Spy Game

Spy Game was a 1997 American action-adventure series that aired on the ABC television network. It follows ex-CIA agent Lorne Cash (Linden Ashby) and his rookie partner Maxine "Max" London (Allison Smith) as they work for E.C.H.O., a small government agency that polices rogue former secret agents (mostly laid off from the CIA and KGB) in the aftermath of the Cold War. Created by director Sam Raimi (along with his older brother Ivan), the series was meant to be a fresh and hip update of 1960s spy shows but was cancelled after only nine episodes.

You Just Can't Trust Anybody These Days (Season 1, Episode 5)
General Sam Wellish (Ben Masters) and the Vice President (Aaron Lustig) plan to assassinate the President. The assassin is Max, who was unknowingly brainwashed by Wellish while the two were working on a secret mind-control project. Welsh can place Max into an obedient trance by flicking his lighter three times in a row.

To create chaos in advance of the assassination, Wellish orders Max to kill Agent Hendricks (Barney McFadden) and frame Cash for it; the attempt fails but Hendricks still assume that Cash was behind the attempt. Cash and Micah (Bruce McCary) realize that Max is acting strangely and link her to the old mind control program. Max realizes that she's the assassin, but when she goes to confront Wellish, he hypnotizes her.

Mocha thwarts the original assassination attempt, so Wellish sends Max out to kill the President as he attempts to flee by car. Cash manages to catch her at the last moment and, using a lighter, is able to free her from her programming. Welsh, the Vice President, and the other conspirators are arrested.