"The Apostles"
Airdate: January 23, 2000

In accordance with prophecy -- I love saying that -- a band of outlaw bikers terrorizes a small portion of the state of Wyoming on a search and destroy mission for aliens. Their antics come to the attention of Crazy Eddie and he sends Cade to investigate. What he finds is a group of devoted followers and believers in his cause. Only their bloodthirsty means do not justify the ends.

A particularly Gua-light episode, this week's focus is on allies and not the enemy. Although their goals are the same, Cade finds that the bikers' methods and his differ greatly. This band of bad boys isn't afraid of spilling the blood of a few innocent bystanders if it means that they can put down another alien. While at first Cade seems to agree with him, he soon realizes that these men, these bezerkers, have lost touch with their humanity. They have become too much like the enemy they are supposed to be fighting against. So of course when Cade starts to balk at their lack of concern over accidentally killing an innocent man, they become sworn enemies.

Hey, Cade has to fight someone this week, right?

Although containing a noble theme worthy of exploration, the climax of this episode is merely laughable. When Cade quickly sidestepped the attempt of the leader of The Apostles to mow him down, all he needed to complete the look was a cape. Someone on the writing staff needs to try that move with a regular bicycle. You'd have to be pretty slow witted or have your head in the clouds in order to get run over by a bike. Motorized or not. The maneuverability of those things within short distances is a joke.

And I have to admit that the continuity was a little better in this episode than most. Cade even referred to the Gua's ability to heal quickly as a method for determining who was human and who was alien. This amazed me as he himself rarely uses that information to smoke out the enemy. Okay, so he can't go around cutting people and waiting to see if they need a band aid or not, but he could do something besides act surprised when another one of them pops up on the horizon.

Letting it go. Letting it go.

-- Linda M. Najera

First Wave airs at 7pm EST, Sundays on The Sci Fi Channel.

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