Have you ever experienced a situation that left you fearful of the chance it may happen again? Welcome to the world of Birkoff, resident computer genius of Section One.
For a moment, put yourself in Birkoff's shoes. You are on a mission. The van that you are stationed in is parked in a dark alley. You are alone. Suddenly, your surveillance system shows an unknown entity approaching the van - fast.
What do you do?
"Noise" is the first episode of "La Femme Nikita" to touch on the personal life of Birkoff, and for any Birkoff fans, this was a dream come true.
The episode opens with the typical season one flair: a mission. Nikita settles into a barstool and contacts Michael through her comm unit, letting him know that their target, Golden, has not shown up yet. A man, who introduces himself as Jay, settles in beside her, leading to perhaps the most amusing conversation in this episode. Just as Jay asks her name, Nikita spots the target, eliciting the humorous response from her as she, alerting the team through her comm unit, says, "Michael," taking Jay aback while at the same time, Michael asks her a question. This scene had me laughing so hard.
The mission is a success and they are able to apprehend the target. With a little help from Madeline's torture twins, the information they need is extracted and used for the following mission.
On that mission though, the unthinkable happens. Birkoff is put in the line of fire, though not by choice. During the mission, a member of the team is taken out and the hostile takes the comm unit and begins to walk toward Birkoff's van. Birkoff becomes worried when he can't hail the operative and contacts Nikita on the "b" channel, a secure second line of communication.
He alerts her to the situation and she walks him through how to use a gun in a matter of moments. Birkoff still has no clue what he is doing and panics. This is one of the best scenes in this episode. You can really feel Birkoff's fear as he crouches behind his seat in the van while the hostile uses a gun to blast his way inside. He fires a round of bullets into the van. Without any more hesitation, Birkoff jumps up and empties the clip into the hostile, killing him. Nikita, rushing to the van to check on Birkoff, alerts Michael and the rest of the team about the breach.
Back in Section Birkoff, obviously on edge, attempts to calm his nerves. This scene offers up a new realization about him: He has never killed anyone before, and had lied to Nikita about what got him into Section, saying he killed his sister. Although he tries to avoid any confrontation with a concerned Nikita, she knows that he's scared and a little shaken up.
When Nikita hears that a new mission is under way and Birkoff is running comm from the van, she goes to Madeline's office and questions her about Birkoff's background. Madeline believes that there really is no reason to keep Birkoff inside Section, and while Nikita disagrees, she leaves to prep for the mission.
This mission offers up one of the most heart pounding scenes in the history of "La Femme Nikita."
The team has left Birkoff alone in the van, from where he is to monitor them, making sure that they remain centered in the allotted parameter. Outside, he hears a noise. Again you can almost feel Birkoff's fear, your heart beats almost as hard and fast as his. The noises become louder. Birkoff asks if the team is still together, he checks surveillance, and seeing nothing, he takes a few deep breaths and attempts to focus on the mission once again. But it is virtually impossible. He becomes jumpy - the noises seem to come from all directions, and grabs the gun, but he is too distressed. He runs from the van without even thinking of the consequences. He ducks behind some trees and looks up, only to find a racoon on the top of the van. The sounds of explosions echo in the distance as Birkoff realizes the results of his actions. The team he arrived with has been exposed.
Upon returning to Section, Nikita is immediately interrogated by Madeline and Operations. She finds out that they are holding Birkoff in abeyance, one step away from cancellation.
With the help of Simon, another Comm operative, Operations now puts together a follow-up mission. Michael is to lead a team of operatives to where the Slime of the Week, Kavali, has been spotted.
Meanwhile, Nikita is again questioning Madeline about Birkoff. She learns that he lives inside Section and goes to see him. This turns into the most powerful scene of the whole episode. Birkoff finally voices his fears; he never thought that he'd be in the line of fire or have guns aimed at him. It has left him unsettled, fearing death. Nikita leaps onto the bed and straddles him, aiming her gun at his forehead. Only when she pulls the trigger, the empty clip is revealed.
Birkoff quickly slides off the bed and scrambles away from her, breaking down in tears, crying out, saying that he's scared. Nikita walks over to him and crouches beside him, delivering one of the most powerful lines ever said on the show.
"Scared? Birkoff, you've got it backwards. Death's easy. You don't have to do anything. It's life you have to face."
She helps Birkoff up off the floor and decides to take him out for a little fun. On the way out of Section, they encounter the departing team. Simon is giving orders to a few operatives and Birkoff questions him about the use of a KL transform to perform a location sim. Birkoff knows that something is not right, but he can't put his finger on it. The team departs.
Nikita takes Birkoff to the bar where they picked up Golden during the first mission and tries to get him to talk to people, but he doesn't seem to want to talk to anyone but her. Birkoff's secret crush on Nikita is revealed here. Nikita then wanders over to a girl named Ginger, who she thinks Birkoff might find interesting.
With the help of Ginger, who Nikita lied to, telling her that Birkoff is in a band, a tentative conversation begins. Birkoff plays along, not really knowing what to say, and tells her that he is a drummer. Ginger reveals that her brother used to be a drummer, but that he made too much noise. At that, Birkoff leaps out of the chair and rushes past Ginger. He alerts Nikita of what he just remembered - with the kind of electronics that Kavali has, a KL transform would be too loud and the team would be detected, putting the operatives in danger of being taken out.
Birkoff's intuitions are correct. Michael's team is at the crash site, disengaging from their parachutes. They have been exposed and are now rushing to get in the clear, with gunfire still audible in the background. Simon is injured with two broken legs and Michael picks him up and helps clear him out of the area and into someplace safe.
Back at Section, after a little consulting between Operations and Madeline, Nikita is chosen to lead a rescue team. They locate Michael and his team, but while bringing them in, Birkoff's surveillance locates movement next to Nikita. She holds her position until she hears the transport nearing her and ducks behind some rocks as a group of men climb out.
They open fire on her and Nikita fights back. Not wanting to leave her out there with no backup, Birkoff grabs a gun from the van and rushes to her aid. Together, they fend off the men, aided by Michael, who uses his weapon to blow a hole in the transport's fuel tank. Massive explosions go off and Nikita and Birkoff rush back to the van. Michael gives the order and they head back to Section.
Later in Comm, Nikita walks up toward Birkoff and compliments him on how well he's doing. Gail, an operative in Comm walks up and hands him a disk. Birkoff asks if they are still on for that evening and Gail smiles as she walks away, "See you tonight, Seymour." A vital scene for any Birkoff fan, because his first name has finally been revealed.
Birkoff thanks Nikita for all her help and as she walks away, he settles into his chair in Comm, working confidently once again.
"Noise" is by far my favorite major Birkoff episode. It's very rare that a show with such a large ensemble cast touches on the life of one of the supporting characters. This episode is about overcoming fear and showing your true potential. I highly recommend it.
