['Nikita' – 'Alexandra']

Over the course of the few episode that have aired since Alex left the confines of Division, I've been waiting patiently, and then anxiously, for 'Nikita' as a show to grow up. It's teased out elements from other shows on The CW, elements that might be fine for 'Hellcats' or 'One Tree Hill,' but feel out of place here. Luckily, 'Alexandra' righted that ship with one of its most adult, least 'tweeny episodes to date. Its mythology is convoluted to the point of pure opaqueness, but has its heart in the right place. And that heart is broken, bruised and brutal.

'Nikita' works best when it realizes that its core set of characters -- Nikita, Alex, and Michael -- are horribly wounded people. They are not beyond the point of redemption, but they are not people who trust easily, love easily, or get to enjoy more than a fleeting moment of happiness at any moment. Each carries with them the weight not only of what has happened to them, but the weight of what they still have to do. And after tonight's episode, it's clear that none of them have a clear sense of what that truly is anymore.



Oh, sure, they have their nominal goals: Nikita and Alex are working to take out Division, while Michael aims to keep his former agent from succeeding. But Michael's desire to do so has always been slightly compromised: Not only does he have a complicated past with Nikita, but also an increasing disillusion with the work of Division itself. That Percy's mission for Alex is to retrieve what seems to be an iPhone-killer in order to line Division's pockets only fuels Michael's uncertainty about his place within the organization. So it makes sense that even though he's been cold on Nikita since the incident with Kasim, his initial desire for her head has cooled with prolonged exposure inside Division's nearly impenetrable walls, and allows him to work with her to rescue Alex.

The Nikita/Alex stuff is where the heart of the episode lay, however, and featured an enormous download of show mythology to help explain not only Alex's past, but Nikita's incredibly long involvement in it. I can't tell if the show's being purposefully unclear or simply didn't do a good job explaining things, but here's what I got out of tonight's episode: Nikita herself was ordered by Division to kill Alex's family, including a billionaire father that controlled a variety of natural resources and at least part of the Russian mob. The Nickolai in this hour didn't really appear to resemble the one from 'Free,' less of a man teaching his daughter how to survive in a cruel world and more a man teaching her how to unleash the evil contained in her DNA. In any case, the footsteps that Alex saw under her bed apparently belonged to Nikita, who saved her (unbeknown to Percy), only to have her contact in Russian sell her into sex slavery. Aaaaand breathe.

Well, flash forward to today, when an unfortunate reconnection with Vlad sent Alex into a spiral of shame, drug addiction and the type of primal need for survival that brought out the worst qualities in Daddy Dearest and potentially represent Nikita's worst nightmare. After all, you just KNOW that the show will alert Alex to Nikita's involvement in her father's death before season's end. I had previously theorized that these two would show down mano a mano before the end of the year, but this decision gives the showdown much-needed personal stakes. Given Lyndsy Fonseca's fantastic job tonight, I'm looking forward to seeing her play the same arc as the prequel iteration of Anakin Skywalker. You know, without all the lamenting about sand getting everywhere.

'Nikita' isn't exactly on the level of gravitas as say, 'Mad Men.' Nor should it be: That Michael isn't Don Draper isn't a flaw of the show. But that it showed this much darkness and grit (Alex's withdrawal sweat was fairly gruesome) ironically allowed the show to shine. A 'Nikita' in which dangerous missions are interlaced with meet-cutes with the guy across the hall doesn't serve either the audience looking for a kick-butt action series nor people looking for soapy CW escapism. But trying to have both, the show actually achieves neither. So kudos for the show in playing to its strengths tonight and producing an episode that gives me hope for the episodes yet to come.

What did you think of tonight's episode? Did the grittiness work for you, or turn you off? Are you happy about the direction they are taking with Alex? How long until Amanda figures out the truth? Leave your thoughts below!

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