Operations’ ambivalence towards Michael continued, so he could be indispensable one episode and cannon-fodder the next. On the positive side the maths was improving – Michael’s length of service in Four Light Years Farther (10 years) is consistent with the reference in I Remember Paris a year previously - so at least Michael Loceff had learned something from the fans! What he failed to learn, however, was that the ‘shock revelation’ that Nikita had been a Centre mole for Mr Jones for three entire seasons was not something that would impress a discerning audience. To even attempt to identify the anomalies that this throws up, the dozens of earlier scenes that patently don’t support it, would be to dignify it with a merit it doesn’t deserve. It really was time to call it a day.

Having got Nikita de-Gelmanised and Section management to come to terms with them as an item, Michael did, as feared, slither helplessly into the Moonlighting trap. Delicious as it might be to watch a Roy Dupuis love scene of any description, it was Michael’s remoteness that made him really special. Roy has a way of making you love his characters for their flaws, not in spite of them – Ovila’s weakness, Yves’ vulnerability, Pierre-Paul’s naivety, Michael’s inability to get close to someone. Michael in a contented relationship is nice (many people particularly appreciated the chemistry with Nikita), but not nearly so dramatic as the desolate character of the first two seasons. At the close of the show Roy said that his character Michael didn’t change, so, assuming he knows best, how can we account for the very different individual we were now seeing? Suddenly strip away all the protective layers that Michael has built around himself, and you get Not Was Mikey, the underlying personality, albeit scared and confused. Season 3 and 4 Michael shed those defensive layers consciously and gradually, getting back to the basic warm personality in easy stages. A pretty complex and studied implementation of ‘no change’!

In a technical crew with an otherwise amazingly low turnover, the hairstylist changed every season. Mullet wrangler for Season 4 was Reg Quindinho, who inherited the nightmare that was Roy’s hair. With the top too short to keep the lower layers weighted down, they would fan out even if he just walked down the corridor. Reg applied ‘product’, which often reflected the light off Roy’s temples, giving the impression that he was going grey. He started off the series with long hair, cut it short, and by the time it was long again he had grown perceptibly older, with a little more flesh and a lot more stubble round the jawline. Gaultier was offering only baggy trousers this season, so Laurie Drew switched him to Versace for office wear. As usual he had departures from basic black on odd occasions ( Man in the Middle, as Freddie, being the most spectacular), then in the closing arc, after he defects from Section, he became a positive rainbow of …. well, greys and whites.

In contrast to the previous season, Season 4 opened with the air of a death sentence hanging over it. No automatic green light this time, and as early as the first week of shooting (October 1999) Peta told Roy Dupuis Online that they were going for this one as though it would be the last. And so indeed it appeared to be, as time progressed and cancellation orders were issued, to the stunned dismay of fans throughout the world. However, that there was a great deal of discontent amongst the cast regarding the quality of the material is beyond question, and despite mixed feelings arising from the many positive aspects of the show (and of course the need to be diplomatic in public), many of the cast openly welcomed the opportunity to move on. During the filming of Up The Rabbit Hole, Roy made an unprecedented appearance at Close Quarters Standby 3 as a final and moving tribute to the fans, still under the impression that the show was under the axe. But in a plot twist worthy of Michael Loceff himself, all was not what it seemed to be.