Maggie Q, courtesy The CW
NIKITA
Friendly Rating: Kids probably too young to be watching it.
Safety Rating: Lots of blowing people away and women walking around undressed.
Quality Rating: ‘Tain’t bad, unless you’re fond of the original.
Series premieres tonight on the The CW at 9 p.m.
The original 1990 French movie, La Femme Nikita, was about this gorgeous young woman rescued from her petty criminal ways to become this uber-assassin. Only she falls in love and realizes that she doesn’t want to be an assassin anymore. Okay, killing her lover doesn’t help. So she breaks away from the organization that trained her and other young kids.
This new series picks up where the movie (and its multiple re-makes) left off. Nikita (this time played by Maggie Q) has not only gone rogue, she’s working to bring down the whole organization, which has recently adopted Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca). So it’s not just Nikita’s story we’re seeing here.
You gotta figure a story about trained merciless assassins is going to be violent. Add beautiful women and, duh, this is not a show for kids. But the violence is almost as celebrated as Nikita’s wish to divest herself of it. And there are lots and lots of shots of Nikita and Alex running around in minimal clothing. Think we’re trying to draw in the teen boys or what?
So, say you have a teen boy in the household. You really want to freak him out? Watch with him. Granted, letting him you think the show is cool could backfire. But at least you’re on top of what he’s watching and can talk to him about it.
But is the show any good? It’s competent. Which is to say, it isn’t badly done by any stretch. But even with all the violence and sexy babes, it doesn’t really stand out, either. It’s there. It mostly works. There’s one cool twist at the end, but I can’t see how that’s going to make the rest of the series that much more interesting.
