Series: Lasting five seasons (well, four and a third) due to an outpouring of support by the loyal fans, the show was one case where the television show was miles ahead of its original movie counterpart, so unlike the watered down versions we're usually subjected to. Here's what I said when I reviewed Season One:
"The French movie centered on a woman who was part of a burglary/murder of a pharmacy. Hoping to score some great drugs and maybe cash, she joined a few other losers and tried to knock the place off. After a grisly shoot out, she is caught and sentenced to die. In a twisted form of reprieve, she is recruited by a secret organization that does all the things that governments do, such as assassinations, with the proviso that she will be killed if she doesn't do everything she's told. Not exactly a great career choice, huh?
The television series glosses over the origin a bit and makes the lead character, Nikita (Peta Wilson), a street person who scrapes by to make a living. Caught up in circumstances beyond her control, this time innocent of murder, she is trained and put to work for an anti-terrorist unit known only as Section One. Her boss, Michael (Roy Dupuis), ruthless and cold, puts her in situations where if she really can't kill, as she has told him, she'll simply die and be done with. Sounds a bit like working in a major corporation to me (except for the death part)."

With many fans clamoring for additional seasons on DVD, I was pleased to review Season Two and Season Three awhile back (boy does time fly), noticing that the dynamics of the season were slowly changing as the characters evolved somewhat, fleshing out the roles they were so good in previously. I then got a look at Season Four a few months ago, secretly hoping that it would include the short fifth season to give me my Nikita "fix". But it all ended well since the powers that be decided to forgo waiting another year to release La Femme Nikita: Season Five, the last boxed set of this sadly overlooked cable television show originally broadcast on the USA network. Much of the character detail will be the same as my last review with some updates to describe the growth of the characters during this season. The story is about the intelligence community as it fights terrorism, specifically focusing on a secret agency so important that it's not known about by the general public called Section. If you've been a fan of the television shows Alias or 24, you'll likely find this series even more appealing as the network constraints those two shows have were rarely problems for the USA Network.

Founded by the top intelligence guru of our time, Adrian, it has since been taken over by a man known as Paul Wolfe (Eugene Robert Glazer from The New Twilight Zone.) but only safely referred to as 'Operations'. He is as ruthless a man as has ever lived and demands complete loyalty of his subordinates or he cancels them (a euphemism for killing them). Under his rule, the spy agency's lead unit, Section One, recruits employees from prison who learn the score right away that they belong; mind, body and soul to him and Section One. His word is law and anything less than total obedience will put you on the fast track to a dirt nap. Operations has a lengthy (and dark) past full of secrets but those who uncover them seem to have an actuarial lifespan measured in months, if not days. He only trusts one person in this world, Madeline, and until season three, it seems as though he answers to no one. With the events of Adrian's Garden and End Game from Season Two now over, the repercussions of his actions have now brought forth his superior in Section, a man known only as George, who expresses his dismay at the possibility of Adrian's fate being somehow tied to Operations and Madeline. In the fourth season, we find that not only is Adrian still alive, but she is closely guarded by the couple, a double edged sword since their lives will be forfeit if George finds out what has happened to his beloved. That sets in motion an important arc of episodes where Adrian is used as leverage against them, showing that even the master chess players can get caught short at times. The fifth season showed the man at a loss for his beloved Madeline (who left the show at the end of season four), going so far as to commission an advanced computer simulation of her in A Girl Who Wasn't There, his possible advancement in the operation (pun intended) at the hands of the biggest of big cheeses Mr. Jones, and his fate as initially determined by Nikita herself then by his sacrifice to the cause.

Operations' leading strategist and right hand assistant is Madeline Sand (Alberta Watson; known initially for her role in The Outer Limits.). A former lover of Operations, she is not above sacrificing anything, or anyone, to accomplish a mission. She sees Nikita as too much of a loose cannon for her unorthodox ways as much as a potential rival, but the third season seemed to also have her realize that Nikita compromised Michael's effectiveness, and possibly served as a means by which he could be corrupted (even further than she suspected by this point). Season three begins with her and Operations sending Nikita on increasingly dangerous missions without Michael in order to sever the connection between Adrian and her fate since both she and Operations know that George will find out what happened if Nikita lives long enough. Madeline finds the use of a new brainwashing technology useful by the end of the season to effectively reduce Nikita to a compliant operative with no feelings of remorse or regret, essentially the perfect operative for her needs. As the fourth season opens, the main arc deals with the rest of the team trying to restore Nikita while staying alive, but Madeline also faces the threat that George presents to her and Operations in the usual manner too. If you're a fan of the show, you'll know what happened to her as she left the agency at the end of the last season but she was sort of brought back in A Girl Who Wasn't There when Quinn creates a holographic simulation of her to please Operations. It was an interesting moment for the couple when things didn't work out as planned (do they ever in this show?) but remained worthy of the general theme of the show.

Next up is a man named only as Walter (Don Francks, a well known voice actor for shows like Rock & Rule.) who is probably the oldest employee of Section One. His expertise is that of the munitions expert who can devise anything if given enough material to work with but also for his uncanny ability to figure out weapons of all sorts, including those used by terrorist organizations. His role in this ongoing drama was to befriend Nikita although with his decades of experience in Section One (and preceding groups that led up to it), trusting him completely would be a folly since the manner of the group is survival at all costs. Still, his unorthodox ways of handling things are something of a mystery to Nikita since such stepping outside of the boundaries is typically met with less than pleasing results. One characteristic shared by those operatives working outside of the usual constraints is their knowledge of something on Operations or Madeline but that knowledge proves to be a double edged sword, as evidenced by what happened to Jurgen in season two. Of all the cast, he appears to be the most conflicted when it comes to some of the actions the various factions take against one another as it is clear that he is friends with both Operations and Nikita (complete opposites in terms of almost everything they do and believe in). Having been betrayed by Nikita (in his mind at least) in the end of the fourth season, he approaches her a bit differently in the remaining episodes of the last season; not knowing where she truly stands now that he's been called back to active duty status from what would have been a cozy job at the Farm. When a new leader for Section One is left between two highly qualified people, he implores Quinn to fix the choice since one of them has a past that would ultimately lead to his demise (apparently, he figured out that women hold grudges) but the "new" Quinn is not like his brother so the end result is anything but assured.

Next in the supporting cast is Birkoff (Matthew Ferguson of Earth Final Conflict); the resident computer genius and communications operative. He's younger and smarter than the other characters in his field but his lack of cunning and street savvy mark him as something less of a player in the group. He also befriends Nikita and appears to trust her more than anyone in Section One than perhaps Walter but the downside of his trust is that it potentially gets him in trouble with those who flip the switches (and keep a close eye on him). Essentially growing up inside the agency, he knows little about the outside world that he hasn't seen on his computer terminal and human emotions are something of a mystery to him as he fumbles around trying to understand them. The fourth season was supposed to wrap up the series so a few new things were tried with the character; including detailing his history and how he ended up in Section. The revelation of a family tie and his unwillingness to protect a colleague from her own desire to escape Section shows that while he's smart and loyal, he is relatively timid in most cases too. His shining moment came in Abort, Fail, Retry, Terminate when he puts it all on the line to protect Section against his own interests, proving that he was more of a team player than any of the others. That led to the same Matthew being brought in as Birkoff's brother Quinn; an equally intelligent but far more ruthless character who doesn't have the same history with the team as his brother did. While professing to be in it for himself, he seems to secretly uphold his brother's ideals but does so in such a way that he maintains a better degree of plausible deniability. Still, his character was not used as effectively as Birkoff in the remaining season (so much had to happen in the main threads that all of the secondary players were short changed now that I think of it).

Last but not least, are the two main characters of the show: Nikita (Peta Wilson best known by non-fans of the show for her role in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Michael (Roy Dupuis). Nikita was a junkie falsely imprisoned (in the television version) for killing a police officer and given a choice; work for Section One or die. Choosing the former, she becomes an excellent field operative, second only to Michael in terms of accomplishing whatever mission is assigned, albeit in a somewhat less structured way. The series focuses on her most of the time as she seeks to successfully escape this torturous life of killing, destruction, and routinely risking her life for sometimes flimsy reasons with an on again, off again forbidden romance with Michael that endangers them both. Like a moth to a flame, she can barely resist his combination of good looks, superior intellect, and overall survival skill, although she tries to embrace other men as an escape from his ways too. In season three, Nikita had been brainwashed of all her humanity by Madeline, leaving a coldhearted, destructive killer in the wake. Michael set out to determine what happened to her (the project was done in secret) and upon finding out, tries to fix her. The results of his attempt are mixed with the audience left to interpret the results, but throughout the season, Madeline and Operations try their best to eradicate the two with a range of missions that went from overt attempts to cancel them (as in Time To Be Heroes; what would've been a perfect spin-off series by the way) as well as more subtle methods such as in a host of other episodes. The season ended on a surprising note but the rollercoaster ride took her through hell and back multiple times as the series became even more about the salvation of Nikita than anything else, including the volumous material devoted to Michael. The fifth season started off without Michael, using a new operative in his place (one that hates Nikita and would like to see her dead) called Marco O'Brien, but it wasn't long before Michael reappeared as part of the larger season arc in an attempt to persuade Nikita to let him back in. For her part, the end of the fourth season established her as something I don't think fit here (as an insider to the upper echelons of the agency) but the swing to making her choose between running Section One or a less appealing fate was counterbalanced by the introduction of her father, played by seasoned spy genre actor Edward Woodward (from The Equalizer among other things). His willingness to put her in the thick of things as a pawn in his ruthless games seemed out of place with the close of the previous season to me but it made for great television drama nonetheless.

Michael, on the other hand, uses all his charms and cool demeanor to enrapture his younger teammate as it is found out he has done for years. He was recruited into Section One by way of his youthful terrorist activities that included killing people with bombs, even though he came from a well off family. During season three, he was found to have a family, complete with wife and son (Looking For Michael, Someone Else's Shadow, and Opening Night Jitters), he got in trouble for his office romance with Nikita (several episodes including Third Party Ripoff and Playing With Fire), and took over Section One (Slipping Into Darkness, All Good Things) more than once but eventually figured out Nikita has been compromised in On Borrowed Time, thereby setting the stage for season four. That was when the primary arc of the show, lasting four full episodes and bringing back Adrian into the picture, revolved around his attempts to save Nikita from the brainwashing she underwent. Michael also found himself on the firing line numerous times, as much due to the way he played the initial season arc as his willingness to ruthlessly do whatever he needs to in order to further his own ends (with a splendid episode devoted to his wife in Kiss The Past Goodbye). His future was interestingly looked at in the closing episode too although the network decision to give the series a handful more episodes kind of weakened it a bit. Essentially, the fans demanding the return of the show also demanded that he and Nikita be reconciled so the writers had quite a task in store for them. Roy actually directed the episode that hailed his return to Section One in The Evil That Men Do, with the final episodes using the dynamic between Nikita and Michael as the focal points as both of them tried to save his son from the Collective that was the most recent thorn in the side of Section One.

If one were to gloss over the details, they would miss the intricacies of the season five developments since the established "formula" of the show wasn't significantly deviated from. As a viewer, I learned one thing from the first four seasons; expect the unexpected as the ever shifting winds of fate led Nikita to question her own humanity in face of such personal peril. What makes her interesting is the fact that she clings so dearly onto her compassion and the attempts by those above her to extinguish it become all the more threatening as they see her becoming a threat to their position (they can more readily control a killing machine than a thinking, compassionate woman such as Nikita whose uncertainty factor makes them uneasy, despite their outward appearance of calm. This becomes more evident as the series progresses, allowing the viewer to see the increasing tension between the cast, but particularly between Operations, Madeline, Nikita, and Michael. If left alone, Nikita and Michael would stay lovers and be resourceful members of Section One but the flip side is that romantic entanglements leave open the possibility that one of them might jeopardize a mission if it meant that they'd lose the other (and there's always the control aspect of the matter; if you have anything precious to you, those seeking to control you need to control it or destroy it to prevent it from getting in the way). With a sparse eight episodes to the season, the overall arc was focused on Nikita's basic question since the beginning of the series; "Why Me?" The earlier seasons spent a lot of time looking at the relationship between her and Michael but the premise of why she was chosen for inclusion into the world of intrigue, especially since the TV series showed that she wasn't guilty of the crimes that led to her service (unlike the original movie). In that sense, the Mr. Jones angle was built up to nicely and the ending saga with her and Michael definitely left an opening for a future movie or spin off series but it closed things out better than Season Four did too.

For a show that ended five years ago, La Femme Nikita certainly had a loyal fanbase and while the final eight episodes from the "brought back to life season five" ended any possibility of using some of the characters again, I wish that the show, like the more recent Firefly, had been given a chance to make it on the big screen. It relied on writing, character development, and a mood rather than splashy special effects and lame one-liners like some other spy franchises and could have been done on the cheap by comparison. Also, given the current status of TV shows, Nikita on a major network (and properly advertised/promoted) would be a no-brainer these days. Still, it was an excellent show and I thought the La Femme Nikita Season Five boxed set was worthy of being Recommended; but keep in mind that getting into the show will be far easier if you start at the beginning. Here's an episode list with airing date for those looking for one:

Season Five:
Episode 1: Déjà vu All Over Again: (January 7, 2001):
Episode 2: A Girl Who Wasn't There: (January 14, 2001):
Episode 3: In Through The Out Door: (January 21, 2001):
Episode 4: All The World's A Stage: (February 4, 2001):
Episode 5: The Man Behind The Curtain: (February 11, 2001):
Episode 6: The Evil That Men Do: (February 18, 2001):
Episode 7: Let No Man Put Asunder: (February 25, 2001):
Episode 8: A Time For Every Purpose: (March 4, 2001):

Picture: La Femme Nikita Season Five was presented in the same 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was originally shot in for television. With so much material on the 3 disc set (eight episodes and some extras), my primary concern was still if the compression rate would require compromises in picture quality as other shows have had issues with in the past (not distant past either). If the original shows were lacking, all the extras in the world weren't going to make such problems easier to swallow so I was pleased when I finished watching all the episodes to report that the picture quality looked slightly better the previous seasons of La Femme Nikita. The colors were accurate, the fleshtones solid, and the levels of grain acceptable with few compression artifacts to be seen. There was grain in the darker scenes and you could tell the budget could've used a few more bucks to look as solid as something released by a prime time network but I think it contributed to the "look" of the show in many ways so I can't be too fussy about it. There was also some pattern noise on occasion but it wasn't common and few of you will notice it unless I direct you towards it (which would be self defeating as it would take you away from the content of the writing). The "cancelled" scenes (a funny but appropriate way of talking about deleted scenes) didn't usually look as polished as those included in the aired versions but even they looked pretty good here. In general, it looked very polished considering the budgets worked with and the amount of pressure placed on the producers to knock out a weekly series.

Sound: The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround English with optional English, Spanish or French subtitles for those who care. The audio was again well done with some separation between the channels (though best heard by using headphones) and a decent dynamic range. The vocals were well handled and the music seemed to be more important (both the score and the popular music used) to the background. I tried to determine if any of the pop music was replaced this time (over copyright issues like in season two) but there didn't appear to be any data on this aspect of the show and there weren't howls of protests like the recalled version of season two (a song or two missing there didn't break the fun I had watching it) so until I hear otherwise, this one seemed complete.

Extras: With the entire season on the 3 discs, most shows have opted to keep to a limited budget these days, at least older shows, from my experience. There was no paper insert this time (they were shooting for a quick follow up to Season Four (released earlier this year) rather than wait another year to get this one out. The extras were otherwise limited to three cancelled scenes, the infamous internet teaser that was one of the first uses of unique material to promote a television show on the internet (filmed exclusively for the internet fans) complete with nudity, and a short feature called Season 5: Declassified that was replete with spoilers and insider details for fans to enjoy (though I suspect that they already know them). It was a light set of extras but the price for the set was better than the previous, longer sets have had with fansites like Cynbythesea picking up a lot of the slack on their own (and you can find even more material on the increasingly popular You Tube website); all for free.

Final Thoughts: La Femme Nikita Season Five continued all the usual traditions of the La Femme Nikita saga as it showed the spy business with more plausible characters, more realistic situations, and more drama woven into a tightly knit comprehensive story than those that went before it. Edward Woodward was the perfect choice for the role as Nikita's super spy father and the ending arc of eight episodes that comprised the season might have felt rushed (less time for the secondary and tertiary threads that added most of the humor to the previous seasons) but it was exactly what most fans seemed to ask for as Nikita's questions were largely answered, the fate of the main players in the show set straight, and the potential for new stories (either fan fiction-a huge market these days, a movie, or perhaps even a mini-series) offered up nicely. But for reviewing the initial season, I wouldn't have realized how good the show was so check out the series starting at the beginning if you like spy shows built on writing quality over huge special effects budgets and you'll find a lot to appreciate if you do.

If you'd like more detail on the season or the show in general, you won't have to look far given the numerous fansites all over the net but I spent a lot of time looking for the Best Fan Site. If you're interested in the show, that was as good as you'll find (with plenty of unique content) and I strongly recommend you check it out to see what dedicated fans can do to showcase a very good series.