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3.4 Gates of Hell Michael: "I've caused you enough pain already. Go, while you still can." When I first fell in love with this series and was marathoning my way through season two, I kept longing for three specific things to happen. All three of these things actually happened in season three. (The writers and producers are to be commended for giving me exactly what I wanted.) The first was for Michael to have a total emotional melt-down. So that's one. (I'll share the other two things when they happen later in the season.) Michael's grief in the opening scene was stunning. His suicidal depression was all the more effective because Michael is such a cold, controlled, and unemotional man. I think it worked that his grief was centered around the loss of Adam, not Elena. Although we were not specifically told, I suspect Michael's relationship with Elena was affectionate, but not passionate, that he didn't love her. Which brings us to Nikita. Michael is an introvert, and unaccustomed to having someone to whom he can turn. Too focused on his own pain to let her in, he refused all of Nikita's attempts to help him, and actively pushed her away. Nikita, in turn, covered for him at tactical and spent her off hours guarding him, without his knowledge. It was emotionally satisfying for me that in the end, Nikita became Michael's reason to live. When she was captured, he immediately reverted to superspy Michael to get her back. That stunt with the motorcycle is right up there with the office chair gun battle as one of my favorite action sequences in the series. Michael, Master of the Monosyllable and in the grip of depression, gave us some amusing moments. Like: Operations: "Are you getting this?" Michael: "No." Operations: (sarcastically) "Nice of you to join us." Michael: "Thank you." Nikita: "Michael. Should we attack?" (no response) Nikita: (agitated) "Michael! Should we attack?" Michael: "Why not?" Nikita: "You're not well." Michael: "Who is?" Operations was chessmaster throughout. Or maybe it was poker. First, he tried to make Michael believe that Mihai Brevich killed his own son, for obvious reasons, and that blew up in his face. He outmaneuvered Birkoff's and Walter's blackmail attempt with a remarkable bluff that worked. (Did what happened to Jurgen teach them nothing?) And then Operations deliberately made Michael believe that he had written Nikita off, knowing exactly how Michael would react. I just loved the scene where Operations compared Section's success rate to God's, and insisted that Section's was better. What a bastard. You gotta hate him. In the final scene, Operations compared Michael and Nikita to golden retrievers, and talked about having one of them put to sleep if they got too attached to each other. This of course means that anything that happens personally between Michael and Nikita that has an effect on Section will not be tolerated. This can't be good. This entire four episode arc was probably intended to make Michael more human, more accessible. And it utterly succeeded. Roy Dupuis was wonderful throughout, especially here. An episode this extreme wouldn't have worked with a lesser actor. Bits and pieces: -- At tactical, Michael was so out of it that he jumped at the sound of gunshots. -- Operations had some nerve comparing his choice not to return to his family to what just happened to Michael. -- The whole Adrian thing is not going to go away. I like that. -- Roy Dupuis played the cello as a child. Musical talent certainly added an interesting facet to Michael's personality. -- Operations' outbluffing of Birkoff and Walter resembled what Madeline did in "Looking for Michael." -- Michael's new apartment was just a bit stark, don't you think? He should get Nikita to decorate it for him. It could use some sunglasses and fish sculpture. -- Michael's groomed look pretty much went to hell here with an advanced case of rumpled bed head, and dirt under his nails. -- In the past three episodes, Nikita wore black in Section. Here, in the final scene where she and Michael went off together for coffee, she was wearing red, symbolizing that she again did not belong in Section. Red is a sexual color. Please tell me she and Michael are going to start it up again. Quotes: Operations: "Van Haven's incompetence was mind-boggling." Didn't he just do what he was told? Poor Van Haven. Michael: "It's his birthday today. I bought him a present." Nikita: "That you can never give him?" Michael: "Yes. That I can never give him." Walter: "We won't ask for the moon and the stars. Just a planet or two." Operations: "I miss the Cold War, too, Madeline. It had clarity and structure." Geez Louise. What sort of human being would miss the Cold War? Walter: "I'm sorry." Birkoff: "I think it would be better if we didn't talk to each other for awhile. Like the rest of our lives." As you can probably tell from the length of the review, this is one of my favorite episodes. Four out of four stars, Billie |
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