NIKITA Recap: “Doublecross” (Episode 16, Season 2)

Division agents are being kidnapped and killed with all signs pointing to Gogol; but is that who is really doing the dirty deeds? Amanda knows the truth but she cannot reveal what she knows without admitting to her long-time affair with Ari, who is in charge of the covert agency. Her agent’s however suspect Nikita and are upset that Amanda seems more obsessed with Alexandra Udinov than their safety.

Alex and Sean

Meanwhile, Alex is in Moscow preparing to visit the Semak mansion, which was built on the very same land where her childhood home was burned down with a press crew in tow. She tells Nikita that she just needs two more days to rescue her mother and then she can drop the ruse of her desire to reclaim Zetrov – the company her father created and that she by birthright deserves to oversee. Carla is right there overhearing the conversation, warning Nikita that Amanda and Ari will use Alex in order to gain control of Zetrov for themselves. It is at this time that Birkhoff informs Michael and Nikita about the murders and they figure out that the victims are Division agents. Michael then puts the puzzle together realizing that the agents are being taken are those who picked for a special task force to go up against Gogol; and he knows who will be next.

At the same time, Carla is on the phone with Percy talking about wresting control of Division back from Amanda now rather than waiting; but Percy assures Carla that Amanda’s obsession with Alex with help them to get Division, she just needs to sit tight for now.

Michael, Birkhoff and Nikita

In true Nikita fashion she decides they need to do a rescue mission to save the next agent who will be targeted and while they get to her in time, she bolts running right into the path of a speeding car that knocks her down. That car is filled with armed men who, after Nikita and Michael battle of few of them and Nikita sustains an injury caused by one of the masked men, she knows they are not Gogol but rather a Guardian given his way of fighting. A short time later, the kidnapped agent, who Michael and Nikita were not able to save, is shown struggling with her restraints while a Russian voice (who is actually Percy) asks for details on Alexandra Udinov. This interrogation lays the groundwork for Division to believe that Gogol is the culprit especially once that agent is able to escape, which – of course – was all part of Percy’s plan anyway.

Sean then shows up to act as Alex’s bodyguard during her visit to the Semak mansion with the ulterior motive to find the one remaining black box that has contains the last proof of his mother’s involvement with Oversight. It is Sean’s intention to find the black box and destroy it while helping Alex to rescue her mother. His plan seems to work until they discover that her mother is not in the hidden room where Alex last found her; and that Semak must have moved her, leaving Ari, who is supposed to be Semak’s right hand man, completely in the dark. While Alex confronts Ari about her mother’s removal from the mansion, Sean copies Ari’s hard drive. It is also during this time that Ari tells Alex that they need to eliminate Semak now. He also reveals that he has a mole in a foreign intelligence agency that will be called in to fake the unfortunate car accident that will take his life.

Nikita

Meanwhile, Amanda decides to hire Nikita and the team to capture Percy, using Ryan as the trade-off. Nikita agrees to do the job, knowing full well that Amanda will double cross them; but she, obviously, has her own double cross in place. They track Percy down using a backdoor tracking system for which Birkhoff created for Division after Nikita kidnapped him and soon enough the trade takes place in an abandoned warehouse. They are able to get Ryan back, but when one of Amanda’s hit men (who was sent there to eliminate Nikita and her team) is taken out by Roan and Miller – who were told where the trade was taking place by Carla – Percy is able to escape with Roan’s help. Miller, however, is finally taken out by Ryan.

Back at their base of operations, Birkhoff admits to Carla that Nikita knew it was Carla who was working with Percy all along when the first agent was kidnapped. They actually used her cell phone to track down Percy – not any kind of system that Birkhoff created. But Carla walks off thinking that Birkhoff won’t shot her, but he panics and the gun goes off, shooting Carla in the back. As she falls to the floor, she grabs a machine gun, taking out all of Birkhoff’s equipment and nearly harming him. He reacts by shooting her in the gut, which ends up being a fatal injury. Carla dies in Nikita’s arms just as she and Michael return with Ryan finally safely away from Division.

Nikita, Michael and Percy

In the final scenes, Sean and Alex are going through all the copied documents from Ari’s hard-drive discovering one particular folder that had been recently updated. As it turns out, that file contained the identification of the mole known as “The Hunter” for which Ari told Alex about. That mole turns out to be none other than Cassandra, the mother of Michael’s son Max. Then Michael and Nikita talk about a picture of Cassandra and Max for which she found in one of their bags. She had warned Michael earlier that if anyone other than her had discovered that picture that it could spell doom for Michael with Max ending up as the next target. Michael finally agreed with Nikita, burning the picture, but saying rather prophetically that “you never know how close your enemies are going to be”.

“Doublecross” is the 16th episode of the second season of Nikita. The next new episode of Nikita will air on Friday, March 23 at 8 PM on The CW.

How did you feel about this episode? Were you surprised by what Percy was doing to the Division agents? Did you see it coming that Amanda would use Ryan as a trade for Percy? How about the reveal that Cassandra is Ari’s mole? What will that mean for Michael and little Max? How about the fact that Nikita, Michael and Birkhoff knew it was Carla that was in communication with Percy? Were you sad to see her die? Do you want to see Sean and Alex get closer before the end of the season? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.