MovieChat Forums > Nikita (1997) Discussion > Moment(s) of naivety and stupidity on Ni...

Moment(s) of naivety and stupidity on Nikita s part

posted 9 years ago by TrueRubberChicken
1 reply | jump to latest

A couple of days ago I received the entirety of this series from eBay. They never released it on my area (except for season one), but thankfully these days breaking area codes is a breeze.

Anyway. Especially in season one the character of Nikita often represents the viewer. It annoys me to death when a show as well written as this one gets it wrong, and underestimates the intelligence of its viewers. This happens several times on season one, and occasionally even after that.

The worst/best example of this happens in Season One episode, Gambit. It is crystal clear to the viewer that Kessler loves his daughter, and that is the reason he kills her, to protect her from the Section. Yet, after all she has seen, Nikita (or the viewer) is supposed to be too stupid to realize that was Kessler’s motivation? Especially as Harris Yulin plays the part so beautifully? I cringe every time I see the scene where Madeline “has to” explain to Nikita and us what actually happened.

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I see little balls of sunshine in a bag!

[–] Seymour-Pats 8 years ago

I didn't have a problem with that scene, as I think there were two ways to look at it. One take is that Kessler's was an act of love. The other is that Kessler acted coldly to eliminate his one weakness. After all, if he really loved his daughter so much, he could have broken and given them the information, thus sparing his daughter the pain of being tortured.

Also, even assuming it was an act of love, I didn't think it was surprising that Nikita didn't see his act as one intended to spare his daughter pain. I don't think Nikita believed that bringing that girl into Section was a one-way trip; otherwise, she would have resisted getting her. And some people brought into Section did survive and were freed, so Nikita's expectation that the daughter would be freed wasn't totally unreasonable.

I actually think the conversation between Madeline and Nikita was interesting because it shows how they see the world differently. It showed that Madeline saw the world more like Kessler than like Nikita (or even the others in Section). In fact, Madeline is probably the only person in Section who would have done what Kessler did. Nikita would have broken (as evidenced when she broke when Red Cell was torturing Michael). Operations would have broken (he broke protocol to save his son and then Madeline). Michael would have broken.

This same issue comes up again in the Season 1 finale, when Nikita refuses to kill the tech guy who was being held hostage. Because she didn't kill him and left him behind with the terrorists, he was subjected to torture.