nikita

['Nikita' - 'One Way']

Division: It's not just the name of an organization, but a description of what that lifestyle in it entails. Everyone in 'Nikita' is divided from something they care about, but every once in a while they connect (or reconnect) in unexpected ways. 'One Way' focused on two unlikely alliances, both of which were born out of necessity, and then dissolved almost as quickly as they were established. File under irony: A supposedly unstoppable force of people keeps finding ways to divide and conquer from within.

Throughout the show's initial run, the story surrounding the titular character has often taken a back seat to the far more intriguing one surrounding Alex's infiltration of Division. Not only have Nikita's missions largely followed the same pattern, but Alex's inexperience, coupled with her essential imprisonment, have always lent her side of the story more urgency. Tonight's episode marked the first time in which time spent inside those halls felt like a distraction, added on merely to give a parallel B story to the far meatier, far more interesting A story involving Nikita and Michael. (Though it was nice to see Jaden again, who apparently has been in the bathroom for the last three episodes.)

['Nikita' – 'Phoenix']

At this point in the game, you pretty much know what you're getting with an episode of 'Nikita.' For some, there's comfort in that formula. But "formula" can turn to "formulaic" rather quickly. And while the first half of tonight's episode followed the tried-and-true format, the second half actually offered up something new. It was as if even the writing staff realized they needed to switch things up in order to maintain not only audience interest, but perhaps their own as well.

As such, tonight's episode title 'Phoenix' was apt, for out of the ashes of a typical hour of 'Nikita' rose new stakes, a new side in the game, and a potential way to vary the show's storytelling. Rather than simply tell a story of the titular heroine's Herculean task to overthrow Division, she now has to contend with the frenemy front of Gogol, a Russian mercenary company that hates Percy as much as she does. What's that old saying about the enemy of one's enemy?

['Nikita' – 'The Recruit']

Life inside Division can be tough. You're always under surveillance, you don't get to express yourself through colorful wardrobe, and there's not a lot of time for sunbathing. But more than being able to see the literal sunlight, it's often difficult to shine a more metaphorical type of light on the situation at hand. Tonight's episode of 'Nikita' focused on the seductive powers of the place, ones that even someone as aware as Alex can find hard to ignore. Thematically, the story both inside and outside of Evil Central made sense. It's just too bad 'The Recruit' wasted those stories on two characters that we only met tonight.

'The Recruit' is the seventh episode of the nascent series, one that recently got a full-season pick-up. Right about now is the time that all the heavy lifting and repetitious exposition can start to get packed away in favor of showing people -- that the audience has slowly grown to know -- act in increasingly perilous situations. If those first six weeks were about setting the world of the show, then an episode like 'The Recruit' should exist to put a crack in that foundation. We know Nikita's goals. We know the basic rules and premise of Division. 'The Recruit' offered an opportunity to see what happens to people thrust into this game only to find out they don't know the rules.

A bit of happy news to usher in your weekend: The CW announced today that it has picked up full seasons of 'One Tree Hill,' 'Nikita' and 'Hellcats.'

That means The CW has a perfect record for its freshman shows this fall, with both new series getting back nine orders. 'One Tree Hill,' now in its eighth year, continues to perform well for the network.

['Nikita' – 'Resistance']

After a brief hiatus, 'Nikita' returned tonight with what proved to be its weakest installment so far. It wasn't so much that the thematic content of the episode was terrible: If you're doing a spy show, matters of who you can trust are pervasive and well worth exploring. But 'Resistance' didn't so much explore it as explain it, with dialogue replaced by character motivation directly delivered.

On top of that, the episode tried to be twisty and turning and instead ended up seeming like a pal imitator of the camp classic film 'Wild Things,' with an increasingly insane number of plot "twists" that were simply mere reversals. Inside of providing a sense of disorientation, they simply provided a sense of déjà vu. They weren't twists so much as one of those Russian dolls that, when opened, simply reveal similar yet smaller ones inside. By the end, I half-expected one of the villains from one of those old 'Scooby-Doo' cartoons to come out and tell Alex they would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddlesome Division kids.

How does one end up with an unusual name like Maggie Q, you may wonder? According to the star of 'Nikita,' a Hong Kong newspaper shortened her name from Maggie Quigley to make it easier for a Chinese audience to pronounce, she said on 'Live With Regis and Kelly' (weekdays, syndicated).

'Nikita' is one of our favorite new dramas of this season. And yes, we're just as surprised as you that it's on the CW.

So last weekend, we jumped at the chance to speak to creator Craig Silverstein and stars Maggie Q, Lyndsy Fonseca and Shane West at New York's Comic Con. They gave us some insights on where the show has been and where it's going.

For those of you not familiar with 'Nikita,' allow us to catch you up so far. Don't worry, we won't spoil anything for you in case this article inspires you to start watching the series from the beginning.

['Nikita' – 'The Guardian']

Black boxes aren't just useful for storing flight information on airplanes. According to 'Nikita,' they are also useful for consolidating power to turn a secret branch of the American government into a superpower unto itself. The overall scope of the show became clearer in tonight's episode, 'The Guardian,' although it's unclear if that clarification actually helped or hurt the show in the long run.

If the show didn't use cheaply obtained pop hits as its soundtrack, The Rolling Stones' classic 'Under My Thumb' would have been a nice musical motif to weave in and out of this episode's various plotlines. Not only would that have literally described a lot of the action (Owen's access to the black box, Alex's access to Percy's office), but also metaphorically described the way in which Division presses down upon individuals unfortunate enough to be drawn into its web. Much like Al Pacino said in 'The Godfather: Part III': Just when these people think they're out, Division keeps pulling them back in.

['Nikita' – 'Rough Trade']

'Nikita' might only be four episodes into its first season, but felt compelled to go back in time in tonight's episode. Getting to know the psychological ins and outs of the show's characters? A fine and noble idea, one that theoretically helps shape audience understanding of the motivations at work. The show's mythological history, derived from its many previous incarnations, necessitates this type of backtracking occasionally. But did it need to do this so soon?

One could argue that the show could have used a few more "mission of the week" episodes, with bits of mythology sprinkled in, before stepping back in time and looking at the past rather than the present. After all, we've already seen some ample flashbacks of Nikita and Alex's burgeoning partnership. But 'Rough Trade' dealt with the past in a way that made those two women, along with Michael, deal with the lies in their own lives: Lies they tell themselves, lies told to them, and lies they tell others to survive in the cut-throat world of Division. As such, while the constant look in the show's rear-view mirror sometimes stunts its forward progress, tonight's episode at least thematically linked these particular flashbacks with the case at hand.

['Nikita' - Pilot]

According to the math wizards over at MIT, this latest version of 'Nikita' is the 345th iteration of the 'Nikita' franchise. Then again, MIT students aren't exactly known for their pop-culture savvy, so they might be off by a few there. But it's clearly a franchise that has seen more than its share of reboots.

Even 'Alias' was an offspring of the original, in basic concept if not in actual name/execution. But whereas 'Alias' featured a Big Red Ball, Thursday night's 'Nikita' prominently featured a Tiny Red Bikini. It's hard to call this a downgrade, but it's also a sign that the mythology in The CW's new show will deal less with ancient, mystic, vaguely supernatural prophets and more with more familiar, more worldly forms of evil.

Several woman have played the gun-toting assassin Nikita: first, Anne Parillaud in the original 1990 French film, then Bridget Fonda (as "Nina") in the 1993 American remake, 'Point of No Return' and now Hong Kong star Maggie Q., who is stepping into Nikita's deadly shoes for the new CW series which debuts tonight (9PM ET).

But the actress who embodied Nikita for the longest time remains Peta Wilson, star of the '90s series 'La Femme Nikita.'

If 'Nikita' is like 'Alias,' then 'Once and Again' and 'ER' vet Shane West is its Michael Vartan, which is just one selling point of The CW's new spin on the 'La Femme Nikita' story.

With the show set to premiere tonight (9PM ET), TV Squad caught up with West to discuss his cool, stylishly-outfitted Michael, the main handler for recruits of Division, a super secret government agency that has some hinky agendas (including abandoning its one-time star spy, Maggie Q's titular Nikita).

Your TV will be flooded with new shows in coming weeks, so consider this an attempt to help you sort through your couch-potato options.

Of course, when it comes to new shows, no one can accurately predict which ones will fulfill their early promise and which ones will flame out creatively or get canceled within weeks of their premieres. And this year there are few slam-dunks along the lines of 'The Good Wife' or 'Modern Family' (to get our comedy kicks we'll probably have to go with returning shows, given that none of the new comedies look too promising).

Without further ado, these are the fall programs that, on first glance, appear to have quite a bit of potential:

What it's about: A rogue assassin tries to exact vengeance on her former employers.

When it airs: 'Nikita' debuts 9PM ET Thursday on the CW.

Sometimes we want television to offer profound and moving insights into the human condition.

And sometimes we just want to see an attractive woman kicking guys in the head.

Thank you, 'Nikita.'