La Femme Nikita

1 9 9 7 – 2 0 0 1 (Canada)
96 x 60 minute episodes

The Spider Web, a massive computer control room, is the centre of operations for ‘Section One’, a secret (and ruthless) US government anti-terrorism organisation that is controlled by a mysterious group of people known as ‘Overview’.

Paul W. Wolfe (Eugene Robert Glazer) – better known as “Operations” – is the leader of Section One. Few people in the government know about Section One and it is Operations’ job to keep it that way.

Operations designs Section’s missions and acts as the liaison between Section and other government agencies. Operations shows no mercy or compassion and regularly makes decisions about who should live and who is expendable. His main operatives are Nikita (Peta Wilson) and Michael (Roy Dupuis).

A gravesite (plot 30, row 8) in an unnamed locale bears the name of Nikita Wirth. Nikita’s mother, Roberta (Margot Kidder), believes her daughter is still alive and refuses to accept what she has been told – that her daughter committed suicide. Roberta is right but she can’t prove it.

Nikita’s involvement with Section began when she was a young woman and living on the streets. She also happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a police officer was killed and Nikita was mistaken for the culprit.

She was tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. One night she was taken from her cell and brought to Section. Here she was offered a choice: work for them as a spy or face execution (Section had actually framed Nikita because they required a beautiful girl with an ability to kill).

Nikita accepts the offer and Section One fakes her suicide. She is subsequently trained by her mentor Michael (Roy Dupuis) and becomes a Level 2 Field Operative, working under the code name Josephine – though she is unhappy being a spy and with the injustice which has been done to her.

Nikita is distrustful of most people in Section and has only bonded with Michael and agents Walter (Don Francks) and Seymour Birkoff (Matthew Ferguson), relying on her fierce instincts (and killer looks) to achieve the covert and extremely dangerous objectives of Section.

While Nikita is highly trained and dedicated to fighting global terrorism by any means necessary – legal or otherwise – she often violates Section protocol by acting on her own intuition when she feels a mission is not going as planned.

Michael Samuelle, the Section Supervisor, operates under the code name Jacques. He is a Level 5 Field Operative and in line to succeed Operations. He leads teams in field assignments, is cold and calculating, and is seeking the position of Head Strategist.

Operations, however, blocks all attempts by Michael to achieve that goal, believing that Michael is the best agent he has – and he intends to keep it that way.

Madeline (Alberta Watson) is a former master strategist for Section who now assists Operations. She also oversees the White Room –  Section’s torture chamber for extracting information from prisoners.

Walter – called ‘The Weapons Guy’ – is the only other operative (besides Nikita) who shows signs of humanity. The oldest surviving operative in Section One, he is cantankerous and totally honest. While Section agents are skilled and formidable in the field, it is Walter’s high tech gadgets that save lives and enable successful missions. He is totally dedicated to arming field agents with the maximum protection and is closest to Nikita, whom he considers a friend.

Seymour Birkoff is a cold and cunning computer genius who was responsible for cracking some of the world’s most secret and complex codes. He appears to have no life outside of Section and is totally dedicated to his computer terminal. He can break into any computer system and his job is instrumental to Section’s operations.

The series is based on the French film La Femme Nikita with Anne Parillaud as Nikita (Bridget Fonda starred as Nikita in the American film version, Point of No Return).

Nikita
Peta Wilson
Walter
Don Francks
Operations (Paul W. Wolfe)
Eugene Robert Glazer
Michael Samuelle
Roy Dupuis
Seymour Birkoff
Matthew Ferguson
Madeline
Alberta Watson
Roberta
Margot Kidder

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