NIKITA Recap: “Looking Glass” (Episode 5)

In what appears to be a getaway moment for Michael and Nikita quickly turns out to be Michael and a Russian woman in a lush hotel room talking about the views and colors in Hawaii. The Russian woman then quotes Eduardo Manet, the French impressionist artist, as she and Michael fall into bed together.

But this is not present day, but rather a mission for which Michael was on six years in the past in Belarus, posing as an American cultural attaché. And the woman is no mere Russian fling, but Cassandra (guest star Helena Mattsson), the wife of the Belarus president. Michael (nee Jonathan as the woman knows him by) reveals to her his true reason for being there: he is there to eliminate a threat – her husband President Ovechkin. For a brief moment she thinks he is joking, but quickly realizes he is telling the truth. Michael needs her help in order to complete his mission.

Skip to present day with Michael watching a news report in Belarus where martial law has been enforced after six years of peace and the announcement that the long-time personal assistant of the Belarusian president has been killed. Michael proceeds to explain that they need to get Cassandra out of the country as she helped topple her husband’s regime. It would seem Ovechkin was replaced with a double, who is now out of control. The double was put in place by Division so they could control him like a puppet, and in order to pull off the con Cassandra had to stay so no one would know what really took place. But now that Ovechkin’s double is swirling out of control, Michael wants to go in to rescue Cassandra.

As Birkhoff gets Nikita all the intel on Cassandra that he can, Amanda is talking with Percy about the same situation. It is revealed that the double is getting rid of anyone who knows the truth about him, believing that he is a natural world leader. And with Percy locked up, he will not listen to Amanda even though she is now in charge of Division. It seems that the double was even causing Percy problems before he was overthrown and it will be difficult for them to gain control of the double; and if they cannot regain control of him, then Amanda says he will have to be put down.

While Michael prepares to leave for Belarus, he and Nikita discuss how they can get in contact with Cassandra. Michael reveals that he attained Cassandra as an asset through a “standard raven protocol” (basically a honey trap) – a type of mission that Nikita never realized Michael had to be on, missions that she had to do many times as her alter-ego Josephine. Soon enough, though, Birkhoff’s jet is ready and Michael prepares to leave.

Meanwhile back at Division Alex wants one of the computer techs to analyze the “signal traffic” from Semak’s regime because they know she killed Kochenko and will be hunting for her. But, of course, Amanda will only provide the support if she gets something in return. Amanda wants Alex to go in to Belarus to take down Ovechkin, but she refuses; and another operative, Lisa, volunteers in her place. Pierce overhears the conversation and confronts Alex about turning down the mission because the Ovechkin double needs to be stopped; but seeing that Alex is only focused on revenge, he warns her that her whole life can’t be wrapped around getting Semak or else she’ll “end up like Nikita”.

In Minsk, the capital of Belarus, an art auction is being conducted at Claridge’s. Cassandra glides in with her security guard in tow and takes a seat as an oil painting by Manet goes up for bid. Quickly, she is outbid by a woman in the front row, who is revealed to be Nikita, acting as a proxy for a “very private man” who is now the new owner of the painting. Hoping to bargain with the new owner to use the Manet in an exhibition next month, Cassandra goes to one of the hotel suites, finding Michael there. As Cassandra enters the room, Michael says he knew she couldn’t resist the picture, but they don’t have time to talk as he knows her situation is “dicey”. He quickly tells her he has a plan to get her out, but that plan becomes complicated for one “little” reason: Cassandra has a small son, Max.

Cassandra and Nikita

Jumping back to six years in the past, Michael introduces Cassandra to her husband’s double, who, at that time, was humble and honored to be on this mission. Michael asks Cassandra if she is up for the “con” and she tells him clearly, “I know what I have to do. Sometimes in order to get what we want we have to sleep with the enemy”.

Quickly, we revert back to the present situation with Cassandra stating she will not participate in Michael’s planned extraction unless she knows that she and Max will be safe. Of course, given how young the boy is, Michael wonders if he is the father, but Cassandra tells him Max is only 4 years old. He has been kept a secret from everyone because, “in Belarus keeping secrets is a way of life”. She tells Michael she has her own plan for them to get out and that he will only complicate things for her and Max. In the end, she tells Michael to just leave them alone; but as they leave the hotel room, Michael has a brief memory flash of his own little girl who was the same age as Max before she was killed.

Back at Division, Amanda is overseeing Lisa’s infiltration into Belarus, giving her orders to take down Ovechkin, but soon enough she is taken prisoner by a random border control. This situation enrages Pierce, who shouts orders to organize a rescue mission, but Amanda calmly states “that is not what we do”. But he does not back down and stands up to her, stating that you “never leave a man behind” and sets off to rescue her. Alex is quick to follow Pierce, commending him for taking a stand against Amanda and telling him that she’s coming with him. Alex admits that Lisa was only there because she turned down the mission and she feels responsible for her current precarious situation.

Back in Belarus, Michael tells Birkhoff to find out more about Max while he and Nikita discuss Michael’s mission involving Cassandra. She was upset that Michael could be intimate with Cassandra and yet pass on his feelings for her during a previous mission they were on together around the same time. Michael’s excuse (quite honestly) was a bit lame, but before any real discussion could be had, Birkhoff comes back with scant details on Max. There is no record of how old the boy actually is and the miniscule times he is out in public and caught by the press, he is passed off as the son of an Ovechkin staff member, who the trio believes is actually his nanny.

Michael

At the Ovechkin palace, Cassandra is surprised by her ‘husband’ in Max’s bedroom where he asks about the auction and then reveals that he knows she is going to Paris for an art symposium, which, it seems, is when she planned for her and Max to make their escape. But, the double tells her that Max will not be accompanying her. She then asks him why he is killing people, defying the Americans – “you are putting us all at risk” – and he menacingly states he is in charge now, not the Americans; he claims he is building a legacy for his son. This prompts Cassandra to contact Michael to move forward with his plan. They meet at Claridge’s under the guise of negotiating a deal over the Manet and telling her security guard that she left something behind at the auction house.

With their itinerary – down to the minute – for the next 24 hours in Michael’s hand, the plan is laid out that Cassandra and Max will be removed from the Presidential palace during Cassandra’s in-house salon treatment. Michael will act as her masseuse while Nikita will get Max out once the piano teacher and nanny are distracted. Birkhoff keeps the teacher busy with a fake car accident phone call, allowing Nikita to get into Max’s room. As Michael and Cassandra prepare to leave the palace, Nikita has difficulty getting Max to cooperate – he is afraid to climb out the window with her – and they are forced to abort the mission, nearly getting caught by Cassandra’s security guard and the piano teacher.

Meanwhile, captured Division agent Lisa has been traced to an abandoned factory just outside Minsk, which is where Alex and Pierce are being dispatched. She is being beaten by Ovechkin’s men and just as Alex and Pierce get inside the factory, Amanda calls the double, telling him he doesn’t have the spine to defy them; that he needs to behave and do as she tells him – “leave the killing to the grown-ups” she crows – and with that the double takes out a gun and kills Lisa as Alex and Pierce look on, unable to stop him.

Lisa’s murder angers Pierce with him telling Alex they aren’t going anywhere. He is determined, even more, to take down the double, but if he were to die that would erupt the country in chaos, jeopardizing Michael and Nikita’s plan to get Max and Cassandra out safely. So it is now Round Two of the rescue mission with Michael and Nikita (with Birkhoff’s help, of course) planning to use Ovechkin’s evacuation car during a state dinner at the Palace to get Cassandra and Max out. At the same time, Alex and Pierce have all the equipment they need to get into the same dinner, set up the evacuation car as a bomb to take out Ovechkin and complete their mission. Obviously, neither team knows the other is there or what each team has planned.

Elsewhere, Amanda is once again talking to Percy about what Alex and Pierce are doing in Belarus because they need a way to make the double trust Alex – and Percy is their only key. In order to get intel on the double from Percy, Amanda uses the one piece of leverage she has: a brand new suit for Percy to wear. In exchange Percy will provide an ice breaker – something they can use to get through to the double since he won’t talk to anyone except Percy.

Michael and Nikita prepare to go inside the state dinner as part of the wait staff with the plan to remove mother and son after Max is sent to bed and Cassandra leaves the dinner party to tuck him in for the night. Before going in to complete the mission, though, Michael and Nikita have a heart-to-heart talk about his past with Cassandra and Michael’s belief that he failed his wife and daughter when they were blown up in a car bomb explosion years before – all of which is overheard by Birkhoff because they forgot to turn off their coms (communication devices) [there always has to be at least one moment of levity during all the action, right?]

As we see both teams’ plans unfold at the dinner party, Cassandra takes her leave to tend to Max while Alex – under the guise of being a translator for the German dignitaries in attendance at the party – distracts the double. But it would seem that Michael and Nikita’s plan might be in jeopardy because Max is giving his nanny a hard time about going to bed, claiming his mother said he is to wait for the “lady” to come for him. While Michael takes out the security guard with Cassandra, the nanny prepares herself, gun in hand, for the “lady” who is, of course, Nikita.

The real action begins as Pierce leaves a suitcase bomb in the back seat of the evacuation car, Alex keeps the double busy and Nikita fights it out with the nanny. Michael has gotten Cassandra safely to the car, but when the shooting starts he attempts to work his way back inside the Palace to help Nikita. Of course, Cassandra is worried for her son’s safety, but she agrees to stay with the car while Nikita finds him hiding in a closet and Michael works his way to the back of the Palace.

With Pierce in place just outside the compound (ready to blow up the car once the double is inside), Alex gives the double a message from Percy, making him think that Percy has a plan to get back into power and that he is counting on his allies – the double included – to be there to work with him. She warns the double there is an attack coming and that he needs to get out tonight. At that same time, Nikita brings Max to Cassandra and while they prepare to get in the car to escape, Nikita heads back inside to find Michael. At that moment, the double is calling out over the radio for his security officers but when he gets no response from them, he sends other guards inside to find his wife.

Meanwhile, Birkhoff picks up a low-band signal coming from the car and the trio quickly realizes it is a bomb; but with Nikita on the staircase inside the house looking for Michael and Michael trapped in hiding at the back of the palace, they are in a race to get Cassandra and Max out of the car before it blows. But, as Michael races through the palace and around to the front to reach the car, a huge explosion rocks the gates off the palace fence with the car blowing up and, for Michael; it’s like the loss of his wife and daughter all over again. But luckily, Nikita got there in time to get Cassandra and Max out of the car, saving their lives.

As the party attendees move toward the windows to see what has caused the explosion, the double approaches Alex, holding a gun to her side, and takes her into a separate room. He questions her about working for Percy and while trying to talk him down, Pierce comes in, takes him down and shots both the security guard lying on the floor and the double for good measure. As the attendees race out of the Palace, one of the guards tells Cassandra that Ovechkin is dead and rather than allow panic to ensue, Cassandra steps up, claiming that the dead security guy was the traitor her husband was hunting, telling them they need to show the world “who they are” even in their darkest hour.

With their mission over, Pierce commends Alex for actually doing something right that had nothing to do with her revenge plans against Semak or anything that Nikita would have had her do. She admits it “feels pretty good” but it doesn’t change anything, it’s merely a detour. He chides her that it’s the little things that can make a difference as we see Percy putting on his suit in his plastic prison looking just a bit too smug.

Now, Cassandra and Max are safe and will remain in Belarus. Michael then apologizes to Cassandra for what he did six years ago during his mission and he hopes that she can move on and have a happy future with Max. She actually thanks him for giving her a sense of worth and respect at a time when she needed them most. As Cassandra goes to speak with Nikita to thank her for helping them, Max runs to sit with Michael. It is then that Nikita reveals Max likes to talk, telling her his favorite food, what kind of dog he wants, why he hates practicing piano and his birthday. Turns out he is not four years old, but a little over 5, making him Michael’s son; but Cassandra asks if Nikita is going to tell him. “It will mean the end of all of our futures,” Cassandra pleads to Nikita. One of their enemies will come after Max to get at Michael and then where would they be. It will be up to Nikita to tell Michael the truth, but will she?

“Looking Glass” is the fifth episode of the second season of Nikita. The next new episode of Nikita will air on The CW on Thursday, October 27 at 8/7c.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Were you surprised to learn that Michael would be sent on a love-em and leave-em mission? And, even more so, that he would end up a father because of that mission? Do you think Nikita will be able to keep that secret? And what will be the ramifications once Michael learns the truth? Where will this leave their relationship? Do you think there is more to Pierce than meets the eye given his actions on this mission? Has Alex seen a new side to Pierce that might take their relationship (whatever that might be) in a new, and maybe unexpected, direction? What will Percy ask for next and where will that lead us in his slow plan to get out of his prison? Please share your thoughts below.