Of the thousands of TV shows I have watched in my life; of the hundreds I have enjoyed and sought out again; of the many I have stuck with to the (often bitter) end; and of the few to which I have truly given my heart, none has ever been as exciting, frustrating, maddening and simply goddamn hot as late-90’s high-tech spy caper La Femme Nikita.

Born out of Luc Besson’s 1990 French film and starring Australian Peta Wilson, French-Canadian Roy Dupuis and sexual tension so potent as to be a living, breathing character in its own right, the combination of all three proved so intoxicating that what should have been a short-lived, movie-based TV show -- a Robocop: The Series or a Beyond Westworld -- became a cult hit for then-fledgling network, USA, running to five seasons. Most of the credit for this has to go to Dupuis, whose incredible stillness, coupled with his speaking, soulful eyes, conveyed much with little-to-no actual facial expression, and who was even able to overcome such adversity as that provided by an actual mullet to become one of TV’s most attractive, simultaneously charismatic and enigmatic characters.

Dupuis’ Michael was not the only one to master the blank face, however. The rest of the LFN cast had a way with expressionlessness almost to a one; Alberta Watson’s chillingly composed turn as charming-but-deadly spy agency heavy Madeline remains one of the most sympathetic villains I have ever encountered in any form of fiction, and the monotone of Matthew Ferguson’s earnest, Stockholm Syndromed wunderkind Birkoff was a study in complex contrasts who was always worth listening to. (When they foolishly killed him off and replaced him with his identical Texan twin… yeah, that was the death of the show right there.)

So, our story: street kid Nikita is sent to prison for a brutal crime she’s convinced she didn’t commit, and is forcibly recruited by shadowy covert agency, Section One. Headed by the ruthless Operations (Eugene Robert Glazer), Section carries out all manner of heists, deceptions and assassinations in a bid to shape the world order to the specifications of an even shadowier cabal known as Oversight.

Proving a capable operative, especially when called upon to seduce or manipulate for the supposed greater good (did I mention Peta Wilson is blindingly, almost unbearably beautiful?), Nikita nevertheless despises her life of servitude to Section and longs for freedom while also being determined to discover exactly what led to her “recruitment” by Section in the first place. Added into this heady mix of action, adventure, mystery, and drama is her complicated relationship with mentor and top op Michael -- indeed, it is probably the latter that made La Femme Nikita all kinds of addictive for me, and I am assuredly not alone.

I don’t want to keep harping on about Roy Dupuis, but man he could rock a black special ops outfit. With gun in hand, he is economical of movement and electrifying to watch; when commanding a mission or trysting with Nikita, his French accent is a delicious whisper of few words conveying many levels of meaning. Wilson and Dupuis share a remarkable chemistry (it’s Crichton and Aeryn, Jack and Sam and Mulder and Scully all rolled into one), and in between the danger and the lies and the constantly thwarted romance, there is a very real, very tender love story that gets you in right in the gut.

In the end, after a fifth season brought about after a vociferous fan campaign, La Femme Nikita came to a conclusion that was not entirely cheery and hopeful (that would have been foolish to expect, from such a dark and often nihilistic series), but was nevertheless quite fitting. This show is one of perhaps ten I will watch and watch again, from beginning to end, and of which I will never grow tired; and every time I rewatch it I am reminded of why I once said that Executive Producer Joel Surnow is second only to Joss Whedon in his ability to make me love and yet hate him at the same time.

   -- Rachel Hyland