"Masks" was crazy intense. Division was hit from both outside and inside forces that make a full recovery nearly impossible.

The top leadership of the New Division has been decimated. It's easy to say they should have seen this coming or that they didn't take nearly enough precautions, but they were betrayed by two people in their inner circle.

Alex and Owen were trusted leaders that betrayed their friends after Amanda's mind-altering procedures. In actuality, the crisis at Division is all Amanda's doing. She's used her powers for evil.

Even after all of Amanda's manipulations, her end game is still unclear. She wanted Alex to betray Nikita, which occurred. She reverted Owen back to Sam in order to get Nikita. She doesn't want to kill Nikita, she wants to break her and then what? It seems though Amanda is setting herself up for failure. Even if she succeeds in her plan, then she will be left with nothing. It will be interesting to see if she tries to regain control of Division. Or, if she's truly done with that.

Amanda's mind-altering procedures on Alex and Owen had very different outcomes, but both were disturbing to watch play out. Even though Owen as Sam was more violent and heartless, it was Alex's actions that were tragic to see. After Owen regained Sam's memories and personality, he still remembered his life as Owen. He could have chose to remain loyal to Nikita, but instead he took a darker path.

When all is done, he may have difficulty living with his decisions, but he was fully aware of what was going on and what was at stake. He betrayed Nikita, attacked Michael, and now has the dangerous black box again. He will have to come to terms with what happens to Nikita and also what happens at Division. If Owen would have stood by Michael's side, they potentially could have prevented or poised a threat to the mutiny.

Is Owen gone? The Owen that we knew is gone, but I can't believe that Sam is here to stay. He will find a way to integrate his two personalities and come out of it on the good side. He has to, right? And, it will all be because of Emily. His butterfly tattoo will be the trigger to bring him back.

Could Alex's butterfly tattoo be what saves her as well? Her situation is horrible because she is acting in response to emotions that were planted into her head. Without Amanda's interference, Alex would never have betrayed Nikita and the mutiny wouldn't be happening. Ryan's shooting and any other deaths at Division should be on Amanda, not on Alex.

Once Alex comes through this, she will have enormous guilt. At least her desire to protect extended out to Sean. When he lied to the group about his help, she protected her love, but also her way out of this mess. Rachel is now leading the mutiny, but she doesn't have the leadership skills that Alex, Sean, Michael, or even Birkhoff possess. Sam was right about Division creating followers and not leaders. 

"Masks" was an intense hour of television that went in entirely unexpected directions. While there have been a few episodes in Nikita season 3 that weren't up to the show's normal high standards, this was Nikita at its best. 

Odds and Ends

• Sam was scary, but smart and an ass-kicker. Too bad he chose the evil path, because if he had Owen's loyalty he'd be an awesome addition to the team.
• Will the trackers end up being the end of the mutiny? Alex didn't disable them, so that could be a hang up for those wanting to leave. Plus, where will they get clean documents?
• $50,000 for Nikita? I'd be insulted too.
• The fans that predicted that Larissa wasn't real, you win!
• Odd twist that it's Alex that wants to ditch Division now, but Sean wants to stay.
• What happened to Amanda? Inquiring minds really want to know. 
• The fight between Michael and Owen was awesome. Though, I hope Michael's new hand wasn't permanently hurt. I'd like that story to come to a close.
• Amanda's response to the coup at Division was perfect, "So it begins."

Carla Day is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and on Google+.