“Blue Agave” is episode thirteen of season one of First Wave.
The episode opens in a club and a woman is dancing before heading to the bar to get a drink. A man asks if he can sit next to her. Yes, he intends to hit on her. She wants to hear his best line. Then suggests he try a more direct line. There are ground rules. No using her toothbrush, be able to handle a woman who earns seven figures and never be late. She tells the man, who she calls Grant (Peter Flemming), that she hates waiting around for everyone. He knows that. She was dancing on her own for 20 minutes. It seems they know each other already. When he kisses her, a worm goes from his mouth into her ear.
Cade has come to New York. Being on the run meant he thought he’d never see his closest friends again. However, a prophecy about pillars of light falling is linked to Hannah’s best friend, who has just received a Pillars of Light award. If Susan is one of the pillars from the prophecy then his past and present are going to collide.
Susan is the woman from the club. She gets out of a limo and is approached by a gossip columnist who wants to know who Grant is. Susan then gets a call. Cade asks if the man is bothering her. He’d offer to help, but it looks like she’s got it under control. Susan asks who it is. An old friend. Susan recognises Cade, who tells her to get in the car and drive around the corner. When she does, Cade gets in. He says he didn’t kill Hannah; he was setup. Susan read accounts of the trial when Cade talked about aliens. She does believe he didn’t kill Hannah. The aliens; not so much. After some reminiscing about Hannah at Susan’s place, Susan tells Cade it’s time to stop running. She’s going to set up a meeting with Frankie Salvo, a rather famous, or perhaps notorious, lawyer.
Susan and Cade head to the club she was in, The Royal. She says it’s the most private place in New York. A woman who brings them in tells Cade he can have anything he wants. Anything. Susan explains to Cade that the club caters to successful people like herself who don’t have time for dating. No money changes hands; it’s all covered in the membership.
Cade is at the bar when Frankie Salvo greets him by name. He offers a drink, tequila. His own; vintage blue agave – now, given that’s the name of the episode, it’s going to be important. Extremely rare and $1,800 a bottle. A gift from a client who was found with 3 kg of cocaine in his luggage. Salvo has been reading up on Cade’s case. He was railroaded. Cade not killing his wife was irrelevant; the cops had no probable cause to enter his room. Salvo warns that Cade will do time for other offences, but probably only a couple of years. They drink, then Salvo collapses on the floor. Cade sees a worm come out of his ear. The staff take Salvo into the back and Cade swipes the worm.
Eddie returns to his trailer, where Cade is sleeping. The newspaper headline says Frankie Salvo died when he drove his car into the Hudson River. Cade doesn’t believe this. Five staff members say they saw Salvo walk out under his own power. Cade wonders if the pillars of light are people in the glare of celebrity. Eddie has taken the worm to a biology professor at NYU, a fellow conspiracy theorist. Cade isn’t certain if he’ll tell Susan.
At the club, Grant and the staff are looking for the worm. It seems they nest in the brain of a subject for 12 weeks, gathering memories before being implanted into a duplicate. There’s no reason why the parasite should have left the host. They need it for analysis. Grant isn’t going to tell the Assembly, but they need a replacement. Susan had introduced Cade as her new business partner, and Grant decides this makes Cade a viable subject.
Cade arrives at Susan’s, where the club calls to ask if she vouches for Cade. She does; they are offering membership and Susan accepts for him. Cade says that he has reason to believe that the people who framed him operate The Royal, and killed Frankie Salvo. She doesn’t want to hear this and tells him to get out. Cade tells Susan not to go back there, but heads himself. And gets a worm in his ear for the trouble.
The worms don’t appear to be immediately harmful, but they’re still not the sort of thing you want in your head. The question is, how to get them out safely? Salvo’s worm did look to leave of its own accord.