|
Home | Show Index | Blog | Movie Reviews | Site Updates | About Me | |||
 |
||||
|
 |
1.17 War Michael: "You're the only one of us who still has a soul." This is a series classic, an intensely dark and convoluted episode. Now we know the depth of Nikita's feelings for Michael. She loves him passionately, certainly more than she cares about Section, and even more than she loves herself. Michael, however, is still a cipher. What sort of strength of will does it take for a man to purposefully allow himself to get captured and tortured in the line of duty? I believe that Michael genuinely cares deeply for Nikita, but to what extent can an emotional cripple like Michael feel love? Forget all the romantic bullshit he threw at her in order to manipulate her; that wasn't Michael. What I loved most was the way he rocked the cages so that he could touch her through the bars. My favorite Michael moment was that final scene, where a pale, injured and exhausted Michael confessed to an unconscious Nikita that "it wasn't all a lie." He was wearing white, like she was, symbolizing that he was telling the truth, and that he was emotionally aligned with Nikita. I believe this was the moment in the series when Michael changed sides. From here on out, Nikita was more important to him than Section. We know little about Nikita, but even less about Michael. There were a few bare tidbits about him here. Michael has nightmares. He fears dishonoring himself more than death. He and Simone had a son, who is now dead. Does Michael really believe Section had something to do with it? That doesn't ring true, because how could he continue to work for them if he did? For some reason, I found Michael's expression as he looked the torturer right in the eye (he did this several times) to be very powerful. It wasn't exactly defiance. Maybe it was because Michael knew he had the upper hand, because he was manipulating the torturer as well as Nikita. Finally, there were a lot of great interactions among the supporting cast, as they waited to discover whether or not they were all going to be exterminated. Operations pretty much blew a gasket; Madeline was, unsurprisingly, cool and collected; Birkoff was tense, but efficient. Walter was the most fun, as usual. He was fatalistic, certain they were all going to die. Bits and pieces: -- Red Cell cracked the Directory, huh? The same Directory that was never recovered eight episodes ago? Did they pick it off Gray's floor? -- The attempted hit in the teaser featured Peta Wilson topless, with her hair strategically draped over her naughty bits. -- We got a big clue that Nikita was the sacrificial goat when Michael told her the location of the sub-station up front, literally right after Madeline said that they would tell no one where it was. Seriously, Nikita should have been a little more suspicious. -- The torturer (whose name we never learned) was calm, matter of fact, and mildly sarcastic. Which made him more frightening than, say, Snidely Whiplash. -- The rat cage torture came directly from the classic novel, "1984." -- We didn't see Michael being tortured (thankfully), but he was bleeding from the ears and nose. Concussion? Rat cage for Nikita, but Michael just got bludgeoned? Okay, okay, I forgot the madness thing, but still. -- Operations argued on the phone with someone called George, who totally pissed him off. Who was George? They didn't tell us. -- They must have a plastic surgeon on staff at Section, because Nikita still has her looks in the next episode. -- Nikita had a completely justified emotional outburst, and blew up at Michael: "I finally get it. I finally know what attracts me to you. It's the character you pretend to be. The real Michael disgusts me, I'm sure." Typically, Michael responded, "Can we finish this later?" Quotes: Michael: "I don't know what love is anymore, but the only part of me that's not dead is you." Not an "I love you," but close. Madeline: "How's she doing?" Michael: "Better than any of us." Torture Guy: "I've read your file. You won't shoot unless provoked." Nikita: "They're going to have to update my file." Well, the guy did torture Michael. I think that may have provoked Nikita just a tad. Despite being mildly turned off by the extensive torture scenes and gratuitous rat abuse, I loved this episode. Four out of four stars, Billie |
 |
|
Home | Show Index | Blog | Movie Reviews | Site Updates | About Me