Nikita – Michael’s problem resolves itself (or does it?)

After two pretty painful episodes about it, the storyline about Michael’s (Shane West) unexpected second family appeared to come to an end in this week’s Nikita, as Cassandra (Helena Mattsson) and their son Max were forced to disappear, with both MI6 and Gogol after them for Cassandra’s betrayals. As their deaths were faked, Michael made the decision to sever contact.

It was the conclusion to a wrinkle in the season that I was never fond of. Yet though I got what I’d been hoping for, I found myself thinking a few different things at the end of this episode:

Presuming that this storyline is truly finished and not going to be revisited later on, was this the right ending?

Was it all worth it?

And how great was Shane West even with questionable writing?

I’ll take those questions in order. I said when the Michael/Cassandra/Max storyline was introduced that it was not going to end well, and it didn’t. After losing his wife and daughter ten years ago, Michael found another family only to have them ripped away from him by their having to go on the run. His decision to cut ties only came after realizing what they were already up against.

In fairness, though, this was probably the least painful way it could have gone down. At least the show didn’t bump Cassandra and Max off for dramatic effect and give Michael another child to mourn. That would have been unforgiveable.

But what did we really accomplish with this storyline? I can’t see where it added anything of real value to the Nikita universe. It caused an uproar amongst fans by driving Michael and Nikita apart. It saddled us with a ridiculous character in Cassandra, who was never all that convincing, not when she was a foreign dignitary, or baby mama, MI6 agent, or Gogol agent within MI6.

And here’s the part that I found bothersome: the plot was another weight on Michael’s shoulders. Maybe it’s because I’m partial to the character, but after all he went through to overcome his family issues in season one, to see them compounded by this subplot and then have that tragic ending just didn’t sit well wth me.

The only redeeming value of this arc might be that it allowed Shane West a chance to flex more emotional muscles. We’ve seen Maggie Q get to play Nikita’s emotional side a lot, but Michael has been a more controlled character. While that’s the point, if you’ve seen Shane in other things like the film What We Do Is Secret, you know that he’s got great range, and this subplot did give him the opportunity to show more of it.

As Michael struggled with the idea of having a son, and what to do about that, and eventually losing that second chance, Shane’s acting was great to watch. It helped me connect even more with the character of Michael…which, of course, only made me more annoyed to see him hurt again.

At the end of the day, this storyline wasn’t worth it, but it ended as well as it could have. Now I’m hoping that this subplot is done for, even if I don’t know if I believe that it is. It’s been the weakest part of Nikita‘s season, and it’s time to move beyond it. Michael deserves that — and hopefully, a little more happiness in the future.

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on Mar 24, 2012 @ 02:35 EST5EDT