A woman has a near-death experience and awakens with the ability to channel the spirit of Nostradmaus. Cade goes to find out if there is a message for him.

Daniel Howard Cerone is shaping up to one of the better writers on the show with this episode, mainly because he is aware that the audience isn't interested in just watching Cade and provides some subplots and supporting characters as well. In this, he's provided the main story and some power play between Joshua and another high-up member of the Gua hierarchy which makes things that little more interesting. Eddie is also unusually on site, allowing him to take a more active part in proceedings.

It all holds together well with each character having strong motivations. The woman with the 'channel' believes Cade because she knows hs importance in the back of her mind, there's a very human but quite tough cop character and Joshua's antagonist also makes some good points that allow for an explanation of why Cade is still alive. Joshua also seems to choose sides at the end of the story, although this may only be to save himself from reprisals from the Gua council. I also rather liked Cade's inventive way of getting into a house besieged by camera crews and assorted citizens.

If there's any criticism of the story, it's firstly that Nostradamus should still be speaking in French, and secondly that he doesn't really tell Cade (or us) anything we don't already knows. All that's added is that Cade will have to face some kind of trial in order to get the aliens to leave our world. Let's hope the writers get a chance to show this trial sometime before the series ends. Otherwise, well-paced and nicely plotted as The Channel may be, it's not very important to the ongoing storyline.

****

Would you like to go to the First Wave Season Two guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, read older reviews in the Reviews Archive or return to the front page?

This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page