"Blind Witness"
Air Date: September 17, 1999

After the annoying, whining population of the last episode, I was very glad to see an engaging, sarcastic, obnoxious, if a bit too self-centered character appear in "Blind Witness". From their first meeting Alikah Aldredge (Enuka Okuma) gives Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) a hard time, proving that she's no victim despite having been blind since she was six months old.

A quatrain leads Cade to Grace Hospital in Los Angeles in search of an ally who can see the Gua hidden within a human shell. After faking a diabetic coma, Foster is admitted for observation. He uses his time wisely by prowling the corridors of the hospital in search of his ally.

In an old abandoned wing he finds Alikah who is not only regaining her sight through a set of mysterious surgeries, but also suffers from horrific nightmares. Nightmares that eventually prove all too real.

It turns out that Alikah has been a part of a Gua experiment studying the blind spot of the human eye and with one final operation, will be given perfect sight. The only problem is that Cade is the donor and he's not a willing one.

Despite Alikah being a much more fleshed out (and better portrayed) character than anyone in the last episode ("Second Wave"), I still had two major problems with this ep.

While I can buy that the Gua are performing experiments that include surgery on humans, I was appalled by the blood and the gore of this episode. And not because I have a weak stomach. Nope. The reason was much simpler. In order for any surgical procedure to work, the surgical area and it's surroundings would have to be sterile. I'm thinking that someone on the First Wave staff needs to be reminded of little things called germs, bacteria and that oh so lovely state called infection. Other than the gross out factor, there was no need to see buckets of blood and big chunks of flesh hanging everywhere. That bit was both stupid and pointless.

My second problem is actually a continuing gripe although perhaps it is a point that the series is trying to make. You see for all her blustering and eventual heroics Alikah is as selfish as the characters that Foster has encountered in previous episodes. Yes, it is easier to walk away, ignore, and pretend that you don't know what you know, but eventually you have to suck it up. If you love, truly love someone other than yourself, you have to be willing to take some responsibility. If not, then you and your loved ones are doomed.

In my opinion, Foster has met too many self-centered cowards. Even if we don't see them again, I would expect that one or two of the people who cross Cade's path would set up a resistance in their own neck of the woods. Alas, I've yet to see anyone who is unwilling to "go gently into that goodnight". Makes you think the Gua are going to have it pretty easy.

-- Linda M. Najera

First Wave can be seen Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel at 10pm and 2am EST