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The Best Episodes of First Wave Season 1

Every episode of First Wave Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of First Wave Season 1!

Binge this in Unknown•Peaking at 8.3/10

Framed for murder and on the run, a former thief struggles to expose the vanguard of an alien invasion with the help of a conspiracy theorist and newly discovered prophecies of Nostradamus.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    First Wave Season 1 Episode 1 - Subject 117
    8.0/10(95 votes)

    #1 - Subject 117

    S1:E1

    After having disturbing visions and finding a man who was in one of his visions dead of suicide, Cade Foster's life is suddenly turned upside down; his house bugged, credit cards not working, job gone, and his wife terrified even to go home, things go from bad to worse.

    Director:Brenton Spencer
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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  2. First Wave Season 1 Episode 2 - Crazy Eddie
    7.6/10(80 votes)

    #2 - Crazy Eddie

    S1:E2

    On the run from the law, Cade seeks help from a paranoid conspiracy theorist named Crazy Eddie.

    Director:Jorge Montesi
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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  3. First Wave Season 1 Episode 3 - Mata Hari
    7.8/10(61 votes)

    #3 - Mata Hari

    S1:E3

    With Eddie's help, Cade poses as a math genius to investigate the mysterious death of a grad student in Boston.

    Director:Brenton Spencer
    Writer:Scott Smith Miller

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  4. First Wave Season 1 Episode 4 - Hypnotic
    7.8/10(59 votes)

    #4 - Hypnotic

    S1:E4

    A quatrain leads Cade to a rural area where a best-selling psychiatrist is helping people deal with alien encounters through hypnotic regression.

    Director:René Bonnière
    Writer:Paul Brown

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  5. First Wave Season 1 Episode 5 - Elixir
    7.8/10(56 votes)

    #5 - Elixir

    S1:E5

    A beautiful young woman dancing in a bar suddenly dies of extreme old age.

    Director:Brenton Spencer
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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  6. First Wave Season 1 Episode 6 - Speaking in Tongues
    8.1/10(58 votes)

    #6 - Speaking in Tongues

    S1:E6

    Cade poses as a drifter to investigate a religious cult and finds that the messianic leader is delivering a message to beware of an impending invasion.

    Director:Graeme Lynch
    Writer:Jeff F. King

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  7. First Wave Season 1 Episode 7 - Lungfish
    7.2/10(56 votes)

    #7 - Lungfish

    S1:E7

    A young boy finds a bass that can breathe on land and Cade, posing as a tabloid reporter, travels to Indiana to see it.

    Director:Brenton Spencer
    Writer:Daniel Cerone

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  8. First Wave Season 1 Episode 8 - Book of Shadows
    8.1/10(62 votes)

    #8 - Book of Shadows

    S1:E8

    Cade and Eddie travel to Salem, Oregon, where a high school student accused of killing three high-ranking members of the community claims that she is a witch and the victims were not human but demons.

    Director:Michael Robison
    Writer:Dan E. Fesman

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  9. First Wave Season 1 Episode 9 - Joshua
    8.1/10(52 votes)

    #9 - Joshua

    S1:E9

    Cade is on the run in the Montana wilderness as the police and U.S. Marshalls surround him. Posing as a Marshall, Joshua joins the hunt.

    Director:Jorge Montesi
    Writer:Daniel Cerone

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  10. First Wave Season 1 Episode 10 - Marker 262
    7.5/10(50 votes)

    #10 - Marker 262

    S1:E10

    Cade and Eddie travel to Missouri to investigate the disappearance of a hot-rodder during a drag race.

    Director:Shawn Levy
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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  11. First Wave Season 1 Episode 11 - Motel California
    7.2/10(51 votes)

    #11 - Motel California

    S1:E11

    Investigating a small California inn, Cade becomes one of the subjects of an alien experiment that makes the guests' dreams come alive so that they can no longer tell what is real and what is merely a beguiling illusion.

    Director:Gilbert M. Shilton
    Writers:Jean Gennis, Phyllis Murphy

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  12. First Wave Season 1 Episode 12 - Breeding Ground
    7.5/10(52 votes)

    #12 - Breeding Ground

    S1:E12

    Cade poses as a track coach to investigate reports of superhuman abilities in some of the students at a private school in New England.

    Director:Mike Rohl
    Writer:Adam Grossman

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  13. First Wave Season 1 Episode 13 - Blue Agave
    7.4/10(51 votes)

    #13 - Blue Agave

    S1:E13

    Contacting his late wife's best friend for help, Cade discovers that she and other members of an exclusive club are the subjects of an alien experiment that uses a parasitic blue worm to read people's memories.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Louis Venosta

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  14. First Wave Season 1 Episode 14 - Cul-De-Sac
    7.7/10(49 votes)

    #14 - Cul-De-Sac

    S1:E14

    Following up on a report by a teenage boy about a sexy alien woman who is impervious to bullets, Cade discovers that she is manipulating the men in the community to do her bidding by means of a pheromone ingredient in her perfume.

    Director:Tibor Takács
    Writer:Bruce Zimmerman

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  15. First Wave Season 1 Episode 15 - The Box
    8.0/10(51 votes)

    #15 - The Box

    S1:E15

    Going back home to visit his wife's grave, Cade is captured by police officers and interrogated, but he manages to turn the tables on them and find out important information about the alien agenda.

    Director:George Mendeluk
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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  16. First Wave Season 1 Episode 16 - Undesirables
    7.7/10(48 votes)

    #16 - Undesirables

    S1:E16

    Joshua's latest assignment is to track down and assassinate the Gua agent assigned to keep tabs on a physics professor who may be on the verge of discovering wormhole technology. The agent has fallen in love with the professor and must be killed before she reveals secrets of Gua technology to him.

    Director:René Bonnière
    Writer:Daniel Cerone

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  17. First Wave Season 1 Episode 17 - Second Wave
    8.3/10(62 votes)

    #17 - Second Wave

    S1:E17

    A man hoping to get pictures of his wife cheating on him instead accidentally takes pictures of a UFO.

    Director:Gilbert M. Shilton
    Writers:David Wilcox, Chris Brancato

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  18. First Wave Season 1 Episode 18 - Blind Witness
    7.9/10(47 votes)

    #18 - Blind Witness

    S1:E18

    Cade fakes a diabetic seizure to get admitted to a hospital to look for an ally promised in one of the prophecies. In an unused wing of the hospital, he finds a blind woman who is undergoing an experimental treatment to regain her sight.

    Director:Holly Dale
    Writer:Daniel Cerone

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  19. First Wave Season 1 Episode 19 - Deluge
    7.5/10(45 votes)

    #19 - Deluge

    S1:E19

    Cade investigates a small town plagued by rain for more than three years.

    Director:Randy Cheveldave
    Writer:Joe Inglese

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  20. First Wave Season 1 Episode 20 - Melody
    7.2/10(43 votes)

    #20 - Melody

    S1:E20

    After a rock concert erupts into violence, Cade and Eddie find a Nostradamus quatrain that seems to suggest that music might be making young people aggressive.

    Director:Jorge Montesi
    Writer:Daniel Cerone

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  21. First Wave Season 1 Episode 21 - The Aftertime
    7.7/10(44 votes)

    #21 - The Aftertime

    S1:E21

    A teenager accidentally intercepts a Gua transmission on his ham radio and records it on a disc. Cade races against the Gua to retrieve it.

    Director:Mark Sobel
    Writer:Theresa Rebeck

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  22. First Wave Season 1 Episode 22 - The Decision
    7.2/10(47 votes)

    #22 - The Decision

    S1:E22

    Clip show: The leaders of the Gua First Wave force meet to decide if it is time to begin the Second Wave.

    Director:Larry Sugar
    Writer:Chris Brancato

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Subject 117" is the best rated episode of "First Wave" season 1. It scored 8/10 based on 95 votes. Directed by Brenton Spencer and written by Chris Brancato, it aired on 9/9/1998. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Crazy Eddie".