Nikita: An Advance Review

Much like an elaborate game of chess, moving pawns, bishops, knights and rooks across the square checkered-board in an attempt to checkmate the king of your opponent, the lead character in the new CW series Nikita, based both on the French and American films and the well-known American TV series, has an intricate plan set to trap the perpetrators of her indoctrination into becoming a lethal assassin.

Maggie Q as Nikita / Photo Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW

As the series opens, the viewer is introduced to beautiful Nikita (Maggie Q of Mission: Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard), who, as explained in her voice over, was taken out of prison six years ago and forced by a covert unit of the government – known as Division – to be an assassin. She further proceeds to explain she escaped three years ago and has been hunted ever since. Her goal, it would seem, is to not only settle long-standing scores with those behind Division but also to save the “recruits” who are trapped inside its walls.

One such “recruit” is young Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca from Desperate Housewives and How I Met Your Mother), a troubled teenager shown near the beginning of the pilot being caught by the police after a botched robbery that ended with the life of a security guard. Alex is sent to prison for this crime, but wakes up in a stark gray room with a strange man standing at the foot of her bed. This man, Michael (Shane West from ER), explains Alex’s life is over, as she was declared dead and her ashes buried in an unmarked grave.

Much like the matching pieces on that checkered board, Alex’s new life behind the walls of Division will mirror that of Nikita’s life prior to her escape. As Nikita explains her past to her bewildered (albeit abusive) adoptive father in a scene near the middle of the pilot, the same images are played out for Alex within the walls of Division.

Alex’s possible future can be witnessed in a sequence where Nikita dreams about a past assignment that went awry despite her meeting the objectives set forth for her by Division. The tragic loss of Nikita’s civilian love, Daniel, is mirrored by Alex and several other recruits discussing “relationships” that are forbidden within Division.

And that is when the pilot veers into an almost cat-and-mouse game with each side – Division and Nikita – moving their pieces skillfully across that checkered board in an attempt to capture the Queen. In one particular scene, Nikita tricks Division into thinking she has slipped up by visiting the grave of her dead lover only to kidnap one of Division’s men, Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford from X-Men 2 and 3) when they attempt to capture her.

When Division attempts to complete an assignment – stopping a General from speaking at a peace summit at the United Nations – Nikita is once again there to thwart their plans, saving the General by getting him to safety; moving more of her pieces into place. She even gets the upper hand at a Heritage Foundation dinner, walking straight up to the head of Division, Percy (Xander Berkeley from 24), warning him she is going to take them down. Another piece moved on the board.

How the pieces will continue to be moved across that checkered-board by both sides is anyone’s guess. But it would appear that Nikita is working for or with someone with knowledge of Division. Perhaps it is someone who Division may or may not know. Perhaps it is someone with an axe to grind against Division even more so than Nikita. Or perhaps this someone is simply a pawn in the hands of Nikita, as she moves her rook in line with the king in order to take down the Queen (Division) once and for all.

This much is certain: Nikita is on a mission to bring down Division one pawn at a time and she will not stop until the Queen is hers.

The executive producers behind the show are Craig Silverstein (Bones and K-Ville), Danny Cannon (CSI and Chuck), McG (Supernatural and The O.C.), and Peter Johnson (Supernatural and Chuck).

Nikita will debut this fall on Thursday nights following The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 9/8c.