Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 13 of The CW's "Nikita," entitled, "Clean Sweep."

It's no wonder that "Nikita" showrunner Craig Silverstein has been referring to this episode as "Game Change 2," since "Clean Sweep" managed to realign many allegiances going into the second half of the season. Percy has finally escaped from his Magneto-esque plastic prison, Oversight is all but eliminated, and Nikita and Michael are faced with the possibility of a real happy ending -- something that our heroine didn't actually seem all that enthusiastic about.

As much as Nikita has been searching for a home and a sense of identity this season, many of the peripheral characters have been repeatedly emphasizing the fact that she's a "killer," that she was "born for this" and that she really has no idea how to be anything but an assassin. While Michael's journey is arguably a quest to recapture the sense of family and security that he lost when Kasim murdered his wife and daughter, Nikita never really had that normalcy; even during her relationship with Daniel, she was looking over her shoulder, knowing that the charade could fall apart at any moment. Michael clearly still craves the opportunity for a regular life, but over the course of the season, thanks in large part to Maggie Q's subtle, nuanced performance, it's becoming increasingly apparent that Nikita no longer sees "happily ever after" as a viable option. I just hope that Michael will someday be able to prove her wrong and give her the safety she's been missing for years. She and Michael would be foolish not to accept the presidential pardon that Senator Pierce offered, but it's obvious that she's still conflicted about her ability to function in the real world outside of her quest for revenge.

The pair's confrontation with Percy was another masterfully played scene, illustrating just what a world-class manipulator the former Division head can be. Was Michael really aware of the kill order put out on Daniel? He was certainly slow to refute it, even though we know that Percy was lying about Nikita's relationship with Owen. His words had the desired result, though, revealing the couple's weaknesses so that Percy knew which ones to exploit in the future.

Another interesting moment came when Percy praised Nikita for becoming "a world class operative," and urged her to embrace her potential, ominously observing, "I'm in your blood, for better or worse." As one fan, "Mrs_Amelia," noted on Twitter, many of the show's most striking lines often have double-meanings, no matter how throwaway they may seem in the moment. Could it have been Percy's way of hinting that he's somehow Nikita's father? I feel like there have been other lines littered throughout the show, even back in the first season, that pointed to Percy's particular fascination and fondness for Nikita -- she was always his favorite operative, but was that simply because he's a diligent manager, or because he had a deeper investment in her success, secretly been manipulating her life for years from behind the scenes and grooming her to become the perfect soldier? Given some of the other long cons he's pulled off, I don't think it's such a wild theory, but I'd love to hear your opinions.

In another delicious twist, Amanda's mystery caller was revealed to be Gogol's Ari Tasarov, who is apparently working with Amanda to undermine Semak's ownership of Zetrov, with Alex being positioned as their ace in the hole. After the last episode, I did suspect that Ari might be at the other end of the line, since "Nikita" has always excelled at those juicy on-screen reveals, and there was a fairly narrow selection of candidates that could've made such an impact, short of Semak himself (which would've made far less sense). Regardless of whether you think the reveal was telegraphed or not, the implications of their unholy alliance set up an interesting set of possibilities. Does Amanda really think she has Alex in thrall enough to use her to take command of Zetrov, or does she plan to kill the freelance agent once she's sent Alex to depose Semak? And, since this is Amanda -- and Ari -- do the pair really trust each other, or are both plotting to dispose of the other once they've removed Semak from the equation?

It was a relief to see Amanda back on top after the mind-games Percy played with her in "Sanctuary." This episode (written by Kalinda Vazquez), once again reasserted Amanda's dominance, illustrating that, even though she might not have predicted all of Percy's labyrinthine moves (because who could?), she still had her own contingency plans in place -- such as the gas mask she had stashed in her office in case "Operation: Clean Sweep" was initiated. I'm intrigued to see where her alliance with Ari will take them both.

I was also glad to see Alex and Birkoff given something meatier to do this week; I've been missing our nerd's one-liners while he's been recuperating, as well as his pithy banter with Alex. The "Buffy" fan in me paid particular attention to the use of "five by five," as well as his "Terminator" reference, a description that fits Roan like a glove. I was sad to see our unkillable super spy live to murder another day, especially now he's out in the world with Percy and the remaining Guardian -- a more terrifying threesome I haven't seen since Hilary Duff and Jessica Szor banged Lonely Boy on "Gossip Girl." I'm sad that Alex is still in a more reactive role, but I'm interested to see how she plans to handle Amanda if they go ahead with her plan to challenge Semak for Zetrov's throne.

Though the episode was slow to kick into high gear -- because of all the maneuvering, the pacing was a little more measured than in some recent episodes -- it was undoubtedly a solid and necessary foundation for the stories to come, and there's nothing wrong with that. There were a number of engaging and stand-out scenes (pretty much everything involving the excellent Xander Berkeley was top notch), and the board is now reset with plenty of potential conflicts. I can't wait to see how Percy furthers his nefarious plans now that he's on the outside. Share your thoughts on "Clean Sweep" in the comments below!

"Nikita" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.

Check out the slideshow for the full rundown of what to tune into this week.

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 7, Episode 13 of The CW's "Supernatural," entitled "The Slice Girls."

I'm of two minds about this week's "Supernatural," which made the somewhat questionable decision to revisit the basic theme of one of this season's most divisive episodes, "The Girl Next Door." In that hour, Dean was forced to kill Amy, one of Sam's childhood friends (or a girl that he'd known for a matter of hours, depending on how you chose to look at it) because she was a "monster" who had killed humans -- deserving or not -- and would likely do so again. In this hour, the roles were reversed, and Sam was forced to kill Emma, a girl who was genetically Dean's daughter, but also a girl he'd known for less than a matter of hours.

As some of you may recall, "The Girl Next Door" sparked a firestorm of comments in Mo Ryan's recap, some arguing in favor of Dean's decision, others decrying it as character assassination. The show later validated Dean's viewpoint in "The Mentalists," when Sam admitted that his brother had been right to dispatch a creature that had been killing people, and that his judgment had been clouded by his memories of Amy as a child. Since a show's writing staff conceives episodes far in advance of their airdate, I'm sure that no one at the "Supernatural" production offices predicted such a vocal reaction to episode 703, nor saw anything potentially problematic in paralleling that story in "The Slice Girls."

I don't believe that there was anything in this week's episode that merits the kind of vitriol that "Girl" inadvertently elicited, since Sam was acting in defense of his brother and no deception was involved, but I do wonder whether the familiar story will dredge up old resentments that the writers might've been wise to leave undisturbed. Before writing this review, I had already seen comments on Twitter decrying Sam's decision to shoot Emma without offering her the chance of redemption, since she had yet to actually kill anyone, as Amy already had when Dean took her out.

I think that the biggest challenge facing both the writers and the audience is the inconsistency with which the show has presented Sam and Dean's morality over the years. "Supernatural" has spent many episodes exploring the shades of grey inherent in the hunting world, often with varying results. While some "monsters" who have killed before, such as Lenore and Lucky the Skinwalker, were allowed to go free under the assumption that they were acting in defense of loved ones or would be able to control their murderous impulses in the future, others, such as Madison, Amy and now Emma, were dispatched without the option of proving themselves trustworthy -- even though Amy was also arguably acting in defense of a loved one in trying to save her son (if she was telling the truth about his illness).

So how do Sam and Dean judge who can be redeemed and who is too dangerous to be left alive? The decision sometimes seems arbitrary, and I wonder if that randomness is what some fans struggle to reconcile themselves with. Did Sam simply see his brother in danger (and once again frozen at a critical moment, as he was in "Adventures in Babysitting") and act out of instinctual protectiveness, or did he make the decision, in that split second, that Emma had been so well-brainwashed by her tribe that there was no possibility for redemption? I think it was the former; given Sam's own experience with being destined for a dark purpose, one would hope that he wouldn't simply dismiss another person's capacity to escape the shortcomings of their biology the way he always feared Dean might dismiss him.

The episode was written by Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner, and though their names might not seem familiar, they have written one episode of "Supernatural" previously: "Route 666," all the way back in Season 1. I think it would've been excellent if the episode had allowed Sam time to ruminate on the symmetry between his life experiences and Emma's potential path, but it seemed as though the relative newness of the writers hampered their ability to mine the emotional depths of the characters and create that narrative touchstone.

Still, after seven seasons with Sam and Dean, it doesn't surprise me that audience opinion seems split straight down the middle regarding every episode -- no matter how strong or weak I consider a plotline to be, I can always find someone on Twitter with the opposing view, so I'm sure the writers have embraced the notion that they can't please everyone at this point. I was dubious when I read the synopsis for this week's episode, but despite a few missed opportunities, it wasn't as cheesy as the concept suggested. I do wish that there had been more mention of Dean's experience with raising Ben after he was faced with the possibility of being related to Emma -- especially when Sam questioned his brother's knowledge of child development -- but the episode still provided some enjoyable character moments, both in the banter between Sam and Dean, and in their evolving methods of coping with their grief.

Dean's slowly unraveling mental state was further explored, even after his attempts to follow Frank's advice and "fake it." Clearly, Sam knows his brother too well to be convinced by his forced smiles, and their brief, raw moment of disagreement over whether Bobby's spirit had unearthed a piece of lore or whether it was just the wind was unexpectedly poignant. Likewise, Dean's obsessive attachment to Bobby's flask was further evidence of his mindset, proving that he's still trying to hang on to the denial stage of the grieving process. I was also touched by the brothers' instinct to call Bobby for help with research, even though both knew he was no longer around to answer. Small, character-driven scenes like that are where "Supernatural" really excels, and they always help to elevate the material no matter what else is going on in the episode. And no story would be complete without the prerequisite brotherly conversation in the car to wrap things up, but I was glad that the Winchesters are at least talking about their feelings, albeit in their own gruff, reticent ways, with Sam noting that Dean seems to be choking on hunts with frightening regularity these days. I was also glad that they tossed in another mention of Cas' death, since that loss hasn't yet been discussed with the same depth as Bobby's.

"Vampire Diaries" star Sara Canning didn't have much to do as Lydia (but given a certain scene, it's not a guest role I would've turned down, either) but she still managed to imbue the character with a surprising amount of pathos in her short moments on screen, conveying a subtle sense of melancholy at having to produce a daughter only to give her up three days later for the good of "the tribe." And I was pleased to see the parade of "Buffy" alums continue with Harry Groener guest-starring as the gregarious Professor Morrison -- he seemed to be having a lot of fun showboating and running circles around Sam and Dean. Casting Canadian actress Alexia Fast as Emma was also an inspired choice, since she truly did look like an amalgamation of Canning and Jensen Ackles.

Longtime "Supernatural" production designer Jerry Wanek made his directorial debut in this episode, and his eye for detail was immediately apparent in the thoughtful composition of scenes, the engaging use of close-ups, and the inventive camera angles. I particularly enjoyed the way Dean and Lydia's sex scene was intercut with a victim's murder, creating an effective visual symmetry that fit with the B-movie tone of the season -- especially since it was accompanied by the welcome return of the show's signature rock soundtrack. AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" was certainly an apt choice. The couple's flirtation at the bar, complete with tempting close-ups of eyes and mouths to emphasize their attraction, was another stand-out scene. I hope Wanek finds time to take the helm again, since his knowledge of the characters definitely came through in the presentation of the episode.

What did you think of "The Slice Girls"? Was Sam right to kill Emma, and do you think the storyline was comparable to what happened between Dean and Amy?

"Supernatural" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. EST on The CW.

Check out the slideshow for the full rundown of what to tune into this week.

Not into football, huh? Or maybe you're already anticipating needing a distraction after Sunday's big game? Either way, we've got some Super Bowl alternatives for every TV fan.

From lingerie bowls and puppy bowls to marathons of "Ab Fab" and "Law & Order" and new episodes of compelling dramas, we rounded up 18 other things worth watching on the NFL's biggest day of the year.

And we're not going to tell you what to do, but it's worth noting that all of these viewing experiences, like most, can be greatly enhanced with some Super Bowl snacks. Skip the game, keep the chips and dips and enjoy!

Click through to see a photographic history of Jennifer Aniston's relationships.