Jason Bourne and Nicky Parsons...

I think its entirely plausible that they had a relationship. I find it more intriguing than the Marie storyline - that's just standard guy & girl meet, fall madly in love, defeat the bad guys & live happily ever after. Great until they made a sequel & they needed to get rid of Marie.
From Nicky's pov., in the first movie, Bourne shows up at his apartment with a strange woman, having gone m.i.a. for a couple of weeks. I know women who would not only have been printing the wanted posters but would be handing them out on the streets if that had been their fella!! His handlers [her bosses] are telling everyone he's totally lost the plot, she doesn't know any different and he doesn't ask her for help....
In Supremacy, he asks for her specifically - she asks him why he came back [which one would if they had been involved somehow] & tells him that she believed him & told the CIA what he wanted. He's already threatened to kill her & very nearly does - would make one think twice about saying 'and btw, you forgot my birthday or whatever...'
In Ultimatum, he shows up and she asks him, again, why did he come back & then she drops the hint of something - which clearly he doesn't remember, so she leaves it. Initially, it seems that she doesn't intend to go with him - I think she just offered him her car & the info. on the chap he's looking for. He drags her out with him and she looks really surprised when he says '*we* can catch the boat'.
What's interesting about it is that she knew him when he was a happy assassin & then when he wasn't - that's a really interesting angle. Don't we all hope that we will be remembered by the people we care about??? What the relationship was is left unclear - they could have been friends, casual lovers or romantically involved etc., etc. Although, I don't think it was anything to do with his induction into the programme - simply because it seems like she'd be too young.
And OT a bit - I've just watched the three movies for the first time in years. I could swear that I remember in Supremacy, at one point, Landy asking Nicky something along the lines of 'if she liked him' & Nicky gets all squirrely about it [I think its in a car] and there's a scene of him & Landy in a hospital of some kind - neither were on the dvd I recently watched. Am I having my very own reverse 'Bourne' moment - anyone able to help???



And townsfolk wonder why I sleep in on Sundays

I must agree with muzicole for the most part. There is clearly nothing definitive pointing to Bourne and Parsons having a romantic history together. It's quite likely that if there was no history that she could easily have developed emotions and attachment towards him. They psychological impact of what she has experienced involving him would make it hard for her not to grow attached to him in many different ways. She feels for him on many different levels. She feels sorry for him for what he's going through, and somewhat guilty that she had a hand in it. He can be seen as a symbol that no matter what you've done you can still change and overcome any obstacle. For her that seems particularly relevant since it becomes clear that she does not agree with what the CIA is doing anymore. Her character has evolved SO much throughout the series, and her willingness to go against the agency increasing throughout. Regardless of whether they were implying a past relationship or emotions developed further along I feel it is likely that they wanted to use her as a piece in the sequel. I for one feel like many people were intrigued by the dynamic between Bourne and Parsons. There seemed to be quite a bit of subtle emphasis placed on the quiet scenes of them staring into each others eyes. Whenever it seemed like the tension between them was mounting too much then Bourne shifts to talking about something else, especially when he tells her she will have to run now. You can see it all over her face that she was really lost in the moment with him pouring his heart out about his past. She has both empathy and admiration for him and it really comes through. The shock and realization when he tells her she will have to run now is quite sudden and you can almost see what she's thinking. I one do not believe that the people involved in the film would emphasize the dynamic between the two of them to such an extent unless they had plans for the storyline in the future. I dare not venture a guess as to what will befall our hero in his future endeavors, but I find it highly likely that Parsons will come into play. Do I think the next movie will open with Bourne and Parsons living happily together somewhere remote? No, I know the writers wouldn't want to rehash that same scenario that they played out with Bourne and Marie. It does however seem that the women throughout these movies have played key roles in Bourne's evolution, and I doubt that will be left out in any future film. I suspect that Landy and Parsons will both be heavily involved in the next Bourne film. Landy seems headed up the chain of command over at Langly with Noah Voson and Ezra Kramer both seemingly getting the axe at the end of Ultimatum. If that is the case it is possible that Bourne may view Landy as a friend or at least a possible ally. Maybe something will happen with Parsons that pulls Bourne out of hiding. Someone could go after Parsons as a way to flush out Bourne because of some grudge they developed for him through all of his killing and outing of corruption within the CIA. Who knows what exactly will happen in the next film, but it's fun to speculate. I only hope that they can keep up the BEST and most intelligent action, thriller, spy series to date. I for one am confident that Greengrass and Damon plus many others will do anything and everything they can not to be the ones who ruined this masterpiece trilogy. Best of luck to all of them, and I have the utmost confidence in their future work together. :)

God damn it!...
This might seem petty but i couldn't let it go while reading your post.
It's the STOCKHOLM SYNDROME not the HELSINKI SYNDROME.
Helsinki = Finland
Stockholm = Sweden
A bank robbery occured in Stokholm in the '70s. The kidnapped identified with the kidnapper.

And no, i don't believe Nicky's got the "Helsinki" syndrome.
I got the feeling through all of the movies that they had a thing, before it all. But then again, just my guess which isn't that much of worth.
And the development of Nicky from the first to the last movie could be taken in both the "relationship" or "Stockholm syndrome" way. So your guess is as good as mine


"Time is all we have"

I think chernyshevsky puts a very plausible case. I always read her line " it was hard for me, with you" as meaning that at some point in his training she either inadvertantly started to have feelings for him and hated what was being done to him. Or , as above but in addition , she had to play some part in it. God knows, the guys who ran the training operations would have done anything to anybody and used anybody in any way to fufill their ends.

I always thought however, that his line "it gets easier" referred to the running and hiding stuff which she was just about to descend into. I can see that it might mean getting used to losing someone gets easier, though....

I haven't read all the comments here but I am forced to respond to people who have watched the movie but not really watched it but say that there was nothing going on between Nicky and Jason.

It's clear as daylight after Nicky says "....it was difficult for me...with you".
The eye contact and emotions she is feeling and the realization on Jason Bourne's face is so clearly visible.
The absolute certainty that they shared a romantic relationship is when Nicky asks Jason "So you don't remember anything?"

So now that I've said it....this debate is settled once and for all :)

I personally think even without the film maker confirming it (which he has done) was that it was meant to be ambiguous and it was left up to the audience to think and decide what they think it may have been. Stiles absolutely nails the scene and makes several possibilities plausible.

I personally assumed a more brother to sister like relationship but can certainly see how one can assume it could have been a romantic relationship. One could suggest that she had simply had a crush on him, but I think unless you assume she is lying and trying to manipulate him (which she has little reason to do) it was a direct relationship that Bourne certainly new about. Anything beyond that and there are reasons to believe they where lovers, close friends or numerous other possibilities. I like this as it means I pay more attention to details on repeat viewings and I fell more films would benefit from such story telling. We don't need to be spoon feed are given definitive answers to everything. In fact it may seem odd but this is what I remember most about the film.

All this makes me wish they would drop the nonsense of the disappointing 4th film, get Greengrass and Damon back and do a 'proper' follow up to ultimatum if they are going to keep the series going. Sadly it looks like we shall see the series continue the story of Aaron Cross and the he and the forth film simply where colossal disappointments for myself. Hopefully the story of Aaron gets more interesting and maybe it will as there is a new writer I believe (and hopefully a new director).


Film Reverie: http://filmreverie.blogspot.com.au/
My film diary: http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/

The scene you mentioned implies something happened, but nothing before indicates they had any connection other than professional and that is the problem.




Will Graham: I don't find you that interesting.
Hannibal Lecter: You will.

****

I think it comes down to what the viewer takes it as.......

End of the day, Bourne was not some 9-5 desk jobsworth.... he was a highly trained agent waiting 24 hours a day for the call for his next mission and sent around the world to perform a kill, and not kills as in just showing up with a gun, and "BANG" job is done.... like the Wombosi mission, from what we gather that was months/weeks in planning.

So if Nicky and Bourne had a office romance, it was either very breif, or it was one way (ie she towards him).

My take on it is, she knew him from the beginning but kept it professional (after all, he was in his 30's and she was only something like 21-ish... chance there was some kind of teen crush on her part, but end of the day it was all business......) and during the events in Supremacy and Ultimatum she basically fell for Bourne the same way Marie fell for him..... felt sorry for him (only it was hard for Nicky, as she knew him before and knew what he was like).

End of the day, I am glad they didn't make a bigger deal of it than they had to in the movie (I think that would have been very disrespectful to Marie)