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 Nicole Carter: Ya Think?
The first season episode Blood Ties (113), although primarily an exposition of Jesse Kilmartin's relationship with his father, also introduced one of the season's most intriguing characters. Nicole Carter is the security chief (and apparently also the president, chief of operations, PR manager, and general dogsbody) of Genomex's main rival Nexxogen. She is, therefore, the closest person the series offers to a character who is the equal of Eckhart. After twelve episodes in which Eckhart only interacts with either hapless, inept underlings, the entrance of Carter is a marked difference.
The episode begins with Eckhart being confronted by one of these hapless, inept  underlings. Eckhart orders that the man, Calvin Porter, never speak to him again without being asked, and Porter is suitably chastened. However, when Eckhart is told that Nicole Carter is in the building, something remarkably akin to fear passes over his face.
Carter is not a woman to be in awe of Eckhart. She argues with his assistant, demands his attention, and directs their conversation, essentially telling Eckhart what he should do - putting Eckhart in the  traditional "underling" position. She so assumes the traditional 'Eckhart" position, that it is Eckhart who appears to be an incompetent dolt, and Carter who gets the witty lines, "Ya think?!?" being the most obvious. This is despite the fact that Eckhart's company is in a superior position to Nexxogen, having bailed them out over the shady Martes Incident. Carter is obviously not the kind of person whose intellect is fogged with gratitude. She perceives that there is a serious and imminent danger to both of their companies, that Eckhart has the resources to rectify the situation, and that there is no time to lose.
The character of Carter is at odds with every other character in Mutant X, with the exception of Eckhart. She is older than perhaps all of the regular characters, and certainly on a par with Eckhart and Adam. She is competent, intelligent, and professional. She does not bare her midriff, or win arguments by sleeping with her opponent, unlike the majority of females in Mutant X. Unfortunately, after this opening scene, the rest of the episode's events go to discredit her.
Her company's security admits Emma deLauro and Shalimar Fox to the building, despite no one ever having seen them before, their dress looking unprofessional, and their security clearance being faulty. Then, they let the two escape. Finally, after all of Carter's (and Eckhart's) plans have failed, Carter finds herself barred from Nexxogen, unemployed, and begging Eckhart for help. To her credit, she still has enough dignity to storm out rather than accept a position as an underling.
Carter was a fascinating character, and was punished in the end mainly for Eckhart's own failures. Because Mutant X destroyed the coveted information, neither Nexxogen nor Genomex was exposed to the public, and the status quo should have remained. Admittedly, Carter had bad judgement in hiring Noah Kilmartin in the first place, but Eckhart is hardly one to preach on bad hiring practices. It would have been wonderful had Carter stayed on as an underling, offering sarcastic comments on Eckhart's plans, or even as a full-blown enemy, but sadly the character was never to recur.
Nicole Carter was played by acclaimed stage actress Chick Reid - the wife of actor Tom McCamus (Mason Eckhart). When Ground Control met them both at the Stratford festival, 2002, we asked Tom about the experience...
From the Ground Control Interview, Stratford 2002.
Ground Control: We wanted to ask you about the episode you did with Chick. I don’t know if this is true, but we were watching it and thinking that you guys are definitely cracking up.
Tom: We didn’t crack up too much. I had a good time. It was great to do that with her. There was a couple of times where she would do something and on the other side I would look like I was laughing because I could see that she’d made a mistake or I’d made a mistake or something like that, but no, we weren’t laughing.
Ground Control: How did that happen? Was it just coincidence?
Tom: Well, a bit of both. They’re always looking for new people and Chick’s an actress in the city and they brought her in. She auditioned for it and they liked her, and they thought it would be fun to have the husband and wife do something.
Ground Control: It was definitely interesting to see someone who could stand up to Eckhart and not get thrown in a stasis pod.
Tom: I know, she doesn’t get that. She was hoping that maybe she could get a job as maybe the person who cleans up around the place.
Lonelywalker
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