Nikita -- The Trade
Michael! Why aren't you here!
This whole Daddy Dearest storyline the show has come up with for Michael isn't doing much for his character. As I said previously, it was Michael's idea to right the wrongs of the Black Box, now he's off playing Daddy in London and Nikita and Birkhoff are stuck with the whole Black Box mess they never asked for. And does he think that with him being hunted by Division that they're not going to find him squatting in London and use his precious son Max against him? It's really a bad story from start to finish and I've hear fan speculation that's it's all to reteam Nikita with Alex. As one who never thought the Nikita/Alex thing was all that great or interesting to begin with, I think it's pretty stupid if that's the reason when Michael/Nikita have a much better dynamic together as partners.
Anyway, Nikita is going off the rails a bit with Michael off in London. Birkhoff assures her Michael will be back, that is if Michael ever gets his stuff together. Nikita isn't really listening. She wants to go after Oversight. Unfortunately, things go badly wrong without Michael around to ground Nikita and stop her from taking foolish risks.
Since Michael's off playing Dada Birkhoff has to go out into the field as Nikita's partner. I was shocked how good he can fight. Nikita/Birkhoff make better partners than Alex/Nikita. Okay, I'll shut up now.
Unfortunately, Birkhoff gets caught and everything seems to come crashing down around Nikita's ears. She calls Michael not knowing what to do or how to rescue Birkhoff. She yells, "Why aren't you here?" My answer: Because the idiot is off playing daddy to a kid that's going to get killed if they find out he's Michael's kid. What is Michael's reaction to Nikita's outburst? Spud doesn't even react to it or feel guilty. I really want to smack him. Does he come home? No! When he eventually comes crawling back after everything blows up in his face, I'd slam the door in his face.
The dragon queen herself, Amanda, has her paws on Birkhoff and she's got him strapped to her little torture chair. She's incensed that Birkhoff holds up to her torture and one betray Nikita. She's about to insert some probe up Birkhoff's nose and into his brain and he is finally about to roll over on Nikita, when Nikita calls offering a trade: the Black Box for Birkhoff. Talk about saved by the bell.
While in Division custody, Birkhoff meets the new him and warns her that Amanda will used her up and dispose of her when she's done.
During the trade, Sean tries to take out Nikita because Nikita knows the truth about Mommy. Let's just say it'll take a bigger man than Mama's Boy Sean to take down Nikita. So he's going back to the plan to use Alex to get to Nikita. He tracks her while she's in Russia.
Our little Russian Czarina is ready to make her move against Semak. She infiltrates a group of Russian sex girls, and causes enough trouble so they all get shipped back to the Motherland. Once there, she escapes, giving the sex girls money to start a new life. As the episode comes to a close, she declares that she's going home. Semak is living in her old house. Guess who's coming for dinner?
Once safely home, Nikita tells Birkhoff she intends to find them a new black box. Birkhoff admits he almost turned over on her. Nikita still feels guilty that over Birkhoff getting caught, especially when she sees he's having trouble using the hand Amanda tortured. As for Michael, I'm not cutting the dude any slack for his phone instructions on how to get Birkhoff back. Get your butt back home to take care of business and stop living some fake fantasy that with Division on your tail you can play Daddy without putting that kid in danger.
