Cade investigates the case of a man locked into a hallucination that anyone he meets is Lady Lumina, a dominatrix from one of his magazines and discovers a hotel where an experiment is underway.
A rather annoying episode for a brief while, it develops into something more sinister and well executed. The early part of the story is concerned with Cade and whether he is or isn't hallucinating. You see, the residents of the hotel are being made to see what they want. For Cade this is a chance to expose the aliens and clear his name. However, going through similar bits of footage several times over gets a little tiresome and confusing.
But that's the point, and the viewer is drawn into a 'what is reality?' situation that works well, as we start to look for clues like Cade himself to determine when he is hallucinating. With the hallucinations split between Cade and another female captive who keeps experiencing Cade making love to her, a good sense of disorientation is cultivated.
On top of this, the denouement is quite effective, actually ends with an alien escaping for a change, and hints that the aliens behind the experiment are acting against orders from their superiors, providing something to follow up further down the line.
The only problem again is the supporting cast who are given little time to do much, and ultimately just wander about in a daze. Mary is just there for some casual sex, and the hunter guy seems utterly superfluous except for a last-minute pointless bit of threatening. Still, the tale is still engaging, and if you can overlook this flaw, it's a pretty intriguing episode.
****
Back to the First Wave guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, or return to the main page?