Rough Trade



Rough Trade is the fourth episode of Nikita, and the fourth episode of the first season. It premiered to American audiences on September 30, 2010 at 2.68 million viewers.

Synopsis
The scene opens with Alex getting dressed and walking to the computer. She gets a hold of Nikita. Alex tells that they are planning to train again and Nikita tells that she wants to be alert. She has something to do that she should have done a long time ago. Nikita goes to a park and sees a little girl. She tells the girl that she looks like her dad. The mother, Lisa, sees Nikita and stops. She reaches for her gun and Nikita tells her to stop. She asks when Lisa started carrying a gun and she tells that ever since Nikita killed her husband, Victor. Nikita tells that Victor was trying to take down the Red Circle Triad and that she was sent in to kill Victor. Now, she is trying to take down the Triad but she needs Lisa and her daughter to go and be safe.

Later at the Fashion District in Manhattan, Nikita poses as Roxanne Barnes and talks to Tanya Wiles, a fashion designer. Nikita shows pictures of dead bodies and tells that all her clothing are being made in sweat shops and that she works with the Red Circle Triad. Nikita demands that she give up the address.

At Division, Michael talks to the new recruits and Jaden raises her hand to go first to defuse the bomb, but Michael picks Alex to go first. She gets under the car and starts to have a panic attack underneath the car and sees fire around her. Thom comes to her rescue and others watch on in shock. Amanda tells Michael that he is wanted in operations and looks at Alex with concern.

Michael walks down the hallway and into Operations. Birkhoff shows a picture of Nikita, disguised as Roxanne Barnes, and tells that she broke Tanya Wiles' wrist. Michael tells that she is re-opening the first mission and her first kill. Michael reminisces Nikita's time at Division 6 years ago.

Nikita is fighting someone and Michael comes up and says that he has something for here and Nikita takes this as an invitation to fight. They fight and the end result has Michael on top of Nikita. He shows her the prize and it is a keycard. She has been activated for her first mission. But she has to see Amanda first. Michael walks by Alex, who is sparring with Thom and she tells that she has to go to the computer room. She is stopped at the stairs and the man tells that she has to see Amanda first.

Nikita is at the factory of one of the Triad's sweat shops and tries to contact Alex to make sure that the coast is clear, but there is no user online. Nikita reminisces her time with Amanda and a younger Amanda shows her to the first assignment and tells that she is going to have to gain the trust. It is a baby doll. Nikita arrives at the home of Victor and Lisa and she is going to be a Nanny for young Sophie, the girl from the park. Nikita is not happy that she is going to be in charge of killing a family man. Back at the factory, Nikita tries to contact Alex again and gives up and goes inside the factory. She tells that everyone is free and starts taking down workers trying to stop her.

She goes up to the manager of it and tells him to tell his boss that she is coming for him after she burns down the shop. Back at Division with Amanda, Alex tells that she is alright and Amanda tells that she had a panic attack and that she needs to get out what she needs. She tells that it was when she was a Russian sex slave and that at least the Russians had enough decency to keep her high. Amanda offers Alex a drink of tea and Alex drinks it. Suddenly she starts getting dizzy and falls down. Amanda tells that she doesn't have a choice. At Club 107 in Lower Manhattan, Michael is waiting at the Triad Headquarters. Birkhoff tells him that he has eyes and ears on the inside. The Triad boss comes in with the factory worker and tells that the shipment is destroyed. He is upset. Birkhoff finds out that the worker had a tracker on him and that is how Nikita is going to find the Triads. At Nikita's, she reminisces again when she was a Nanny for Sophie.

She tells that she is going to go for a walk with Sophie and as she walks with the baby, Michael and his team shoot the Secret service guy and Michael tells Nikita to give him the baby. She tells him that she doesn't want to and Michael reassures that Sophie and Lisa will be safe. Only Victor is the target. They give Nikita the baby doll. She is instructed to leave the baby doll bomb and go. As she leaves Victor thanks Nikita for all her hard work and Nikita tells that she is going to enjoy the rest of the day. As she leaves and walks away from the house, it explodes. Nikita waits outside the Triad Headquarters and spots Michael there too. She tries to contact Alex and she is still offline. At Division, Alex is on a bed in a strait jacket that will only unlock once she calms down. Amanda tells that if she fails this test, she fails the academy and will leave.

Back at the headquarters, Nikita goes in and poses as a photographer. She beats up a guard and enters further. The leader of the headquarters in New York is talking to the leader of the Triads in Hong Kong. Nikita sneaks up behind the guy and knocks him unconscious.

The leader turns around and it is Victor Han, from 6 years ago. He tells that he made a deal with Percy and they faked his death. Nikita finds out that he is in Hong Kong and she is going to go meet him face to face. Nikita is about to leave when Michael is there at the glass. The glass is bullet-proof and Nikita tells that Victor is the double-agent for the Triad. Michael is shocked and Nikita runs off. She throws an object through the window and escapes. Michael walks up to Percy in his office and asks where Victor is in Hong Kong. Percy, realizing that Michael knows, comes clean. He tells that it is good to have such an asset and that Michael is a good agent because he never asks questions. He gives Michael the address. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Nikita is escorted to customs and more men enter and tase Nikita and carry her away.

Back at Division, Alex is on the floor and Amanda attempts to get her to talk about what she sees. She lies and says that it was a car accident and that all she saw was water and her parents dying instead of a room engulfed in fire and a woman killing her family. She calms herself long enough to unlock the jacket.

Nikita gets to where Victor is and he tells that he can take what he wants from her. He tells that he has a family in Hong Kong and has tells that Sophie and Lisa were his cover in the United States. He kisses her and then reacts to the peanut oil on Nikita's lips. Nikita fights off the other men and gives Victor his medicine. As she gets Victor in the car, one of the men is about to shoot her and is shot by Michael. He signals to Nikita that it is clear and she drives off.

Back at Division, in Percy's office, the news is on and they tell that Victor was arrested and was found bound and gagged at the front steps of the station. Percy talks to someone on the phone and tells that he can handle it and tells the person on the other end that they are going to have to take over the operation.

They tell that they are not going to give a commission and Percy agrees. Meanwhile, Nikita visits Lisa again and she tells that she is not going to tell Sophie about Victor and tells that Victor is dead. She forgives Nikita and tells her to take Division down. Nikita says that it is going to take some time. At Division, Alex is under the car again and she is not claustrophobic. She disarms the bomb quickly and slides back from under. Jaden wants to know what Amanda did to her and she tells that they just talked. Alex thanks Thom for pulling her out and he tells that it is no problem. Michael asks Amanda if she is finished and Amanda tells that she is not because Alex is hiding something.

<p style="color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 23px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nikita and Alex talk on the computer and she apologizes for not being there. Nikita tells that a friend helped her out. Flashback to Nikita and Michael in a room and she asks why Michael follows Percy. Michael tells that he owes him his life. At Division, Michael is taking out his anger on a punching bad and Nikita walks away and out the door.

Goofs and Errors

 * When Nikita is speaking to Alex at the beginning of the episode, Alex types "What are you gonna do?" to Nikita, but the synthetic voice says "What are you going to do?".
 * The voice on the public address system at the airport is speaking Mandarin Chinese. In Hong Kong Cantonese Chinese is spoken officially. The rest of the Chinese dialog in the episode is correctly in Cantonese.
 * The Bentley that Nikita gets into in Hong Kong is left hand drive. Cars in Hong Kong are right hand drive.
 * The 747 on approach over the city is going to the old Hong Kong airport (Kai Tak), which closed in 1998. The new airport (Chep Lap Kok) has no such approaches.
 * The setup shot of Hong Kong is at least ten years old as evidenced by missing landmark buildings constructed during the 2000s, most notably Two IFC. By contrast, the skyline view from the container yard is current (although the location of the yard is off), as is the shot in the news broadcast.

Music

 * "Song 2" by Blur
 * "Uncle Mountain" by The Fire Theft

Main Cast

 * Maggie Q as Nikita
 * Shane West as Michael
 * Lyndsy Fonseca as Alex
 * Aaron Stanford as Birkhoff
 * Melinda Clarke as Amanda
 * Xander Berkeley as Percy
 * Ashton Holmes as Thom
 * Tiffany Hines as Jaden

Reception
<p style="color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 23px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The average rating on tv.com is a rating of 9.1 out of 205 votes, giving it a rating of "Superb", the first Nikita episode to receive such from the site. It is, ironically, where ratings started to decrease as a general view of the episodes started to improve.

International Air Dates

 * Canada: Thursday, September 30, 2010 on A


 * United Kingdom: October 28, 2010 on LIVING/LIVING HD


 * Australia: November 18, 2010 on GO!


 * Sweden: November 24, 2010 on Kanal 5