USA Network treated "La Femme Nikita" rather shabbily last Sunday -- virtually tossing away its three-part series finale by scheduling it over two weeks and interrupting the flow of the final two hours with episodes of "The War Next Door" and "Manhattan, AZ." It deserved better than a quick, ugly cancellation.

Now, almost belatedly, it's getting a new lease: a round of eight episodes to debut early next year, with Peta Wilson in the title role.

Other cast members will also appear in an as yet unknown number of episodes.

USA, which had balked at terms for renewing "Nikita," reconsidered after complaints by fans and critics (which mattered little) and an analysis of the less-than-spectacular ratings for its newest slate of series (which mattered a lot).

This sudden change of heart and unexpected invitation back into the fold ironically mirrors the recent plot twists of "Nikita" itself.

Wilson's Nikita, at the start of this fourth season, was reprogrammed by her superiors -- Eugene R. Glazer's Operations and Alberta Watson's Madeline -- into a ruthless killer with no compassion even for Michael (Roy Dupuis), her secret lover and superior operative. Among other things, this toughened Peta's edge, and slinked her wardrobe down to Emma Peel-ish proportions.

Michael risked his own life to capture and deprogram her, and escaped his own death sentence only by pitting the agency's two main powers against each other. By the end of the season, no one could be trusted and even Nikita was two-faced, in a literal sense. She turned Michael over to the enemy, stole and erased her own computer records as an operative, then had prosthetic work to make herself look like another Section spy -- so that she could return to her old headquarters, spy on her bosses, observe the hunt for her, and, in effect, hide in plain sight.

In practical terms, this seemed like an easy way to write Wilson out of the series -- except that once Michael saw through Nikita's charade, her voice returned to normal and, soon thereafter, so did her face. Michael and Nikita fled Section to find peace and get away from the spy life -- but that, too, was a temporary respite.

And with "La Femme Nikita" coming back next year, the break won't be for long.

- DAVID BIANCULLI