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I have just re-watched the episode, and will make my this week's report short and sweet.

I liked the episode. It showed that sometimes lack of patience, like on the part of Operations at the beginning of the episode, can endanger the whole Section and turn it inside out.

Madeline was correct to assume that the intel on Glasgow was incomplete, when she protested Operations' actions in killing the prisoner she was interrogating.

Michael was so "appropriate" with Nikita when she suggested that a relationship in Section was possible. He was practically denying his feelings about her.

And poor Birkoff was really sad when Gail announced that it was over between them. Of course, he was also very innocent and refused to believe that she had left him for another guy.

The scene in the abandoned "house"/terrorist lab was very spooky - one might have expected something like what happened to actually happen. Thank Goodness that Michael and Nikita did not follow Mowen inside.

Upon the team's return Mowen proceeds to Munitions, where he infects Walter with the anthrax he picked up while in Glasgow, and then proceeds to talk to Gail in Comm where he infects God knows how many others before anyone even realises it.

Birkoff immediately thinks Mowen is Gail's new boyfriend, but soon realises that Gail's new man is Janklow from Biotech. He is very disappointed in her, but does his best not to show it. He then notices that Mowen is still in Comm and tells him to go. Mowen is on his way out, but suddenly collapses in a violent fit and all H*ll breaks loose.

In the meantime, Michael and Nikita find a dead hostile in the grass, but naturally Operations orders them to process the body on site.

At the same time Janklow comes running into Comm and tells Birkoff that Mowen was infected with a variant of anthrax, and that they need to initiate segmentation because they have been infected.

I must note here that it is really cool how Section can run blood tests via the electronic and communications means. They can test Michael and Nikita without them having to get back to Section.

In Medlab poor Mowen dies a very horrible death, and Section gives him nothing for the pain so as "not to skew the data".

Luckily, Michael and Nikita match the dead terrorists's fingerprint and send it over to Birkoff, who finds a connection to Anatole Bisseroff - a Red Cell associate with a background in bio-weapons. It becomes clear that Section has been set up.

As Michael and Nikita proceed to find Bisseroff, and Birkoff is still communicating with Madeline, she starts to exhibit symptoms of the contagion herself, and switched off her video to conceal that fact.

Naturally, the anthrax is spreading through the Section as wildfire. Operatives start dying in plain sight.

When Madeline "fails to fix" her video, Operations asks Birkoff to patch him in. apparently she has more than one camera installed in her office. It is then that he realises that Madeline is sick. Strangely, he seems to be more worried about that than she is. We can really see here that he has feelings for her.

Michael and Nikita get Bisseroff, but he is afraid for his wife and children who are hostages of the Red Cell and will be killed if he talks. Michael "promises" to get Bisseroff's family back, but of course, has Birkoff to produce 2D Harley transform that makes it appear Section have Bisseroff's family when they in fact do not.

At that moment in Comm, one of the operatives, Andy, collapses, and Janklow really freaks out and tries to break out of the containment barrier. It takes Birkoff to talk some sense into Janklow. (One can only imagine that this guy is headed straight for abeyance! )

Operations contacts Madeline, but she sounds very weak. It is then that Operations orders Birkoff to open his cell. He yells at Birkoff and even threatens him, but, to the guy's credit, Birkoff refuses to follow that order. Operations is very angry, and even Gail asks Birkoff if that was the right thing to do. Birkoff, however, simply proceeds with his work and tells her that "it's fine".

Operations has his own way. He shoots at the shield and then kicks and punches his way through it, to the horror of the onlooking operatives. His path is riddled with the black-clad dead bodies. He breaks into Madeline's office and comes immediately to her side. It is in that scene that his true feelings for her appear. It becomes obvious that they used to be partners on their missions as well as lovers.
And this quote from Operations is my absolute favourite:
"I always thought I'd regret things I've done. Instead I regret things I didn't do."

This scene between the two is so sad yet so romantic. (Just about as romantic as it can get between Operations and Madeline).

Michael and Nikita with the aid of Birkoff's electronic deception finally manage to break Bisseroff, and to obtain the necessary antibiotic. Meanwhile, in Comm, all too late Gail realises that she has "backed the wrong horse" and tries to get Birkoff to be her boyfriend again. Naturally, Birkoff has got his pride and no longer trusts her, so he blows her off. Like a gentleman, he does it very politely, by changing the subject.

Only an hour before Michael and Nikita are due back, Operations dictates his log. He is seemingly weak, and just as he finishes his dictation we can see that he is also now infected.

Finally our two heroes are back, just in time to rescue everyone who is still alive and save the Section.

Recovering in Med lab some time later, Madeline notes to Operations that there "was a fair amount of panic and emotion". She suggests to "reevaluate the personnel. Get rid of the deadwood." - One can just imagine lots of cancellations and transfers into abeyance after this

Birkoff comes in, and Madeline calls him up commending him on his cool head during the crisis. Operations starts off by saying that "Birkoff exhibited more control was even necessary". One thinks *uh-huh* but then Operations continues, with a small hint of a smile, that he is grateful.

And finally, it is revealed to Nikita that the liberation of Bisseroff's family from the hands of Red Cell was just a deception.

Pattyko,

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I assume it was that incident when he got shot( I can't remember the exact title of the episode) and she gave those doctors such a great pep talk: "This room will contain ether 4 living men, or 4 bodies." If it weren't for her, they would probably have given up so...he does owe her his life

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The episode you are referring to is New Regime, and at first I thought that it was the exact situation Operations was referring to. But now I am not so sure. Something Madeline says in this scene, in the nature of : "you would have made it out on your own".

NIGHTJESSI,

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I still can't see what she could possibly see in Jenklow over Birky, even if Jenklow was older.

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She probably thought that Janklow would be more of a man, more of a hero, than Birkoff, but she was wrong: it was Birkoff who was the more heroic of the 2.