by Merrill Barr:
Nikita Recap: “Wrath”
Original Air Date (The CW): Friday April 20, 2012
Season 2 Episode 19
In an attempt to find a way to describe this episode I realized something, there are simply not enough expletives in the English language to get across how flat out awesome Wrath is as not only an episode of Nikita, but as an amazing hour of television and one of the top three in the 2011-2012 television season. Not only did we get a really compelling scenario for our characters, but we got the first real sign of something emotionally deeper designed within our the main character.
As I stated in my review of Power, “Nikita has become a soap opera of twists and turns that leave the audience clinging for more.” I need no further proof of that than with the first five minutes of Wrath. Madeline was the main face used in the series to represent Oversight. Even after the groups’ destruction, she continued to play a major role in the series. Giving Nikita and the gang the support they needed to get shit done. And it was through her character that peace was finally going to come to our Division fighting anti-heroes. That all changed in one giant (and dare I say beautiful) fireball.
Killing Madeline is a ballsy move. Killing Madeline with zero build up to her death and with zero fan service is crazy, unexpected and ballsy all rolled up into a descriptive term we as a species have not invented yet. It also abruptly concludes her story line with no signs of back tracking. There was no moment in the episode where Madeline reappeared to say “look at me, I’m still alive! MWAHAHAHAHA!”
This reminds me a lot of the Kate situation on White Collar. We as an audience have grown so accustomed to an explosion never actually killing a character on television that when it happens for real, we instinctively assume it’s a misdirect. But if the death of Madeline is a misdirect than someone needs to get Craig Silverstein five Emmys for writing because its execution was superb.
And we haven’t even gotten to the new level we saw with Nikita in this episode. By design Nikita has always been a broken character. But because she is a trained black operative, the writers never have a need to dive much into it. They can always just use the excuse “she’s really good at not showing her feelings.” So imagine my surprise when not only did we get to see a side of Nikita (thanks to an outstanding (and scary) performance by Maggie Q) that we have never seen, but how much that side impacts out future take on the character.
Was the episode a bit on the nose with the “evil” thing? Sure, but it doesn’t matter. Because I felt honest to god fear and dread coming from Nikita when she was strapped in and being tortured by Brandt. It’s often said 90% of a performance is in the eyes, and that is very much the case in Wrath. As Nikita stared through Michael with her cold, soulless eyes you saw something different. Something underneath Nikita’s, as Percy put it “hard exterior and soft core.” You saw death, hiding within Nikita. Death, destruction and pain. And it all culminated in one beautifully constructed scene by episode writer Albert Kim and director Jeffrey Hunt.
After seeing her true love take a blow, Nikita finds the last once of adrenaline within her to free herself and lay a much earned beating into Brandt. And while fantastic, the Coup de grâce comes when Sean takes his revenge against his mother’s grim reaper by delivering the final shot into Brandt’s brain that brings him to his demise.
And like the death of Madeline, there is no back tracking. There is no moment of Nikita saying “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean a word of that. It was to throw Brandt off.” No, Nikita owns the fact that she is a dark, twisted and broken soul. It’s a beautiful moment of self admittance (and writing) that the show has been saving until the perfect moment.
Wrath is much more than a Nikita episode. It’s something special. It’s proof that a show that may seem basic on its surface can have much more to offer than initially perceived. And while the cast and crew have attempted to display those deeper levels time and time again, this is the first time they’ve truly succeeded in bringing their emotional depth to the surface and making sure it’s undeniably there.
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DarkMedia contributor Merrill Barr can also be found on his podcast, The Idiot Boxers and on Twitter @sonic43.
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