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The Worst Episodes of First Wave

Every episode of First Wave ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of First Wave!

First Wave is a Canadian/American science fiction television series, filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that aired from 1998 to 2001 on the Sci-Fi Channel....
Genres:Action & AdventureSci-Fi & Fantasy
Network:Syfy

Worst Episodes Summary

"The Trial of Joshua Bridges" is the worst rated episode of "First Wave". It scored 5.9/10 based on 35 votes. Directed by Gilbert M. Shilton and written by Daniel Cerone, Chris Brancato, Theresa Rebeck, Bert Salke, Peter Elkoff, it aired on 5/24/2000. This episode scored 1.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Apostles".

  • The Trial of Joshua Bridges
    5.9/1035 votes
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    #1 - The Trial of Joshua Bridges

    Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 5/24/2000

    Joshua is put on trial, and must defend himself against charges that he is a human sympathizer and a traitor to the gua. - - - No quatrain this week. Eddie and I are sifting through the database, checking some out, following up leads but we haven't discovered anything solid enough to head in. But that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about the fight. Days like this I worry about the fight. If we don't keep making strides we could lose. Hate to say it but it's true. Try to push myself, harder, further, faster everyday – want to get some kind of momentum going. Times like these, I think a lot about the enemy. I think about Joshua. He says he's not on our side – he's just looking out for the best interests of the Gua – a true patriot. Don't really care, as long as it benefits us. Like the time I was on the run from the Feds in Montana and Joshua first helped me. I'd handed an alien a gun – she was posing as a forest ranger, was supposed to ""protect"" me from the FBI once they took me

    Director: Gilbert M. Shilton

    Writer: Daniel Cerone, Chris Brancato, Theresa Rebeck, Bert Salke, Peter Elkoff

  • The Apostles
    7.0/1037 votes
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    #2 - The Apostles

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 1/23/2000

    Cade poses as a journalist to investigate a disappearance in a Wyoming town. - - - Quatrain 54, Century 7: ""Iron horses blaze a vengeful trail / The first of many to follow / Their method must be chartered / Or liberty will fall"". 19 million innocent humans killed on the first day of the Gua attack. That fact has rung in my ears and echoed in my heart everyday for the past year. It is a staggering concept. How far will I go to prevent it from happening? What price am I willing to pay? I faced my biggest challenge to date in Crestline, Wyoming. It was not a battle of strength, nor a battle of will. It was a battle of beliefs. But this time I fought other humans. I followed a lead about a town having trouble with some bikers. Seems this gang had been harassing citizens of Crestline by acting out vigilante justice. But for all the murders the Apostles committed, no one could produce any bodies. Imagine my surprise when they revealed themselves to be alien killers; they had read Eddie's

    Director: Jorge Montesi

    Writer: Chris Brancato, Bert Salke

  • The Decision
    7.1/1046 votes
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    #3 - The Decision

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 6/30/1999

    The Gua convene a tribunal to debate whether to launch the second wave. - - - I'm on the road right now, heading west to investigate an e-mail that may be a tip to some alien activity. Eddie's driving the Caddy, I was napping in the trailer but I couldn't sleep. Thought I'd peck out a little journal entry to pass the time. Been thinking about where this war has taken me, how it's changed my life, and how it's changed all of us Thought I was crazy. Then wished I was. Aliens. The Gua. They killed my wife, Hannah. Framed me for her murder. I've taken a personal vow to hunt them, to make them pay. Nostradamus thinks that makes me the "twice bless'd man," humanity's savior to stop the first wave of alien infiltration bent on destroying us all. I guess I believe him, but it's a lot to ask someone to bear that responsibility. I try not to think about it. All I know is that I'm the only one who can expose the Gua, and I'm going to take them down.

    Director: Larry Sugar

    Writer: Chris Brancato

  • Deepthroat
    7.1/1040 votes
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    #4 - Deepthroat

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 1/16/2000

    Cade works to expose a U.S. Senator who is thwarting government funded space exploration. - - - Quatrain 42, Century 5: ""When the sun bursts forth at night / The life of a starwatcher is lost / But the truth revealed in the heavens / Is carried to a high magistrate"". Eddie's friend Vincente Miranda, an astronomer in Ohio, was shot to death shortly after witnessing a meteor burst out of a wormhole just outside our atmosphere. He instantly understood the implications of what this could mean. While he explained his findings to Eddie over the phone, he put the critical photographs and charts in a package to be over-nighted to U.S. Senator Sterling Preston. Lucky for us it wasn't clearly labeled. The Gua who rubbed him out destroyed everything having to do with the discovery, but he didn't think to go through the outgoing mail. The package was sent, delivered and signed for. Of all the places I wanted to go hunt down evidence, the nation's capital was at the bottom of my list. Only the t

    Director: Mike Rohl

    Writer: Daniel Cerone

  • Playland
    7.1/1040 votes
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    #5 - Playland

    Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 12/29/1999

    A young man kills nine people in an act of senseless violence, based on his experiences in an alien-run amusement park. - - - Fork Falls, South Dakota. Gary Lanning shot and killed nine people in a fast food joint. When the cops found him, he was stuffing his face with fries. The publically released records of a psychiatrist said Gary had delusional fantasies of time spent in an amusement park called Playland. That was before Gary stabbed the shrink in the heart with a pen. Are kids like Gary who Nostradamus was talking about when he said ""youth most murderous?"" Is it possible that this troubled teen's delusions were caused by a Gua experiment? I went to Playland to find out. Met Eddie in the Laser Gun House at the park. Kids were running all over the place, we found a back room. Eddie said there was an abnormal electrical ion level focused there. Gary mentioned going through a secret door in the park. The quatrain spoke of a ""threshold of light."" We'd seen the Gua use quantum pocket

    Director: Michael Robison

    Writer: Chris Brancato, Bert Salke

  • Lungfish
    7.2/1055 votes
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    #6 - Lungfish

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 10/21/1998

    Quatrain 32, Century 9: "The fish that travels land and sea will be cast up on shore by a great wave And pestilence from the sky will drive multitudes into the ocean". I seek them. I hunt them. I will stop them. Since my crusade began, I've destroyed an alien cloning lab, ruined their disinformation campaign to discredit alien existence, and taken down a cult that sought an alien salvation. But the trail was growing cold. For three weeks, Crazy Eddie had been studying Nostradamus quatrains to lead us to the aliens. The only lead he found was a newspaper clip about a farm in Indiana claiming to have a large mouth bass that breathed on land. It seemed to fit with the quatrain. Eddie thought I was wasting my time going after a fish, but I had him make up some snappy credentials for me as a tabloid reporter for the World Standard News anyway. I thought it was time to go fishing.

    Director: Brenton Spencer

    Writer: Daniel Cerone

  • Motel California
    7.2/1050 votes
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    #7 - Motel California

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 11/18/1998

    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

    Writer: Jean Gennis, Phyllis Murphy

  • Melody
    7.2/1043 votes
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    #8 - Melody

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 1/20/1999

    Foster poses as a record executive to investigate a band whose music inspires violence. - - - Quatrain 30, Century 4: "Where iron chariots are forged / The sweet youth cries revolt over a bitter melody / The poisoned song taints mind and soul / Spread by air across the land' s tears washes away ties to Rome / Fear extracts vain sacrifice until the raging pyre of the deluge is quenched". Seemed like Nostradamus' "iron chariots" might've been a reference to Detroit, Michigan the Motor City. A mob of teen-agers had made headlines when they assaulted two officers at an underground club. With both cops listed in critical condition, parents blamed a local band called Sonic War for inciting the violence. I knew if the aliens were involved, this was about a lot more than rock-n-roll.

    Director: Jorge Montesi

    Writer: Daniel Cerone

  • Gladiator
    7.2/1033 votes
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    #9 - Gladiator

    Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 5/17/2000

    An alien experiment involving bare-knuckle fighters draws Cade Foster and an old prison friend to enter a boxing competition. - - - I went to Atlanta, a city built on the ashes of the Civil War, to check out the world of bare-knuckle fighting and seek an ally in my fight against the Gua. Passed a wanted poster on my way into town and the face staring back was my own. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Time to take off the gloves. Omar Healy was a prize-fighter in a world without the Vegas showgirls and limelight. 35, and with a prison record, Healy had been disqualified by the Olympic committee for drug use – turned out to be a bum rap, since the drugs were over-the-counter migraine medication. Healy and I knew each other from our days locked up together, he accused me of being a bad guy who turned good and then back again. Told him I was innocent and needed his help. Then I told him I wanted to call in an old debt. Needed Healy to help me gain entry into the Human Genome P

    Director: Alex Pappas

    Writer: Michael Thoma

  • Wednesday's Child
    7.2/1029 votes
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    #10 - Wednesday's Child

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 11/22/2000

    Quatrain 15, Century 5. ""The message precedes the messenger, a sudden link to darkness. Betwixt the glare and the chasm, the child is freed with shadows behind."" The Paranoid Times gets thousands of hits a week, all from the growing contingent of believers who know that aliens threaten our world. Most of these e-mails voice support, but when one tipped us to a Gua bomb set outside a United States Federal Office, we had to check it out. That e-mail saved hundreds of human lives, but who sent it? A disgruntled alien, a human with knowledge of Gua plans? The e-mail was traced to a residential address. With backup courtesy of Jordan's Raven Nation, I set out to see if our mysterious cyber-tipper was truly a friend ... or possibly a foe. Posing as Timothy Murray, a Compustar Internet Service employee I met Anne Berman, Aunt and guardian to Emily ­ the intense little girl who lived at the house and the only one to ever use the computer. Made no headway, Anne said Emily was sick and she wasn'

    Director: George Mendeluk

    Writer: Robin Brancato

  • Unearthed
    7.2/1033 votes
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    #11 - Unearthed

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 11/29/2000

    Quatrain 17, Century 4. ""Through the ancient north it shall pass, ship to ship the power of powers. All strength to those who unearth it, joined together will earth itself be consumed."" A Gua intelligence communiquè intercepted by the Raven Nation mentioned an all-powerful weapon the Gua have spent years searching for, and now we were close to finding it. A search of archeological dig sites turned up an excavation of a Viking settlement in Nova Scotia. Crossing the border into Canada was a risk, but one I was willing to take. The dig was stationed out of a bus graveyard. Yesterday's settlement was today's dump. I had to go in low profile - this time posing as Clyde the tow truck driver who wandered into the wrong place. But that's why I have Eddie and Jordan. Eddie posed as a big-shot archeologist named Dr. Charles Channing. His partner in the dig would be a man who made searching for ""The Hammer of Thor"" his life's ambition ­ an uptight, hefty guy named Dr. Samuel Spiedel. Jordan was

    Director: Mike Rohl

    Writer: William T. Conway

  • Target 117
    7.3/1040 votes
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    #12 - Target 117

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 1/9/2000

    Lucas is sent to Earth to test Cade Foster's warrior potential. - - - Quatrain 99, Century 1: ""Heed the call to the island of commerce / Cut be watchful of footsteps that lead unto battle / Look to the light to guide thee / The hacking blade has a double edge"" This quatrain had had me and Eddie baffled for some time until Eddie began receiving a series of e-mails at the Paranoid Times from a man named Harold Shanley who claimed to have escaped from an alien experiment. The poor guy sounded out of his mind; seems he became delusional enough to shoot his own kids. His descriptions took me back to my own nightmare. As much pain as I felt at losing Hannah, I'm sure his was 100 times greater. I knew I was the only one who could help him, and I also knew that any information he had could undoubtedly help me too. I had to find him before the Gua did. According to the origins of his sporadic e-mails, Shanley was making his way across the country, the most recent was from an Industrial Trade

    Director: Jorge Montesi

    Writer: Chris Brancato

  • Susperience
    7.3/1033 votes
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    #13 - Susperience

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 1/30/2000

    Cade investigates a psychic research project in a seaside town. - - - Quatrain 23, Century 3: ""The two-sighted will meet death in sleep / Purged from the nightmare of a hidden enemy / Barricades protect spurious sleep / And the spectre is lanced with a common blade"". Found myself cruising along the coast to Prescott, Maine where a renowned group of psychics were burying one of their own. Rachel Cates had died mysteriously in her sleep. I usually think of hotlines and con artists whenever psychics are mentioned. But with all I'd seen in the past two years, it seemed possible the Gua had decided this was a group they couldn't afford to ignore. I'm no psychic, but I had a strong hunch there was an alien in my future. Posing as an investigator for Cates' insurance company I went to talk to Ellen, a clairvoyant, and part of the local universities illustrious paranormal studies department. Besides Ellen, the group also included a telekinetic and a man who could cast images that weren't the

    Director: Mike Rohl

    Writer: David Wilcox

  • Ohio Players
    7.3/1037 votes
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    #14 - Ohio Players

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 6/25/2000

    Cade Foster investigates the possibility of alien experiments on football players. - - - ""Here the good river runs north / Young fortunes are reversed in mock battle / Enslavement takes myriad focus / The key to them all is control"". The Ohio River runs north on the eastern border of the state. In the Iroquois language Ohio means ""good river."" Sounded like a good place to start looking for a Gua experiment. Eddie checked for anything unusual in the region and came up with what looked like anything but. The Fairvale Falcons – a high school football team with a winning streak that the pros would love to claim – 11 and 0. It was an amazing turn around for a team that's been in last place for nine years running. And it got me thinking. Could high school football be the mock battle Nostradamus was referring to? If so, the Fairvale Falcons have thrilled the state as they reversed their fortunes. As unlikely as it seemed, it fit. Had to check it out. Every dog may have its day, but I've lea

    Director: George Mendeluk

    Writer: Dan E. Fesman, Harry Victor

  • The Harvest
    7.3/1035 votes
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    #15 - The Harvest

    Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 1/5/2000

    Aliens harvest human hormones for their healing properties. - - - ""On the fields of Revolution / Where England's traitor King runneth / Passion's dew is stolen / The undercroft keeps the salve of enemy wounds"". The Charles River in Boston is named after Charles the First, the Traitor King of England. Bit of a stretch when you read the quatrain, except that three wealthy women had recently disappeared in Boston. Looks like I was headed to Bean Town. One of the women who had gone missing was Jennifer Moore, the sister of Renee Ashford. Ms. Ashford was offering a reward, $100,000 to the person who could find her sister and bring her home. Apparently Renee thought the cops didn't have enough incentive to launch a real man-hunt. Met Renee at her home as she was telling the press about the reward money. Posing as a representative for the missing sister's bank – I told Renee that the last time Jennifer used her credit card was to charge a room at the Whitmore Hotel. Renee already knew that

    Director: Randy Cheveldave

    Writer: Andrea Stevens

  • Blue Agave
    7.4/1051 votes
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    #16 - Blue Agave

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/2/1998

    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

  • Red Flag
    7.4/1037 votes
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    #17 - Red Flag

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 4/2/2000

    Foster attempts to uncover an alien plot to infiltrate the military. - - - ""The town will not ring its cracked bell / For the hero has gone astray / The crimson banner lures the one and the many / With each victory so will victory undo"". Special Forces Colonel John Russell died suddenly of extreme internal temperatures – literally boiled to death. His first lieutenant, Alex Harkin, disappeared immediately after. Suspected of being a ""deep cover"" spy, Harkin was due to face inquiry before his hasty exit. Twice-decorated for heroism, Harkin was the winner of the Red Flag, an award given to the best of the best in the military. The crimson banner and the hero gone astray are both mentioned in the Nostradamus quatrain. I wanted to know how the Red Flag and the aliens were connected, so Eddie and I cooked up some triple-A credentials and I became Matin Sloane – super-soldier – one of five contenders for this year's competition. Off the bus, I met a military hard-ass named Major Birch, my

    Director: Michael Robison

    Writer: Michael Thoma

  • The Purge
    7.4/1034 votes
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    #18 - The Purge

    Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 4/16/2000

    An attempt on the life of the minister causes chaos at an assembly of alien dignitaries. - - - There is a potentially dangerous storm brewing deep within the ranks of the Gua forces. Though my concerns grow more dire each day, I, Joshua, must admit to feeling a certain degree of relief – to finally know that I am not alone in my conclusions, that others both here and at home are similarly doubting the validity of our mission here on Earth. Decades ago, during the earliest days of the infiltration, we were a unified force, certain that patience and careful planning were all that would be required to defeat the human race. I used to believe that. But now I find myself riddled with doubt. Now I know enough to question not only the tactics but the very objectives of our leadership. Yet even as I write here, the most powerful and respected of our leaders continue to maintain that Earth and its inhabitants are well within our control, utterly unprepared to defend themselves against a full-

    Director: Michael Robison

    Writer: Chris Brancato, Bert Salke

  • Gulag
    7.4/1032 votes
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    #19 - Gulag

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/2000

    Quatrain 83, Century 7. ""The traitor sits in a hidden world, waiting for the man Twice Bless'd. Joined in desperate moments, to push the rock over the peak of time."" I believed the traitor Nostradamus spoke of in this quatrain was Joshua, an alien who has helped my cause on numerous occasions. The Gua build hidden worlds known as ""quantum pockets"" - Eddie's learned to penetrate them. Recently, I busted into a pocket, believed Joshua was to be found there and if he was alive, I had to get him out. Everything in this particular false reality suggested the aliens had been defeated, my wildest dream come to life. But I knew it wasn't real. Out in my world the alien leader named Mabus seeks to enslave humanity. The key to his defeat could be Joshua. Found my sometimes ally in a desperate situation. Joshua believed the aliens had launched a neutrino bomb toward earth - a final desperate move to cover their humiliation at having been defeated by humanity. Joshua had the code to abort the mis

    Director: Holly Dale

    Writer: David Wilcox

  • Marker 262
    7.5/1050 votes
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    #20 - Marker 262

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/11/1998

    "Their doom was sealed at the gate, steel chariots vanished in still clear nigh. Glorious terrain left undefended, 'till the river changes course". What did this Nostradamus quatrain have to do with Ash Grove, Missouri, a small Midwestern town that billed itself as "Hot Rod Heaven?" Crazy Eddie heard the news of the mysterious disappearance of one Jason Coleman, drag-racer and car mechanic, who vanished as he crossed the finish line. Was the disappearance of Jason Coleman and his Corvette part of an alien experiment? With some bogus credentials from the Transportation Safety Board, I was gonna find out. Gentlemen, start your engines.

    Director: Shawn Levy

    Writer: Chris Brancato

  • Deluge
    7.5/1045 votes
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    #21 - Deluge

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 1/13/1999

    Foster arrives in a town where it has been raining for two years. - - - Quatrain 64, Century 8. "The slayer flees to the shadow of Olympus / Where a mother' s tears wash away ties to Rome / Fear extracts vain sacrifice / Until the raging pyre of the deluge is quenched". The Olympus that Nostradamus foresaw was Olympia, Washington, where convicted mass murderer Glenn Harris had escaped from police custody three weeks earlier. I pegged Harris as the "slayer" from the quatrain, and figured "the shadow" of Olympia laid just to the east... in a small lumber town called Athlone. That's where I hoped a mass murderer would lead me to aliens.

    Director: Randy Cheveldave

    Writer: Joe Inglese

  • The Channel
    7.5/1038 votes
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    #22 - The Channel

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 2/6/2000

    A young woman communicates directly with the spirit of Nostradamus. - - - Quatrain 4, Century 9: ""She will rise from the dead / With words of fortune on her lips"". The local newspapers say paramedics revived a waitress in Cranston, Rhode Island, after six minutes with no heart beat. She woke up speaking words of fortune, only those words belonged to an ancient prophet. I know Chloe Wells is reciting the lost quatrains of Nostradamus. The aliens must know it too. I have to find her – before they do. Arrived at Chloe's house to find a media circus led by glitzy news hound Arthur Hewitt, and a crowd holding vigil for their newly appointed savior. Seems that one of the first quatrains Chloe spoke struck a cord with the people of Cranston – a prediction of their mayor's death. Checked out the scene and the cameras caught me – just for a second, but when you're a wanted man every second counts. Nobody wants to be on America's Top Fugitives. Eddie and I had hidden the Nostradamus book as an

    Director: Jorge Montesi

    Writer: Daniel Cerone

  • Night Falls
    7.5/1033 votes
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    #23 - Night Falls

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 12/8/1999

    The aliens try to trick Foster into revealing the location of a lost book of Nostradamus' quatrains. - - - ""Three rivers amidst iron wrought / Barren ground shall be sowed once more / The hunter and hunted are one/ When shadows descend on the twice-blessed man"". Followed up on an e-mail to this Web site which led me to the iron city of Pittsburgh searching for possible alien activity. I thought Nostradamus' mention of barren ground might have been the Soames medical facility, which had been closed for years – wrong move. Made a mistake this time, a big one. The cops were after me. Got caught at the facility, chased out. Down a fire escape, over a fence, they weren't messing around, took a bullet in the side. Figured the Gua had probably joined the hunt too. I was running out of time. Had to think fast. Taking a hostage was a desperate move, knew it would happen some day and dreaded it. Couldn't take any chances. No way I'd make it on foot. That's how I came to take Lena Hansen hostag

    Director: Holly Dale

    Writer: Michael Thoma

  • Underworld
    7.5/1035 votes
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    #24 - Underworld

    Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 5/31/2000

    Foster uncovers an alien experiment with ties to the mob. - - - ""City of Fountains"" is a nickname for Kansas City, Missouri, a town whose headlines have screamed of a gangland war that left over 30 dead. It's no mystery why the Gua would seek out organized crime. Drugs, gambling, prostitution – all things that could weaken mankind's resolve. But why did Nostradamus point to this gang war? The quatrain suggested I form an alliance with ""the steed,"" a man I suspected to be Sammy ""The Horse"" Kozak, head of a Kansas City crime family for over 10 years. I'm wanted for capital murder, so mixing with mobsters might be insane – Eddie sure thought so. But checking Sammy out could lead me to the Gua, and that's an offer I can't refuse… Took the name Nick Flynn and checked out the '88s Club, Sammy's totally nude strip bar and a front for his operations. Met a brick-wall bartender named Pete, told him I was looking for Sammy. My cover – ""Loma Cinquemani"" had sent me up from the Miami families wi

    Director: Rob LaBelle

    Writer: Larry Barber, Paul Barber

  • Breeding Ground
    7.6/1050 votes
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    #25 - Breeding Ground

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 11/25/1998

    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