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The recruits are put through a training exercise that looks like high-tech paintball. Fighting alongside Alex are her team leader Robbie and a young recruit named Sara. Sara is sweet and highly incompetent, so it stuns everyone when she's activated for a mission. She's told to infiltrate an "eco-terrorist" group. Her real mission, unbeknownst to her, is to wear a bomb into a petroleum company and then get herself blown up by Division. The petroleum company would get to frame an eco-activism group for the crime and Division would get rid of a crappy recruit. Win-win! Thanks to a tip from Alex, however, Nikita steps in to rescue sweet Sara and offers to set her up with a fake ID and new life. Sara at first fights against Nikita, because she wants to get in touch with the young son she was forced to give up for adoption five years earlier. In the end, Michael tracks them down, but gets called back to Division before he can capture them. He later lies to Percy that he saw Sara dead because he's a good little otter at heart.
Here's why Michael was called back: Division is under attack from one of their own. Team leader Robbie, convinced he's mere days away from graduating into the exciting life of a field agent, instead gets the devastating news from Amanda that he's been chosen to be a guard. You know all those faceless drones that walk around the training room doing grunt work? Those are guards. He's just not special enough for anything more. Alex tries to console him, but he snaps and starts shooting the other guards. After Alex tasers him, he's captured and presumed executed. In reality, he's been recruited by Amanda. She's so impressed with the way he killed those guards without hesitation that she wants to use him for her own mysterious and most likely awesome plans. Stay tuned for the full weecap!
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why we think this show is ridiculous and ridiculously awesome. And see what our vlogger thinks of Nikita when he has No Prior Knowledge, below!
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Six recruits walk into the training room, outfitted in black bodysuits and protective gear. The workout machines have been replaced by blocky obstacles and walls. Alex and Thom are there; the others are new to us. Michael joins them and tells them they'll be simulating a "close-quarters firefight." Is his voice getting raspier? Did he spend too much time frolicking in chilly Pacific kelp forests? Someone get that guy a lozenge. He hands out virtual reality glasses and divides the group into two teams. Thom will lead one, and a tall dark-haired fellow named Robbie will be leading Alex and a munchkin named Sara. Michael tells them they'll only have a second to tell who's a friend and who's an enemy. This leads Alex to flashback to two months before her "insertion" into Division. She's reading a version of a prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson into a computer for the text-to-speech program we've since seen Nikita using. Alex complains, but Nikita hopes Alex will actually learn something. "Spare my friends, kill my enemies?" Alex asks. That's... not what I took from the prayer. But whatever. They talk about the difficulty of telling one's friends from enemies. Alex scoffs at the thought of making friends inside Division, but Nikita reminds her the other recruits aren't there by choice. The hard part isn't making friends, but losing them.
Back in the present, Alex and her team fight their imaginary fight. Nikita's voice says, "When you're in a group.. look at the recruit on either side of you." Alex looks at Sara and Robbie. "Odds are, before you graduate, one of them will die." Place your bets, kids! "Hey, Sara, cover our six!" Robbie shouts. She looks confused, so he clarifies: "Our rear!" Michael watches from the ops room. Imaginary bullets fly. Sara shouts for Alex to watch out, thus revealing her position and getting herself and her teammates killed. The simulation over, Robbie lays into Sara for her sucky spy skills. Thom calms him down and reminds him he's about to graduate. Sara's sucky spy skills aren't going to change that. The recruits head off to a coed locker room. Alex tries to cheer Sara up, but Sara says she's been activated for a mission. Everyone within earshot is stunned. Alex, sensing some foul play, offers to help her prep her for the mission.
In a heretofore unseen indoor shooting range, Michael plugs his paper target full of bullets. For some reason, the fact that he's not wearing any protective ear or eye gear gives me more pause than any number of bone-crunching, head-mashing fights he's been in. Birkhoff joins him. The conversation soon turns to Nikita, who they still think is dead at this point. "Nikki was one in a million," Birkhoff says. "A force of nature. Like a one-woman Michael Bay movie, only with good acting." Well, maybe better acting. But "good" acting? Birkhoff shows good sense by putting on protective gear before shooting. Michael makes his best angry baby otter face and shoots at another target. Birkhoff suggests Michael accept Nikita's death, but Michael gets so flustered that he screws up his shot.
Computer Lab. For once, it's not abandoned. It's full of recruits, yet Alex is still messaging Nikita about sweet, incompetent Sara's new mission. Nikita thinks Sara may have been given a suicide mission. "What?!" Alex says out loud, drawing the suspicious glares of other recruits. The messaging continues apace as Nikita figures out what to do. This is the worst spy school ever.
Elsewhere, Sara is taping what's clearly a suicide note. Well, it's clear to everyone but Sara, anyway. She thinks her message of dying for Mother Earth is just to ingratiate herself into a group called Eco-Front. Amanda thanks her for a job well done and gives her pamphlets on Eco-Front. "On the surface, they're a legitimate non-profit group," Amanda says, "but that's just a front for extremists." They're actually terrorists, and they'll be demonstrating outside Texpro Oil. "That's where you'll make first contact," Amanda says. Percy walks in and reminds Sara of how important her mission is. "Deep cover, minimal contact," he says. She nods and squinches up her face like she's twelve, but insists she's ready. When Sara leaves to begin studying for her mission, Percy takes a look at the explosive vest Sara will be wearing. "Client wants us to minimize the collateral," he says. "It is, after all, their facility." Amanda says only Eco-Front will be harmed. Perry points out that's not entirely true. Amanda sighs. "Sara was already scheduled for cancellation," she says. "Unless you want to reverse that?" Instead of answering, Percy just watches Sara's suicide video.
Alex is just catching up to Sara in one of the Charm School corridors. Sara suddenly doesn't want Alex's help anymore. Alex eagerly grabs Sara's arms, and her pamphlets fall to the floor. Alex sees a green logo, but that's it. She's suspicious, but Sara assures her it's not a dangerous mission. But it is top secret, and she doesn't want to let Percy down.
Alex goes to message Nikita with a description of the logo. "This girl is worth saving," she adds. "They're all worth saving, Alex." A few moments later, Nikita has found the group on the web and where they're staging a protest. She's also constantly brushing her hair back out of her face. Get a scrunchy, woman! Instead, she gets a gun.
Charm School. The recruits eat in the mess hall that I'm pretty sure is the same room as the training room, except with different props. Robbie, all full of piss and vinegar, demands that a nameless guard let him see Percy or Michael. The guard doesn't budge, so Robbie bitches that the guy needs to do his job. Before things can escalate, Thom pulls Robbie away. Robbie's pissed that Sara, the lowest-ranking recruit, got activated for a mission before him. Well, maybe everyone could see that you're a big, whiny baby. They sit down at a table with Alex. Thom figures that Sara, while sucky at everything else, is good at listening to people and being a girl. Division must have needed someone like that. Robbie doesn't buy it. Alex agrees and points out she was almost killed on a mission. "It doesn't matter if we get killed," she says. "Because we're already dead."
Texpro Oil. Protesters gather outside the company headquarters. Nikita watches from a nearby parked car and notices a suspicious carpet-cleaning van in the parking lot. "So predictable," she says. She fiddles with a small electronics device that has antennae on one end. Inside the van, Sara's handler gives her a thermos full of oil. She leaves to go into the lobby and grease up some artwork. Back at Division, Percy and team watch via surveillance cameras as security guards make their way toward Sara. Birkhoff spies Nikita entering the building. Percy's eyes widen. He orders the handler to detonate the bomb, but Nikita's device is jamming the signal. Nikita saunters up to Sara, who recognizes her from pictures. Sara tries to fight Nikita, but not very well. Nikita grabs the thermos and beats the guards with it. Michael walks into the ops room and learns that Nikita is still alive. Luckily, everyone else is concentrating on the computer screens so they don't see his pleased smile. Sara runs from the building and toward the van. Nikita chases her down, tears off her vest and throws it under the van. The handler opens the back doors, guns blazing. Nikita grabs Sara and runs, shooting her jamming device as she passes it. Now receiving the signal loud and clear, the vest explodes and takes the van with it. The force of the blast knocks Sara and Nikita to the ground. Sara grabs Nikita's gun and turns it on her. Nikita tries to reason with her but Sara orders her into a nearby car. Nikita rolls her eyes like she can't believe this munchkin.
Later, Nikita's driving and Sara's aiming the gun at her. Sara wants to go to Division. Nikita snarks: "You mean the people that just tried to blow you up with an explosive vest and then shoot you? Good call." Sara doesn't want to believe that. She only saw an explosion. She thinks bringing Nikita in will earn her some points, but has no idea where Division is located. Even Nikita doesn't really know, or so she says. Sara steps on Nikita's foot to make her drive faster. Nikita uses the distraction to elbow her in the face. Sara slumps against the window, unconscious.
She wakes up later in Nikita's fabulous loft, icing her bruised face while Nikita plays that Eco-Front suicide video. Sara seems finally to realize that she was confessing to the bombing. "They used you to frame innocent people, Sara," Nikita says. She asks for Sara's help, but Sara keeps saying she has to go back. "Please, I made a promise," she pleads. She swears she won't tell anyone about Nikita. Nikita's like, yeah, because they're gonna shoot you. Sara, in a childlike tantrum, insists Division trusts her. She hurls herself at Nikita, who easily flings her to the ground. Nikita knows Division. "They promise you this productive life. You know what you're gonna do? You're gonna kill and you're gonna kill and you're gonna kill some more, and one day, if you're very lucky, you're gonna remember what it was like to be a human being!" Nikita's gotta be talking about herself, because Sara doesn't seem competent enough to kill that many people.
Charm School. Alex is in the computer lab, messaging Nikita, who isn't online at the time. Robbie walks up, startling her. She says she's just having a bad day and he commiserates with her. Being trapped inside day after day, he tries to focus on the day he gets out. At first Alex thinks he means breaking out, but he's talking about his upcoming final evaluation and graduation. She sulks. "You're looking at this all wrong, Alex," he says. "We're not expendable." He thinks they're important. He tells her about his poor white trash past and how Division has trained him to use computers and weapons. "When I make field agent, I'm gonna get to see the world." He compares the recruits to James Bond. Alex just looks at him like the poor, deluded sap he is.
Back at Nikita's fabulous loft, Nikita is setting up things so Alex can make a new video. Sara's going to say Texpro hired her to bomb them so they could frame Eco-Front. After that, Nikita has plans to set Sara up with new passport and identity. One she can use "preferably on a beach in a tax-free country far, far away." Dude. How do I get in on that sweet deal? "I can't leave," Sara says. She tells Nikita about having a baby at 16 and how her parents forced her to hand over her child to a shady lawyer. "The cash we got kept my parents high for about a month," she says. The promise she made was to her son, not Division. Nikita uses the dead fiancé card to show Sara she can relate, but also tells her she needs to leave the past behind. Sara looks thoughtful.
On a darkened city street somewhere in New York, Sara and Nikita pick up Sara's new paperwork. Sara thanks her, but Nikita reminds her they still have work to do. Sara thinks Nikita's just talking about the video, after which Sara is free to go. Nikita corrects her and tells her she needs to learn how to live "off the grid," and describes something that sounds like Sarah Connor's life in Terminator 2. It sounds like a really, really long process, especially for Sara, who doesn't seem like the quickest study. When Nikita's not looking, she makes a run for it.
She runs right to that shady lawyer. He doesn't recognize her. "Five years ago, I had a son," she says. "And you said he'd be better off without me. You were wrong." She whacks him in the head with a heavy, old-fashioned phone. He drops to the floor. He should have used some of his shady money to invest in digital handsets. Sara grabs him by the head and threatens to kill him unless he tells her where to find her son. He gurgles. Shadily.
Charm School. Alex is working out in the training room when Robbie offers to be her sparring partner. She turns him down, which is just as well, because he's summoned to Amanda's office for his evaluation. "I can't say I'm gonna miss it down here," he says. When he walks into Amanda's office, he's surprised that Michael isn't there with Amanda for the evaluation. "There is no evaluation," she tells him. "You've graduated." Amanda tells him he's been selected for a very important role. The thing we see is Robbie being outfitted in black and bedecked with guns. The nameless guard from earlier greets him by his new title: "Hello, Guard Robbie." Robbie looks like he's going to cry.
Ops Room. Birkhoff is able to track Sara because she stole a car with a GPS system. Don't the recruits have tracking devices? Michael says he's off to find Nikita. "Don't you mean Sara?" Birkhoff asks. Michael doesn't say anything.
Nikita walks into the shady lawyer's office. He's still bleeding from the head. "Tell me what you told the girl," Nikita says. She threatens physical violence. We move to commercials instead of seeing the outcome, but we can presume it worked.
Charm School. Alex finds Robbie beating up some locker doors. "They said that I was structured," he spits. "I followed orders well, the other recruits look up to me." He says that's why he's a perfect guard. He's stuck here with the recruits. He looks at her helplessly. "What am I supposed to do now?" Alex, seeing an opportunity, tells him guards have access to information. "You could use that to your advantage," she says. "Take what you see and hear and turn it into something you can use." Good ol' Robbie isn't seeing it.
Sara sits in a car outside a very nice suburban home. Nikita slips into the seat behind her and holds a gun to her head. Sara doesn't have any fight in her. She doesn't protest when Nikita tells her to get out of the car before Division shows up. Sara begs to be allowed to see her child. Nikita argues that Sara wants to take him, which will lead to a life on the run. Sara's silence says she knows this to be true. Unfortunately, the seconds they spent arguing was long enough for Division to catch up. Black SUVs peel around the corner and barrel down the street toward them. Sara and Nikita get into a car and drive, the SUVs close behind them. They pull into a quiet street and find themselves blocked in. Michael, in one of the SUVs, hacks into Nikita's bluetooth and tells her to get out of the car. Everyone arms up and starts shooting. "Hold your fire!" Michael shouts to his men. He wants to take them in alive. "It's too late," Nikita says. "Sara is dead; one of your men just killed her." Sara, very much alive, stays hidden. Michael asks for backup and satellite images.
Meanwhile, Robbie is guarding the training floor and taking note of the sudden hubbub as agents suddenly go into action. Everything slows down as he looks around at the recruits. The room spins, then goes very still. He follows a well-dressed agent to the elevator. The man turns around and Robbie sees himself in his place. The nameless guard starts harassing him to clean up some sweaty training gear. With utter calm, Robbie reaches into his holster for a gun and shoots the guy in the head. The recruits stop exercising but don't really freak out. Maybe they really hated that guy because he was a douche. Robbie shoots more guards who run in.
Nikita and the Division agents are still having their gunfight in the suburbs. Birkhoff tells Michael he can't send backup because Division is under attack. Michael is ordered back to Division because apparently they can't handle one semi-competent guard on their own. Nikita drives off with Sara hiding in the back seat. Back at Division HQ, all the recruits have cleared out but Alex sticks around to talk to Robbie. He describes how he snapped. She promises to get him out via a secret back door, but just then Thom and some guards run in with guns at the ready. Robbie grabs Alex. She grabs the stun gun out of his holster and zaps him. She punches him a few times until Thom pulls her off and holds her.Percy's Office. "You confirmed the kill on Sara?" Percy asks Michael. "I saw her body in Nikita's car," he lies. That's small consolation to Percy, who plays for Michael the new video Sara shot earlier, absolving Eco-Front.
Sara and Nikita return to the suburbs so that Sara can watch from afar as her little boy plays basketball. It turns out the boy's name is Daniel. Thankfully, we're almost out of time, so Nikita can't launch into a reverie about her dead fiancé of the same name. Another moment of watching and then they drive off so Sara can start her new life.
At the end, Alex and Nikita trade messages. Sara's safe, but Alex has heard that Robbie was executed. "You were right about getting close," Alex writes. "It hurts." Well, luckily you have that big empty computer lab to cry in without anyone noticing. Except Robbie isn't dead. He's been stashed in some dank Division basement and tied to a chair. Amanda joins him. As far as anyone else knows, he's dead. She admits they underestimated him. "The way you killed those? No hesitation at all." She begins to tell him about their "cleaner program" as the screen fades to black. It ain't Amway she's selling.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why we think this show is ridiculous and ridiculously awesome. And see what our vlogger thinks of Nikita when he has No Prior Knowledge, below!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.
Tippi Blevins is such a good spy that eve she doesn't know about it. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.