Shark Bytes

Killing off Birkoff and Nikita's character was the end for me. It would have been better if they had taken the true risk of killing off Birkoff completely, and only having Naomi as the replacement. Instead they kept the actor around to play Birkoff's long lost twin. Who really thinks that was a good idea? Jason wasn't even a particularly interesting character either, I much prefer Birkoff. Jason really never seemed to fit with Section. Or on the show itself for that matter. He was too much of a cheesy ladies man, and I never brought that he had the skills to be of use to Section

Second jump was killing off Nikita's character, in that when she was revealed to be an evil spy AGAINST Section, she was as good as dead to me. It's too bad because she was a character that I loved for all four seasons before that. And in retrospect I feel uncomfortable at knowing that Nikita was playing them all for fools post season 1. Michael was meant to be the character with the mystery past, and you could never put your finger on what he was thinking, so I was fine with the shock reveal of his wife and son. But Nikita was there as the audience identification figure! It makes me ill to see her swanning into Section in the finale and putting people on trial for their lives. Nikita was never set up as one of the baddies like Operation and Madeline were, so while there was some satisfaction at those two being played at their own game, Nikita should NOT have been the one forcing Madeline into suicide. Horrible decision

Why on earth would a show want to end by revealing the main character as an evil soulless traitor? It's not like we even saw a gradual journey of her becoming what she was fighting against, that could have been kind of cool. But Nikita was always bordering on sanctimonious if anything, and then suddenly the finale reveals that she wasn't what we thought she was all along. This was a show too in love with surprise twists, when keeping character continuity straight should always be the priority

They've only jumped the shark once - with episode 4x22 "Four light years farther" Idiots!

hard landing was the first ep i ever saw and i was hooked, then i watched the first season which was in some ways even more superb than the season 2 episodes.
however, my obsession with this show simply disappeared with the season 3 opening arc. with those episodes they killed michael as a character. for two whole years he was presented to us a detached and in many cases ruthles operative, who had but one weakness-he cared for nikita. but in season 3 you find out that while he was married to simone he also had another wife and a child, wtf???? for people who say that that particular plot is plausible, i say no way.elena and adam are supposedly the reason why he stayed away from nikita for so log. that's bullocks. he stayed away because in section you can't afford to love someone or even to care about someone in non romantic way. he learned that the hard way. he stayed away because he had been in section for too long and yes, most of his soul was sucked out of him. part of michael's was precisely that emotional detachment which he could not always preserve with nikita. there was something satisfying in the fact that his only weaknes was nikita. but no, the whole time he had an entire family to live for.
so yes, that's why i stopped watching

This show was perhaps one of the best if not the best show ever written....right up until that stupid,stupid, STUPID...Season Four Finale! That writter is a friggin' Idiot! So is Joel Surnow for ever letting it get filmed. What a way to under cut all the wonderful past LFN work that they did. I HAVE TO FORCE MYSELF TO FORGET THIS FINALE IN ORDER TO STILL ENJOY PAST EPISODES!

Joel Surnow...and the idiot writter....how can guys that were so brilliant in the past....make such a bone head error in judgement? Makes me wish season four had been cacelled just before that final season four arch.

I loved the Nikita Character....but after the Season Four Finale.....I keep asking myself....."Oh why didn't you just let her die all those times Michael? OH WHY?!!!!!"

Only 3 shows have ever scared me : One Step Beyond, Nikita (aka, La Femme Nikita), & The Prisoner (UK). I particularly recall from Nikita a scary executioner couple which obviously relished their work -- they freaked me out more than anything else! By the by, is it true that the American producers insisted on re-naming the show 'La Femme' Nikita because they thought we Americans were so stupid that if the original title ' Nikita ' were used that we'd mistake the show for some biography of the Soviet Socialist leader?

take your pick-Michael having a wife and a child, Nikita's constant whining, numerous inconsistencies, underdevelopment of the characters, namely Madeline, the whole of season 4 and 5, Nikita turning out to be the biggest and the sneakiest bitch the world has ever seen.

season 1&2 were simply beautiful, the rest is just garbage and stupidity

Never jumped. Of course there were some weak plotlines, but definitely not weak enough to take away from the show's integrity. And even though I was always rooting for Nikita and Michael to both get out of section, in a classic happy ending, I love how they ended the show. One of the most highly underrated shows to air.

Loved the show, still do actually. Loved the characters, even the baddies. But when they killed Seymour and brought in Jason, it was all different for me after that.

I was a die hard LFN fan. I loved the original movie and the series on USA. I liked seasons 1, 2, end of season 3 and beginning of season 4. It great to see the relationship between Michael and Nikita develop. It was nice to see Michael do whatever it took to make sure Nikita got her soft, human side back.


I liked that fact that they could not always enforce the Section rules.
Operations and Madeline could be beaten at their own game. The two of them were really wicked.


I truly wondered if Mr. Jones really gave himself or if that was a look alike. I know that he desired more anything for Nikita to run Section1. The end was so said. I think I wanted a happier ending. In a way I wish Nikita and Michael found out they had a cloned kid together. LOL.

The show jumped at the end of the 3rd season with the Nikita brainwashing plot. It was silly that Operations and Madeline became so concerned about Nikita and Michael's relationship that they would brainwash her into not loving him.

On top of that Season 4 went downhill. It was a mistake to write George out as he was a good rival for Operations and he should have gotten to take his revenge for what was done to Adrian. I also didn't like Adrian being written out. Most of all Madeline's suicide in the context in which it occurred did not make sense and the show was not the same without her as the was the best character. The Nikita being a spy for Mick Jones was ridiculous. Season 5 was also unrealistic in having Operations go out to rescue Adam with only 2 operatives and get killed. You don't send the head of Section out on a mission with only 2 people and risk him getting killed! The plot with Nikita's father being in charge of Section was also a bit of a stretch.

You go Sarah! I wish you had written the show! I comepletely agree with everything you said but you said it much better than I could have! I think the characters were trying to pretend they had no soul or feelings but they obviously did or they wouldn't have had to struggle so hard against it. The show was shark meat when they turned Madeline into Nikita's and Michael's enemy.

The first 2 seasons were excellent, as was most of the 3-rd season. It started going downhill after that. And the end of the 4-th season was miserable. I got the 5-th season on DVD just for completeness' sake. But my favorites are seasons 1 and 2, and several episodes of the 3-rd season.

When they made Madeline a little too evil and one-dimensional. I loved how she dealt with the terrorists, but her bond with Nikita in season 1 was much more interesting to watch than the later years when she and Operations were sooo evil and practically joined at the hip. All Madeline ever seemed to do was agree with him! I like the episode when Nikita confronts Section for spying on her, and you can tell that Madeline is secretly rooting her on.

They didn't even explore her past that much either, aside from a couple of mentions. Madeline was such an interesting character (when she hot-wired the car for Nikita!) and they really wasted her and took away a lot of her complexity. I'd have loved to see a flashback episode for her past like Nikita, Operations, and Michael got

I don't know this show really jumped the shark. It did have some weak points. The last couple of seasons were weaker than the other first few. Michael being married to Elana wasn't really jumping the shark but I will admit it did get a little too soap opera-like sometimes, but still had enough action to wash that away. The series finale left me with questions though and was a bit weak. Mr. Jones willingly giving himself up to save the little boy instead of offering his double to the terrorists or someone on the cancelled list and then killing them or poisoning them. Michael moving away with his son at the end and then promising to keep in touch was a bit sappy too. I mean Michael was supposed to be the best so he could raise a kid AND be in Section.

After the first season. When Madeline went along with eliminating Nikita and sent her on that suicide mission. The characters had formed a unity, a team, almost like a family and by trying to destroy each other instead of the enemy they took away a lot of the show's humanity.