NIKITA Recap: “Crossbow” (Episode 22, Season 2)

A North Dakota Command Center is infiltrated by a Division agent, who is quickly revealed to be “Cleaner” agent Robbie – one of the recruits Alex “befriended” (if you can call it that) during her days inside Division’s walls, who was believed to have been killed by Amanda after he took out several Division guards. Robbie takes down several of the military personnel at this facility and retrieves 20-year old motherboards; obviously for Percy and whatever weapon of destruction he is working to build. The motherboards are then given to Sonya (the Division tech replacement for Birhkoff) by Percy who tells her – almost too calmly and creepily – “the fate of the world lies in your hands”. (Zoinks!)

Meanwhile, at Ryan’s safe house, Nikita cannot get Percy off her mind even when she is sleeping as she awakens from a nightmare of images of her time at Division and visions of what could possibly happen to the world with Percy in control of Division and the components for what they believe is a nuclear weapon.

As it turns out, Ryan and Birkhoff have been working on Intel collected by Ryan on aerospace engineers, who would be needed by Percy to further his plans. Their search leads them to engineers who worked on a project called “Operation Crossbow” (a project that centered on satellites); and as it turns out, three of the five engineers have recently died under unusual circumstances, leading the team to believe that Percy played a hand in their demise.

With only two engineers remaining, Nikita wants to get to one of them before Percy can; but it seems one of the engineers, named Henderson, has “been off the grid” for the past 16 years. That doesn’t deter Birkhoff and Michael from tracking him down by following propane purchases, which he would need to survive since he is off the grid. That trace leads Michael and Nikita to the engineer in an old trailer on the outskirts of Philadelphia, but before they can get any reliable information from Henderson a team of Division agents show up, making it necessary for Michael and Nikita to get into a firefight with them. That firefight results in Henderson being killed, leaving them without the Intel they desperately needed. That is until they search through his trailer, after they dispense of the Division agents with a well-placed shot at one of Henderson’s propane barrels, of course, finding an old video tape in – of all places – his refrigerator.

The video tape, once played back on an old piece of equipment that Birkhoff somehow either handily found or somehow had in his possession (try to figure that one out?), explains that “Operation Crossbow” was a missile defense system against any Russian missile attack on the United States that never worked because the satellite could never hit its target. The project was shut down so the team has to wonder what Percy could possibly want with it.

Soon enough, the pieces are put together that Percy is using the satellite as a weapon rather than a safeguard as it was intended. It’s possible – according to Birkhoff’s thinking – that Percy could use the satellite to hit one specific location if targeted correctly and controlled properly. Obviously, the other components collected by Percy and the equipment easily accessible to Percy via Division could make the satellite unstoppable. That is exactly what Percy has in mind – he will control the world with this satellite (using it as a weapon of mass destruction by the simple touch of a button), and as depicted later in the episode, he will even control the President of the United States [POTUS] (guest star Cameron Daddo) by a few well-placed calls to the White House, threatening the safety of America.

In fact, Percy has Robbie infiltrate a nuclear research facility in upstate New York, to be used as the first example of the satellite’s capabilities. What Percy doesn’t realize is that Alex and Sean have followed Robbie there and figure out part of the plan, ending Robbie’s life just as he drops a transmitter through a grate at the research facility that will be used as a beacon by the satellite, blowing the research facility just as Alex and Sean make a fast get-away before it is blown to hell. That incident puts POTUS and the federal government on high alert with Kendrick and Ryan working behind the scenes in the Oval Office to provide POTUS with further Intel on what to expect from Percy and Division.

Percy is then in contact with the mystery man (guest star David S. Lee) from the art house, who is a part of yet another mystery organization for which Percy seems desperate to become a member. Percy explains to this mystery man that because of the satellite under his control, he has POTUS in his back pocket; which is proven when Percy controls what POTUS says during a televised speech to the American public about the explosion at the research facility. The mystery man is impressed and it seems Percy is one step closer to membership.

Meanwhile, in order to stop Percy from doing any further damage, Nikita says they need to get into Division to destroy the motherboards since there is no possible way for Birkhoff to hack in from the safe house. This is, of course, a suicide mission because not only would they have to get past the Division agents who man the farmhouse, which is used as cover for the secret entrance to Division, but also the layers of guards who safeguard Division. But, Nikita says they can get in through the silo that she originally used to escape from Division. This mission isn’t something she wants to do, but they have to stop Percy!

The plan is then set in motion that Alex and Sean will disable the two Division guards who control the farmhouse, allowing Michael and Nikita time to get to the silo. But as it turns out, the silo’s ladder is gone (probably as part of Amanda’s “renovations” when making the glass prison that housed Percy for a time and to ensure that no other agents could escape from Division), making it necessary for Nikita to be lowered by repel rope into the silo and going solo into Division to destroy the motherboards.

The farmhouse guards (a man and woman whose cover it is to play husband and wife working the farm), are tied to chairs inside the barn and being controlled by Alex and Sean. But what the duo (Alex and Sean that is) don’t count on is the man sacrificing himself, allowing the woman to break his neck with her legs (which were not tied down – c’mon the farmhouse guards should have been hog-tied). His death, of course, stops the tracker that is implanted inside his body (a tracker that is implanted inside every single Division agent). With his tracker signaling trouble back to Sonya, Percy locks down Division, sends an Alpha team to the farmhouse and armed guards to the server room, which is where Nikita is frantically working to place a detonator on the motherboards.

Hearing the trouble over the coms, Michael lowers himself into the silo and goes into Division to rescue Nikita; but that doesn’t work because the armed guards are closing in on her and she tells Michael to blow the remote detonator. He isn’t close enough to save her and has no other choice but to hit the button, blowing the motherboards. As Nikita falls down from the explosion, Michael is left not knowing whether Nikita is clear of the blast or not; and Alex and Sean are shown firing off machine guns at the Alpha team that was sent to the farmhouse. This, of course, will lead to a powerful showdown in next week’s finale.

“Crossbow” is the penultimate episode (the 22nd episode) of the second season of Nikita. The season finale (yes, it is a season finale because the show has been renewed for a third season) of Nikita will air on Friday, May 18 at 8 PM on The CW.

How did you feel about this episode? Were you surprised to see Robbie again and to see Alex and Sean take him down? Were you shocked at what Percy has planned for that satellite? Are you wondering just what organization it is that Percy is trying to get membership in through the mystery man? What will happen to Alex and Sean in the farmhouse against the Alpha team? What will happen next to Nikita and Michael now that they are back inside Division’s walls? What will Birkhoff, Ryan and Kendrick be able to do from the outside to help them? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.