Nikita

Vampire Diaries - Daddy Issues

I'm still waiting for John to actually do something before I decide about him. So far, he's just kind of hovered. I love how he just happened to have a weapon against Originals. He's like the "there's an App for that" of the supernatural world.

My favorite part was Caroline telling Tyler where to stuff his excuses. Oh, and Stefan knowing that what Caroline needed was her friends. He's such a sweetie.

Nikita - Coup de Grace

I watched enough to know within five seconds of seeing her that Princess Kristina was a villain. Then - while Alex and Nikita continued to saying absolutely nothing of any depth or emotion - I weighed the chances of my caring whether Prince Eric got whacked or not. Deciding that I did not care, I turned off the television.

I know I usually can find something nice to say about the show (surprising considering how quickly I turned on the new V) but there's just something missing. For example, I watched nearly all The Vampire Diaries reruns over the holidays. If I watched any of Nikita's, I've completely forgotten. I'll go out of my way to rewatch "Plan B" if given the opportunity. Looking back, there's not really an episode of Nikita that I can say the same thing about.

The show is treading water, both in terms of story and character. There's no ambition in how they are handling the material and precious little drive and focus. Nikita the character is trying to be all bad ass, "I'll do whatever it takes and sacrifice whoever I have to." Nikita the show keeps undercutting her with the "I'm the hero, please like me because I make sad face over my past sins" routine. If I could go back and change one thing, I'd make Nikita less of a good guy. I'd like to see her as a corrupted by her grief on the edge could go either way sort of character.

It was a clever choice to put Nikita on the outside and make Alex our entrance into Division. They needed to take it a step further to really start saying new things with the story that hadn't already been covered in two movies, a six season series, and every other spy franchise ever produced. And if they haven't got that, then they need something more than this hushed, grey, super serious thing. Put some flair into it! And no. Ryan Fletcher does not count as "flair."

The Vampire Diaries - The Descent

I get the point of Rose now. She's there to push Damon's emotional buttons and - more importantly - demonstrate to Elena what happens when you spend your whole life running from the likes of Elijah and Klaus. Still wish they'd given Rose more of a personality as they went, but I guess I can't have everything. And I'm getting capable non-victim Elena, deeply conflicted but back in badass mode Damon, and Stefan finally doing something proactive, so I'm not complaining. Plus, the rise of the Caroline-Tyler-Jules B-plot is definitely going to be worth watching.

Nikita - Free

Though somewhat distracted by Alex's shining, bouncy hair, I enjoyed this episode. The growing partnership between Nikita and Fletcher is fun to watch. Nikita gets to play with Fletcher just a bit, which makes a change from frowny-central with Michael. In this episode, Birkoff also got to show a bit of a different - less toady - side to the character in his confrontations with Fletcher. While not quite the home run that the back-from-hiatus The Vampire Diaries hit, Nikita continues to develop nicely.