Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT What Happens in Uzbekistan
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.11.2010
Michael and Nikita have learned that Akhmedov's meet with Kasim will take place at a farmhouse outside of town. They stand very near each other as they go over their plans. Michael shows Nikita his big gun. She strokes it appreciatively. No hidden meaning there. They banter about which of them is the better shot. It's Nikita, but she realizes Michael needs to be the one to kill Kasim. Meanwhile, Alex tries to message Nikita for advice but gets no reply. Flustered, she leaves the computer room. Jaden shadows her. Alex goes to a panel in the hallway, tries to open it, but stops when she hears footsteps behind her.
Nikita and Michael have taken up sniper positions in the woods outside the farmhouse. All the terrorists have arrived for the meeting, but Michael can't get a clear shot at Kasim before all the men go inside. Nikita volunteers to draw them out by blasting a propane tank out back. Michael gives her his knife so she can cut the tires on Kasim's car. It's part necessity, part good luck charm. It's his way of being down there with her. Nikita sneaks up to the farmhouse and takes out the first guard. Michael, watching through his rifle scope, grins. "Attagirl." Nikita tells him over her earpiece that she's taken care of Kasim's car. She heads for the propane tank, but another guard stops her. Fisticuffs ensue. When the guard wrestles her to the ground, Nikita breaks his neck using only her calves. Badass. She signals to Michael that she lost her earpiece. About that time, Michael notices a team of Division agents advancing on Nikita. With no other way to warn her, he moves to the farmhouse. The agents shoot at Nikita. Michael joins the fray, shooting at Kasim's men when they scurry out of the house. Then everything goes quiet when he sees Kasim himself. No longer caring about hiding his position, he shoots Kasim in the open. Guards pelt Michael with bullets. He goes down. Luckily, he was wearing an armored vest. That's the good news. The bad news is Kasim and his men capture him and make their escape in Akhmedov's car. Nikita finishes taking out the rest of the Division agents, then runs after Akhmedov's car, but she's too far to shoot out the tires.
We flash back to the Yemen military base in 2001. Michael and his wife drive through the checkpoint. He promises her they won't be there much longer. He'll have his choice of assignments soon. How about Hawaii? She jokes about all the scantily clad women, but he assures her there will never be another woman for him. They park and Michael gets out of the car, giving his little girl a kiss. "I'll be right back," he promises. He gets a call from Kasim. "Are you at the base?" Kasim asks. "Yeah, why?" Kasim hangs up on him. Michael is confused for a moment, then realizes the satchel Kasim gave him must have been rigged. He turns to look at the car just as it explodes with his wife and child inside. The blast knocks him to the ground.
He wakes up in the present, lying on a ceramic table in a dark room. Kasim greets him. Michael wants to strangle him, but he's bound to the table. They have a discussion about faith and violence. Kasim sees himself as superior for fighting in God's name, but Michael calls him on his hypocrisy. Kasim tries to explain that Michael's family was not the target. The bomb was meant for the base. "Collateral damage, that is all they were," Kasim says. Michael damn near hulks out on him, but his bonds hold fast. Michael is briefly waterboarded. Kasim wants to know how Michael found him. Michael's only response: "I swear on the soul of my family, you will die today."
Back in the hotel room, Nikita tries to find Michael by his tracker, but Division must have changed the frequency. She tracks down the location of Akhmedov's car using information from his copied SIM card and Akhmedov's vehicle recovery service.
Charm School. Jaden can't find Alex, so she goes back to the panel in the hallway and it open to an access tunnel. She crawls through until she reaches what looks like the inside of a silo. A ladder leads up to a small opening. "Holy crap," she breathes. "Homegirl made a break for it." She crawls back inside. Alex is in the hallway to snap Jaden's picture coming out of the access tunnel. She threatens to tell Percy that Jaden was trying to escape unless Jaden helps her.
Uzbekistan. Michael is looking pretty crappy. Luckily, Nikita shows up and takes down his torturer before the next round can begin. Michael asks for Nikita's gun; she hands it to him. "Where's Kasim?" he asks his torturer, shooting him in the leg. He's gone to the airport. Michael turns away, then turns back and shoots the man twice. Nikita looks stricken, but you know, if someone tortured me I'd probably shoot them, too. Michael drives their getaway car. He makes plans to attack Kasim at the airport, but Nikita points out how impossible that would be. She promises to help Michael find Kasim again and persuades him to let her drive. As soon as she gets out of the car, though, he speeds off without her.
Charm School. Stupid subplot! You're getting in the way of the Michael and Nikita Show! Percy and Amanda question Dr. Pervy. He accuses Alex of attacking him, but Alex shows up with a "witness." Jaden testifies that she saw Dr. Pervy on top of Alex and stuck him with the tranq to save her. "If these two are on the same page, it has to be true," Amanda says. I'd point out how dumb that is, but I just want to get back to the main plot. Dr. Pervy is dragged off by guards.
Out on the road, Nikita flags down a policeman, then takes his car. At the same time, Michael is striding into the airport, looking all bruised and scary. He buys a one-way ticket to Yemen at the counter. Nikita speeds toward the airport. She tries to convince Michael via earpiece to stop. "Revenge is not the answer," she says. He scoffs that she of all people would say that. Michael goes to the men's room, breaks a bottle of vodka and picks up the largest shard of glass. She knows he'll be shot down before he can get near Kasim, but Michael doesn't care. He has to try. "You think you don't have anything to live for," she says, "[but] you do: you have me." He thinks about this for a while, then takes out his earpiece. Nikita calls airport security and warns them about Michael. "Take him alive," she says in Russian. Michael walks out onto the tarmac, shard of glass cutting into his hand, advancing on Kasim. Soldiers tackle him to the ground and Kasim boards the plane unharmed. Michael lets out a cry of anguish.
The soldiers drag Michael back into the airport. Nikita runs toward him. She has a two-way radio; the voice on the other end says the "American operative" has been detained. The look of utter betrayal on his face is just about heartbreaking. He lunges at Nikita, but the soldiers knock him out. We flash back to 2001. Michael is recovering from his wounds at the base. He picks up an unattended bottle of morphine and gets ready to inject a lethal dose into his IV line. That's when Percy walks in and tells him he has options. Michael has no idea who this man is at this point, but Percy offers him both a job with Division and a chance to get Kasim at some future date. "Get even," Percy says. "Get justice."
Obviously, this was a persuasive pitch, because Michael did, indeed, go to work for Percy. In the present day, he returns to Division and meets Percy alone in the training room. "Thank you for the extraction," Michael says. He tells Percy he doesn't blame him for sending in the strike team: "Because you were right about Nikita. I never should have trusted her." Michael stings at his lost opportunity. "You'll get him," Percy says, "and when you do, I'll be the one who helps you." Percy says that Michael knows who his real friends are now. Michael looks down for a moment before agreeing.
Alex messages Nikita. Did she find Michael? Nikita flashes quickly on their time together in Uzbekistan, ending with her necessary betrayal. "Yes," she writes. "But then I lost him." She touches the knife he gave her, the only memento of their partnership. Fade