Series synopsis
La Femme Nikita is an American action & adventure drama television series that premiered on USA Network on January 13, 1997. It ended on March 4, 2001. It was created by Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran. It stars Peta Wilson, Roy Dupuis, Matthew Ferguson and Eugene Robert Glazer.
Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who was accused of killing a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to death by lethal injection, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.
Premise
Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who was accused of killing a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to death by lethal injection, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.
Premise: Mistakes are not an option.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Peta Wilson as Nikita
- Roy Dupuis as Michael
- Matthew Ferguson as Seymour Birkoff
- Eugene Robert Glazer as Operations
- Don Francks as Walter
- Alberta Watson as Madeline
- Ric Reid as Stan
- Nigel Bennett as Col. Egran Petrosian
Supporting cast
- Mackenzie Gray as Skyler
- William Colgate as Shadowy Man
- Marnie McPhail as Julia Roarke
- Jennifer Finnigan as Dory
- Dawn Greenhalgh as Mrs. Collins
- Julian Richings as Errol Sparks
- Jeff Colt as Berlin Operative (uncredited)
- Kevin Connolly as Injured Operative
- Stefan Brogren as Security Guard
- Polly Shannon as Michelle
- Ryan Scott Greene as Peter
- Ksenia Solo as Irina
Guest cast
- Alberta Watson as Madeline
- Ric Reid as Stan
- Nigel Bennett as Col. Egran Petrosian
- Mackenzie Gray as Skyler
- William Colgate as Shadowy Man
- Marnie McPhail as Julia Roarke
- Jennifer Finnigan as Dory
- Dawn Greenhalgh as Mrs. Collins
- Julian Richings as Errol Sparks
- Jeff Colt as Berlin Operative (uncredited)
- Kevin Connolly as Injured Operative
- Stefan Brogren as Security Guard
Episodes
This series spans 6 seasons with 125 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 29 | ||
| Season 1 | 22 | January 13, 1997 | October 5, 1997 |
| Season 2 | 22 | January 4, 1998 | August 30, 1998 |
| Season 3 | 22 | January 3, 1999 | August 29, 1999 |
| Season 4 | 22 | January 9, 2000 | August 27, 2000 |
| Season 5 | 8 | January 7, 2001 | March 4, 2001 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Season 3 - Designing Nikita | |
| 2 | Season 3 - Gag Reel | |
| 3 |
Season 1 - Cancelled Scenes Disk 1 From Nikita: Berkoff Trains Nikita Michael Pleads From Friend: Nikita and Julie Reminisce From Simone: Michael Meets Carla |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Nikita Nikita, a girl living on the streets, is wrongly accused of a murder she did not commit and sentenced to life in prison. After the government arranges to fake her suicide, Nikita wakes up at Section One, a top-secret agency that aims to train her to become an anti-terrorist operative. Nikita wants to resist, but in order to stay alive, she has no choice, but to comply with their plans. |
January 13, 1997 |
| 2 |
Friend Section One is assigned to protect Jovan Mijovich, a politician attempting to negotiate peace among opposing forces in his section of the world. When Nikita meets with a contact to find out who has attempted to assassinate Mijovich, Nikita is recognized by Julie, a childhood friend. Nikita attempts to protect Julie's life by creating a new identity for her, but Julie is actually an operative for the organization attempting to assassinate Mijovich. |
January 20, 1997 |
| 3 |
Simone Glass Curtain is a high-tech terrorist organization that attracts new members via internet chat rooms. Posing as a new recruit, Nikita is taken to Glass Curtain headquarters, where she discovers that Michael's wife Simone is being held hostage. A former Section One operative, Simone was believed killed years before. Now, Michael's continued love for Simone may threaten the success of Section One's attempted infiltration of Glass Curtain. |
January 27, 1997 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Hard Landing With Michael's help, Nikita survived the destruction of a Freedom League hideout in the first season's final episode. Since then, she has been on the run from Section One. While working as a waitress, Nikita is captured by the Freedom League and used as bait to lure Section One into a trap. During a raid by a Section team led by Michael, Nikita saves Michael's life and they manage to escape together. Later, on an abandoned ship, Nikita and Michael share a night of passion. However, Michael's lies about Nikita's whereabouts are in danger of being exposed. |
January 4, 1998 |
| 2 |
Spec Ops While Nikita is reassigned to Special Operative Jurgen, Section is contacted by one of Freedom League's operatives in order to verify Nikita's story about her capture. |
January 11, 1998 |
| 3 |
Third Person Nikita is brought back to full operative status when Birkoff discovers a six-man terrorist team are making several random attacks. |
January 18, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Looking for Michael Operations believes Nikita is a threat to Section, and wants to kill her during a mission. She survives his plot, and when she returns to Section, she looks into the disappearance of Michael, and finds what she didn't expect. |
January 3, 1999 |
| 2 |
Someone Else's Shadow Nikita has a new mission, to get David Henderson Williams, Vacek's associate. She also learns more about Michael's history with Elena & Simone. Elena offers Nikita to stay with her & Michael. Nikita accepts, but she doesn't feel too cozy after her thoughts & memories get the best of her. More problems come about as Vacek misses a meeting. |
January 10, 1999 |
| 3 |
Opening Night Jitters To flush out Vacek, Operations and Madeline order Michael to poison Elena, but Michael can't bring himself to do it. So Section poisons Elena anyway, while Michael is out on a mission, and her survival will depend on whether Vacek has enough conscience to visit his daughter in her time of need. Meanwhile, Section moves sleazy informant Mick Shtoppel in as Nikita's neighbor. |
January 17, 1999 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Getting Out of Reverse Nikita continues to show evidence of the "reprogramming," including ordering the elimination of a captured Section operative and endangering the lives of children during a mission, and taking part in the beatings of a captive. Michael is determined to reverse Nikita's reprogramming, and he soon determines that the former Section operative who came up with the "reprogramming" process, Ross Gelman, may be the key. Meanwhile, Operations couldn't be more proud of the "new" Nikita, but Madeline is still worried. Eventually, Operations concludes that Michael's attempts at restoring Nikita have gone too far, and takes extreme measures. |
January 9, 2000 |
| 2 |
There Are No Missions After Michael eludes Operations' first cancellation attempt, Operations puts all missions on hold and sends out a team to kill him. Michael again manages to escape certain death, but this time he returns to infiltrate Section. Determined to find the files that possess the formula for deprogramming Nikita, Michael is stunned to discover who Section's first test subject was; Adrian, Section One's founder, whose effort to topple Operations failed two years earlier. To gain leverage against Operations, Michael kidnaps Adrian, but her help proves limited when Michael discovers her mind is gone. |
January 9, 2000 |
| 3 |
View of the Garden Michael discovers that Adrian's mind is not blank as he thought it is. Together they try to save George from Operations and Madeline's attempt to assassinate him. Meanwhile, Michael kidnaps Nikita in a futile effort to reason with her. |
January 16, 2000 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Déjà Vu All Over Again Nikita is sent back to Section One to destroy a new terrorist threat that only she can deal with which is a summit meeting of representatives from several terrorist groups. She is teamed up with a new level 5 operative, Marco O'Brien. O'Brien was the police officer recruited four years earlier because of a mistake Nikita made, a fact that O'Brien has not forgotten. Nikita finds that besides the terrorists, she must deal with O'Brien & the hostility of much of Section personnel because of her role in Center's evaluation of Section. |
January 7, 2001 |
| 2 |
A Girl Who Wasn't There Nikita finds clues about why she was recruited into Section. Is it possible her father was an operative, codenamed Flavius, and that she has a sibling with the initial "M" who is somewhere in the covert world she lives in? Quinn redesigns Birkoff's Artificial Intelligence program to build a holographic replica of Madeline, complete with Madeline's memories and psychological profile. Although Operations is greatly pleased to have Madeline at his side once more, it soon becomes clear that despite it's complex programming, it is just not capable of being Madeline because it doesn't have her instincts. |
January 14, 2001 |
| 3 |
In Through the Out Door After the explosion at the house of Nikita's father, Nikita enlists Walter, and then Jason Crawford, to decript its contents. The result; the location of the convelecence home where Michael took Adrian after the "Gelman Process" mess. And this just happens to coincide with Nikita's physical deterioration because of her experience with the "Gelman Process." Has Michael or Nikita's real father given her the information she needs to beat these after effects? Or is Nikita inevitably heading to the same place Adrian ended up, namely the grave? Meanwhile, O'Brien betrays Nikita, by revealing her deteriorating health to Operations, but unsure that O'Brien will be able to resist Nikita's "charms" any more than Michael did. Operations 'shadows' O'Brien with his very own 'pit bull' operative, Golliak. And Section One continues to try and crack "The Collective." |
January 21, 2001 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | USA Network |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 13, 1997 |
| Last aired | March 4, 2001 |
| Runtime | 44 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Sunday at 12:00:00 |