act like it's no big, then shows her the door. He won't look her in the eye as she leaves, just stands there hanging his head. Aw!
Percy's Office. Percy questions Birkhoff about the breach. Birkhoff stammers and then tells Percy to talk to Michael. Wussy.
To wrap up the episode, we see Nikita and Alex messaging back and forth. They ask each other if anything surprising happened. They each answer in the negative, Alex while glancing at Owen and Nikita while looking over at her bed where Owen is recuperating from his wounds in naught but his little black undies. This all probably won't end well, but it ought to be damn fun to watch in the meantime.
Tippi Blevins is a rogue recapper. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.