['Nikita' - Pilot]

According to the math wizards over at MIT, this latest version of 'Nikita' is the 345th iteration of the 'Nikita' franchise. Then again, MIT students aren't exactly known for their pop-culture savvy, so they might be off by a few there. But it's clearly a franchise that has seen more than its share of reboots.

Even 'Alias' was an offspring of the original, in basic concept if not in actual name/execution. But whereas 'Alias' featured a Big Red Ball, Thursday night's 'Nikita' prominently featured a Tiny Red Bikini. It's hard to call this a downgrade, but it's also a sign that the mythology in The CW's new show will deal less with ancient, mystic, vaguely supernatural prophets and more with more familiar, more worldly forms of evil.

Again: that's not necessarily a bad thing. Knowing one's own strengths and weaknesses is key to producing a solid piece of pop entertainment. For instance, comparing Britney Spears to Radiohead isn't really fair. But many have both on their iPod and enjoy both equally yet differently, based on what mood he/she happens to be in at that moment. It's somewhat pointless to present a compelling case of why 'OK Computer' kicks the butt of '... Baby One More Time,' because it's apples/oranges: the latter's not trying to be the former. Nerds might have LOVED the Rimbaldi mythology in 'Alias,' but shouldn't need 'Nikita' to go to a supernatural level in order to provide a solid hour of entertainment.

And a solid hour of entertainment is exactly what this pilot episode delivered. It's unclear how long the show can deliver week in and week out at this level, but this initial hour brought the viewer into its world with only a minimum of momentum-killing exposition. In showing Nikita three years removed from the nefarious Division while simultaneously showing the trials and tribulations of a new recruit, the show got to essentially have its narrative cake and each it too. Not that Nikita seems to have had any cake in those three years. Or much food of any kind. (Have I mentioned that Maggie Q is super skinny? Because she's super skinny. No wonder she can sneak around so well: when she turns sideways, she becomes invisible to the human eye.)

The big twist? Said new recruit, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) was in fact a plant, put inside Division by Nikita to bring it down from the inside. The episode pretended to set Alex up as Nikita's ultimate nemesis. In fact, she played her part in a long con that started in a Detroit pharmacy and landed her inside Division's recruitment center. Here, 'Nikita' visually and thematically wore its influences on its sleeve: Not only did the show delve in its own mythology, but brought in the multi-gendered recruit approach of 'Dollhouse,' the intra-squad combat of 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand,' and the monochromatic wardrobe scheme of 'Battlestar Galactica.' One could easily create a worse pop culture cocktail than that.

It's not entirely clear that Nikita needed a new set of hands within Division, because seemingly everyone with whom she came into contact from the group seemed willing to help her anyway. Both Michael (Shane West) and tech "nerd" Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford) almost instantly vowed to help her subtly sabotage the organization. The two biggest obstacles within the group will be its head, Percy (Xander Berkeley) and its version of Henry Higgins, Amanda (Melinda Clarke). The latter seems to understand Nikita's powers of persuasion when she tells Alex, "Sometimes, vulnerability can be our greatest weapon."

Unfortunately, Nikita's vulnerability might be the show's current weak link. Flashbacks to why she left Division in the first place saddled the character with dialogue that ... well, sounded like the kind of dialogue usually found on lesser CW shows. But since so much of the show deviates from the CW formula in positive ways, it's hard not to hear lines like, "Promise me it's not a dream I'll wake up from tomorrow," without the viewer praying Nikita snapped their own necks rather than here more clichéd lines.

A similar death in Michael's past bonds the two, but rather than leave Division, he stayed within it to mitigate Percy's worst impulses and increasing grabs for power. (Michael's dialogue has the added layer of Velveeta that is his apparent vocal imitation of Christian Bale's Batman.) Across the board, the opening hour worked best when people put emotions to the side and started the grand old tradition of butt kicking.

Amidst all the gunplay, the show's long-term game plan seemed to emerge in the show's final few minutes: Nikita will use her inside information in order to thwart Division's Mission of the Week. If that structure yields some interesting locales and various mission types, then the show will be a diverting departure. With shows like 'Burn Notice' and the impending 'Hawaii 5-0' locked into one particular (albeit pretty) locale, 'Nikita' can scratch a viewer's globetrotting itch. So long as it presses the narrative momentum ahead without too many stultifying looks back at its past, 'Nikita' will provide an engaging, entertaining hour of television featuring a strong, charismatic, and unique female lead. And sometimes, that's more than enough.

Much, much more.

'Nikita' airs Thursdays at 9PM ET on The CW.