The Recruit



The Recruit is the seventh episode of Nikita, and the seventh episode of the first season. It premiered to American audiences on October 28, 2010 at 2.48 million viewers.

Synopsis
The recruits are given another training exercise, which makes Alex flash back to a discussion with Nikita and how going through the program changes people in different ways. Alex's team loses the match, thanks to the over-confidence of a recruit named Robbie and the reluctance of a recruit named Sara.

However, Sara is chosen to be activated for a field mission, which makes gung-ho Robbie a little jealous. Meanwhile Michael is still frustrated over losing Nikita, or at least that's what Birkhoff assumes. Alex informs Nikita about Sara, and Nikita thinks that Sara's being sent on a suicide mission to take down a group of eco-terrorists from within. Sara records a video explaining what she's done in the name of Eco-Front, and Percy thinks she's ready for her first mission. However, Percy later talks to Amanda, and she says that Sara's poor performance during the team exercise has earned her a cancellation.

Sara is about to infiltrate the HQ of a large oil company, and Nikita shows up. It turns out that Sara's protective vest actually contains a huge amount of explosives which Percy plans to detonate as soon as Sara gets into the building. He doesn't get the chance because Nikita removes the vest and throws it under a Division van, blowing it up instead. Sara tries to force Nikita to go back to Division, but Nikita refuses and takes her to her place instead. Nikita explains that she doesn't want anyone else to go through what she went through with the program. Meanwhile Robbie keeps telling Alex about how good Division is compared with his life before the program. Nikita tells Sara to record another video, this time having her confess that she is a Texpro supporter trying to get Eco-Front into trouble.

Sara explains that she's trying to find her son, but Nikita reminds her that the past has to stay in the past and gives Sara a new identity. Sara rejects the offer and ends up at a lawyer's office, where she demands to know the location of her son. Robbie learns that he's not going to be a field agent after all, but instead he's going to be a security guard at Division HQ. He thinks his skills are better than that and complains about it to Alex, telling her that there's no future for him here.

Michael decides to go find Sara himself. Nikita discovers Sara at the house where her son lives now, and Michael and a Division team show up at the house as well. However, Michael ends up returning to Division, because Robbie has snapped. Robbie is on a shooting rampage at Division, and Michael is called back to HQ to help stop the massacre. When Robbie takes Alex as a hostage however, she ends up tasering him and taking him down. Afterwards, Michael tells Percy that he saw Sara's body in the back of Nikita's car.

Later, Sara watches her son from a distance, before Nikita takes her to her new life. Robbie, even though he's been officially canceled, isn't dead. Amanda is tending to him, and tells him that now he's being assigned as a cleaner, thanks to his lack of remorse when shooting and killing people.

Trivia

 * Although credited, Tiffany Hines (Jaden) does not appear in this episode.

Goofs and Errors

 * The gun Sara is holding on Nikita when they're driving away from the oil company is not the one she was holding before breaking into the car.

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

International Air Dates

 * Canada: Thursday, October 28, 2010 on A


 * United Kingdom: Thursday, November 18, 2010 on LIVING/LIVING HD