The penultimate episode of Nikita, “Bubble,” aired tonight, featuring a heart-wrenching death.
So what happened in Nikita season 4, episode 5 “Bubble”?
A waking dream
Nikita, Michael, Birkhoff, Sonya, and Ryan have all been detained in a neighborhood on a military base. It seems like a dream.
And indeed it is too good to last, as elsewhere Amanda meets with another Group member. Nikita needs to remain the hero who rescued the president, since that’s the only way The Group will be able to continue operating. Amanda in turn wants to program all of the doubles to ensure their loyalty.
Back on the base, Nikita visits Ryan, only to discover he’s still tracking MDK; he thinks Jones was too sloppy and wanted to be found, meaning the various events this season have been according to plan.
Debriefing
In a military debrief, Nikita, Michael, Birkhoff, Sonya, and Ryan tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, starting from the very beginning, about Division, Oversight, The Shop, and so on.
Nikita meets with a senator, Ed Chappell, and they discuss the ramifications of revealing Division’s secrets. Nikita believes that they will cost innocent lives, but Chappell says he needs a face for the story, a hero, and he wants it to be Nikita.
Nikita discusses Chappell’s offer with Michael. She’s thrown by the idea of people knowing who she, the Nikita underneath the spy, is. Michael, in a lovely moment, tells her that all their friends owe her their lives and that telling her story will let the world see her as he does.
After such a beautiful speech, Nikita can only agree — though she also recognizes she has power in the situation, so in return demands pardons and immunity for each member of her team as well as a few special stipulations.
It’s in listing these addendums that Nikita learns Ryan wants to meet with Jones. First warning bell for the audience. She confronts him, but Ryan is determined to get the truth.
The face of the story
Nikita testifies in front of a Congressional committee where she reveals the truth about Division to the entire nation.
Chappell calls Nikita and says he wants to give her a Presidential Medal of Freedom because her approval rating is through the roof. Nikita and Michael finally have an intimate moment and all seems well. (Spoiler alert: It won’t last.)
Meanwhile, Sam and Alex…
As Team Nikita deals debriefs, Alex tracks Sam to Paris, much to her surprise. She ends up coming clean about the fake diamonds, but during the call Sam is jumped by loan sharks. Alex tracks them to a nightclub, and together she and Sam take out all their captors. Alex brings Sam back to the plane.
Nikita calls Alex, telling her it’s safe to come in, so Alex offers to bring Sam back to the States. There’s some friction as Sam says he went to Paris because he was trying to do the right thing for Alex. Alex ends up kissing him and they sleep together.
The sex clearly meant something to Sam, as he wants to figure out what is between them, but Alex says she doesn’t know who Sam is and, in fact, neither does Sam. She tells him to figure that out first.
The price of knowledge
At a CIA black site, Ryan meets with Jones alone. This is the second warning bell as we remember Jones singling Ryan out as the only person who would be able to bring The Group down with his pattern-finding abilities earlier this season.
And, proving his worth, Ryan outlines what the audiences already knows: Jones wanted all the events to happen as they did, as that was Nikita’s price.
Recognizing that Ryan will never stop digging, Jones reveals that there are eight members of The Group — and warning bells sound at deafening levels at this point — just as an operative storms in and injects Ryan with a sedative.
A hero’s death
Ryan wakes up in Amanda’s clutches. She doesn’t plan to kill him, though, as that would raise too many questions; rather, she plans to alter his memories of his meeting with Jones and then release him. But before she does, Amanda tells Ryan she’s taking control of The Group’s 54 doubles.
Ryan, though, showing he’s learned a thing or two hanging out with a bunch of super spies, dislocates his thumb to get free of his restraints. He knocks Amanda out and attempts to escape. There’s a shootout, but Amanda orders her men to keep Ryan alive.
But rather than allow himself to be a pawn in Amanda’s games any longer, Ryan jumps out a two-story window, declaring “No more secrets.” He lands on a car, and there will be no covering this up.
The next morning, Nikita and Michael (whose last name we finally learn: Bishop) share some pillow talk before getting a call about Ryan. Nikita storms into the hospital and finds a barely alive Ryan, who tells Nikita it’s not over. He whispers something and says he’s sorry and wanted to be wrong — then flatlines while we sob along with Nikita.
The next move
Before Nikita is set to accept her Presidential medal, she and Michael tell Senator Chappell that The Group is still operating. Chappell says they can’t go public with the information. Nikita refuses to lie, but Chappell and Michael tell her she has to, so she accepts the medal with a heavy heart.
After the ceremony, Michael informs Birkhoff and Sonya about Ryan while Nikita visits Ryan’s house. She looks at Ryan’s wall of conspiracies and calls Alex. Ryan’s death was a tipping point, but before she goes rogue one last time, Nikita leaves her medal with Ryan’s body.
The episode closes with Sam arriving at the base while Nikita and Alex meet up to take the final fight to The Group and Amanda.
