The Michael Files - 201 Hard Landing

201 - Hard Landing
Writer/Director	Michael Loceff / Jon Cassar
Michael's POV Onscreen: 31 minutes	Following Nikita’s disappearance/death, we see a distracted Michael, not the reliable operative he once was, and no longer team leader. He continually tries to contact Nikita, but gets no response. During an ambush his life is saved by two gunshots from behind. He turns to see ...... Nikita. On his next attempted contact, she replies and they arrange to meet. Fearful for her life, Nikita pulls a gun on him, but he disarms her and they finally make love with passion. Next morning he confesses that he needs her, and comes up with a plan to bring her back into his world. He is forced to beat Nikita to give her the necessary injuries for Section to believe her cover story. Back at Section, he tells her she’ll now be assigned to another trainer, but despite Nikita’s urging he refuses to continue their intimacy, telling her to be patient.
Michael Moments	Backhanding Sherrin’s man across the throat whilst at the same time fondling one of the Thai girls The head-to-head with Ackerman Sliding across the warehouse floor on an office chair while firing both machine guns (and hitting everything he aims at) The aggressive love scene, and the tender beating scene
Words of Wisdom	"I’m not leading the teams?" "I thought I’d lost you." "Thought we were goin’ out" "Reprogramming. You’ve been out for a long time. We need to be sure you <breathe> can still meet Section standards." "Sometimes all we have is our dreams." "Be patient."
Performance Rating	A superb showcase for Roy, entirely living up to the expectations of the show’s return. Within Michael’s allegedly limited personality range, we are treated to an array of solidly believable characterisations : bereaved to the point of distraction, openly confessing his desires, chillingly determined to out-manoeuvre Ackerman. We get smooth moves on the Thai girl, impassioned moves on Nikita, killer moves on the office chair. And to top it all, we end up with the final retreat into the more familiar guarded, enigmatic (and utterly frustrating!) Michael. With such excellent material, not to mention a solid 31 minutes screen time, how could he fail?