First Wave: Shadowland

Strange and terrifying nightmares lead Cade to enter hypnosis, during which he learns of his first encounter with the Gua back when he was only 12.

An intriguing premise and one that holds a lot of potential. We don't know anything about Cade's childhood, and here we can see that it was anything but happy, even if he did get to learn those traditional boyhood pastimes of lock-picking and theft. We also discover that he was once taken by the Gua and experimented on, something which obviously has to be carefully explained as there's no reason oherwise for him not to remember it until now.

And that's when things get really complicated. Cade entering his own mind is odd enough, but when he meets himself (or at least something that looks like him), the story starts to become garbled and full of the pretentious mysticism that the series has wisely steered clear of up until now. While we can all accept that Cade is the Twice Blessed Man, further prophecies of him having a special gift and being 'the One' are verging on overdoing it.

The journey through Cade's mind is certainly creepy, and the kid playing the young Foster is excellent. Throw in high quality guest stars in former Highlander playmates Jim Byrnes and Peter Wingfield and the acting is top notch. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the end.

****

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