As I was gathering my thoughts for this review, I couldn’t get past a title. The first thing that came to my head was weird puns like, “Intersection: Let Me Give You a Hand.” Then someone on Twitter came up with something better (thanks @ckonnect!), “Intersection : A Handful of Surprises.” Suddenly, I’m spending too much time on clever catch phrases than actually constructing a review.
In the midseason review I posted last week, I compared Nikita to 24. Heck, I’m even keeping a list of exactly how Nikita is like 24. This week, I got to add one to the list. Season three, 24, in order to save the world from a virus spreading, Jack Bauer is forced to cut off the hand of his partner (and fiancée of this daughter), Chase Edmunds. Nikita faces this same choice when Michael’s hand is pinned under their flipped and burning car, and while I’m certainly sad that she had to make that life or death decision, but I couldn’t help but feel this had been done before. I don’t think I really enjoyed either time.
“Intersection: He Might Come in Handy.”
No matter about what was done before, for the rest of the episode was nice and exciting. I was actually worried about Sonya, which is the first time I’ve cared about her. Birkhoff was the one that sold the whole intense drama by being so convincingly anxious and out of his mind about the whole thing. His dream in the beginning (nice fake out) was very telling just how much this knowledge about the mole was weighing down on him. It goes to show when you have Birkhoff in your corner, you’ll be alright. I love the episodes where we get to see that other side of the arrogant techie, the protective softie who actually does care about other people. I especially loved him making small talk with Sonya while he was drilling into her spine. A fine hour for Aaron Stanford.
It was probably no accident either that in pretending to fight on Amanda’s behalf, real disagreements between Nikita and Michael began to surface. They were probably forewarnings into trouble happening in Mikita paradise, but it’s also interesting how Amanda’s psychological warfare is working so well. Her terror goes much beyond the moment of confrontation. I’ve also seen too many real life examples of when couples end up planning their life together, they find out it might not be a good idea to spend the rest of their lives together. Sounds like Michael and Nikita have a few philosophical differences they need to work out.
“Intersection: On the Other Hand…”
I was stunned though how duped Amanda was over the fake affair between Alex and Michael and the surprise attack. That will have to be chalked up to her being blinded by revenge. What did all of you think about that whole Alex and Michael setup, especially when it evolved because of a confrontation over Alex’s new drug problem? I was lukewarm about it. If those two had chemistry maybe, otherwise it felt more like brother and sister making out. Nikita wasn’t threatened by it, so she obviously saw the same thing I did. Nikita wasn’t too forgiving with Alex about the drug problem though. People who throw stones shouldn’t live in glass houses, eh Nikita?
I loved this new mythos of “The Watchman” even though they could have come up with a way cooler and more original name than that. It’s been done before. The surveillance technique of this guy is pretty slick and suddenly I’ve found a new career I’d like to pursue. The idea of spying on people while being invisible in crowds definitely suits my tastes. They discover he’s been on Michael and Nikita all season, so he’s been pretty damn good at his job.
“Intersection: When You Pry it From My Cold, Dead, Hand.”
The guy not so good at his job was the other mole planted by Amanda. I was really disappointed there was only one. I would have been more intrigued to find there was a whole team infiltrating Division. Actually, we might just find that out later. Out of the four suspects the mole was rather easy to point out. The shifty eyed one. He fought like a girl, so naturally he was taken out by one. Alex needed a little release, and the dude deserved it, so it’s a win for everyone.
The big bonus to this latest Amanda showdown is Nikita did her a big favor by getting rid of that hot tempered (and quite ugly) assistant of hers. If there was ever a chick that needed death. When her boss told her “Don’t kill Nikita” and yet she threw a grenade under the car anyway, then tried to kill Nikita in a knife fight afterward, if she had survived Amanda would have taken her out. Oh, I miss the days of smart henchman like Roan. Nothing could kill that guy, well, except 10,000 volts of electricity that did.
A lot happened in this episode, so here’s the scorecard for the next episode on Friday: Sonya lives for now, Birkhoff is awesome, Ryan is playing “Where’s Waldo?” with rogue agents, Alex and Nikita still need to have a special talk about drugs, Amanda goes on alone, and Nikita has a lot of explaining to do to Michael, aka Stumpy, even though her defense is she freaking saved his life! Ooh, how about this one?
“Intersection: Hands off!”
