Season Three

Season Three
Premiere Episode Finale Episode Looking for Michael On Borrowed Time
Total Episodes	22
Aired	January 4, 1999 - August 29, 1999
Season Guide
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

Season Three of La Femme Nikita aired from January 4, 1999 to August 29, 1999 on the USA Network. It consisted of twenty-two episodes.

Summary

The impact of Nikita siding with Section One's founder Adrian still lingers and her missions are becoming increasingly dangerous. Michael is mysteriously taken out of play and a desperate Nikita seeks him out for help, stumbling upon a long kept secret. Michael's dedication to Section One takes on a new meaning, but it's not without lingering effects on its top operative. Two steps forward and one step back, Nikita and Michael's personal relationship reaches a new pinnacle, but not without extra scrutiny from Operations and Madeline. The lengths they are willing to go to and maintain the status quo will severely test Nikita's mental state and Michael's resolve.

Cast

Main

• Peta Wilson as Nikita
• Roy Dupuis as Michael
• Eugene Robert Glazer as Operations
• Alberta Watson as Madeline
• Matthew Ferguson as Seymour Birkoff
• Don Francks as Walter

Crew

Writers Michael Loceff (5 episodes) Peter M. Lenkov (5 episodes) Lawrence Hertzog (3 episodes) Ed Horowitz (3 episode) Robert Cochran (1 episodes) Maurice Hurley (1 episode) Cyrus Nowrasteh (1 episode) Jim Korris (1 episode) David J. Burke (1 episode) Michael Sloan (1 episode)

Directors René Bonnière (4 episodes) Terry Ingram (4 episode) Jon Cassar (3 episodes) T.J. Scott (2 episodes) Ted Hanlan (2 episodes) Rick Jacobson (2 episodes) Joseph L. Scanlan (1 episode) Gordon Langevin (1 episode) Brad Turner (1 episode) Joel Surnow (1 episode) David Straiton (1 episode)

Episodes

Season	Series	Image	Title	Writer	Director	Original Airdate
3.01	45		"Looking for Michael"	Michael Loceff	Jon Cassar	January 4, 1999
Operations and Madeline plot to kill Nikita. Nikita locates the elusive Michael and experiences an emotional jolt when she meets his wife and son.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.02	46		"Someone Else's Shadow"	Michael Loceff	René Bonnière	January 10, 1999
Nikita moves in with Michael and his family in order to help Section One locate and kill Elena's father--Salla Vacek. Section One captures and tortures one of Vacek's Cambridge classmates to elicit information about the terrorist's activities.
U.S. viewers (millions): Not Available / Rating/Share: N/A
3.03	47		"Opening Night Jitters"	David J. Burke	Jon Cassar	January 17, 1999
Section One orders Michael to poison Elena in order to trap her father, international terrorist Salla Vacek. From her hospital bed, Elena witnesses the actual death of her father and the staged death of her husband, Michael.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.04	48		"Gates of Hell"	Robert Cochran	René Bonnière	January 24, 1999
Unable to see his son ever again, Michael contemplates suicide. On a mission with Michael, Nikita is kidnapped. With total disregard for his personal safety, Michael kills many enemy agents and successfully rescues Nikita.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.05	49		"Imitation of Death"	Cyrus Nowrasteh	Brad Turner	March 7, 1999
Section One destroys a genetics laboratory designed to create perfect little terrorists. Nikita suspects that Section One has a similar laboratory of its own, but she fails to prove so to Michael.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.06	50		"Love and Country"	Lawrence Hertzog	Ted Hanlan	March 21, 1999
Madeline poses as a psychotherapist to convince a South American political candidate's devoted wife--who was once married to Operations--to kill the politico.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.07	51		"Cat and Mouse"	Ed Horowitz	Terry Ingram	March 28, 1999
Without Section One's knowledge, Nikita is ambushed during a mission and replaced by a Red Cell look-alike. Nikita is forced to assist her double in order to protect Michael. Series star PETA WILSON plays a dual role.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.08	52		"Outside the Box"	Jim Korris	Gordon Langevin	April 4, 1999
Section One kidnaps Benjamin Kruger, a man with a photographic memory, to help on a mission. To force Kruger to cooperate, Madeline shows him a manufactured videotape of him killing a man.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
2.09	53		"Slipping Into Darkness"	Peter M. Lenkov	Rick Jacobson	April 11, 1999
Michael empties a vial containing a psychotropic agent into Operations' coffee mug. As his judgement disintegrates and paranoid delusions increase, Operations sends operatives on a mission to capture a man who's been dead for four years.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.10	54		"Under the Influence"	Peter M. Lenkov	Rick Jacobson	April 25, 1999
Nikita pretends to be married to a vile, sadistic terrorist as Section One endeavors to locate anthrax rockets that her "husband" and his brother stole.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.11	55		"Walk On By"	Michael Loceff	René Bonnière	April 25, 1999
A new recruit--someone from Nikita's past--knows where Nikita can find her mother. Nikita enlists Michael's aid when she realizes that her mother has hired a private investigator because she doesn't believe Nikita is dead.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.12	56		"Threshold of Pain"	Michael Sloan	Terry Ingram	June 6, 1999
On a mission to terminate a terrorist organization called Black March, Nikita and two fellow operatives, are captured. Mark reveals the location of a Section substation to save Angela, his lover, from torture, but later blames Nikita for the disclosure.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.13	57		"Beyond the Pale"	Lawrence Hertzog	René Bonnière	June 13, 1999
When another operative, Zalman, gets promoted to head strategist instead of Michael, Michael and Nikita flee Section One. Section operatives capture Michael, who refuses to reveal Nikita's location until Zalman shows him a videotape of his son, Adam.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.14	58		"Hand to Hand"	Ed Horowitz	T.J. Scott	June 20, 1999
To capture an industrialist who finances terrorist bombings around the world, Nikita thinks that she is infiltrating a white slavery ring, but she finds her mission at an adult entertainment complex far more deadly.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.15	59		"Before I Sleep"	Peter M. Lenkov	Joel Surnow	June 27, 1999
When a captured terrorist kills herself, Section One recruits Sarah Gerard, an innocent look-alike with a terminal disease, to learn the location of a terrorist group's headquarters. Madeline lies about having an antidote to Sarah's illness.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.16	60		"I Remember Paris"	Michael Loceff	Terry Ingram	July 18, 1999
When the terrorist group Glass Curtain discovers Section One's location, Operations evacuates everyone and incinerates the underground facility. Section One operatives kill everyone at Glass Curtain headquarters.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.17	61		"All Good Things"	Ed Horowitz	Terry Ingram	July 25, 1999
When Operations temporarily leaves Section One, Michael assumes full command. But will Michael's newfound power forever change Nikita's feelings towards him?
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.18	62		"Third Party Ripoff"	Michael Loceff	T.J. Scott	August 1, 1999
Believing that Michael and Nikita's relationship compromises Michael's decision-making ability and jeopardizes Section One's missions, Operations and Madeline set in motion another plan to separate the two operatives. A rift develops between Walter and Birkoff when they date the same woman, a beautiful mission profiler.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.19	63		"Any Means Necessary"	Lawrence Hertzog	David Straiton	August 8, 1999
Greg Hillinger, a subordinate, sabotages Birkoff's computer terminal to make Birkoff appear incompetent to Operations.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.20	64		"Three-Eyed Turtle"	Maurice Hurley	Jon Cassar	August 14, 1999
When a mission fails, Hillinger conceals his negligence. Birkoff does not reveal to Madeline that Hillinger is responsible for the mission's failure, but later he confesses the truth to Operations.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.21	65		"Playing With Fire"	Peter M. Lenkov	Joseph L. Scanlan	August 22, 1999
Operations sends Michael's team to steal detonation chips from the base camp of the kamikaze terrorist group Crimson Storm. After the successful mission, Michael and Nikita steal away for a romantic interlude, but Birkoff feels obligated to report them to Madeline and Operations.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A
3.22	66		"On Borrowed Time"	Peter M. Lenkov	Ted Hanlan	August 29, 1999
Nikita and Michael infiltrate Genefex, a pharmaceutical lab making biological weapons for Red Cell. At Genefex, Nikita unexpectedly encounters Madeline, who uses a combination of chemical and electronic means to neutralize Nikita's feelings for Michael, leaving her severely altered.
U.S. viewers (millions): N/A / Rating/Share: N/A

Publicity

Lead actors Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis made a joint appearance on The Dini Petty Show, a popular Canadian daytime television talk show that mixed lifestyle features and interviews with celebrity guests. The January 1999 appearance was shot during the filming of Love and Country as southeastern Canada recovered from the Blizzard of 1999.

Ratings

In its third season, the series tied with USA's Pacific Blue as the highest-rated drama on basic cable, averaging 1.6 million viewers.

Gallery

Promotional Images

Home Video

La Femme Nikita: The Complete Third Season is a DVD collection of the third season of La Femme Nikita. It was originally released on June 28, 2005. The set was rereleased in 2010 with slimmer packaging.

Trivia

• All season three episodes contain three words.
• Roy Dupuis, Alberta Watson, and Eugene Robert Glazer all had dramatic hairstyle changes for this season that new footage was used for the opening title sequence.
• Season three was a transitional season as previous writers reduced their workload or moved on to other shows. New writers were also brought into the show.