X-treme Tropicals: La Femme Nikita
I was sad when I missed this challenge the first time around, so I was excited to get to do it for the redux challenge.
The images are all really large, so I thumbnailed them. Click on the pictures if you want to see the full size versions.
There are no specific spoilers, just some general character tropes.
La Femme Nikita starts with Boxed Crook. Which also involves Death faked for you. As Nikita says in the opening monologue, "I was falsely accused of a hideous crime and sentenced to life in prison. One night I was taken from my cell to a place called Section One, the most covert antiterrorist group on the planet. Their ends are just, but their means are ruthless. If I don't play by their rules, I die." They said that she committed suicide in prison, and if she doesn't do exactly what they want, that death will become true. The same holds true of all of the members of Section. Their lives pretty much hang in the balance according to their actions and the whims of Operations and Madeline. The Uriah gambit where Operations sends people basically to their deaths as part of missions is very much at play. Operatives (even "named" ones, not just "redshirts") die all the time.
After she gets recruited by Section, Nikita undergoes two years of training. Those two years of training culminate in A real woman is a killer. Nikita is only allowed to "graduate" when she proves she can kill.
Once she has passed that test, Nikita goes on to become an Action girl. Nikita can definitely hold her own with most any operative or opponent and demonstrates this throughout the series.
Of course, no good spy series is complete without A handler for the main asset. And that is where Michael comes in. He helps her, controls her, manipulates her, comforts her, saves her, is saved by her, etc.
Michael also fills other tropes. His general personality is of The stoic, where he doesn't demonstrate much emotion at all, no matter what happens to him. Of course it can be argued that 90% of Section operatives (with Nikita and Walter being the notable exceptions among the main cast) act that way, as demonstrating emotion in Section is frowned upon.
Michael also is Operations' Dragon. He is the one being groomed to take control of Section sometime in the future. He acts as Operations' right hand man a lot of the time, even being given control of Section when Operations had business elsewhere.
Of course, no show would be complete without antagonists. Sure, there are the terrorists and criminals that Section fights, but those often take a backseat to the in-house actions. On La Femme Nikita, everything is seen in terms of Black and (really, really) gray morality, where the "good" guys don't often act so good. This starts at the top, with Operations being The bad boss. He often mistreats and even kills the people below him just to prove he can. He also has a streak of Manipulative bastard in him too, manipulating the emotions of others to get the actions he wants.
Madeline, however, is the ultimate Manipulative bastard. She is in charge of all of the psychological aspects of the operatives and their opponents. She knows what to say and how to say it. She also is Affably evil in that she can demonstrate empathy if needed and get people to like her if necessary.
One aspect of Madeline's psychological manipulation is that she is in charge of interrogations and torture at Section. The brutal nature of Section means that not only are the terrorists subjected to this, but so are the operatives, even the primary couple of Michael and Nikita. And Madeline really enjoys her work, making this qualify for Cold-blooded torture.
Most of the torture at Section occurs in a place called the "White Room". Operatives do not want to get taken there. (Terrorists don't either, but they really can't do much to avoid it.) The white room is Room 101, basically often a fate worse than death (and death often occurs after a stay there).
There obviously have to be some "good guys" at Section too, in addition to Nikita. One of those is Walter. He is one of the "five-percenters", people who have managed not to lose their souls, even as they manage to stay alive in Section. He is also a Cool old guy. He teases Nikita and befriends most of the operatives, while also maintaining the armory and developing weapons.
Birkoff has also been shown to be a decent guy most of the time. He is a Hollywood Nerd. He's attractive enough, but then got glasses stuck on him and tech knowledge thrust upon him, such that he often acts geeky and socially inept even as he is brilliant with computers and electronics.
I hope you enjoyed that look at La Femme Nikita. I enjoy the show with its interesting characters (even if they are tropes!) and incredibly dark morality/tone.
The images are all really large, so I thumbnailed them. Click on the pictures if you want to see the full size versions.
There are no specific spoilers, just some general character tropes.
La Femme Nikita starts with Boxed Crook. Which also involves Death faked for you. As Nikita says in the opening monologue, "I was falsely accused of a hideous crime and sentenced to life in prison. One night I was taken from my cell to a place called Section One, the most covert antiterrorist group on the planet. Their ends are just, but their means are ruthless. If I don't play by their rules, I die." They said that she committed suicide in prison, and if she doesn't do exactly what they want, that death will become true. The same holds true of all of the members of Section. Their lives pretty much hang in the balance according to their actions and the whims of Operations and Madeline. The Uriah gambit where Operations sends people basically to their deaths as part of missions is very much at play. Operatives (even "named" ones, not just "redshirts") die all the time.
After she gets recruited by Section, Nikita undergoes two years of training. Those two years of training culminate in A real woman is a killer. Nikita is only allowed to "graduate" when she proves she can kill.
Once she has passed that test, Nikita goes on to become an Action girl. Nikita can definitely hold her own with most any operative or opponent and demonstrates this throughout the series.
Of course, no good spy series is complete without A handler for the main asset. And that is where Michael comes in. He helps her, controls her, manipulates her, comforts her, saves her, is saved by her, etc.
Michael also fills other tropes. His general personality is of The stoic, where he doesn't demonstrate much emotion at all, no matter what happens to him. Of course it can be argued that 90% of Section operatives (with Nikita and Walter being the notable exceptions among the main cast) act that way, as demonstrating emotion in Section is frowned upon.
Michael also is Operations' Dragon. He is the one being groomed to take control of Section sometime in the future. He acts as Operations' right hand man a lot of the time, even being given control of Section when Operations had business elsewhere.
Of course, no show would be complete without antagonists. Sure, there are the terrorists and criminals that Section fights, but those often take a backseat to the in-house actions. On La Femme Nikita, everything is seen in terms of Black and (really, really) gray morality, where the "good" guys don't often act so good. This starts at the top, with Operations being The bad boss. He often mistreats and even kills the people below him just to prove he can. He also has a streak of Manipulative bastard in him too, manipulating the emotions of others to get the actions he wants.
Madeline, however, is the ultimate Manipulative bastard. She is in charge of all of the psychological aspects of the operatives and their opponents. She knows what to say and how to say it. She also is Affably evil in that she can demonstrate empathy if needed and get people to like her if necessary.
One aspect of Madeline's psychological manipulation is that she is in charge of interrogations and torture at Section. The brutal nature of Section means that not only are the terrorists subjected to this, but so are the operatives, even the primary couple of Michael and Nikita. And Madeline really enjoys her work, making this qualify for Cold-blooded torture.
Most of the torture at Section occurs in a place called the "White Room". Operatives do not want to get taken there. (Terrorists don't either, but they really can't do much to avoid it.) The white room is Room 101, basically often a fate worse than death (and death often occurs after a stay there).
There obviously have to be some "good guys" at Section too, in addition to Nikita. One of those is Walter. He is one of the "five-percenters", people who have managed not to lose their souls, even as they manage to stay alive in Section. He is also a Cool old guy. He teases Nikita and befriends most of the operatives, while also maintaining the armory and developing weapons.
Birkoff has also been shown to be a decent guy most of the time. He is a Hollywood Nerd. He's attractive enough, but then got glasses stuck on him and tech knowledge thrust upon him, such that he often acts geeky and socially inept even as he is brilliant with computers and electronics.
I hope you enjoyed that look at La Femme Nikita. I enjoy the show with its interesting characters (even if they are tropes!) and incredibly dark morality/tone.