Nikita the series picks up after the events of the movie from so many years ago, with the main character, Nikita (Maggie Q, Priest), going rogue from Division, the covert government organization that plucked her from prison and turned her into a trained assassin. With their star student now operating against them, Division is focusing a lot of resources on finding and ending her. What they don't know is that Nikita has a mole on the inside named Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca, Desperate Housewives) and she is feeding Nikita information so she can stay one step ahead of Division and thwart their plans. Nikita's handler, Michael (Shane West, Echelon Conspiracy), is hot on her trail, but he struggles with his search because he and Nikita had a relationship back when she was a recruit and those old feelings pop up every time he has to aim his gun sites on her.
Division is run by Percy (Xander Berkeley, Taken), who sometimes seems like a man running an organization with a noble cause, and at other times, he reveals himself to be a greedy leader who takes dirty jobs on the side for Division to line his pockets. Amanda (Melinda Clarke, CSI) at first appears to be the woman who shapes the female recruits into proper and lovely young ladies, but soon reveals that she is a much darker and more dangerous character at Division. Seymour Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford) is the resident computer guru who Nikita endearingly refers to as "nerd," but he can be both friend and enemy to her at different times. Jaden (Tiffany Hines) serves as Alex's nemesis in the recruit program, while Thom (Ashton Holmes) acts as a potential love interest, but one who gets too close to Alex and gets burned in the process.
As we see Alex go from mere recruit to full-fledged agent, we see her struggle with her plot for revenge and discover that Nikita is aiding her in the pursuit of her father's killer and she's had a lot to overcome in her life. Michael, as well, is a very multidimensional character who has endured a lot of heartache in his life and there is a reason he works for Division - and it's not nearly as cut and dried as it may appear. As Nikita works to break down Division from the inside out, Alex struggles to simply survive her role as the mole as she finds life "on the outside" of Division is not as easy as she thought it would be. As the season draws to an end, Alex will discover that Nikita hasn't been entirely truthful with her and this may forever shift the dynamic of their partnership.
Even though I didn't see Nikita when it aired, I really enjoyed the episodes. They are action-packed and I have never seen such an intensely physical series with a female lead. Maggie Q is amazing and to find out that she did all of her own stunts, as all of the actors did, is just really impressive. Although I thought the show started to lose a little steam somewhere around the middle of the episodes, then they come back at you with some really intense episodes with unbelievable backstory and they just reel you back in.
As for special features, there are a number of deleted scenes offered, usually one or two for almost every episode, plus commentary on several episodes as well. There is also a 2-part documentary on the making of the series, as well as character profiles on Nikita, Alex, Michael and Percy. Overall, there's a little over an hour of special features aside from the deleted scenes (which are presented as an option per episode, so they make much more sense that way), so that's a good bit of added content for a television series.
Hard-hitting, bone-crunching fight scenes are what you'll get with Nikita: The Complete First Season, combined with gorgeous costumes, sexy characters and a compelling storyline that leaves you hanging for the twists and turns of next season. If you didn't catch it on TV and you like action, you should check it out.
