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Nikki's Rage; The early episodes
Topic Started: Jun 26 2006, 08:02 PM (2,483 Views)
abzug
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In love with a prisoner
I've been rewatching the first two episodes (well, I rewatched the first ep, and am in the middle of the second ep) and the first thing I noticed was how pleasant Nikki was. In her initial scene with Bodybag on the stairs (as she is heading up to say goodnight to Carol), she gets into a slight exchange of words, but with no particular venom or hostility at all. So I started thinking about when we actually SEE Nikki's rage (like, at the level she expresses it towards Helen when she's jealous of Dominic in season 2), and the first instance I can think of is when she attacks Shell after Rachel's suicide. And this interested me, because we hear everyone speak of how unpleasant and difficult Nikki is, and we know about her crime, but otherwise we don't see it.

What we DO see is Nikki articulating an anti-prison establishment and anti-prison policy position in her early conversations with Helen (both the public one and then down in solitary). We also see her repeatedly treating Helen in a cold manner, in response to every overture of "friendship" (or, in Nikki's mind, collaboration).

I was wondering if maybe the timing of Nikki's initial rage flare-up (her attack on Shell, mentioned above) is purposeful. It happens after Trish dumps her. And then I started wondering if most of Nikki's rageful moments could be tied back to her thwarted romantic impulses, to moments when she has been rejected, or when she feels her relationship is threatened. The extreme ones certainly can:
1. Murdering Gossard
2. Attacking Shell
3. Battling with Helen in Shit Happens
4. Attacking Helen because of jealousy over Dominic
5. Fenner's attack on Helen

I haven't thought this through very far, and I already know that the above is far too simplistic, but I did find it notable how utterly reasonable and pleasant Nikki seems in these early episodes. Maybe that's just so the audience will relate to her, but I also think there is some coherence in terms of the character and when she loses control and when she doesn't. Thoughts anyone?
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ekny
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I don't think it's overly simplisitic, I think N's got a big problem with jealousy, plain & simple, however. It's something she's aware off--she references it at least twice during her second/last visit with Trish that I recall--and it's built in to her character, that way. I do think Helen receives the brunt of Nikki's anger throughout the series; many of her flare-ups aren't called for (certainly the way she attacks H is usually way OTT, anyway imo--the expression of her anger's very personal, not directed out there in general or at the prison service but most often *at* Helen, specifically), & H copes with them with (I've always felt) remarkable even-handedness. She addresses them when she can & walks away from the situation when there's no talking to Nikki. I never viewed that as 'controlling' behavior, just adult. It's coming from a deeply compassionate place: H knows their situations are grossly unequal & I think cuts N a lot of slack because of it.

As for N, a lot of the anger is of course justified, but the jealousy stuff is often (very much)... not. Yes, there's the uncertainty of being involved w/a straight woman, but as we all know Nikki's not such a bad catch herself. Not sure what the 'reason' might be but it's not rational--the woman's got a temper, that's all. And once she's committed to Helen, Helen's the one hope she's got; without having what Nikki herself views as absolute commitment back, she's more or less permanently off-balance. Their situation with all its attendent inequalities itself provokes her as often as it comforts, reassures her, or offers some hope for the future.
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abzug
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ekny
Jun 26 2006, 04:41 PM
...without having what Nikki herself views as absolute commitment back, she's more or less permanently off-balance.

I like this a lot, and I think its very true. Because Nikki's rage doesn't just stem from jealousy (although some of the more painful examples do, obviously). I'm playing with a somewhat broader idea, which is that when Nikki is not in a committed, mutually-enhancing, fully loving relationship, she has more of a tendency towards rage than when she is. Which is akin to your idea of her being "permanently off-balance." Hence Nikki's attack on Shell in S1E5, her attack on Fenner and Dominic in S2E2 (which comes right after Helen's blow off outside on the prison grounds), even her attack on Tessa Spall (which was thoroughly provoked, yes, but which also comes at what could be Nikki's deepest apprehension about Helen's intentions--she knows Helen is coming to visit, but can't be totally completely certain of what that means, of what Helen will say, of whether Helen will even show up).
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munky
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Couldn't agree more with Helen being a saint there with Nikki's flare ups.

Try and put yourself in Nikki's shoes. You know you've killed a man, but you also know you were made an example of and there was a miscarriage of justice in your case. You end in prison, a lifer. You see no light at the end of the tunnel. The injustice you saw at trial, the injustice you see women being subjected on the outside continues unabated on the inside. It's even worse here because it's an enclosed space and you are totally at the mercy of the likes of Fenner, Bodybag and Dr No-No.

Wouldn't you be constantly pissed off, with a temper like an animal caged? Look at Nikki the minute she's out, she doesn't even have the temper to run after Helen, she needs a nudge from Trish. And then she wants to take it slowly.

Everything gets heightened in prison. Especially if yuo're there for the first time. For different reason, Shaz, Denny, Yvonne, even Monica, they all have a temper in prison. Isn't partly temper that makes the two Julies scald the pimp? There are very few inmates who don't have a temper (Barbara, Crystal).

Even in later series, most lifer have a temper.

On the other hand, who could be locked up with Fenner, Bodybag, Di Barker and not get a temper? I know you have to learn to control it and you do, but you still have it. Especially when you're constantly provoked and taunted, whether for your sexuality or because you don't budge and shut up, whether just for the PO's fun or sickness of mind.

Having said all that, it's a bit of a dissapointment that Nikki isn't better at controlling her temper, her hormones, her jealousy once a gorgeous saint like Helen comes along. If hope is what she wanted / needed , than hope came. She said that much to Helen.
I wasn't expecting her to start behaving like a puppy, just learn to express things in a different way. Make the effort for Helen. It would have been an interesting character development. I always thought that when Helen sort of has a moment of hesitation over Nikki's true character, she doesn't necessarily consider Gossard's killing, but rather how Nikki has been since hope came along. Because if Nikki can't change even when she's given a hand then she's like Shell, damaged beyond repair.

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Their situation with all its attendent inequalities itself provokes her as often as it comforts, reassures her, or offers some hope for the future
. I think that works for both. In the sense that the passion between them both creates problems and solves problems.

I'm not sure I see Nikki's reaction to Dominic & others as jealousy per se. She doesn't break into a scene when Trish confides that she's met somebody (she's got somebody). Though Trish is the woman she went to prison as lifer for, though she loves Trish. She understands the logistics of things, she's on the inside, a lifer, Trish is outside, with all her life in front of her. Of course she's not happy about it but she doesn't flip cause she's jealous.

I know it looks like jealousy with Helen, but I perceive it as fear of being betrayed yet again. Betrayed by hope not by her lover. Like she felt betrayed by the justice system. I do not read Nikki as the controlling, jealous type.
She's passionate, but I don't think she's got a temper as such or is jealous as such. Shell has a temper and is jealous to an extent.
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abzug
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I've been contemplating this a bit more, and I'm starting to think that for Nikki the real issue, the real irritant, is unreliability. In that first voicemail she leaves Trish in S1E2, she says something along the lines of "Pick up the phone. You said you'd be home now." Her concern is not just that Trish isn't home, but that she promised something and didn't follow through. In a way, prison is like an amplified version of this. There are rules, but they are enforced haphazardly, and petty tyrany and favoritism abounds. Nothing can be counted on at all--not being allowed to stay in your "home" (ie cell), not being able to see your visitor (I'm thinking of that heartbreaking moment with Roisin and her kids in particular), being punished on a whim. So for someone like Nikki, no wonder she essentially goes wild, becomes a caged animal as munky put it (I've used that metaphor for Nikki a few times as well--its incredibly apt).

Even Helen, with all her caring and love, can't possibly provide a level of consistency and reliability which Nikki needs, given how much the environment at Larkhall undermines it. Half the time Nikki doesn't even know when Helen is going to appear at Larkhall (particularly in S2). In fact, as I think about it, one could interpret Nikki's season 1 moments of watching for Helen's arrival outside the window as trying to approximate some level of consistency and reliability in this sort of faux, fantasy relationship that Nikki has going with Helen in the second half of season 1.
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ekny
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abzug
Jun 26 2006, 06:49 PM
Half the time Nikki doesn't even know when Helen is going to appear at Larkhall (particularly in S2).  In fact, as I think about it, one could interpret Nikki's season 1 moments of watching for Helen's arrival outside the window as trying to approximate some level of consistency and reliability in this sort of faux, fantasy relationship that Nikki has going with Helen in the second half of season 1.

I like & agree with where you're going w/all of this but just had to get up on my hind legs & clap a bit at that last part, you're definitely on a roll. Really nice! More please miss. --e

(and yeah, I've used the wild/caged animal metaphor myself more'n once: it's especially useful when talking about the anger/rage thing, in fact, because if you couple it with Nikki's propensity for talking out of turn & putting her foot in it bec she doesn't think first, it leads you [well, me anyway] to think of her also in this way: as the kind of caged thing that might well gnaw its foot off to get out of the trap. A little visceral I know but... well. Um. It's thundering now, how fortunate, must run?)
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abzug
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ekny
Jun 26 2006, 07:00 PM
I like & agree with where you're going w/all of this but just had to get up on my hind legs & clap a bit at that last part, you're definitely on a roll. Really nice! More please miss. --e

And here I was coming to this thread to say that I was wrong about the Nikki rage resulting from thwarted romantic impulses--the first time she physically attacks Shell is actually in S1E3, not S1E5--its when Nikki is comforting Monica about Spencer's previous (and potential future) visit, and Shell makes some comment about Nikki preferring mink instead of beaver. And Nikki lunges at her and grabs her by the throat. Poor Nikki, especially after she's been like Super Nurturer, helping Zandra after her decrutching, helping Monica with Spencer stuff etc. I have to think more about this particular moment, in terms of understanding what stimulates Nikki's rage. Something about Shell interpreting something loving and caring and turning it into something sordid. I guess this plays into how prison basically turns everything into crap, which is essentially what Monica has been saying in this scene before Shell interrupts--that prison is such a nasty place and she doesn't want Spencer to see it (ie be contaminated by it).
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badgirlnuts
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Hi, To understand why an attractive woman like Nikki would display such unattractive traits like rage and jealousy, you have to remember the betrayal and humiliations she has endured rather patiently, which has knocked the foundations from under her and made her very diffident about everything and she doesn't trust her own powers and this she tries to camouflage every day especially where Helen is conerned. That's why she needs assurances from H all the time. a)In the Art room,"I need to know that you are not just going thru the motions" b)After meeting Claire, H:"Nikki, stop being jealous" etc. c)When N looses her cool in the garden and calls H a tart. Eventhough Helen has done everything to indicate her strong feelings for her. It's only after they have slept together that N is sure of H's love for her and gained back her confidence in herself.
Also I wouldn't call Nikki an animal (caged or otherwise) lol she's not beastly.
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Lisa289
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Just saw this thread, and i think it's a very good insight to Nikki's "rage". I did initially think that N was a calm character who is outspoken about the prison system in general, but that was it. Now you've put it in that way, it is clear that she shows her rage because of relationship issues. Although I think the attack on Shell was not uncalled for at all, Shell totally deserved it after the comment she made ("Look on the bright side, at least there's an extra helpin' today"). Nikki was dead right to call her a sick bitch and attack her. But I guess, because it wasn't long after her break up with Trisha, Nikki may have lost it a bit.
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LIPWADERULES
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Hi i just wanna say that i think Nikki act's like that because she doesn't want to show her vunerable side so no one can have a dig at her but i like the tougher side to her.
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abzug
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I think its very true that Nikki lashes out when she feels the most vulnerable, which is why I think so many of her angry or aggressive moments are rooted in her anxieties about her romantic life, because that is the part of herself and her life which she seems to treasure most. Shell mocking her caring for Monica TWICE, and the second time Nikki has had another missed call in to Trisha, and she gets Shell where it hurts: by telling her about Fenner and Rachel.
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Lisa289
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abzug
Jun 27 2006, 02:52 PM
and the second time Nikki has had another missed call in to Trisha, and she gets Shell where it hurts: by telling her about Fenner and Rachel.

I love that scene,

N: If i were you I'd worry about you're own love life. R, for Rachel.
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campgrrls
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I think there are at least two things that can set off Nikki's rage - things that have been kind of touched on in the above posts. They have to do with 2 key moments in Nikki's life: her parents rejection of her for her sexuality & Gossard's attack on Trish & Nikki killing him. Nikki's issues then are to do with trust in personal relationships and the injustices arising from corrupt and incompetent people in positions of authority.

We aren't shown all of Nikki's angry outbursts, just those that are significant in her relationship with Helen and her on-going conflict with Shell & Fenner. After Nikki attacked Dockley Helen described the cycle Nikki gets into: she breaks the rules, gets put down the block and comes out more bitter and twisted than before. We don't know all the instances that Nikki breaks the rules but it seems to be motivated by the injustices and brutality of those with power. She particularly reacts against Fenner's abusive misuse of power, which has some similarities of that of Gossard. She has a conflict with Shell from ep 1. Shell seems to constantly needle Nikki for being a lesbian (in spite of her own dabbling with Denny). For Nikki I think she reacts against Shell being a bully and for colluding with Fenner, which allows Shell to have a fairly free reign with her bullying.

In series 1 I don't think it's so much jealousy of Trisha's new relationship as the betrayal of trust and support. Trisha was at the centre of the whole complex arising from the Gossard events. And Trisha was Nikki's main support and link with the outside at the beginning of series 1. In the series 3 Coming Out ep Nikki says that Helen stood by her when no one else did.

A lot of Nikki's anger towards Helen is to do with not fully being able to trust her motivation/position on both the prison hierarchy & her sexuality. Both those issues get intertwined at times. In series 1 ep 1 Nikki is first angry with Helen for supporting/glossing over the neglect of Carole - Helen seems to be avoiding dealing with the corruption of those in authority that put Carole's life in danger.

Later Nikki gets to like the way Helen seems to be on her side and against Fenner. However, her moments of anger are when Helen supports the abusive system (the squat squad - Nikki's anger then was against the abusiveness of the system). At one moment Nikki vents against Helen by shouting out from her cell that Helen's "just like all the rest" even though she thinks she's different.

In series 2 Nikki's jealousy (of Dominic especially) is the result of the difficulty of conducting a relationship with someone who is not only a part of the prison hierarchy but also has a heterosexual history - the two are bound up togther. It stretches Nikki's ability to trust Helen (her comment about heterosexual women being too used to manipulating men so that they are not trustworthy). Her criticism of Helen being 2-faced refers to this lack of trustworthiness.

In series 3 Nikki has some anger witrh Helen's treatment of Femmy - here her issue is with Helen's position in the prison hierarchy. Nikki's biggest outburst in that series is when she goes back into prison at the beginning of the series. Here she feels Helen has betrayed their relationship plus that there will be no hope for their relationship because Nikki has too much time to serve. But here she vents her anger at the prison system/authorities as the root cause, not at Helen.

Anyway, overall I think the triggers for Nikki's anger differ a little in each series, but the basic cause are these issues in which Nikki's sexuality and her sense that the system is corrupt and allows abusive behaviour are frequently intertwined. It is not just about relationship issues on their own, but how the injustices within the official system impact on those relationships.
Carolyn
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abzug
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campgrrls
Jun 27 2006, 03:39 PM
Anyway, overall I think the triggers for Nikki's anger differ a little in each series, but the basic cause are these issues in which Nikki's sexuality and her sense that the system is corrupt and allows abusive behaviour are frequently intertwined. It is not just about relationship issues on their own, but how the injustices within the official system impact on those relationships.

Hi campgrrls, I like your analysis a lot, particularly the way you tied in Nikki's rejection by her family to her reactions to arbitrary rule enforcement and punishment. It gave me an added perspective on one of the confrontation scenes between Helen and Nikki when Nikki is in solitary during S2E2 (Shit Happens). There is a moment when Nikki is behaving in a very child-like, petulant, whining sort of way, when she complains to Helen that "They were chucking my books around." Its such a pitiful pathetic moment, really, in the way that it shows Nikki totally unable to tolerate or overcome her disempowerment. The books of course represent not only her independent intellectual life, but the spiritual reinforcement Helen has provided her. Helen draws this association explicitly ("You only have those books because of me") and then continues with a very parental-type threat of punishment: "Any more of this crap and I'll take them away!" In this exchange, the cruelty of parental punishment (in its utter control, its arbitrariness, its formerly soul-giving and now soul-destroying potential) hits Nikki in the core of her suffering, intertwining all her issues with treasuring her romantic connections, suffering when they are threatened or contaminated by arbitrary or corrupt authority, and having that authority simultaneously be her one source of love and nurturing.
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munky
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In this exchange, the cruelty of parental punishment (in its utter control, its arbitrariness, its formerly soul-giving and now soul-destroying potential) hits Nikki in the core of her suffering, intertwining all her issues with treasuring her romantic connections, suffering when they are threatened or contaminated by arbitrary or corrupt authority, and having that authority simultaneously be her one source of love and nurturing.


yes, that it where I was coming from: that Nikki's rage or jealousy don't come from the fact that she has a bad-tempered character and neither from the fact that she is the jealous, possessive, controlling type.

I'm not sure though that it has to do with Nikki's sexuality as such. Her sexuality seems incidental, just the thing that defies the majority's comfort zone and makes her vulnerable to exploitation and cruelty. It could have been that she wanted to marry a black guy, or that she was a Nigerian refugee that didn't speak English.
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