Cade gets a tour of a Gua-controlled future while Joshua’s Eeeevil Replacement Cain goes shopping for a rare book.
(U.S. premiere on September 17, 2000)
Written by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein
Directed by George Mendeluk
GUEST STARS
Victoria Pratt – Gia / "Claire"
WHAT HAPPENED
Cade Foster wakes up in an alley. A nearby sign promotes the "human registry" and promises that the humans and the Gua will succeed together.
He wanders into a decayed warehouse and witnesses the execution of a human for "actions against the Gua." The most horrifying sight is the view outside a shattered wall.
Cade is in Washington. He can see the Capitol Building, and the Gua flag flies above it. (spoilers)
ANALYSIS
The last five First Wave episodes have included three "everything you see is fake" stories. "Tomorrow" isn’t quite the worst of them, but it’s close.
"Rubicon" built some tension with Cade’s struggle to find proof that he was trapped in a mind game. "The Trial of Joshua Bridges" is a disaster, but that’s mostly because of its heavy reliance on clips from past episodes -- the "it was all a vision" plot is hackneyed, but at least they save that revelation for the end.
"Tomorrow" falls apart because we know halfway through that the future scenario is a fake, and nothing replaces the suspense of wondering what’s really happening. Since one of the ground rules is that Cade is unaware of the simulation, we can’t even wonder how he’ll figure out and escape his predicament.
In fact, Brancato and Eckstein do such an effective job of writing themselves into a corner that they have no good escape to resolve the plot. Instead, we’re treated to a ridiculous set of Eddie ex machinas.
In the last five minutes of the show, we’re asked to accept that Eddie planted a versatile locator beacon and transmitter beacon into Cade, hacked an advanced alien computer system and secretly switched the regular book of Nostradamus with decaffeinated Folger’s crystals just in case Cade was captured. None of these developments are foreshadowed – they’re just yanked out of thin air.
The book swap isn’t even believable. We’re not talking about picking up a copy of the latest Harry Potter here – forging a plausible copy of a five-century-old handwritten book of prophecy is a long and difficult task, and there’s no evidence that Eddie has ever had the skills or time to accomplish this.
Twirl that mustache!
Then there’s Cain, whose first full episode is not at all promising. Cain sure is Evil – he likes salt, he likes sex, and he’s looking forward to frying Cade’s brain.
Too bad he’s not smart. Not only does Cade escape the Gua lab with such ease that the episode doesn’t even bother showing it -- and it’s not like they were short of time, given the heavily padded warehouse scene in the teaser -- but Cain doesn’t even bother to strap "the Gua’s most resourceful opponent" to the examination chair.
Nobody will ever accuse First Wave of being art. It’s cranked-out formula TV that occasionally aspires to a good hour’s entertainment, but lobotomizing its best villain does nothing to help those aspirations.
Hopefully next week’s season finale will be better than this sorry mess.
WHAT WE LEARN
"Uncle Eddie’s Hacker’s Brew" is "guaranteed to heal." It includes chamomile, gingko bilboa, Vitamin E, beechwell and two shots of tequila.
The Gua think they have the book of Nostradamus. They’re wrong.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Where is the book of Nostradamus now?
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
Some guys will do anything to get on television. Cade and Eddie take a television studio hostage in "The Believers", the season finale. Ironically, after that, First Wave leaves the SCI FI Channel schedule for a few weeks.
Do you actually watch First Wave? The editor would like to find out why you like it. Thanks.
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