Invisible Strings ~ NIKITA
16 September 2010 2 Comments
My love of the Nikita franchise goes way back, almost to its beginning. I’ve always loved Point of No Return, the American movie that was based on the original French film, and after that I followed the TV version of La Femme Nikita all the way to the end. The character of Nikita is endlessly fascinating and the series was always rich in character and cast. So when The CW decided to bring the series back to television for a new generation I was thrilled. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that nothing can ever be as good as the originals.
My first problem with the new Nikita series is that it’s a complete retread. The first episode offered nothing new in terms of story — girl gets arrested while committing a crime, girl is proclaimed dead and taken into custody of shady “government” agency, girl is thrown into training to become one-woman assassination crew, girl resists and gets thrown around until she complies — except that the series has chosen to show that girl as a new recruit while Nikita is on the run after her escape from the agency. There is one twist: Nikita is responsible for the girl being recruited. But other than that, it’s the same old, same old, same tired story, told Alias-style.
As I watched the first episode I became so bored that I skimmed through it in fast-forward until the end just to see if there was a good setup for the rest of the season. There wasn’t. Based on the pilot, all I’m gonna see are stories I already know put to techno music and featuring scantily-clad women in hand-to-hand combat situations. Which is supposed to make them appear “strong” when it actually just makes them sex objects twice-over. Been there, done that with Alias. And I was less and less impressed with that show as it continued that focus. So, no thank you, CW. I’ll take Nikita as she was meant to be: in the form of Peta Wilson.
image via The CW and linked to source
My first problem with the new Nikita series is that it’s a complete retread. The first episode offered nothing new in terms of story — girl gets arrested while committing a crime, girl is proclaimed dead and taken into custody of shady “government” agency, girl is thrown into training to become one-woman assassination crew, girl resists and gets thrown around until she complies — except that the series has chosen to show that girl as a new recruit while Nikita is on the run after her escape from the agency. There is one twist: Nikita is responsible for the girl being recruited. But other than that, it’s the same old, same old, same tired story, told Alias-style.As I watched the first episode I became so bored that I skimmed through it in fast-forward until the end just to see if there was a good setup for the rest of the season. There wasn’t. Based on the pilot, all I’m gonna see are stories I already know put to techno music and featuring scantily-clad women in hand-to-hand combat situations. Which is supposed to make them appear “strong” when it actually just makes them sex objects twice-over. Been there, done that with Alias. And I was less and less impressed with that show as it continued that focus. So, no thank you, CW. I’ll take Nikita as she was meant to be: in the form of Peta Wilson.
image via The CW and linked to source
