Since nothing in BG can be taken at face value, I think the riot lends itself to further scrutiny. For starters: who really starts the riot? I'm not talking about when Maxi Purvis (sp?) piggy backed on the situation to get her own way and the whole thing turned nasty, I'm talking about the "sit out", the preamble to the riot, if you will.

In the end, Nikki comes across to me as a puppet on a string in this whole scenario. Quick look at the facts: Nikki is advocating for human rights again when she has her (rather aggressive, I might add) conversation with Helen about Femmy. Femmy doesn't know what's going on; she doesn't understand a word of English. And nine years (is it 9?) seems like such a long time to be going down for what is essentially someone else's wrap. Something should be done about it and Nikki turns to Helen, because she's supposed to be "all powerful these days". In the end Helen does do something about it, through that phone call with the interpreter. But then the whole thing turns interesting. In the yard Nikki asks (quite politely in my opinion) what is happening with Femmy and Helen is now the one who is stand offish "it has been dealt with... actually no, you DON'T have a right to know". I mean, would it have killed her to tell Nikki what was going on? Nikki's mind would've been put at rest, she could tell the others, and none of this riot stuff would've happened.

Other suspects include the Julies and Barbara. At the pool table they have a go at Nikki, whose initial reaction is "we've got too much to loose". But they, Barbara in particular, continue to plant the seed and the next thing we have Nikki on a chair calling for the "sit out". It starts peacefully enough, but now we have Bodybag who has to prove herself as principal officer and she calls for backup, lots and lots of backup. Unnecessary?

Thoughts, anyone?

Hey microsofty. I think this is a very good thread to start, and I don't think we've actually gone through this anywhere else before. Obviously, it's Maxi who starts the "riot" but she was most definitely not the one starting the whole protest.

The initial person we generally think of with the riot is Nikki. She brought the idea of the sit-out to the rest of the Wing. But there are other key facts to put into play, re other characters.

I agree most definitely with you here. I'm not sure what was going through Helen's mind when she was adamant not to tell Nikki about Femi. Maybe Helen was taking her position too seriously and keeping Femi's situation private? But Nikki genuinely wants to know what's happening to her: this is why she organises the protest. If Helen had told Nikki about the situation, then there would have been no need for the protest.

But, when Helen gives some sort of confirmation, Nikki says "that's not good enough". (I think - I haven't seen this episode in a while so correct me if I'm wrong). It's not until in the midst of the riot, when Helen confirms that Femi has been transferred to another Wing, that Nikki lays the protest off. When Nikki calls it off at this point, I think Helen realises that this is all she needed to do in the first place: inform Nikki of Femi's safety. I think Helen feels a pang of guilt because the whole scenario could have been avoided. But, she doesn't like to admit this, so takes it out on Nikki ("You betrayed me tonight"). I think because they're both (N&H) so involved in the "riot", they have a total clash in this episode. This is what causes them to break into each other and, finally, makes Helen finish their relationship for good.

Good point. I think Nikki would have settled with pushing Helen until she told her something. Nikki was wary of doing anything as a group - she thought she could handle it herself, what with being so close to Helen and everything. So with the pushes from her friends, she ends up doing something she didn't initially want to do. Instead of her pushing Helen into something Helen didn't want to do/say.

From a realistic standpoint, I hold all the participants responsible to varying degrees. The participants are Femmi, the guards, the inmates, the law makers, & those who gave the lawmakers their jobs.
Femmi surely wouldn't have been the first non-english inmate. To run an orderly prison, even if one didn't give a damn about the prisoners, it is clearly stupid to think a prison can be ran properly, if one can't communicate with the prisoners, so it's stupid they didn't have procedure in the first place that would have stopped that sort of thing from happening.

However, to further debate, I'm going to target BodyBag. While there were certainly wrong doings leading up to the actual abuse that sparked Nikki's extra level of concern, the turning point was the extra beating the guards were giving Femmi, as they hauled her off.

Ok, I'm really not discounting anything, but why not blame BodyBag the actions that caused the problem in the first place?
Hollamby, encouraged her officers to be extra rough and since she was the on in charge, she is more responsible for the abuse, than those under her command.

That blatant physical abuse of Femmi is what caused there to be a reason for Nikki to raise the issue, in the first place. I can't say, even if she had been communicating with Hollamby, she wouldn't have rushed that guard room. However, it was the abuse at the hands of the guards, who were out of line that definitely led to the riot.


It's asking way too much to have expected BodyBag to ever bend the rules and let a con make a call to South Africa from a staff phone, so I won't say her not letting Femmi complete her call was the cause of the issue.

I also don't think all the phone cards in the world were going to make what was going wrong with her family so far away any better. I think she still would have been extremely upset. Sure she wouldn't have been barging into the staff room, but that's not to say, instead she might have just froze up, in the way of another con that wanted to use the phone, who would push her out of the way and start a fiasco that way.

Sadly, I think Thomas was going through her mind. Just before the "confrontation" with Nikki in the yard, we had to sit through that damn looooooong flirty scene between Helen and Thomas about the congress. Helen might have felt that she now had an ally on her side of the bars. He even wants to help her with the whole Femi situation, 'cause he's just such a nice guy. After this poor Nikki ventures to ask Helen about Femi and get's the bollocking. Maybe Helen felt guilty about Thomas and that is why she reacts so sort of violently? In that particular scene in the yard, Helen looked so irritated with Nikki, or am I imagining things?

True, but it was about the abuse that Nikki enquired from Helen how Femi was doing, which leads us back to the fact that Helen didn't want to give her a straight answer.

For sure, but Bodybag didn't know what Femi was on about and at this point Bodybag also suffered from authoritism (that went to her head). She's in CHARGE, watch it!
Btw, Femi was from Nigeria not South Africa - they're our scary neighbours!

I forgot about the scene between Helen and Thomas beforehand. Maybe he plays a part in it then as well?

I had never thought of this, but I think it's a damn good theory. She's probably not even aware of her guilt, just projects it right into irritability with Nikki.

Yeah, definitely. I think they took pains to show how an event of this magnitude doesn't result just from one person, but from sort of a perfect storm of factors coming together. The actions of some, the misjudgment of others, etc.

Nikki's Motives
I think if we look at the entire thing from Nikki's POV, it must have been a difficult decision for her to make (look at me writing about her as though she's a real person). Nikki, generally, is seen by her fellow inmates as their advocate and until she and Helen got serious, she took that role to heart—one could say it was her pre-Helen passion.

If you look back to that scene in S1E1 down the block when Helen is telling Nikki to trust her, she doesn't believe in a system that locks up pregnant women, in essence Helen is telling Nikki to trust her because she will do right by the inmates. When Nikki attempts to discuss the issue with Helen, Helen just seems to brush it under the rug and then goes and discusses it in-depth with Dr. Corduroy Jacket, so Nikki could very well see that as a betrayal of trust because Helen is not showing her what the rest of the audience is seeing.

Now that she and Helen are involved (albeit just emotionally at this point) there's a situation where she really feels compelled to stand up to the system and protect a fellow inmate who obviously cannot stand up for herself. Unfortunately for Nikki, Helen is now that system ("at the top of the shit heap"), so she is in fact knowingly making the decision to battle Helen, after attempting to do it properly, even though in Tough Love she says otherwise ("This wasn't about you...")—as I see it, Helen left her with no other options.

When the Julies, Babs and Crystal urge her on to act, which normally she wouldn't need urging to do, her allegiances are torn but she follows her moral compass and does what she thinks is right—pointing out the injustices that have taken place under Helen's watch. I think Nikki could have thrown Helen's "You betrayed me" line right back in her face. Also, if you look at Nikki's character, she didn't really betray Helen at all, she was being who Helen fell for—an advocate for the women. Ultimately, it seems Helen has forgotten who Nikki is.

I'll have to rewatch the scene properly but Shed wrote the whole sequence very cleverly and very precisely that reminded me of an account of the shipwreck of the Torrey Canyon, where a whole succession of incidents, minor in themselves produced these consequences when added together.
Certainly, Shed wrote for every non violent protest that turns nasty when Bodybag and their like, in suppressing demands for reform end up with revolution. Added to that, temporary promotion went to both Helen's head and Bodybag's.She certainly cranked up Nikki's attempts at reason and persuasion. In turn, Nikki was torn between her role as spokeswoman and her loyalty to Helen so that Nikki attempted a precarious balencing act between the two. Lastly, it had been the case that Yvonne, Nikki, Babs and the Julies had effectively kept things cool and events were torn right out of their hands by the Peckham Boot Gang.

Yes! I absolutely agree with this! We've got to know Helen as someone who runs this perfect balance between what she feels for Nikki (that which is against the rules) and being passionate about her job (that which is whithin the rules). This whole balance shifted towards her job when she became temporary nr 1. It really feels to me as if Nikki is now a nuisance, a momentarily lapse in reason, she would now rather align herself with the likes of Thomas. This is a bit off topic, but Helen really fell for Thomas. He was everything Nikki was, but with the difference that he was also everything morally acceptable, no questions asked. Helen wasn't forced to confront her feelings with Thomas, he just fell into the parameters accepted by society.

Back on topic: I don't think Nikki for one moment thought that she was going against Helen with the protest. She certainly didn't expect the reaction she got. Love Helen to bits, but how on earth could she refer to herself as the (complete) system? She was just a part of that system and for most of her time at Larkhall she was also fighting against that system, as was Nikki. Nikki got it all wrong, she really believed she had the support of the Nr 1.

I think you and I might mean different things with the word "fell"--because I totally agree with everything you've said about Helen and why she started up with Thomas. But I don't think she had any real emotional feeling in relation to him, other than relief, like, hey, my life would be A LOT easier this way.

But I'm one of those people who thinks Helen didn't really think of Thomas that way until things fell apart with Nikki during/after the riot. Yes, she was a bit flirty with him, but no more so than she was with Dominic in S1-2 at various times.

Yeah, that's what makes the riot sequence so depressing. We see Nikki LOOK at Helen, trying to say all kinds of things with her eyes, desperately trying to connect and communicate with her. It's like you want to shake them and say, JUST SIT DOWN AND TALK! Which is of course impossible given the riot going on around them. But man, if Nikki was able to sneak around to right outside Helen's office and tell Helen she loved her back in S2E1, it's depressing to think that she couldn't do that during the riot. I'm with you that she really didn't think Helen was going to take it personally. I mean, I think she feared Helen was going to take it personally, but had convinced herself that Helen wouldn't.

As for Helen taking it personally, I understand this side of it too. I manage a web operation, and I found out the other day that a marketing guru at an industry-wide session on Internet marketing used my main website as an example of what not to do. He called it a "disaster." I wasn't there, so I only found out after the fact. But I was CRUSHED! I mean, I know this particular site has a lot wrong with it, and if I had the time and budget we'd have fixed it. But to have someone else attack my baby, well, that was really upsetting. Now, let me imagine that the person who had attacked it was my girlfriend. And in a situation where I couldn't defend it. I would be an absolute ball of fury.

The thing I've never understood is why Helen kept Femi down the block for so long. Historically, Helen never keeps anyone in solitary confinement for longer than necessary. Once Helen had an interpreter find out what was going on with Femi, I'm not sure why she wasn't brought back on the wing. In fact, Femi never comes back because she goes to the other wing with the other Nigerian woman. It's not as though she was in danger or a threat to anyone else.

I realize that Hollomby was acting governor, but Helen was the Number #1 and directly involved in her care. If Helen wanted her brought back, she could have made it happen. And obviously bringing her back would have calmed things considerably.

Yup, me too.

I always held Helen partly responsible for the riot. She could see that Femi had been injured and knew about the man-handling from Nikki (i.e. a reliable source). Why didn't she pursue this further? I would have thought that her strong principles would have made it high priority. I appreciate that Femi didn't want trouble and Helen's hands were probably tied unless Femi made an official complaint. However, I think she ought to have been able to persuade a confused and scared Femi to open up. Later, Helen could have (truthfully) told the inmates that an investigation (or discipline) was in progress and that would have defused the situation.

Good points earlier. The scene with Helen being irritated with Nikki in the yard always confused me. I thought she could have reassured Nikki even if she didn't want to divulge the details. It now makes sense if it was guilt about Thomas that led to her reaction.

I think there was some attraction on her side because she saw a lot of Nikki's traits in him. Nothing more, though she genuinely thought she did have real feelings for him.

Yeah, I can relate to that too. Crushing and frustrating if you don't have an outlet for your anger. :guns Only thing I can suggest is slip S2Ep13 in the DVD ..... crack open a bottle of wine ..... and pretty soon you'll forget all about it ....:wub:

Just noticed your post, invisicoll. I agree. Why was Femi kept longer on the block? Unless Helen was intending on investigating further. In which case, why not admit it at the first confrontation?

It was probably because the riot was in full swing at this point in time. And apart from that, the riot was not about Femi anymore. There were two groups in the riot, Nikki and her followers and Maxi and her followers. Brining Femi back would have passified Nikki's followers, but who knows what it would have done to Maxi's followers?

That's exaclty what I mean with "fell" - that her life would be a lot easier, no more conflicting emotions between her two passions - Nikki and Nr 1.

What a good point! Why didn't Helen understand this? Did she see it, but chose to ignore it? Or did she not see it at all?

It's so amazing to see how the systems theory comes into place here. A change in one system brings a change in another system, they are all interrelated. There was a change at the top (Nr 1 and principal officer) and that changed the whole dynamics between Nikki and Helen. No wonder Nikki wasn't happy when Helen became Nr 1, she probably knew it would mean trouble for their future given how serious Helen took her job. Nikki really respected Helen for that, and one would think that that respect would be reciprocated. What I also find ironic is that only a few episodes ago Helen accused Nikki of "agreeing with Fenner" when Nikki was weary of Pam on the wing. Surely in a sense Helen now also agrees with the "Fenner Principle" when she let's Femi's abuse slip, not investigating it.

I don't think Helen is ignoring it. I think she saw it. However, she was seeing it through the lenses of anger, guilt & frustration.

(edit)
Long story short, whatever Helen grasps logically about what Nikki is telling her, or the fact that Helen, herself, is a part of the cause of this problem, she feels let down by Nikki and she will forgive Nikki, but she just isn't going to agree with Nikki that Nikki did the right thing.
(/edit)

She doesn't deal well with situations she has no control over. As #1 she's more responsible and less in control in the face of a riot, than ever.

Helen is angry, because:
---she didn't answer Nikki's questions in the first place.
---she can't control/stop the riot.
---that Nikki had a part in getting it started at all, no matter how small
---the constraints of the system
---the riot backs her up to a position where she's going to have to do things, she doesn't want to do
---etc.

She was feeling so many emotions and it was all she could do to keep a lid on them, it is amazing she didn't lash out more.

Also, one of the things Helen saw in Nikki's eyes was an apology, in addidion to other things. It was an unspoken apology, but an apology is like an admission of guilt.

Helen obvsiouly conceded the legitimacy of Nikki's actual concerns regarding Femi, so she accepted the reasoning behind Nikki's actions. We can see that by the fact that she talked to Femi, that she got another Nigerian (thanks for the correction earlier, I haven't seen this ep but once and missed pieces) cell mate, etc. I think she would have done those things anyways, but before the riot, she was working with "prison time" and system red tape. She wasn't in a logical place, when facing off Nikki, so it didn't matter to her that Nikki had good reasons for being a part of it. It doesn't matter to Helen that she's only one coal fueling the fire. It matters that Nikki, the woman she loves is partially responsible for what's going on. Emotionally, Nikki had let her down by not keeping a lid on the situation.

I think other parts that came into play with how Helen was handling Femi, was while she was doing what she believed she could do, I think she had approached this particular battle with a defeatest attitude. If Helen doesn't think she can win a battle, she has backed down in the past on more than one occasion. I think Femi was a battle that Helen thought she wasn't really winning, but was doing what was within her power to do.

sidenote - I realize there's no doubt the spelling is "Femi", but when I watched it sounded to my ears, like they were saying "Fem-mi", as opposed to "Fe-mi".

-the following edited for clarification-
Not only do I believe that Helen considers herself partially responsible for the riot, but I agree with "Helen" and other posters that she is responsible. Part of the point of the heiarchy is that as Guv #1, whether she's the largest contributing factor or not to causes, she accepted that level of accountability and responsibility by taking accepting the position as #1 Guv.

-edit-
Somewhere in here I meant to bring up the fact Helen never admits/apologizes to others when she's in the wrong, verbally anyways.

The point was there wasn't any way she was going to forgive Nikki, while it was all so fresh and hot on her mind. Also, in the terms of not personal, she's shown historically she expects the prisoners to work with her, not against her, when it comes to solving problems. For example, she validates Crystal's right and reason to send the letter to about drugs at Larkhall to the newspapers, but she never did really agree with it being sent, because it wasn't the "solution." She didn't see the protest or the riot as being solutions to the problems facing Femi, so she wasn't condoning them.

For the record, don't confuse what I'm saying as meaning I personally agree with the choices/viewpoint of Helen. This is my take on or my understanding of where she's coming from.

In the episode, Helen had already visited Femi down the block and taken Femi to her office to speak with an interpreter before Nikki's peaceful protest -- which later turns into a full blown riot.

In other instances, when Helen sympathizes with an inmate's plight, she brings them right back on the wing, like Zandra's rooftop incident and Nikki's attack on Dockley. These are people she believed needed support, not more punishment (as Dominic says). I'd say that Femi would fall into that category.

Yes, later, there's a full blown riot that keeps Femi down there longer, but Helen had already figured out the problem prior to things getting out of hand. I don't know what she was holding out for.

Great post, Washuai. I think you have a really good handle on Helen's psychology. I'd add one other factor, which is in the previous episode, Helen felt Nikki was out of control with Fenner. She was completely freaked about Nikki jeapordizing her appeal. So I think all that was in her head, one of those "if I warned her once, I warned her a thousand times"--so Nikki riling everyone up with her protest was a final straw for Helen.

I have to stand up for Helen a bit here. I don't think she was defeatist, I think she was overwhelmed. Her job responsibility had just increased, probably at least 10-fold. She's have to take on all these things she's never done before, work with new people in a new capacity. Plus, her wing gov is on vacation, so she's also having to pay more attention to G-Wing details, just as she has the least amount of time and energy to do so. Femi fell through the cracks a bit for Helen, but not because Helen thought there was nothing she could do to fix the problem. She just didn't have the patience or energy to really understand what the issues were.

Not "never." Remember: "Nikki, I want to apologize. You said you were provoked by Fenner. I've reason to believe you now." (A series of sentences forever ingrained in my head, due to the number of times Simone flubbed these lines in the dvd outtakes.) But it's rare for her, that's true.

Do we really know how much later the riot occurred? It could have been later that same day, or just the next day. And remember Helen left Shell on the Muppet Wing at least a day too long, which was something we talked about a few weeks ago. So she's not always quick to let someone off. But you're right that Femi seems like a case where she would. Here's a theory: maybe Helen didn't think Femi could function on the wing without an interpreter, so she decided to leave her in solitary until they could make the arrangements to transfer the other Nigerian prisoner to Larkhall and into E Wing.

Thanks. I think this is a testament in part to just what amazing execution on the part of Simone, cast and crew with fleshing the Bad Girls universe out.

abzug - thanks for pointing out how it is similar to previous warnings, where Helen feels she's already made that point with Nikki.

I wouldn't have said she "was doing what was within her power to do," to do if I'd meant she thought she couldn't do anything for Femi. You make very valid points about why she isn't 100% able to go guns blazing into solving the problem. She has more balls to juggle than she can. I didn't put the defeatist attitude part, right. I meant she felt defeated, which was well the result of what you pointed out, that she had more to juggle, than is humanly possible. Overwhelmed is more accurate than temporarily defeated.
She also probably thought she had more time before it blew up, than it did. While she would probably make the same prioritatization stake given her lack of understanding (as you mentioned), she's still responsible for that mistake.
She's definitely not responsible for her employers' unrealistic expectations.

some of the battles, I meant she knew she wasn't winning at that time and therefore was backing down on were:
-the battle with holding her guards accountable for the extra pummeling they gave Femi.
---she'd sadly wait for the next time & hope to have a better case against them.
-getting Femi what Femi needed sooner, rather than later
-doing what she can to see thatlegislature & prison process better prepares the prison system to handle those types of inmates in the future.

yes, thanks for defending Helen. She needed defending.

Backing down isn't giving up, but it's not the same as 100% effort, either.

I thought I deleted anywhere I'd been silly enough to put "never or always". Guess I missed one. I didn't mean to imply Helen isn't capable of apology. That's what I get for tagging it on as an afterthought.

Some thoughts on why Femi wasn't moved back to the block sooner. She was still hurt and they didn't have any means of dealing with the cause of how she'd ended up on the block in the first place. I think she was kept there and not moved, because it was considered "safer." At that time place, like the Nigerian cell mate who could translate for her, in place yet. Simply putting Femi back on the block would not have stopped additional events from happening that might have meant more trouble.

In agreement with Abzug's statments about Helen being overwhelmed, she was still there because Helen hadn't had time to deal with it. With Femi on the block, Helen got to keep the guards happy, while keeping Femi safe, until . I didn't get the impression the guards were bothering Femi, while she was on the block. By the time Helen was aware not just Nikki, but the entire G-wing was up in arms, it was too late to bring Femi off the block to stop the riot.

I really like the way this debate is unfolding, everyone has so many valid points.

One of the things that really bothered me about the riot is the way it changed from something fairly peaceful into something completely out of control within a matter of minutes. This rapid change in events was all down to Maxi, but what I don't understand is how on earth she managed to swing the majority of the wing to her point of view with so little effort. At the time of the riot she hasn't been on the wing for more than a couple of days, compared to Nikki who has been there for at least a few years and had the respect of most of the women. Most of them looked up to her as a leader and held her "command" of the wing in high regard. But here we find that they all disregard Nikki's "stay still and they would have no reason to attack" in a matter of seconds, and opt to rather follow Maxi - someone whom none of them really knew. The only reason why I can think of this happening, is the fact that there must have been some form of unrest amongst the women for quite a while now (but we have no evidence of this) and the riot situation offered them a point of release. The only one who reallly seems to distance herself from the riot, is Yvonne - why? She doesn't "do scared" and just before the protest started, she proved that she could stand up to the likes of Maxi and Al.

Bodybag was also definitely in on the deal to discredit Nikki. She was on the wing at the time of the turnaround in events - surely she had to notice that Maxi stirred up, while Nikki tried to calm the situation. Nikki did not foresee that the protest would turn into a riot. And Helen wouldn't have known who to blame, was it not for the half truth relayed to her by Bodybag.

One key point in the scene is that Helen went straight off and talked to Femi through the interpreter and found out a lot about Femi's situation that was not known about. One of the tragedies is that Nikki didn't know that that was going on or she would have held off. Her attitude was that she was raising legitimate points about Femi and Helen was blanking her.

I would give Helen a lot of credit in handling the riot situation after it initially blew off. She resisted Bodybag's urgings to send in the heavy mob straightaway and wanted to see who were the spokeswomen. In other words, she knew that Nikki would be involved in some shape or form and got to hear of Maxi's presence. After that, she showed presence of mind to shift her ground enough to accommodate Nikki. In turn, Nikki was in an extraordinary conflict of position in being both 'head prefect' and 'prisoner's spokeswoman' both at the same time and was very vulnerable to being considered a 'sell out.'

One very remarkable piece of writing is where Nikki demands that 'those responsible should be disciplined' and this use of language is pure Helen. It has that exact same resonance as Helen demanding of Stubberfield that Fenner 'should be suspended pending an enquiry' and shows how much Nikki has learned from Helen, something that isn't really obvious. You compare it with the very first episode where in a similar confrontation she says that 'you should all be sacked.' No wonder why Helen went up in the air so much.

I know that we'll be covering the same ground in a few weeks time but what the hell. :lol:

I remember. I defended her in that instance. ;)

I agree that this is likely the case. In a group of 40 (?) or more people, there are bound to be some sheep in there who will follow whoever is yelling the loudest. Maxi's offering a way to exercise some of that pent up anger and it doesn't take much for them to get on board. But it is interesting to me that Nikki still manages to maintain some order, like leaving standing orders to keep inmates out of the PO's office -- which they all obey except Maxi.

I thought we were supposed to believe that beating up Al took a lot out of Yvonne, and she wasn't eager for a repeat performance. She was feeling the emotional and physical fatigue of age, and just didn't want to feel like she was at war. (quote from Abzug)

I got the feeling from Yvonne that she was 'them and us' and the time had come for a bust up with the screws and 'whatever would be would be' . There was a point where Nikki sought Yvonne's help when the PBG had got out the knives from the servery who declined to help. She asked Babs who understandably declined and then went down on her own. Right at the end, there was a reversal when Yvonne laid hold of the keys so that the PBG were 'banged up.' I thought that right at the end Nikki thought that Helen would show some sort of appreciation for that as that pretty decisevely ended the riot where, as microsoftly says, the whole thing fizzled out.

Sheep they are indeed - the moment the Peckhams are locked in their cell, the riot seems to fizzle and die. The only thing that remains is informing Helen that the riot is over. Actually, thinking about it now, Helen was probably bricking it - not only was she unsure just how out of control the situation could get - but also about sending in the "heavies" who would go out hard for the ring leaders... No!!! Nikki!!! :eek (No wonder the poor women was holding out on sending in the riot squad as a means to end the whole thing!) Helen must be the most complicated character ever!

I think you may be right. She's really endlessly fascinating.

I had a look at the riot sequence again last night and picked up on a few interesting things that I hadn't noticed before or forgot all about. Crystal is in fact the one planting the biggest seed, when she says "we should have a protest or something", because she's now sort of viewed as the expert on passive resistance after her hunger strike. Before Nikki gets up on the chair, they (Nikki, Barbara, the Julies and Crystal) are having a discussion in the background (we can only see them, but not hear them), probably discussing the approach they should take and appointing Nikki as the spokesperson. Only then does Nikki get up on the chair. Nikki asks for assurances, and Bodybag says "assurances, my eye", thereby provoking the situation that results in the sit out.

When Helen gets on the wing to find out what is going on, Nikki is still the spokesperson despite the fact that Maxi sort of took over a few minutes ago and got everyone up on the 3s. At this point it is also clear that Maxi has got other ideas about this protest/riot, because she and her two evil twins are scheming in the background while the rest of the wing backs Nikki's comments about Femi. Unbeknown to her, Nikki is a pawn in Maxi's plan. Nikki is psyching everyone up, so Maxi only has to introduce a very small catalyst (throwing water onto Helen) to set them all off.

The whole time Nikki (as spokesperson) was talking to Helen during this scene, I got the feeling there was a subtext going on between the two of them. The spoken word was all about Femi, but it was as if the subtext or unspoken dialogue was something like "you and your stupid job, I thought you cared" from Nikki and "I can't believe you're doing this to me" from Helen. Throughout the whole dialogue exchange they make direct eye contact for most of the time, Helen only looks around every now and then. The same goes for their follow up discussions during the riot. It is as if all the other characters in these scenes fade into the background - very intense and most probably used to tell the viewer the writing's on the wall for N&H.

I think Maxi wouldn't have been able to take over the protest so quickly if the prison guards hadn't acted aggressively. The prisoners seem to decide to go with Maxi after they see the group of unfamiliar, ominous looking prison officers standing at the gate being egged on by Sylvia. It's ironic that Sylvia really is the cause of the riot in s1e1 and a major cause of the riot in this episode.
Also, my impression of Nicki in the riot episodes is that she is the least violent character in the mix. I think it is significant that we don't see her hit an officer during the initial melee. She just pushes one out of her way as she is running to the staircase. I think these two episodes show that she really has learned to control her temper in her time at Larkhall and I don't think Helen sees this.

Welcome to the board, oedi! I think in a way, it's not ironic at all, but very intentional, that Sylvia was at the root of these two wing blow-ups. Fenner may be an evil sadist, but Sylvia's total laziness and incompetence is nearly as destructive. In a way, Sylvia and Fenner are both examples of extreme lack of caring. Fenner because he's a sociopath and therefore cares nothing for anyone else's feelings and experience, and Sylvia because she regards the prisoners as sub-human and therefore not worth her caring, energy, interest etc. Depending on the episode, I keep changing my mind as to which one of the two is the most evil and horrific.

Totally!!! And that's what makes the whole sequence of events so tragic! As much as people complain about S3 (and I've been known to do it myself), there is a brilliance in the whole riot storyline, in terms of how it shows the individual journeys Helen and Nikki have made, and then the upswing and then downswing of their relationship. It's hard to imagine another event or storyline which could have been quite this revealing.

When I read this it reminded me of another thread (can't remember which one, though) where you so fittingly compared Shaz's actions to the workings of Helen's mind and inner turmoil. Of course I then had to make the jump and compare the two sides of the riot with Helen and Nikki's respective inner workings at this stage... whereas the prisoners represent Nikki's and the POs represent Helen's. This might be a HUGE leap and I'm finding it hard to express these weird thoughts of mine into words, but bear with me. I'll attempt to make certain examples which might just be able to explain it on my behalf.

The POs as representative of Helen's inner world is probably the easiest to tackle. They represent her thoughts that she's always trying to control. Bodybag is the rebel thought that always comes in from the sideline, the thought that won't conform with the rest of the thoughts. Helen has to be so much harder on this thought to keep it in line. Gina represents Helen's heart. She enters and says "Nikki Wade wants to see you" - and immediately Helen leaves all her thoughts behind and rushes to the scene. On instinct, Helen's heart overrules her thoughts.

Nikki's situation is a bit harder to tackle as the prison characters have so much more dynamics amongst them than the POs at the time of the riot. (Also I can't quite remember who did what, but I'll try my best!) The PBG represents Nikki's violent streak - that part of her that acts before thinking. And in the same way that Nikki is trying to control the PBG, she's also trying to control this (negative?) characteristic in herself. Caroline would then represent Helen in Nikki's life. She steps in and with her help and support the violent trait is under control. Caroline also then embodies Nikki's longing to be with Helen, to be touched by her, loved by her, comforted by her. The fact that Caroline is a nonce highlights the fact in Nikki's inner world that she can't be with Helen - that it's off limits, not allowed within their current context. I would say that Yvonne represents Nikki's voice of reason - that little voice that keeps nagging at her conscience to withdraw from the riot, to not make matters worse. Femi of course would represent Nikki's sense of justice. This sense of justice is taken away, removed from the scenario just as it was for Nikki. Although Nikki tried, she couldn't focus solely on the injustice as the riot was threatening to run out of control and she had to refocus her attention to try and control it somewhat.

"The POs as representative of Helen's inner world is probably the easiest to tackle. They represent her thoughts that she's always trying to control. Bodybag is the rebel thought that always comes in from the sideline, the thought that won't conform with the rest of the thoughts. Helen has to be so much harder on this thought to keep it in line."



Helen's inner world is a rich topic. I think Sylvia may represent Helen's ambitious side which is something Helen fights through all three series. There is a part of Helen that would like to lock down her feelings so she can concentrate on her career just like Sylvia would like to lock down the prisoners so she doesn't have to deal with them. Oh wait it's becoming clearer to me.
Through most of series 2 and the beginning of series 3 Helen really has been suppressing her ambition. If you think back to series 1 Helen had two goals: 1) to advocate for the women of G-wing 2) to advance her career in the prison system. Sean is supportive of her in the second goal. He is supportive of her ambition. His support is always about how to fight the old-boy network, how to deal with Fenner or Stubblefield. Rarely do we hear them talk about Helen's desire to help the women. When she does mention it he dismissively tells her she sounds like their mother as a segueway to his marriage proposal. Her discussions with him are about how to succeed in the system. Nikki is supportive of Helen's first goal but Nikki doesn't trust in series 1 that Helen won't sacrifice the first goal to the second goal. Helen will tell herself that she is taking an action for the good of the women but she is motived by her ambition to succeed as well. When Helen chooses Nikki at the end of series 1 she is choosing to focus on her desire to do good rather than her ambition to succeed. That's part of the "where [she] wants to be" when she comes back at the beginning of series 2.
I think Helen struggles with her ambition off and on until she is made acting wing governor. Then the ambitious side of her takes over--the side that will lock out her feelings in order to succeed at the job. And what's the first thing she does? Appoint BB--the officer who is so in favor of locking down anyone who is inconvenient. I think Nikki is aware of Helen's tendency to do this and that is why she is not enthused about Helen's promotion.
Nikki turns out to be right. Helen's reactions to Nikki's concerns about Femi are really over the top. She shuts Nikki out completely because she is now focussed on succeeding in some larger sense rather than concentrating on the problems of one woman on G-wing. Helen's struggle is to find a balance between the distraction of focussing on the immediate/helping Femi or finding success on a much larger and visible level and making systemic changes to Larkhall. I think it is important to keep in mind that each time Helen helps Femi it is in response to her being pushed to do something by Nikki. And Femi finally gets the only help that will improve her situation--the translator--because Helen is pushed by the protest/Nikki to take action.
What I really have a hard time with is how cruel Helen is to Nikki. I mean, I know Nikki was very rude at the end season two when she became so jealous of Dominic. But somehow Nikki calling Helen a "two-faced twat" didn't seem nearly as cruel as when Helen says to Nikki that it's over and she's not even sorry about it. Actually, you can see the shift in Helen right about the time she decides to send the prison officers in to break up the riot. Helen may not be wearing riot gear but she has made the decision to put an emotional shield between herself and Nikki. Does it feel so final because this is the moment when Helen gives in to her ambition and we know if she does that it really is over between her and Nikki? It's been Helen's struggle from the very beginning (maybe even more of a struggle than her sexuality) and now Nikki has lost?
So many questions, so little time. I'm off to work.

oops. I think it was actually "two-faced tart" that Nikki called Helen at the end of series 2. Which actually seems even less viscious to me. Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the slang to understand the impact of the insult.

I don't think it was just the insult itself, but the fact that Nikki absolutely refused to listen to Helen's explanation of what had happened, refused to believe that Helen was only interested in her and not in any guy, and fundamentally disrespected Helen on every single level. Whether she called her a two-faced tart or a fucking bitch is almost besides the point, because she's not talking to Shell Dockley here, she's talking to her lover. I mean, I've never called my girlfriend a name at all!

That said, Helen's breakup with Nikki after the riot is also cruel, and, like the two-faced tart comment, happens in the heat of the moment. In both instances, each is negating the feelings of the other, and the importance of their relationship.

Oedi's comments certainly explore a rich vein of the competing impulses warring for control of Helen which is rightly described. Helen might have expected that Nikki should trust in her to produce a solution to the problem but there wasn't the sense of unspoken communication which was noticable in Series 1 - 2.

I'm not sure if it has been said before but I've always had the feeling that Shed wrote Bodybag as the female version of the archetypal reactionary cop, the sort of Mayor Daley figure who sent in the cops with tear gas, water cannon and clubs at the first opportunity rather than use reason. You have the feeling that Shed has that sense of history. The sight of the prison officers all dressed up in riot gear had that sinister feel about it, especially when Helen emerged once as their leader.

For me, Helen was most certainly the root cause of the riot. I would posit that it was Helen who had betrayed Nikki. There was no betrayal on Nikki's part. Helen had totally thrown out the helpmate concept that she had so carefully fostered starting in S1: I need your help…Nikki, please keep an eye on things…etc.

I do agree that Helen's anger and frustration was fueled by guilt. Did she understand that at the time? My guess is that she did not. She was shooting from the hip and behaving like the Nikki of old …at least to the same degree that Nikki was rationally behaving like her.

Abzug's statement regarding the "perfect storm" of personality and events comes into play after Helen's "betrayal" as well as Richard's concise observation that "… Shed wrote for every non violent protest that turns nasty when Bodybag and their like, in suppressing demands for reform end up with revolution"

Now, in the aftermath, Helen (on a personal level) has to deal with her career and Thomas -- which was detrimental to Nikki who had no idea what was going on in Helen's life except she knew she had been tossed aside in no uncertain terms. To say that Helen was an emotional mess would be an understatement. I agree with Richard's statement that "Oedi's comments certainly explore a rich vein of the competing impulses warring for control of Helen which is rightly described."

Enter Caroline and the Nikki-Helen-Caroline triangle. I particularly like Microsofty's take on this: "Caroline…embodies Nikki's longing to be with Helen, to be touched by her, loved by her, comforted by her. The fact that Caroline is a nonce highlights the fact in Nikki's inner world that she can't be with Helen - that it's off limits, not allowed within their current context."

I like this post of Yankeelady. It has been rightfully observed that Nikki's anger will get to boiling point but that it does take a certain amount of provocation before it gets to that point. While her tone of voice in private negotiations with Helen was sometimes impatient, the comparison with the protest in the very first episode shows how much more controlled her reactions were and how she kept the lid on how she felt. Even in her public negotiations (from the top of the 3s) Nikki's language is strikingly different than first time around. This idea of 'role reversal' puts it very succinctly.

It is ironic that while Helen undoubtedly saw 'history repeating itself', she was not to know how reluctant Nikki was to get involved in the first place and, likewise, Nikki never saw Helen behind the scenes reining back Bodybag and urging restraint.

"Now, in the aftermath, Helen (on a personal level) has to deal with her career and Thomas -- which was detrimental to Nikki who had no idea what was going on in Helen's life except she knew she had been tossed aside in no uncertain terms. To say that Helen was an emotional mess would be an understatement." Yankeelady

It occurred to me that the reason we get so little of Nikki's story in the penultimate three episodes of series 3 is that we see in the riot episodes that Nikki has learned what she needs to know to earn her freedom. She had learned how to recognize and control her violent impulses, even if they are justifiable. The riot episodes show us that it is Helen who has not arrived at the self-knowledge she needs to move past what has limited her in the past--her reluctance to recognize and honor her feelings.

"It is ironic that while Helen undoubtedly saw 'history repeating itself', she was not to know how reluctant Nikki was to get involved in the first place..." Richard

I thought Nikki finally did get involved because she thought she could make the inevitable protest go more smoothly. In her mind it was similar to when she dealt with Monica's suicide attempt. She believed she could defuse the situation and make it easier for Helen.