USA Network Synopsis
Operations is stunned when Birkoff claims to have discovered the location of the
"Cardinal," the Red Cell leader who Section One has been pursuing for 20 years.
However, Hillinger -- Birkoff's nemesis who is now working at Oversight -- believes
Birkoff's intel is faulty, and he convinces George to stop Operations from proceeding.
Suspecting that George wants to take credit for the greatest anti-terrorist strike
in history, Operations defies George's orders and pours all of Section's resources
into the mission. Incensed, George declares war on Section One. Now it's up to
Operations and a few key operatives, including Michael and Nikita, to find the
Cardinal before all of them face certain cancellation.
My Synopsis
"Operations begs his beloved Madeline to stay in Section instead of coming with him
to find the Cardinal. She, of course, refuses."
This episode is indescribably cool. Birkoff gets to kick some butt in this episode,
despite the fact that he almost bit the big one in the beginning. Matthew's acting
was great. I've decided that USA's synopses suck (I should've figured that out
from the beginning) because who cares about Michael and Nikita?!? They were hardly
in it, and when they were, they were snarking at Madeline (rather, Nikita was;
Michael doesn't snark), and that is completely unacceptable. Soooo glad that
Hillinger finally got cancelled for real, although he provided great comic relief.
And of course, the TR moments were entirely noteworthy: "You've been by my side
for the last seventeen years." *dreamy sigh* The Cardinal was somewhat disappointing;
I pictured a Leon-like mastermind, and instead we got an idiot savant.
Other Intel
*In the original script, you were supposed to see and not hear the woman in the
Tower because you were supposed to think it was Madeline. Instead, production
ignored the script and hired some woman who spoke Hungarian.
*Hungarian translation...the woman says "Come back to bed" and Operations says
"In a minute." Something to that effect anyway :) (He didn't sound too happy to
be coming back to bed, did he? He must've been mad at the production guy, too!)
*This episode, I believe, is the first time we hear the name of one of the Torture
Twins. When Operations changes his mind about killing Birkoff, he rushes into
the White Room and shouts "Elizabeth!" FYI, the male Twin is named Henry.
*Operations and Madeline have known each other for 17 years; ironically,
and I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, that's the same amount
of time that Gene and Alberta have known each other.
Favorite Operations Quote
"You've been by my side for the last seventeen years."