Escaping a Gua attack force, Cade finds himself sent to another place where he meets again the alien who helped him when he was a child.

I'd completely forgotten about the promise made to Cade in Shadowlands, but it's good to see that the writers had thought out where they were going with the concept. With a welcome guest appearance by Stargate SG-1's Christopher Judge, the episode centres almost entirely on Cade's and his exploration of Cade's strengths and weaknesses.

Judge is perfectly cast as the almost mystic figure Cade is to learn from as he is taught that he must let his anger go and forgive the Gua before he can fight them with any measure of success. The ideas behind the story are good, but after a while the viewer starts to get restless as more mystical psychobabble is spouted. It's a shame really, as it's a valiant attempt to try something that little bit different, but mystical powers don't really set well on a series like First Wave, only technological ones. That said, there's some clever closure to the Nostradamus sub-plot from a couple of weeks ago, as we discover that he really was an alien and the book was written specifically with Cade in mind.

The idea that Cade has to change his outlook if he wants to win his war is a good one, and provides a thoughtful look at the tangled insides of his character. What is also does, though, is leaves us with the idea that Cade has now gained his 'special power' and can use it against the Gua. What is it and where did it come from? It's all a bit confusing...

***

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