Comic Con: Nikita Pilot Review

At last, Comic-Con has begun and among the events that kicked off preview night was a special sneak preview of The CW’s upcoming new drama series Nikita. From the looks of it, The CW is all about bringing back the girl power with this one.

The reboot, which follows the French film Nikita and the ‘90’s TV series La Femme Nikita, follows Nikita (Maggie Q), a former assassin who was rescued from the death sentence and essentially enslaved by a government agency called the Division. After years of being forced to kill, she escaped and is now on a mission to take down the Division to avenge the death of her fiancé and help other recruits from being forced into the same life she was for a time.

The pilot jumps between Nikita’s run-ins with the Division and new recruit Alex’s first week in training as a future assassin. Given that Alex isn’t a seasoned murderer, the prospect of killing people for a living isn’t all that appealing to her.

The pilot episode shows promise as we’re given a fair amount of back-story on Nikita’s character and her personal and professional history with some of the people at Division. Fans of Maggie Q will likely appreciate her performance as she handles the role well.

Nikita’s mission is personal but thanks in part to the writing and in part to Maggie’s performance, we don’t get the sense that she’s out of control emotionally. She has a score to settle, but she’s focused and her mind seems to be in the right place. Plus, she’s good at what she does, which makes her a genuine threat to the organization that trained her and once benefited from her skills.

Fans looking for a series with action, suspense and a strong female lead should check out Nikita when it premieres on The CW this fall. Or, if you’re at Comic Con, there will be a screening and Q&A panel on Saturday, July 24th at 5:15 p.m.