'La Femme Nikita - The Complete Fourth Season'
(Peta Wilson, Roy Dupuis, et al / 6-Disc DVD / NR / (1997) 2006 / Warner Bros.)
Overview: Section One, a clandestine anti-terrorist organization, fakes the death of a jailed, convicted murderer and, believing her twin assets of beauty and ability to kill will make her a valuable new operative, trains her in the fighting skills necessary to succeed in her new job. The new operative, code-named 'Josephine', proves to be somewhat less ruthless than planned, however, as she had been falsely convicted and never murdered anyone.
DVD Verdict: This series is by far the most sophisticated of all those dealing with, "The First Circle." I refer to Solzhenitsyn's novel about those most valued and talented citizens in the old CCCP, working under special and pampered conditions in The Soviet Union during The Cold War. The protagonist in that novel came to the conclusion that, of all the patriots working for the common good of the communist ideal, they, the very best of the best at whatever they did, were, after all, in the first circle of hell. So it was for all those at Section One. They were specialists that were so important and good at what they did, all of them enjoyed the best and highest location in what only could really be described as hell. Calling it what it was, in that way, is a good description of the situation within which they functioned. At its very best, they were still locked away in what anyone would consider a hellish life, though having the best life hell could offer. It's like calling Section One the best place a bad place has to offer. ALIAS was very entertaining but not even close to the quality of production/direction of LFN. The acting, music, seriousness, the atmosphere which was created by the directors, the drama, the subtleness of the pain and of the love and of the hate shown throughout LFN was very well done, very well blended, yielding a total package that could not be matched by anything else before nor, so far, since. The entire premise, you realize, is a very hard sell. You know very well you would have walked right up to Operations and shot him point blank, pulling the trigger until the gun went, "click" as John Torturo said in, "The Big Lebowski." Another absolutely untenable, apparently supposed to be accepted premise, was the fact that Nikita and Michael were extremely valuable to the entire operation of Section One, yet casually threatened with cancellation for burping and sent out on impossible missions any one of which could easily have ended in their deaths. No company in real life would ever risk assets of their value in such a manner. Nikita never used that knowledge of her value to her advantage. If she had, then the entire premise of the show would have collapsed, I realize. That relationship simply could not occur anywhere for any reason at any time in any organization set up for whatever purpose. Getting past that, accepting that situation, then we viewers could then go with it and watch one of the most well done series ever put together, having a distinctive European flare when it came to its style, flavor, taste and touch. Overall, this series executed cunning plots with a talented cast, advance technology, diverse settings, and trendy fashions encompassing the true nature of society from cold to compassionate with a touch of humor from time to time. This is a Widescreen presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and come with the Special Features of:
22 episodes on six discs
Commentary by director Brad Turner and actor Eugene Robert Glazer on Time to Be Heroes
Commentary by writer Peter Lenkov and actor Eugene Robert Glazer on Sympathy for the Devil
Canceled scenes with commentary by Christopher Heyn
Gag Reel
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