Nikita's emotionally complicated second season continued in fine style with "Partners", a well-crafted episode about shifting relationships and unexpected consequences that gave fans a much needed thaw in Nikita and Alex's cold war.

The title "Partners" was deceptively generic after "Falling Ash" and "Knightfall," but its meaning kept morphing throughout the hour. At first it obviously referred to Nikita's quest to make things right with her former Division partner, Kelly (Bones' Katheryn Winnick). But this proved impossible as Kelly was bitter as hell and working for Gogol. When she became a threat to Alex, Nikita killed her without hesitation. Her intended mission was a failure, yet she was able to heal some of her past with Alex. "Partners" also encompossed tea-partiers Percy and Amanda, and Nikita and her boy-toy Michael, to name a couple more.

Of course, the first season of Nikita was all about Nikita's mentoring of Alex, and though it was enjoyable to see Alex using Nikita's own methods to track her down, it was even better to see them come to some kind of peace with one another. Alex was delightfully glib when she refused to run off with Michael and Nikita ("If I say no, are you going to shoot me again?") but her sadness as she watched them leave and the smile on her face as she lied to Division about seeing Nikita were both equally moving.

I love this show's attention to detail and its general lack of loose ends. Last week, Alex charmed her way past a low-level Zetrov staffer in order to get into position to kill Kochenko. This week, we see that man being interviewed by Gogol's Ari and it's clear from his demeanor that being sent to Siberia is probably the best possible outcome for this poor guy, who might very well have gotten his neck snapped after he was done working with the skecth artist. It was a great way to illustrate that Alex's actions have consequences beyond that which she intended.

It was good to see creepy Roan again. I loved how matter-of-fact he was to Alex about how she was supposed to kill Nikita and he'd clean up the mess. I mean, we're talking about the woman who melted his face with acid and for Roan, meh, just another day at the office. He's the anti-Alex.

Amanda intrigues me more and more each week. During her tea party with Percy she made it clear that she wants to help Alex reclaim her place in the Zetrov business empire and then reap the benefits of that relationship. When he offers to let her know the names of those at Zetrov who would be sympathetic to Alex, it's so brilliant because you know they both think they have the upper hand and only time will tell who's getting the better of the other.

While it's possible she's Percy 2.0 and hoping to play puppetmaster to Alex (her "We'll keep you safe" certainly sounded more like a threat than a welcome), I still think she might be pulling a Snape. Is it possible that Amanda's real CIA, aiming to take down Division, Oversight and Gogol all at once, or am I giving her too much credit?

I was a little disappointed when Alex didn't suffer the wrath of Oversight, or at least Amanda, for disobeying orders and taking out Kochenko, but of course, the consequences of her actions turned out to be so much better, as Alex's rash behavior ended up exposing herself as the very-much-alive heir to the Udinov fortune. This in turn led to the neatest twist of the night, when Ari informed Semak of this startling revelation. As Semak insisted it be kept quiet and ordered Ari to kill her, Ari nodded his assent, but his face said something different. It said that Alex may in fact have an unexpected partner in her quest to take back Zetrov--Gogol.

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