Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT If at First You Don't Succeed, Try Triad Again
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 09.30.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Okay, so, six years ago, Nikita got her first mission. She had to pretend to be a nanny in order to ingratiate herself into the family of one Victor Han, working for the newly minted Homeland Security. Naturally, she came to like Victor, his wife and their infant daughter, but she was forced to carry through with the mission. With the wife and baby away, Nikita planted an explosives-filled doll in Victor's home. In the present day, Nikita figures out that it was the Triads that ordered the hit on Victor. When Nikita hunts them down, she first gets the wife and daughter to safety. Nikita targets a Triad-operated sweatshop ring, freeing the slave laborers and working her way up the chain of command. When she starts getting close to the top, she discovers that Victor Han is not only still alive, but rather high up in the Red Circle Triad, and that he and Percy faked his death. Nikita confronts Victor and takes him down with a kiss. Literally. Victor is allergic to peanuts and Nikita used a peanut-oil lipstick. Yeah, I know.
She accomplishes most of this without Alex's usual help, because Alex is busily fighting her own past demons back at Charm School. A training exercise sparks a claustrophobic panic attack that forces her to relive her parents' fiery death. Amanda, in her own helpful way, drugs Alex and wraps her up in a straitjacket that will only come off once Alex chills out. She tells Amanda the circumstances of her parents' death (fudging the details but keeping the emotion) and masters her own fears.
At the end, Michael has a chance to shoot Nikita, but lets her escape to return Han to justice. In flashback, we find that Michael works for Percy because he owes Percy his life. So Michael's not a bad little otter, just loyal to the wrong man.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Alex heads off to the Charm School computer lab that no one else ever seems to use. She messages Nikita, apologizing for being late because they keep changing the schedule. Nikita, in her fabulous loft, tells Alex she needs her on "sentry duty." "I'm about to raise a little hell and I need you to tell me when Division responds." Given how incompetent they seem to be, you probably have a pretty good head start. Alex asks Nikita what she's doing. "Something I should have done a long time ago," comes the response.
Nikita heads to the park. Central Park? I don't know New York parks. Anyway, there are kids playing. Nikita remarks to a little girl that she looks just like her dad. The girl's mother walks up to introduce herself, but freaks when Nikita turns to face her. "Lisa, don't move," Nikita says. Lisa fumbles in her purse for a gun, but Nikita stills her hand before she can pull it out. Nikita's surprised Lisa owns a gun, but Lisa felt it was necessary since Nikita killed her husband. Nikita convinces Lisa she's not there to kill them. Lisa's husband Victor was a good man, Nikita says. Nikita knows her husband was trying to take down the Red Circle Triad's slave labor operations. "I'm going after the Triad," Nikita says, believing that they were the ones who hired her former employers to kill Victor. Nikita's going to make things right, but she won't make a move until Lisa and her daughter Sophie are safe. She even has a car ready for them. Something in Nikita's tone makes Lisa believe her.
Fashion District. Nikita, posing as a chain store buyer, works her way into a designer's shop. The designer, a Tonya Wiles, is wearing a cardigan that looks like it was made of Superman's tights, so I don't know if I trust her design instincts. Nikita makes a dig about the quality of the clothes, given where they were made. Tonya pretends not to know what she's talking about, so Nikita whips out pictures of the sixty-three bodies of people who were smuggled into the country to make Tonya's clothes. All were found in shipping containers by the Port Authority last week. "The Red Circle Triad provides your slave labor, don't they?" Nikita asks. Tonya tries to sass her, but Nikita manhandles her into a quiet corner of the shop and demands to know the address of the sweatshop.
Charm School. The recruits are standing in what looks like a garage but is probably just the same room they seem to use for all the training scenes, with some cars added. Michael assigns them the task of getting under a car to disarm a bomb within thirty seconds. Jaden volunteers to go first but Michael calls on Alex. I totally love all the gray hoodies the recruits wear. Alex crawls under the car but almost immediately has problems. She's breathing hard, her heart is pounding. She flashes back to being a child, lying on the floor, surrounded by fire. She sees Michael's legs as he walks around the car and flashes on an unknown attacker's boots walking toward her. She starts screaming and begging to be taken out of there. Thom springs into action, grabbing her by the ankles and pulling out from under the car. She screams frantically and he folds her up in his arms and rocks her until she calms down. Aw. He might be slow in the ways of secret agent work, but he's a quick study in sweetness. Amanda, watching the scene from the sidelines with the curious expression of some alien observer, tells Michael to send Alex to her.
Ops Room. Birkhoff shows Michael footage of Nikita infiltrating Tonya's shop. There are also records of Tonya being question by US Customs regarding a Red Circle Triad slave labor scam. "She's going back to her first mission," Michael realizes. As Michael walks out of Ops, he flashes back to six years earlier. He proudly watches Nikita on the training floor, sparring (and winning) against a much bigger man. To recall the styles of the day, Michael has slightly longer hair gelled straight up and Nikita has bangs that look like horsehair. Michael's 'do makes him look more like a baby hedgehog than a baby otter. He approaches her for a talk and she notices he's hiding something behind his back. She teases him but he won't show her what it is, so she offers to fight him for it. He fights her with one arm behind her back and quickly pins her to the mat. They pant at each other face to face. He looks like he might want to kiss her, but then gets up and offers her the prize he's been hiding from her. It's a key card that gets her out of Charm School long enough to complete her first mission.
Alex is on that same training floor now with Thom, the two of them fighting with bo staffs. Alex notices Michael and some other agents heading to Ops. The momentary distraction gives Thom the upper hand and he handily takes her staff. She makes some lame excuse about having to go to the computer lab and offers Thom a rematch after lunch. Before Alex can get to the lab, though, a nameless trainer orders her to Amanda.
Nikita drives up to the sweatshop and messages Alex to see if the coast is clear. Well, no, there are a bunch of Chinese gangsters inside. When she gets no response, she decides to have a flashback to pass the time. Her past self is in Amanda's lair. "What do I always say about preparation?" Amanda asks. "It's the key to success," Nikita replies dutifully. Amanda says her first assignment is to build trust, to make someone welcome her into their family. "Family," Nikita whispers. Maggie Q is slightly overselling the "young and naïve" thing, but she's still pretty cute as this slightly coarse version of Nikita. Amanda brings out a case and opens it to show a lifelike infant doll inside.
Still in the past, Nikita finds herself in a very nice house in the suburbs, pretending to be a potential nanny. She holds the baby version of Sophie while Lisa sings her praises to husband Victor. Victor is being played by Russell Wong, of whom we don't see nearly enough on TV these days. Armed guards mill around the house. "What is it you do, Mr. Han?" Nikita asks. He tells her he works for Homeland Security and he's already got enemies. From a surveillance van outside, Michael tells her to quit asking questions. Nikita's thrown, but recovers quickly enough. "You'll be safe and so will my little girl," Victor says. "As long as we keep her away from peanut products." Lisa scoffs that Sophie might not even inherit Daddy's peanut allergies.
Returning to the present day, Nikita's through with her flashback and, having still not heard back from Alex, decides to barge into the sweatshop anyway. She grabs a guard from outside and forcefully marches him inside. Shouting in Cantonese, she tells the slave laborers that they're free to go. Dozens of Asian women scream and scatter. Nikita beats down the man she's holding then takes on three more in fast order. Another man comes at her with a rifle. She pulls out her own gun and shoots it out of his hands. She grabs him by the collar. "Tell your boss I'm coming for him," she says. He scampers away. Nikita burns the factory down.
Amanda's Lair. Alex sulks on the couch while Amanda lights candles. Alex doesn't see the point of this but Amanda encourages her to talk about her panic attack. What triggered it? "It's this place," Alex says. "It reminds me of the way I used to live... the way I was forced to live." "When you were held by the Russians," Amanda says. Alex dispenses with the euphemisms and says she was a sex slave. "At least they had the decency to keep me high the whole time." At this point, Amanda pours her a cup of tea. Alex, having never seen any movies about bad guys ever, drinks it and soon begins to feel woozy. She goes down. Amanda stands over her and tells her she has no choice.
Michael buys a germ-ridden hotdog on the streets of Manhattan and waits outside a place called Club 107. Birkhoff tells him over his earpiece that it's a Red Circle Triad hangout. The boss's name is Chen Lo, Birkhoff says. He pulls up a video feed from inside Chen Lo's office. Chen Lo is bitching at the sweatshop operator who let Nikita get away. Michael views the feed simultaneously on his phone and realizes Nikita must be tracking the man. We cut to her fabulous loft where she's just gotten a hit on the transmitter she planted on the sweatshop operator. She heads out and has a flashback along the way, remembering her last day in the Han household. Lisa heads out for some errands while Nikita cuddles Sophie. Michael's voice in her ear tells her to take the baby for a walk. Nikita, with one of Han's guards in tow, pushes baby Sophie in a stroller down the idyllic suburban street. As she passes the surveillance van, the side panel slides open and men shoot the guard dead. Michael and his douchey 2004 hair demand Nikita give over baby Sophie. "We're not going to hurt her," Michael says. She refuses. The assassin from the first episode (I think) identifies himself as "Roan" and calls for an "abort and clean." "Do not get ahead of yourself," Michael tells him. "Control your asset," Roan shoots back. Michael talks to Nikita: If things don't go right, Division will "clean" the scene by killing everyone, including Nikita, Lisa and the baby. Michael promises to give Sophia back to her mother and Nikita tearfully hands her over.
Nikita is given a doll filled with explosives to take Sophie's place. She returns home and places the baby bomb in the crib. She arms the device and starts out the door. Victor stops her and thanks her. "I don't know what we'd do without you," he says. She nods weakly and leav