User Reviews

I totally disagree with the first comment. The TV series "La Femme Nikita" took the premise from the original French movie and went in a different direction. It had a new look, feel, and style from what most audiences were used to - and the cast, writers, and crew did a great job.

My favorite is the 1st season. I think the storyline went off the rails after the 3rd season (Michael with a wife and kid), but I still tuned in every week! The interest in LFN the series was global - many Web sites were created and dedicated to the show's characters and actors who portrayed them. I hadn't seen such enthusiasm for a TV show in a long time, and it was great.

It was my favorite show of the 90's, that's for sure, and the show has definitely made an impact on other TV series and even movies.

They should have just called this show: "Hostages, Pimps, and Whores". Because when you break it all down, that's all it really is. Everyone in Section is being held against his/her will, and they are all pimped by Paul to do his whoring for him, especially Nikita. But there's something even worse than Nikita being used repeatedly as a government/personal whore -- much worse. After season 2, she becomes increasingly...irrelevant; nothing more than a prop, displaying one close up uncomfortable glance after another. And that's unconscionable, especially given the quality of the show, and of Nikita's role, during the first 2 years.

The biggest flaw? It's hard to care about Nikita when she clearly does not care about herself. There's just no getting around it. She is repeatedly used and abused by just about everyone, especially Michael -- her love interest/pimp -- who is nothing but a sociopath. She suffers from Stockholm syndrome big time, identifying with her captors despite her intermittent protestations to the contrary. She goes so far as to defend Paul and Madeline from Jerome's telekinetic outburst, screaming at him: "It's not their fault." Really? It's not their fault? Then whose fault IS it? And that's exactly why LFN died a slow painful death -- it's ONLY likable main character went from a truly intelligent, rebellious, sympathetic character to a truly pathetic character, and it's impossible to like that type of character. Pity, maybe. Like -- not really; not if your eyes and ears are open to what's actually going on.

Sure, they WANT us to like her, just like they WANT us to believe that Michael is actually capable of love. He is not. He's a self-serving sociopath who twists the truth around to serve his needs every step of the way. And furthermore, the way his character was portrayed (writing, directing, acting) is simply idiotic. It's not "stoic" to mumble monosyllabic utterances -- it's autistic/catatonic. And anyone who can't see the difference...can't see the difference. And the thing is...Nikita KNOWS what Michael is all about. In fact, in season 4 she confronts him and tells him, quite accurately, that he needs Section, while she herself knows she needs to leave Section. Yet she acquiesces over and over and over again, selling herself short, and basically just selling herself out. And that's simply not a protagonist that's worth caring about. Instead of developing her character, they destroyed it.

Of course, what LFN is really all about...is torture. The problem is...after the first 2 seasons...it's the viewers who get tortured. On a weekly basis. Without fail.

LFN is one of my all time favorites. The cast is absolutely wonderful, the writing is brilliant and the soundtrack is exceptional.

The series altogether is exciting, unpredictable, luring and very sensual. At first glance you might think it's only some blonde chick blowing up buildings, but there's a great depth to all the main characters that slowly unravels throughout the series. The use of innovative technology is quite striking for 1997 which makes it even more appealing.

Aside for being drop dead gorgeous, Peta Wilson does a wonderful job in bringing great vulnerability and emotion to the character of Nikita. The progress of the character throughout the series is credible and convincing. Roy Dupuis as Michael is absolutely fascinating. Alberta Watson is amazing as well as the supporting cast. Most importantly, the chemistry between the actors, especially Peta and Roy, is mesmerizing and just a joy to watch.

The only reason LFN doesn't get a 10 from me is S4, which almost from the start suffered greatly from bad writing to the point of ruining most beloved characters, as well as its finale which was horrid for most LFN fans. Luckily they salvaged what they could with the short S5 which leaves you with a good taste. S2 is the absolute best in my opinion although the whole of the first 3 seasons is excellent. If you watch S4, be sure not to miss S5 though :)

I believe this series is wonderful to watch even in 2011 and I highly recommend it as one of the best ever made.

But it has that refined 90s look I love so much. And can also be seen as the spy series counterpart of The X-Files, as both shows look so similar in tone. Where do I start? Being a series adaptation of a popular French movie, it didn't get overseas praise, which is a shame. It's a decent « continuation », and I agree with most reviewers on the fact that the show never fully reached season 2 finale greatness again, or that season 4 is not good. I really didn't like this one. The episodes weren't as entertaining anymore, the main arc got us to silly twists after another, and the Michael/Nikita angst was even more unbearable than how it was during the early episodes of season 3. Fortunately, we still got an eight episodes order to end the series properly. And even though I still lost interest during half of those, the series finale redeemed everything I thought was so wrong about the show. Nikita may end up alone as the head of sections, but she got her « life » back. And Michael (who in a way, was actually the character driven by his emotions the most. After seasons of appearing aloof and cold hearted) got his happy ending with his son and... Sorry, what happened to the wife again? Either way, it's a good series overall (a lot better than 24), with good acting and colorful characters. And of course, a great soundtrack that fitted the tone of the show so well, the music steeped in each scenes. The fashion can make you cringe sometimes, but I thought it added more charm to the futuristic look of the series, especially on its first year. I can't honestly recommend the CW reboot, but if you feel like it, maybe you should check it out too.

I've recently seen this show and I want to add that I love the plot, the show atmosphere and the characters complexity, not to mention that the suppressed attraction between the main characters, Nikita and Michael it's breathtaking and intense.

I think Peta Wilson was wonderful for Nikita's role, she's very beautiful, but her beauty isn't fragile. She's perfect, first of all because she is a tall strong woman. If she were to be an anorexic fragile lady it wouldn't be too believable that she could actually kick down trained big muscular men.

Not to mention Roy Dupuis who plays Michael, he's acting was amazing. The character is cool, strong and icy cold and he hides incredibly well his humanity. The fact is he feels a lot, his look says all. I'm stunned by his performance on the show.

I'm not yet sure which is my favorite episode, I guess there are more.

I had some minor disappointments; for example when season 3 started and most of the characters got a haircut. They looked terrible, like some evil hairdresser caught them all, Nikita was the only one who avoided having her hair cut for the time being, by some evasive maneuver, I'm sure.

One other thing that was not too great is the way Madeline and Operations go down. This characters have strong personalities, they are very intelligent and always follow their interest, planning webs in manipulating everyone else. It's not too believable the way they end. It seems rather rushed. In fact season 5 doesn't have the same approach and feeling as the other seasons. I don't know what happened here, why they hurried, but in the end at least remains credible, it could have been worse.

I think that old TV series, "La Femme Nikita"s show, as well are better developed then the new ones. These days most of the series seem shallow, with some exceptions of course.

Other things I like about "La Femme Nikita"'s show was the technology they use, considering the series is filmed in the late 90's and early 2000 it quite stands for our days.

The soundtrack is great too, the songs fits perfectly with the scenes they're added to enhancing the moments.

In one word this series has become one of my favorite. So if you like the "Secret Agent" theme, suspense, romance and espionage go for it. Everyone in it did a great job and it's worth it all.

First of all i'd like to tell you that i watch lots of TV shows, so i'm kind of an expertise on this area. In my opinion, La Femme Nikita is unique, this show touches people in a very different way, i mean the plots, the characters, the soundtrack they're very different from the other TV shows which we used to watch. For example, have you ever seen a blood tear in a TV show??? You can see this kind of extraordinary stuff a lot in this show. About the characters, Nikita is very sweet, very nice, totally gorgeous and brave, Birkoff the genius one, he's a very special and a good guy, Walter; he's very funny and flirty :)). Operations; i know lots of people doesn't like him but for me he's kinda good guy, his biggest problem is being so much greedy i guess, you know that greed (avarice)is one of the seven deadly sins. Anyway, my favorites; Madeline and Michael, This two characters are the ones that you can never see on a TV show. Madeline; She is Section's second-in-command, master strategist and psych op, she's very confident, a very Strong type, very very smart and very cool, Alberta Watson did a very good job with this character. And Michael(Roy Dupuis)without him, this show couldn't affects lots of people this much. There's something special about him, this character doesn't talk to much but with one look he can tell a story, he's very very cool, maybe the coolest character in the TV world. The chemistry between him and Nikita is so strong that you can believe that they a real-life couple. About the soundtrack, you can hear Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Enigma, Morcheeba, Garbage and this kind of cool groups and the original score of Sean Callery he did a very good job (especialy in 3x16- I remember Paris).Anyway, I always wonder why this show didn't become more popular like 24 or Alias. It deserves much more attention. So my advice to you is, you should watch this show if you don't watch it until this time. But i have to warn you!! This show makes addiction, once you watch it you can never leave it :)) 9.5/10

Let me just first the state the lesser aspects of this show: It was clearly all shot in Canada. Nothing against Canada, but this is supposed to be an international anti-terror organization. Also, somewhere in the 4th season there were some pointless developments. For instance: killing off Birkoff only to have him be replaced by his twin with a terrible southern accent. Why? Also, the 'bad guys' were not well developed. They didn't seem to have a coherent plan or ideology.

Now the good stuff: Amazing, amazing writing and acting. Like I've said before: the 'bad guys' were not well developed, but to be completely honest they were really not needed, other than to show Section 1 actually doing it's job and fighting international terrorism. The focus was much more on the internal affairs within Section 1. Lines between good and evil were blurred or didn't exist at all. Moral issues were raised. For instance: how far is too far when fighting terrorists when their goal is to maximize civilian casualties. What I liked most about this show was that it raised moral issues without showing a political preference. Even a pacifist could relate to the difficult decision raised time and time again: kill one to safe a hundred? When do you have the right to make such decisions, and at what point do you go from being on the 'right side' to become like the ones you're trying to stop? Also, what makes us human? A large part of the show deals with the very essence of what makes us human, either it being having emotions and acting on them or not having them at all for the sake of others.

Another amazing aspect of the show is the acting. Peta Wilson does an amazing job of mixing emotion with the ruthless world Nikita lives in, while she tries to figure out just what amount of compassion will let her save as many people as possible without becoming a robot. You also see a gradual development in Nikita's character throughout the show. She becomes more aware of her environment, but still holds on to that little spark of humanity. Roy Dupuis is also amazing. Many have commented on his wooden acting, but that was the whole point of his character. When Nikita joins Section 1 he has been there quite a few years and has learned that showing any emotion will be regarded as a weakness. Even the development of the relationship between Michael and Nikita is superb. Throughout the show right into season 4 you always keep wondering if Michael does really love Nikita or this is part of some grand design. He saves her life time and again, but then plays around with her emotions for the good of the mission.

Operations and Madeline are also brilliantly played. Madeline always has this air of warmth over her, yet when you come to know her better you realize she's not much more than a calculating robot. Operations is also played to perfection. He seems to have some humanity left in him but doesn't seem to let him stop him. He also comes across as hungry for power, but within the barriers of fighting terrorism. Watching the show from beginning to end always keep you wondering if you will ever see a weakness in these two.

As for the last episodes of the show, season 5 did feel a bit rushed (although we can't blame the writers for that), but did conclude with a satisfying ending. The reason this show worked in spite of its small budget was that the writers didn't treat the viewers as complete idiots and weren't afraid to make loved characters do things that would be considered 'bad'. Nikita had compassion but shot someone when needed. Operations and Madeline ruled Section 1 with an iron fist, but also had to be at the very least as good as the other side in order to save people.

I simply loved this show, it wasn't simply entertaining but also made you wonder. Wonder about motivation, about morality and about the world being a grey area, rather than black and white.