Lyndsy Fonseca and Dillon Casey

Alex is about to get a major setback on Nikita.

On Friday's episode (9/8c, The CW), Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) gets shot in the shoulder during a Division mission. The injury itself shouldn't cause that much trouble. After all, she's survived witnessing her father's murder, a debilitating drug addiction and being a sex slave. A little bullet in the shoulder shouldn't be a big deal, right?

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"It's the beginning of a downward spiral for Alex because she is in so much pain from this wound that she can't go out on these missions out in the field and be a part of everything," Fonseca tells "That's really the only thing that's keeping her together: the fact that she had a purpose. She's with her family, the only people she knows and trusts. And when this happens, it's going to make her stop and evaluate some things. She's going to end up unfortunately making a few bad decisions."

Check out what else Alex is dealing with this season on Nikita:

In last week's episode, Alex identified with the abducted Liza and had an emotional awakening. How will this affect her going forward?
Lyndsy Fonseca:
She doesn't want to bond with this girl. Instead, she deals with the parents. That actually gives her a lot of healing and closure because she's dealing with parents that have lost their child and all of those things that were very similar to Alex's mom not knowing that she was even alive. It actually brings out a lot of vulnerability for Alex. As it continues, that vulnerability will play out in another way.

That experience also brought her closer to Nikita (Maggie Q), who had rescued Alex. They've had some rough patches in the past, but how loyal is Alex to Nikita now?
Completely. They're in a great place. I feel like that there's no more secrets. I feel like everything has been put out onto the table, like the fact that [Nikita] went out on a mission to kill [Alex's] father. All of those big things that were hiding from each other have been dealt with. It's a really great place for them this season because they're very connected and in this to clean up Division and be on the same page. It's more of an adult friendship.

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Alex not only gets to go undercover, but this season she has a sort of overt cover, the celebrity persona of her real self, Alexandra Udinov. How do you approach playing that version of her?
That's probably what she would have become if she hadn't had such tragedy and hadn't had her life go in such crazy, different path. But it would be so much less of an effort, it would just be that's who she is. So when I play Alex doing that celebrity, it's a little uncomfortable. So much of her life has been hiding in the shadows and on the streets [and] in the basement of Division. So even though she might seem like she's enjoying it, it's really annoying. ... But this celebrity, having all this money, also gives her this power that she didn't usually have in Division. So I think it sparks something in her to be a little bit more adult, a little bit more outspoken, having her own point of view instead of always being told.

In the last episode, she also introduced herself as Special Agent Pierce. Pierce is the last name of her relatively new love interest and fellow agent Sean (Dillon Casey). Is that choice of names indicative of where Alex's headspace is?
If she's going undercover, then everything has been methodically planned out of course, but I think she probably forgot about the name thing and it just came out. It's like, "Oh wow, why did I decide to say that?" I'm excited for people to see the relationship that Alex and Sean are going to have. It does feel nice, but it's not going to be easy.

So they're going strong coming into this season?
I wouldn't say that, no. I think they're trying to navigate through [dating]. They clearly care about each other. But how do they do that with this life? And Sean doesn't want to be there at Division. I think in his mind, he wants to go off on honeymoon with a beautiful wife. She's just not going to do that. That's not what's right for her, and that's what's going to cause some conflict.

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On a lighter note, we see more Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford) and Sonya (Lyndie Greenwood) interactions in Friday's episode. How are they going to be dealing with each other this season?
They are  the cutest ever. I'm like so obsessed with their characters on the show. They're the best of all of the couples. I'm excited for people to see them. And Sonya's got secrets, so that's going to come out and play out for the rest of the group. It mostly affects Birkhoff of course.

Should we all join up with Division? Everybody seems to find love there!
Totally, right? Forget about online dating. Go to Division.

What kind of trouble do you think Alex will get into? Are you gunning for Birkhoff and Sonya? Watch this preview of Nikita's Friday episode "True Believer," airing at 9/8c on The CW: