Does Nikita aim true?

Fans of the old TV series will find some comforts in the new show. Characters like Michael, now played by Shane West, Birkhoff, played by X2: X-Men United‘s Aaron Stanford and “The Cleaner” have remained intact. The agency this time around is referred to as “Division,” the resident charm teacher is Amanda, played by Melinda Clarke while Xander Berkeley plays the head of Division, with the far less cool name of Percy. (I miss you Operations!)

Now as I mentioned, Nikita is not Division’s toy at the start of the new series. That distinction goes to a slew of teenage recruits, one of whom is captured in the middle of a pharmacy robbery gone wrong. Her name is Alex and while she did take part in the robbery, she did not murder the man killed during it. Alex is being played by Lyndsy Fonseca whose previous credits include Desperate Housewives and Kick-Ass. Despite a throat cutting threat, so far Fonseca has failed to prove she has the same fire as previous “Nikita’s.”

Considering this show is called Nikita I supposed I should get around to talking about her, right? Nikita is played by the legs-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see Maggie Q. You probably know her best from Mission Impossible III or Live Free or Die Hard but she’s been an action star for quite some time. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was hand picked by Jackie Chan back in the day to be the next big Asian action hero I wouldn’t believe she could pull off this role. After all, she’s so slender I think even *I* could break her like a twig. Q still has some convincing to do in that respect but that’s just her own genetics working against her.

Nikita is the only operative to have escaped Division and therefore they want her back. The first episode deals with her purposefully reemerging and letting them know she’s coming for them. We see a few glimpses of her past with the agency but it seems that’s all Nikita’s got as well. She may be a super assassin but she’s having some memory problems. Though not enough to keep her from kicking major ass.

Besides the twist of Nikita not being the new recruit this time around there are a few more twists and turns in the premiere that I won’t spoil but that make things far more interesting. One thing that was lacking for me was the classic first mission scene where the main operative gets placed in a no-win situation and forced to fight their way out. I understand how it couldn’t have worked in the first episode and that it might indeed show up in the future but it was something I certainly missed. I’ll be watching a few more episodes of Nikita but I’m wondering if it will fly with the CW crowd or continue to hold interest for older viewers if it’s catered solely to teens (there really are a lot of young, pretty cast members). I reserve the right to revert back to my high school years in order to keep watching. :)