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Hot Owen is back! He leaks a Chilean assassination plot from the thumb drive Percy had once entrusted to him. His hope was that Percy would call in his mysterious "engineer" in order to fix the obvious design flaw in the whole black box system, who would then lead him to the other black boxes. Everything goes south quickly, so he enlists Nikita's help. Meanwhile, a peppy little CIA drone named Ryan is this close to uncovering Division's dirty secrets, so Percy and the drone's CIA boss decide to frame him for the assassination. Nikita, having received info on the frame job from Alex, warns Ryan, but Chilean rebels abscond with him into the forest. Owen, new to this whole "hero thing," follows Nikita's lead in rescuing Ryan. Michael is there with Division to stop them, but then the US military shows up to stop them. You see what happens when the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing? Division retreats and the military load Ryan and our would-be heroes onto a plane bound for America. Nikita convinces Ryan to help them escape and Owen seals the deal by giving him the thumb drive. They parachute to safety, and Ryan is exonerated. In his place, his CIA boss is framed and the whole machine keeps chugging along.
Back at Division, Alex is keeping tabs on that engineer. She spies on him as he teaches Birkhoff everything he needs to know about the black boxes and fixes the design flaw. Percy "promotes" Birkhoff by snapping the engineer's neck right in front of him. Alex sees the whole thing and realizes just what Percy is capable of. She's not the only one on spy duty: Jaden, suspicious of Alex, has started keeping tabs on her. On the one hand, it's good that someone notices how sneaky Alex is. On the other hand, Jaden continues to be annoying as hell.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Nikita's voice-over catches us up on what's been going on with Division and Owen and the black boxes. I sort of wish they would just do "previouslies" like on other shows, because these VOs are kind of clunky. Nikita has the Newark Community Center all to herself, so she takes a swim to the strains of a creepy choral rendition of Radiohead's "Exit Music (For a Film)." (Fellowshipper on the forum has identified it as the work of Scala.) After her laps, she sits at the edge of the pool, looking pensive. Maybe the music is bumming her out. A man in a dark hoodie watches her from outside, then approaches as she goes to towel off. She immediately springs into action, giving the intruder the towel-snapping of his life. He goes down without much of a fight. Before she can give him another lashing of her Egyptian cotton terry, he pulls back his hood and shouts, "Wait! Waitwaitwait!" It's Hot Owen, who really should have identified himself to start with. But yay! "What do you want?" Nikita asks, none too happy. "I started something," he says. "I need your help to finish it."
Cut to a news broadcast showing anti-American protests in Chile. A reporter says that video footage has been released, showing the assassination of Andres Quintana, a Chilean presidential candidate thought to have died in a car accident. Birkhoff's voice is heard talking to the operative who strangles Quintana in his car.
This has everyone at the CIA headquarters in a tizzy. A guy who looks like Chris Parnell leads a small gaggle of suits into an office, barking orders at them to figure out who was behind the operation. "Maybe it's Fletcher's 'ghost unit,'" one of the suits says mockingly. Fletcher, who's bringing up the rear of the group, seems very wee and delicate, but he earnestly tells the group about the "off book" operations he's been tracking since Mirko Dadich's murder. He asks for permission to return to Chile so he can hunt out this mystery group. "Like the dark matter of the universe, they fill in all the empty spaces." Everyone laughs at him and his crazy ideas. Fletcher looks like a kitten who's been denied a bit of string.
Nikita brings Owen to her loft. He tells her the black box is safe, but she gives him an annoyed look. While he stands there looking kind of dumb, she explains why she hasn't released any Division information to the press: "First there is chaos and then there is a cover-up. Someone will get framed for this!" She accuses him of not thinking, but he tells her he has a plan. The info he released came from a thumb drive, not the black box. There's an engineer who designed the whole system. He released the video hoping that Percy would call in the engineer to fix the flawed system and then they could track down the other boxes, with the help of Nikita's inside person. There was a lot more exposition than that, but that's the meat of it.
Charm School. Percy's in his office when he gets a call from that Chris Parnell guy, whose name turns out to be John. "Oversight is not happy about this," he fumes. He reminds him that Percy and Division are "tools of Oversight." Percy assures him that Division will stay hidden, but John tells him about Fletcher wanting to go to Santiago. Percy says to send him: "He's not your problem, he's your patsy." Division will create an "electronic paper trail" exposing Fletcher as a political zealot. "You're gonna frame him for the assassination?" John asks incredulously. "No, John, you are," Percy says. "Remember, I'm just a tool." He hangs up and gets a black box out of a safe in the wall. He stands there glowering for a while, looking like Emperor Palpatine's understudy. In the computer lab, Birkhoff is already assigning the recruits to create that paper trail.
Back at the Loft of Fabulousness, Nikita is pissed that Owen started this, knowing he would need her help to finish. He says he didn't think she would help if he asked, not after what he did. He says he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to kill him. Nikita turns away and whispers for him to stop, but he goes on. "Division made me what I am and Percy put me in a cage to guard his secrets," he says. "I had no idea what I was helping him do, until you came along." She makes him stop. She agrees to help him, but she'll set the rules. She gets a message from Alex about their "assignment." Owen is stunned. He never considered the consequences. Why is he suddenly kind of dumb? Nikita tells Alex to keep an eye for the engineer, who Owen describes for her as "weird" with glasses. Alex closes the window just as Jaden walks by to give her some shit. Alex reminds Jaden that she has a picture of her trying to escape. That just makes Jaden even pissier than usual. Man, Alex has some crazy drawn-on eyebrows and neon pink lipstick. She manages to see through her pounds of makeup long enough to send Nikita the IP address of their phony paper trail. This leads her and Owen to Ryan and Ryan's obviously phony job listing as an importer/exporter leads them to realize he works for the CIA.
Fletcher arrives at the import/export warehouse in Santiago. The back office is staffed by CIA agents, one of whom is a somewhat grizzled man named Gil who greets Fletcher warmly. As soon as Fletcher arrives at his old desk, there's a phone call for him. It's Nikita; she tells him that he's being framed for Quintana's murder. She tells him to run, but armed men have already broken into the office. They shoot up the desks and force Fletcher out into the open. Nikita, still on the phone, hears one of the men shouting "Navaja." Navaja, their erstwhile leader, walks in and compares a picture of Fletcher to the real thing. The real thing probably smells of urine about now. Navaja whacks him across the face with the butt of his rifle. Back in New York, Owen is helping himself to Nikita's trunk of weapons. "What the hell are you doing?" she asks. "What does it look like? I'm going with you," he says.
Charm School. Percy is pacing the halls with Michael. He blames Nikita, but Michael says he talked to the leak site that posted the video. With a little "persuasion" he gave up Owen. They head to Ops, where Michael goes on to say that Owen uploaded the video from a thumb drive. He grouses about Nikita getting involved. Percy sees an opportunity to drive another wedge between Michael and Nikita: "She's all about herself, Michael. You should know that better than anybody after what happened in Tashkent." Michael looks equal parts sick and sad. It's all very "she'll never love you the way I love you." A nearby TV is playing a report about Fletcher. When Michael realizes that Division has framed a CIA officer, he knows that Nikita will try to save him. Percy tells him to take a team to Chile.
Nikita and Owen drive up to the CIA front in Santiago. Owen's all raring to go, but Nikita stops him. "Wait here," she tells him. She details her plan to go in with fake credentials and find out who took Fletcher. The whole time, Owen stares at her like she's talking Martian. "You lost me at 'wait here,'" he says. Heh. He snarks on her way of working alone. She offers a rebuttal, but then realizes she's just repeating his words without the snark and cuts herself off. "Wait here," she says again. Once inside, she fake-credentials her way into using Fletcher's computer. A suspicious Gil calls into headquarters while Nikita finds where Navaja's rebels are camped out. When Gil starts questioning her, Owen shows up to knock him out with a blow to the plot-convenience center of the brain. "Somebody call for backup?" Comedic music plays.
At the rebel camp, Fletcher is looking a little worse for the wear. He's tied up in a shack, bruised and quaking, while Navaja and his men try to force a confession out of him. He pleads with them, trying to explain he just wants to find out who killed Quintana. He wants to know why he was the only one taken from the office. In answer, Navaja punches his lights out.
Charm School. The weirdo engineer meets Percy in the training room where Alex happens to be working out. When the two leave the floor, Alex starts to follow, but Jaden stops her. "Where you going? We're supposed to be sparring." She signed them up as partners. Alex looks frustrated. Girl just knock her out. No one would blame you. Meanwhile, the Engineer has taken to Birkhoff's tech dungeon. Birkhoff is feeling all antsy and territorial over having to work with someone to fix Percy's data breach. The Engineer won't even tell him his name. Percy joins them and outlines the problem with the black boxes, namely that the data transfer isn't secure. The Engineer is offended and blames the guardians. Percy blames the update drives. Birkhoff's like, "Uh, why do you even need that? This thing's got onboard wireless." He looks over the black box for the first time, realizing he's getting into some seriously secret shit now. Percy's all ominous and creepy, telling Birkhoff not to let him down. Birkhoff, for once, looks genuinely scared and not smarmy.
Owen and Nikita sneak up to the edge of the rebel camp. Owen whips out a gun. "Put that away," she says. "This isn't a cleaner job." She realizes what she's said and apologizes. "It's OK," he says. "I'm new at this hero stuff. You been doing it a lot longer." Sh
e protests the idea that she's a hero. Inside the shack, Fletcher's getting the snot beaten out of him. There's a video camera trained on him but he won't confess. A little TV in the corner starts broadcasting a White House press conference. A man, let's say he's the Press Secretary, announces that Ryan Fletcher was responsible for Quintana's death. Quintana, realizing he doesn't need Fletcher's taped confession anymore, orders him killed. A rebel pulls a plastic bag down over Fletcher's head. Outside, Nikita and Owen are fighting their way through the guards. When all the guards are down, our would-be heroes give each other kind of a hot open-mouthed stare. Fighting gets them going, I guess. They bust into the shack and engage Navaja and his men. There is much kicking of ass and much shooting of guns, but somehow Fletcher avoids getting shot while just sitting there all tied up. When all the rebels are down, Nikita frees Fletcher. "Who are you?" he asks. "I'm Nikita," she says. "You hung up on me." Well, a bunch of armed rebels sort of cut him off. Fletcher wants an explanation, but Nikita rightly prioritizes their escape.
They emerge from the shack and right into a Division ambush. They take cover behind a truck. Michael shouts for them to surrender. Nikita and Owen toss out a few ideas for escape, none of which seem all that great. About this time, Michael picks up a rocket launcher and blows up another truck, cutting off one of their routes of escape. Their hands forced, they flee into the forest.
Charm School. Alex is in computer class with all the other recruits. She messages Nikita for instructions. She gets no reply, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. She just gets up and leaves in the middle of class. She crawls into an air duct that leads to the tech dungeon. There, Birkhoff is comparing Percy to Lord Sauron, asking him to "forge the One Ring." He's having no luck with the black boxes. It all comes down to the encryption being too big for wireless... or something. We get a little background on Birkhoff, who was apparently a hacker named "Shadow Walker" before Percy recruited him. The Engineer rags on him, which I guess inspires Birkhoff to try harder... or something.
Nikita, Owen and Fletcher are still running through the forest, Division close behind. Somehow, Division manages not to hit any of them despite firing hundreds of rounds. Just when it looks like Division is catching up, armed men emerge from the forest floor. "Freeze! United States Army!" Gil is with them. Nikita and the gang surrender. Michael and Division slink off, unseen.
Later, Gil has the gang on an army transport plane. Owen's looking at his chains like he's thinking of a way out. Nikita thinks it would be a bad idea to try to escape at 30,000 feet. Fletcher's at the front of the plane, trying to talk things out with Gil. He points out that the White House press conference was just hours after the rebels grabbed him, so obviously he was framed. He begs Gil to let him to talk to the prisoners, to try to clear his name.
Charm School. Percy's on the phone with John at the CIA, having pissing contests over who's going to bring down whom. Since Percy has all the dirt on Oversight, I know where I'd place my bets. Meanwhile, Birkhoff and the Engineer are playing some kind of... Mortal Kombat... thing. Don't know which one, sorry. Their minds thus cleared with simulated fighting, Birkhoff figures out how to fix their black box problem. In doing so, he gains access to a map that shows the location of the other black boxes. While Alex is still in the air duct, Jaden blocks her escape route. Percy checks on the geeks' progress. "First box I want to test is in London," he says once the Engineer assures him that Birkhoff now knows the whole system. He's also inadvertently assured Percy that he's now obsolete, so Percy just snaps his neck like a Kit-Kat bar while Birkhoff and Alex watch in horror. "Oh, my God!" Birkhoff gasps. "What did you do?!" "I promoted you," Percy says smoothly. Birkhoff stumbles away to go change his underpants.
Jaden rummages around Alex's room. She doesn't find the incriminating picture, but she does find the fingerprint dealie Alex stole from Birkhoff. Alex, having found her usual escape blocked, crawls around the ducts until she emerges in the locker room. She composes herself just in time for Jaden to walk in with a guard, blabbing about how Alex must be "up to something." She's shocked to find Alex sitting there. On the one hand, it's good that at least someone notices Alex is up to something. On the other hand: Shut up, Jaden.
30,000 feet in the air. Nikita has decided to tell Fletcher everything about Division after he says he joined the CIA when his brother was killed in Afghanistan. He just seems trustworthy and heroic, I guess. Like a trustworthy and heroic little kitten. She also tells him that if Division is threatened, Percy will release all its dirty little secrets, creating global chaos. She asks him to help her find Division's moles in the government. Fletcher is suspicious, but Nikita says she wants to take down Division to help pay back the sins she committed while working for them. Owen gives Fletcher the thumb drive in exchange for helping them get off the plane. This involves calling Gil over when Owen fakes a seizure. Owen handily grabs Gil's gun and turns it on the soldiers. He unlocks his and Nikita's chains, then grabs them each a parachute. Heh. You can totally see Owen's butt crack when he bends over to raise the hatch. Before they jump, Nikita shouts "You should have listened to me!" at Fletcher, so that he doesn't look complicit in their escape.
Percy and Michael are in Ops, watching a live news report as Fletcher is taken into custody. "I should have blown that plane out of the sky when I had the chance," Percy says. "If you did that, we'd have no hope of finding the black box," Michael explains for us. Now Michael worries about what Fletcher will do. Percy already has a plan.
In the Loft of Fabulousness, Nikita gets a message from Alex about the London black box. She also messages, "I saw what Percy is capable of." To illustrate the point, we get a cutaway to John at the CIA, slumped forward on his desk, as Roan places an open bottle of bills near his cold, dead hand. A news report names him as the one who tried to frame Fletcher for the assassination.
To wrap things up, Nikita goes for another swim in Newark. Owen's waiting at the edge of the pool when she surfaces. "This is me, standing in the light," he says. Ooh, meaningful. Owen makes plans to go to London to look for the black box guardian while Nikita stays behind to help Alex. He gives her his black box, which Nikita promptly shoots into many itty bitty pieces. "One down, six to go," she says. What's stopping Percy from making more of those things? Best not to think too hard, methinks. Owen turns to go, then stops. "You were wrong back there at the camp," he says. "About not going in quiet?" she asks. He flashes her a winning smile: "About not being a hero." And that's how we go out this week. Le sigh!
Tippi Blevins is going to practice snapping towels in a deadly way. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.
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