Cade must overcome the prejudices of an Indian elder when he investigates the Gua’s interest in establishing casinos on Indian reservations.
(First aired in the U.S. on April 9, 2000)
| Ah, That Native Wisdom |
| Lonetree: We ask you for four things. Fear, so we don't underestimate our opponent; knowledge, so we will fight successfully; conviction, so we will fight with the certainty that our cause is correct, and compassion, so we see ourselves in our enemies. |
Lonetree: There's the door, it opens easy if you turn the knob. |
Nostradamus Says
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| |  | "In the woods of Winchala,
A cimmis lights the flame of affliction.
Elders set the course,
To choose wrongly will mean woe."Quatrain 43, Century 9 |
Written by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein
Directed by Jorge Montesi
GUEST STARS
Adam Beach -- Alex Sherman
Carmen Moore -- Alex’s assistant
Brent Stait -- Dan McGwire
Graham Greene -- Lonetree
WHAT HAPPENED
A Native American elder named Lonetree prays to the spirits before a campfire. He’s interrupted by Alex Sherman, who is worried that Lonetree hasn’t eaten in four days.
Lonetree isn’t impressed by his concern. "What’s so important about progress – so you can be like the white man? Just remember, a deal with the devil is no deal at all," he asks.
The younger man leaves, telling Lonetree that he hopes the elder sees a spirit before he sees the inside of an ambulance.
Alex may be skeptical, but Lonetree does see a vision. He sees a wolf running through the forest.
In his vision, a native woman speaks to him, showing him a word written in the ground: "Gua." (more
)
ANALYSIS
"Prayer for the White Man" is a good showcase for Graham Greene, one of the great Native American actors, but it doesn’t have much to say about gambling or alien invasion. This may qualify as the most ineffective Gua plot yet to appear on First Wave .
Writers Chris Brancato -- the series' creator -- and Paul Eckstein make desultory attempts to build a case against gambling on tribal land, but the drawbacks they cite are unconvincing even to cranky science fiction reviewers who hate gambling.
The best they come up with is the claim that gambling spawns addiction, crime and suicide in communities with casinos. This may be true – though these problems tend to affect the tourists who patronize the casino rather than the native croupiers – but they don’t compare with the poverty and misery that afflicts most Indian reservations.
All this and Tom Jones shows too
The benefits Alex cites for
are accurate: tribal casinos have improved the lives of the people running them.
Connecticut’s Foxwoods casino –an exceptionally successful venture -- has brought the Mashantucket Pequot a centralized water system, better electric service, health care, private schooling, and a cultural center to preserve their heritage.
The income brought in by the casino has also allowed the Pequot to diversify into other business holdings. The tribe now owns a pharmaceutical company, a shipbuilding company and several inns and hotels.
Casino gambling may well be an evil thing – it alters or destroys the economies of surrounding communities, and the proliferation of casinos may soon saturate the gambling market – but so far they have been an unambiguous blessing for the tribes that have invested in them.
Anybody want to sing a spiritual?
Unfortunately, Brancato and Eckstein didn’t do their homework. Instead of trying to present the real issues, they suggest that the Winchala are much better off rejecting the casinos and remaining poor but spiritual.
That’s not only sloppy, that’s patronizing. As Alex himself says, progress doesn’t preclude spirituality.
Television’s job is to entertain, of course – informing is a rare extra in this business. But Brancato and Eckstein’s thoughtless stance on casinos hurts the story they want to tell.
Had the Gua succeeded this week, the Winchala tribe would have become wealthier, healthier and wiser. With better education, rewarding careers and diversified investments, they would have the economic base necessary to bring their culture into bloom.
If you’re trying to conquer somebody, aren't strength and self-reliance the last things you want them to be learning?
WHAT WE LEARN
Entities that Native American peoples identify as spirits exist, and at least one of them considers the Gua a threat to the tribe it protects.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Was McGwire working for the Gua? Did he know it?
Will more bounty hunters be chasing Cade?
What are the tribal spirits? Will they play a greater role in the war against the Gua?
REALITY CHECK
Supposedly, the tribal council’s vote will authorize 90 casinos to be built over ten years. Just where will this "small" tribe put all those casinos?
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
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