There’s no guarantee that the CW’s Nikita will embrace it’s serialized elements – in fact, I can see it being very much like Dollhouse in that respect. But what does Nikita’s promotional campaign tell us about the show’s potential story format?
The promo videos point towards an overarching story, but how seriously will it be explored?:
Any clues on how serialized Nikita will be?
Well, there’s definitely potential for the overarching story to be given focus. We know that she has a ‘traumatic’ past – recruited as a spy by an agency known as the Division, until she broke the rules – falling in love with a civilian, who her bosses promptly killed. The story will focus on the aftermath of her escape from, with Nikita planning sexy revenge. Did I mention she wants to free other recruits? Boy, does she have a double-edged agenda.
It’s not exactly the most fascinating premise ever, but simple ideas can work well, especially if the characters are broadened over time. Nikita’s backstory contains elements that could give her revenge/freedom mission some added resonance – particularly the claim that she was “forced” to become an assassin. I’d like to see just how little choice there actually was in her decision to kill people and whether it was only the murder of someone she loved that made her see Division as unethical? That could have an interesting bearing as we explore the character and her outlook. After all, she’s still a killer. But if people can love Dexter, I think Nikita could be an interesting ‘hero’.
All that said, I fear that Nikita will swing more towards the mission-of-the-week format. I don’t have a big problem with that in relation to this show because I don’t really see it being a highly serialized fare (that, or I’m not getting my hopes up). I can see the show being largely episodic with the potential for an intriguing overarching story or two. I hope the opposite is true, but regardless, when we cover the show, we’ll no doubt focus on those serialized elements and hope that the longer arcs gain the most focus in the storytelling.
What do you think, will Nikita have an interesting overarching story, or will it be very much mission-of -the-week?
Nikita begins Thursday, September 9, on the CW.
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