Cade has a chance to speak to Nostradamus when a Rhode Island waitress begins channeling the quatrains.
(U.S. Premiere February 6, 2000)
Written by Daniel Howard Cerone
Directed by Jorge Montesi
GUEST STARS
Sarah Chalke -- Chloe Wells
Katharine Isabelle -- Denise Young
Bob Frazer -- Barlow
Clay St. Thomas -- Arthur Hewitt
Art Kitching -- Grady
WHAT HAPPENED
In Cranston, Rhode Island, two young women -- Chloe Wells and Denise Young -- stumble out of buck-a-beer night at McKinley's, a local bar.
As they lurch home, Chloe turns maudlin. Telling Denise they are nothing but "bugs on the windshield", she wanders into the road and is struck by a car.
A few minutes later, paramedics struggle to restart Chloe's heart. As they shine a flashlight in her eyes, she sits up and delivers a strange poem about a "twice-blessed man" . . . (more spoilers)
ANALYSIS
"The Channel" is a surprisingly warm-hearted story that gets a lot of mileage out of three of its guest characters. There's nothing special about Chloe, Denise and Barlow, but this ordinariness accounts for a lot of their charm.
Chloe and Denise are completely typical waitresses in an unusual situation. Their response is decidedly unheroic: Denise is looking for the fortune in "fortune telling," and while Chloe senses a higher purpose in her sudden gift of prophecy, she has no idea what it is.
Once Cade arrives on the scene, Denise's hostile reaction is perfectly understandable. Cade may or may not be a madman or a charlatan, but his immediate bonding with Chloe threatens Denise's position as best friend.
Her petty reaction causes dangerous plot complications, but Chloe and Denise's affection for each other is so well-played that it's easy to feel sympathetic for Denise.
As for Barlow, he's surprisingly charming and intelligent for a relatively minor character. His warm relationship with Denise also casts her in a much better light.
Maybe it's mood swings?
Cade doesn't come off as well in this episode. There's nothing wrong with his learning a lesson about patience and persistence, but we've been seeing a lot of these moral lessons lately.
If Cade were in a continuous funk over several episodes, it would be a believable character arc. But the First Wave formula demands resolution at the end of the hour, which leaves Cade swinging wildly back and forth between depression and newfound determination.
Nostradamus is also a bit of a disappointment. His message may give Cade hope, but it doesn't really tell the audience anything new.
With a little advance planning, the First Wave crew could have tossed out several hints about later episodes for fans to chew over. It's too bad they didn't take advantage of the opportunity.
WHAT WE LEARN
Joshua's position at home may be more precarious than he thinks.
DANGLING PLOT THREADS
One more time: How does a long-dead poet and spy know so much about the aliens? Is "Nostradamus" really a mask for something else? Will we ever know?
REALITY CHECK
You'd think a cop would be considerably more suspicious of a "TV news crew" from a station he presumably has never heard of -- especially since cops regularly cross paths with local reporters.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK WHEN . . .
Cade infiltrates an elite military training facility to expose a Gua plot among the Armed Forces in "Red Flag".
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