Nikita - Pilot, S01E01

While my standards for keeping a show on the roster have increased drastically because of time constraints, Nikita would not have made it anyway. It's not that it's a bad show, or that it doesn't have a lot of interesting elements or characters which would hold my attention. My problem was that I simply did not like Maggie Q's Nikita and don't really see the point of watching a show where I have no interest in the lead.

It didn't start particularly well. We got a little showing, but then Nikita gave us the most boring and poorly done back story exposition that I have seen in a long time. I really could not care that her boyfriend/fiancé got himself killed because of her. And the difficulties she went through being a recruit don't really play as she is obviously only there for revenge. Frankly, if she managed to kill Percy (Xander Berkeley) and made it look like an accident, everything would be fine in her books and probably in everyone else's as well.

So despite the fact that I really liked Alex (Lyndsey Fonseca) and her interactions with the other recruits and the recruiters, and that I also like Michael (Shane West), the meat of the show - what goes on with Nikita - is superfluous. If the story focused on Alex, perhaps I would want to watch more. She has a whole lot more going on than Nikita does.

But if you did like Maggie Q as Nikita, than I suspect you would have quite enjoyed the pilot and be very inclined to watch the next episode. So if that was the cast, then I hope you have a great time watching the rest of the series.