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| 507 - Let No Man Put Asunder |
| Writer/Director |
Lawrence Hertzog / René Bonniere |
| Michael's POV Onscreen:
24 minutes |
Section is now at full stretch
– the Collective are active and other groups are surfacing. Nikita is about to catch
some well earned rest when she receives a request from Michael to bring him back into
Section. They meet in a church and, in a bizarre
parody of a wedding ceremony, Michael says "I do" at the altar steps, then off
they go to visit the in-laws. Operations is in a big sulk, but Mr Jones immediately gets
down to business with his new ‘son-in-law’. Michael knows of an impending
Collective attack on a top-secret conference, so when he and Nikita single-handedly foil
it, this signals to the Collective that Michael has turned. Negotiating for his son’s
whereabouts with Mr Jones, Michael learns that his wife Elena has been killed in an
accident and Adam is now in a foster home. He refuses to do a deal with Jones that he will
guarantee that Nikita remains in Section after he has Adam.
At long last he and Nikita
get together, resolving the burning Season 4 finale issue (Four Light Years Farther) with an economical
"I lied", long pause, "I know". Later, back at
their favourite restaurant (upstairs this time), Michael tries to persuade Nikita to join
him in suburban family life. During this amorous interlude, however, the Collective have
kidnapped Adam, and Operations has been killed trying to prevent it. Discovering this
tragedy on his return to Section, Michael hastily re-establishes his priorities, bids
Nikita farewell, and returns to the Collective. This time it’s a deal he can’t
refuse – Adam for Mr Jones. |
| Michael Moments |
Skipping lightly over the dead
bodies in the corridor during the mission
Calmly shooting two late arrivals while simultaneously defusing the bomb
The look he gives Nikita before they make love
Leaving Nikita to go to Adam |
| Words of Wisdom |
"Bring me back."
"First I succeed, then
we negotiate."
"No. That’s Nikita’s
choice." |
Performance Rating
 |
We may assume that Michael would
have come back to Section only as a last resort. Not only does he risk exposing
Nikita’s part in his escape, but if he had planned to find Adam he would have
expected to have been reunited with Elena, meaning he would have had to steer well clear
of Nikita. During the time he was out, he must therefore have exhausted every other avenue
and failed. Roy appears to represent the returning Michael, accurately, as rather weary
and deflated; not any the less competent, but looking all the while as though he wished it
were all over. Art imitating life perhaps? The initial contact between Michael and Nikita
should have been electric, but the set-up was too contrived to succeed. This mock
‘wedding’ scene, which gives the episode its title (ref. Book of Common Prayer,
Solemnization of Matrimony), wasn’t in the shooting script, but the original version
had even less potential. The post-coital tête-à-tête in the restaurant could have been
poignant, but for the banal dialogue – this time Lawrence Hertzog can take the blame.
Three instances of the old Roy magic struggle through – the tension while dressing
for the mission, stalking the bomb teams during the mission (the gymnastic grace is still
there), and the interlude in Nikita’s room. First ‘that’ look, sadness and
desire in equal measure, then the interminable pause before he says "I know" in
response to her "I lied". Courageous timing, expertly judged. For the most part,
though, Roy underplays this episode a little too much. With less action and more emphasis
on emotional bombshells in the storyline, his sometimes sing-song delivery and lack of
visible reactions often look more like indifference than craft. The proposition that
Roy’s heart is not entirely in his performance is pretty persuasive. |
| Note: In the
interests of prurience, here’s how Lawrence describes the love scene in the shooting
script: "There follows the longest, most pulse-pounding heart-stopping slo-mo dreamy
music-drenched love sequence we’ve ever had … perhaps they undress each other,
article by article… whatever, it’s hot and passionate, then we CUT TO
BLACK". I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s what we got or not. |
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