“Susperience” is episode four of season two of First Wave.
The episode opens in a house at night. The French doors blow open and a photograph falls to the floor, shaken from the mantle. A woman enters and shuts the doors, then picks up the photo, which depicts her and another woman. When she touches it, she sees the other, Rachel, running through a graveyard in a nightgown. Rachel stops by a grave which has her own gravestone next to it, with ‘TODAY’ written in blood as the date of death. The grave is open and something pushes her into it; it looks far too deep. The other calls 911 and the police turn up at Rachel’s house. She’s dead in her own bed.
Cade has headed to the cemetery in Prescott, Maine, where Rachel Cates is being buried after dying mysteriously in her sleep. She’s one of a handful of renowned psychics that live in the town. Cade wonders if the Gua thought them a threat that could no longer be ignored.
By the grave, several others are talking. One, Ellen, is the woman who saw Rachel’s death. A man, Quinn (Peter Flemming), doesn’t seem bothered. Another woman, Molly, says Quinn will only be bothered when it’s his own funeral. Those three leave and another man remains behind. Cade approaches him, George, claiming to be an insurance investigator. Rachel had a policy with them and he is investigating her death. A brain haemorrhage may be natural causes, but in a 24-year-old with no medical history, it’s a bit different. A big guy appears and warns Cade off. George leaves and, when Cade turns around, the big guy has disappeared. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, too. That’s odd.
Cade heads to see Ellen. She says that they were the finest paranormal study group in the world, each with very different abilities that they tried to improve through training. Molly is a telekinetic. George is a master of hypnotic projection; he can make you see objects that are not there. That explains the appearing and disappearing person. She is a clairvoyant; she sees things with touch. She holds Cade’s hands and, afterwards, says she had no idea insurance work was so exciting. Ellen thinks Rachel was murdered. Susperience; suspect experience. A very rare, very powerful ability by which a psychic can invade the dreams of another. The mind perceives death in dreams the same way as it does in life. Ellen says Quinn was the most gifted and if he could do susperience, he could be deadly.
Cade heads to a bar where Quinn is playing pool. Apparently losing, but it looks like he’s setting up a sucker. And he is; his opponent, on what would have been the winning shot, sees multiple 8-balls and completely fluffs it. Said opponent was going to go for Quinn, but Cade flashes a badge at him.
Quinn knows Cade isn’t a cop. Cade wants to know why Cade dropped out of the course at the university after three years. And what’s keeping him here? Quinn also thinks Rachel was murdered; people his age don’t roll over and die. Quinn says he isn’t good enough to do susperience and that the others didn’t trust him. The project was government funded. Quinn doesn’t want to talk and tells Cade that he should talk to Molly. Maybe she’s Cade’s alien.
When Cade arrives at Molly’s, when he knocks, she calls him by his current name and says she will be right out, and appears with drinks. No, she didn’t read the future. Ellen phoned and said he might be stopping by. Molly is trying to flirt with Cade but Cade pushes her about Rachel’s death. And Molly uses her powers on him, smashing his watch and pinning him to the chair. She didn’t kill Rachel, but Cade should be careful; whoever did might see him coming first.
Eddie is impressed by Molly’s powers when he sees the watch. He’s trying to find out which government agency was funding the research. SETI; the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Who search for aliens. That suggests a reason why the Gua are interested. Someone in the group is probably an alien, Cade thinks. Maybe they learned techniques to hid that fact from the others. Maybe Quinn suspected something. He was kicked out due to a report of unspecified illegal behaviour. Submitted by George.
George is the final one Cade goes to see. He lets himself in and finds a glass with ice in it. Suggesting that George is either still there or only recently left. He is still present and tries to drive Cade away. He fails.
Each member of the group is suspicious of at least one of the others. It does seem likely that one of them is an alien but, if so, which one?