S01.E08: Barely Breathing

[tessaray]

Air date: March 12, 2019

Quote

With Isobel's life hanging in the balance, Liz and Michael frantically search for a way to help her; Max turns to his mom (guest star Claudia Black) about the origins of the alien symbol; Alex turns the tables on Sgt. Manes.

[shapeshifter]

It held my interest, but I am becoming more and more convinced that having been a fan of OG Roswell is making this show less attractive to me. 

I was confused about Isobel mind warping Dr. Dreamy Kyle into injecting her with the handwavium. When did that happen? And when did the pod squad and Liz figure out it happened?

Alex's father should just grow a handlebar mustache already, so he can twirl it while he threatens people.

[Whodunnit]

Was anyone else getting Christopher Johnson vibes (District 9) when Michael decided to show off his bunker?

[jewel21]

I'm loving this show more and more. I liked the interactions between Michael and Maria. They have great chemistry. I also really enjoyed all the Michael and Liz scenes too.

Is it next week yet?

[Callaphera]

I think the most unbelievable part of this episode is that all of the jewelry Liz was wearing wasn't silver plated or surgical steel or anything but 925 sterling silver. And apparently when you melt it and mix it with hair conditioner and paint a pretty blonde with it, it grants you access to the magical alien healing pod. 

Also Mom Evans looked like a candidate for What Not To Wear. That ginormous butterfly belt buckle was... something that her bridge club probably mocks behind her back. But props to whoever picks the music for not picking one of the more obvious Alanis songs from Jagged Little Pill. 

Just once, can we have a gay character without a parent complaining about perversions and disgraces and shit like that? 

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, Callaphera said:

I think the most unbelievable part of this episode is that all of the jewelry Liz was wearing wasn't silver plated or surgical steel or anything but 925 sterling silver.

Heh, I didn't even think about that--I was more amazed at the way it magically multiplied its volume.

[Whodunnit]

Does silver have a low melting point? Because it only took like 20 minutes  (driving to the hospital, somehow grabbing Izzy without any of the doctors except Kyle noticing, and driving back) to melt all that and then mix it with shampoo (and here I thought selenium was toxic to alien life).

[Callaphera]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Heh, I didn't even think about that--I was more amazed at the way it magically multiplied its volume.

To be fair, Liz did say she managed to mix up a "solution" and judging from the viscosity of it, it looked like she dumped a bottle of Suave conditioner in the bowl and gave it a stir. 

4 minutes ago, Whodunnit said:

Does silver have a low melting point? Because it only took like 20 minutes  (driving to the hospital, somehow grabbing Izzy without any of the doctors except Kyle noticing, and driving back) to melt all that and then mix it with shampoo (and here I thought selenium was toxic to alien life).

Low enough that a butane blow torch can melt it. Silver's melting point is 961.8 °C and according to Wikipedia, butane blow torches claim to hit approximately 1,430 °C. I paused the show to Google it because I was sure that they would fuck it up. Who knew? (Well, apparently they did but at least I learned something new.)

Edited March 13, 2019 by Callaphera

[Cristofle]

This wasn't as exciting as the last couple weeks, but I still enjoyed it. I'm sort of curious about Mrs. Evans - how the town views her seems to be important (Max didn't even seem upset when he told her "bridge club is safe" so that seems to be something he's entirely used to). Also, I got the impression all is NOT well in Mama and Papa Evans Land from the look on her face when Max asked her about him. 

I wasn't totally thrilled with Michael's "make you less Mexican" line, but he redeemed himself by coming clean about Isobel's mindwarp. 

I still think there's a lot about Noah we don't know. 

Why doesn't Mama Evans realize the child drawing on the walls was Michael? Michael appears to have literally been Max's only friend growing up.

Good on Alex for finally getting some of his power back from his father. I wonder if he believes Jesse about Michael being an alien.

Small thing I noticed:

-Liz got a strange look on her face when Kyle almost said Rosa was his sister. Does she suspect something?

[AnimeMania]

Alex knocks his pops out with a crutch and turned bad ass. I think Alex need to show Michael the alien data he has. It will probably provide a great deal of insight, especially if it goes back 70 years. It should help Micheal collect a lot more alien artifacts.

Noah seems weird kicking Isobel out of his house one minute and then being extremely worried about her the next minute.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Cristofle said:

I wasn't totally thrilled with Michael's "make you less Mexican" line

The line might not be PC, but it did fully exploit the extra social dimension of having extra terrestrials in the mix of struggles between various racial, ethnic, gender-identity, and socioeconomic groups.

[peachmangosteen]

This ep was pretty much a mess, but I did still enjoy it. I was pumped to have some Michael/Liz interactions. That was great. And I continue to love the Michael/Maria stuff.

But, man, I'm still so disappointed by how sidelined Maria is. I really hope she's going to get something real and significant to do soon, but I'm losing hope.

The Alex/Todd (I don't remember his actual name. I call him Todd all the time anyway.) scenes were really bad. The acting, wow. I did get a lot of good laughs though. "YOU THINK I'M WEAK BECAUSE I'M GAY!!" had me rolling.

I wanna know more about Noah. I still feel like he's gonna be evil in some way lol. I hope not though because I really like him and I like him and Isobel together.

I don't trust Max/Isobel's mom.

Edited March 16, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[shapeshifter]

24 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I wanna know more about Noah. I still feel like he's gonna be evil in some way lol. I hope not though because I really like him and I like him and Isobel together.

I think it's more likely that the Pod Squad or the I Know An Alien Club will think Noah is evil than that he actually is; he could be blackmailed/spied-on/framed by Max's blackmailed partner--but eventually (like OG Jesse) Noah will find out he married an alien. But on OG Roswell that eventually ended in divorce. Or they might just make him a red shirt.

Edited March 13, 2019 by shapeshifter

[Cristofle]

I got the impression from the mirror smashing scene that he may truly care for Isobel, but I think he knows a lot more than he's letting on.

[peachmangosteen]

48 minutes ago, Cristofle said:

I got the impression from the mirror smashing scene that he may truly care for Isobel, but I think he knows a lot more than he's letting on.

This is what I think as well.

[Cristofle]

Oh, and two other things - so we got confirmation Isobel does not believe she has the power to make the mark (which again, further convinces me that another alien is behind the murder somehow) and that Max has a much more powerful connection to Isobel than Michael does, possibly meaning they truly are related. 

[Regalbegal]

6 hours ago, izzybee said:

Hm.. This episode was kind of a bust for me. It ended with Isobel essentially being locked up.. which is exactly how the previous episode ended.

Overall I liked it, but yeah it did feel like a lot of action but no real plot progress, character development, etc. The only exception for me was the stuff with Alex and his father, both bc it was great seeing Alex be proactive and it was cathartic for him to take some power back.  I thought most of the cast did a good job this week, and I like how they continue to mix up scene pairings.  Also, for  once Max's crying seemed fully appropriate to the context. The one character that felt sort of off to me was Liz, surprisingly.  I just couldn't get a good read on where she was coming from and what her motivations were.  She had some lovely silver jewelry, though. 

I predict that Noah will be exposed as having nefarious motives, dead, or both by the end of the season. 

To end on a shallow note: Michael looked very nice in a cowboy hat. 

[Jenniferbug]

I think there's more to Noah than we know too. I lean towards him eventually being killed off (probably trying to save Isobel or something). After this episode, I'd be ok with Isobel and Kyle...I liked their scenes together and thought there was potential. 

Alex sure seems to have gone dark since he found that piece of alien tech. Kind of makes me wonder how that ties into what Maria's mom was saying and what they'll do with him in the future.

I like Alex, but I'm still not sold on Alex/Michael and I really like Michael's chemistry with Maria. But then I don't want them to ditch Alex to go with Michael/Maria because I don't like the message that sends or what that might mean for Alex. 

I thought it was interesting that Michael pointed out that maybe someone didn't want them to remember their time before coming out of the pods. It seems like there's someone aside from Isobel who can control minds and likely posess people too. 

Michael finally interacting with Liz was good too. This show is slowly building to their version of Pod Squad. 

[lala2]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

The Alex/Todd (I don't remember his actual name. I call him Todd all the time anyway.) were really bad. The acting, wow. I did get a lot of good laughs though. "YOU THINK I'M WEAK BECAUSE I'M GAY!!" had me rolling.

My sister and I call him Todd too. He will always be the fake Todd Manning to me! LOL! 

[lala2]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It held my interest, but I am becoming more and more convinced that having been a fan of OG Roswell is making this show less attractive to me. 

This is my issue w/the show too. For me, Max is still way too emotional. I know he's upset about Isobel, but maybe if he hadn't been so emotional leading up to this episode, I would have looked at his breakdown differently. And I still don't know why he's so hung up on Liz. He just needs to get over her. 

I didn't hate OG Michael, but Max was definitely my favorite. In this reboot, I think I like Michael the best, but that's it. I'm really indifferent or actively dislike most of the characters on this show, which is not good.

[tennisgurl]

I am a bit concerned about this leading to more of what Marias mom said about Alex having a cloud over him now that he was exposed to alien tech, but I admit to cheering when he wacked his asshole dad in the head with his cane, then read him for filth for being an awful piece of shit father and general human being. If thats as dark as Alex gets, I am all for it! Those scenes were awesome. I mean, its pretty hard to act like he was being protective when he pushed Alex to go to an active war zone where he lost half his leg!

Not a lot happened this week, but I still enjoyed it. Maybe because I dont remember the OG show very well (because I was about eight when it came out and watched it online in a weekend a few years ago) so I dont compare it to this one all that much, so I dont mind it just doing its own thing for now. My real issue with it now is that everyone is always getting into such sketchy stuff, its hard to fully root for everyone. Which is good if the show is going for a more morally ambiguous style, but that isnt really the vibe I get from what the show wants to be. But I think they are getting more of a handal on the characters now, so I think it could improve, at least getting more perspectives. 

So last week Isobel checked herself into the hospital because she was sick, and now she has checked herself in a pod because she made herself more sick. Smooth Isobel! I suspect that her husband is a plant trying to find out more about her and her alien family, or is being blackmailed into giving information on her by the government or someone, but he really fell in love with her, and is all conflicted. Its hard to tell. 

I liked the stuff with Liz and Michael, I appreciate that they're mixing up the pairing a bit, the two of them worked really well together, after that very rocky start at the beginning. I really appreciated him telling her the truth right away about what happened when she left town when they started working together, all these secrets and manipulations and threats are a bad look for everyone. They have a nice dynamic together. 

I hope Maria finds out the truth soon, she seems so isolated from everything. 

Nice seeing Mrs. Evans, she seems like an interesting character. I kind of like her western style suburban mom look. 

[Chick2Chic]

5 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

But then I don't want them to ditch Alex to go with Michael/Maria because I don't like the message that sends or what that might mean for Alex. 

If Michael is bisexual, I don't think it sends a bad message at all. I personally don't like the message Roswell NM has sent so far in having Maria be a Black woman then marginalizing her regarding story and screentime on top of stripping her of two relationships that were incredibly strong & focal points on original Roswell  (Maria/Liz and Maria/Michael. Almost three if you want to count Maria & her mom but I think they were more B / C tier). Why racebend Maria then basically treat her as little more than a cameo role? Why not tie her in to the main stories and show her connections to some of the other core characters? Why diminish Maria's significance and screentime so severely? 

I'm still trying to figure out the reasons / justifications for how abominably Maria has been treated in this reboot, with the optics looking even worse with her being a Black woman now. There seems to be a message there and it's not a good one but it's a familiar one (see: Bonnie Bennett, Lacey Porter, Abbie Mills for starters)

[Madraykin]

47 minutes ago, Chick2Chic said:

If Michael is bisexual, I don't think it sends a bad message at all. I personally don't like the message Roswell NM has sent so far in having Maria be a Black woman then marginalizing her regarding story and screentime on top of stripping her of two relationships that were incredibly strong & focal points on original Roswell  (Maria/Liz and Maria/Michael. Almost three if you want to count Maria & her mom but I think they were more B / C tier). Why racebend Maria then basically treat her as little more than a cameo role? Why not tie her in to the main stories and show her connections to some of the other core characters? Why diminish Maria's significance and screentime so severely? 

I'm still trying to figure out the reasons / justifications for how abominably Maria has been treated in this reboot, with the optics looking even worse with her being a Black woman now. There seems to be a message there and it's not a good one but it's a familiar one (see: Bonnie Bennett, Lacey Porter, Abbie Mills for starters)

I'm wondering if they ran into problems with Heather Hemmings being on two shows at once and it was too late to recast?

Or it could just be racism.

I do understand why, narratively they made her Rosa's friend before she's Liz's friend, but they've failed to build on that and bring her into the secret - a lot of her role also seems to have been moved to Kyle.

[Primal Slayer]

For the most part I enjoyed this episode, I just would've moved a lot of the parts around. The whole Isobel in the pod thing and Alex managing to get rid of his dad should've been left for the season finale. We also needed to see more of Max/Isobels mother to grow some kind of attachment to her when she comes around because her daughter is "sick"

[KittenPokerCheater]

Alex has every right to hate his father.  I cheered when he hit his father with that crutch.  Thus said, I felt there was something kind of...malevolent about him Alex in the episode. It was a little scary, and it made me like the character less.

So Alex knows that Michael is an alien?  In the pilot Alex and Michael have a conversation about P2P and if he's cooking meth- I think Michael is cooking rocket fuel.  I wonder if Alex will put it together. And I don't for a second think his Dad is gone for good on the show.  I suspect he'll be back with some scary anti-alien shadow military thing.

It didn't seem like Nathan's mother knew what happened to "that boy" she talked about. But she must have, given that the pod squad seemed inseparable in the smells like teen spirit.  I found it confusing.

Loved the Liz/Michael scenes and I hope we get to see them work together more.  

Nice cry by Nathan at the end.  It felt very genuine, and I like the sibling relationship between Isobel and Max. 

Edited March 14, 2019 by KittenPokerCheater

[Samwise979]

Did Michael remember drawing that symbol all over the walls when he was a boy?  Maybe "the boy" is a fourth alien? 

[Emily Thrace]

5 hours ago, izzybee said:

Michael and Maria are fun together. In just the few scenes they've shared, they've cried over their troubles, laughed while poking fun at each other, and shared pretty intimate details of their lives (Maria has, anyway). That is how you build a relationship. I would genuinely believe if they started having feelings for each other because there is actual development going on in their relationship. 

Michael and Alex on the other hand - I genuinely don't understand why they like each other. The flashback episode was supposed to be the foundation, but like... I just don't buy it. They both like music, both come from difficult homes - fine, that's a decent foundation. But where's the joy, the banter, the intimate (read: not sexual) couple-y moments that make you realize these two are meant to be together? I'd believe they became friends from all of that, but to fall madly in love with each other? 

I'd have absolutely no problem if Michael ditched Alex for Maria. Just like I'd have no problem if Max ditched Liz for Cameron. Tbh forget Instalove, forget high school flames that never went out, forget "I love this person and I can't explain why." Give me relationships that actually make sense based on who these characters are and what they need in the present.

Yeah Michael and Alex seem to be an example of why TPTB need to LGBT actors in LGBT roles. Or at least be certain an actor is good playing gay. You never get natural chemistry when the actors are not completely comfortable with the situation. Plus chemistry is just a bitch sometimes it refuses to work how you want it too. It happened in the OG series too with Alex. The writer's dropped Alex\Isobel partly because Katherine Hiegl and Colin Hanks chemistry was non existent.

I don't have a problem with the writer's switching Michael's love interest in this case. I don't think unfortunate its just a matter of what's best for the show. In the end TPTB are treating Maria and Alex both as valid love interests for Michael which is perfectly eqitable. You really can't ask for more from a representation stand point.

I also think it would be interesting to have Michael and Alex get together and realise they aren't the same people and want very different things. They have become very different people from the boys they once were, especially Alex.  There's a nice story there in them getting together and realising they just don't work.

[Regalbegal]

23 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I like Alex, but I'm still not sold on Alex/Michael and I really like Michael's chemistry with Maria

I have found the opposite - while Michael and Maria are snarky and fun together and play off each other well I don't see the romantic/sexual undercurrent/chemistry that there is between Michael and Alex, at least not at this point.  Complicating matters is that this is an attractive and fairly charismatic cast overall, so at times there are vibes popping off in all directions.  I would hesitate to see a love triangle with the three of them, bc as written now at least Maria would be the "spoiler", so to speak, and I think the character deserves better than that. 

I am hoping that the lack of Maria thus far is a product of both availability issues and the initial focus on setting up the core back stories of Rosa/Liz and the 3 aliens.  The actress is great, and I would hate to see her under-used.

[Cristofle]

13 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

Did Michael remember drawing that symbol all over the walls when he was a boy?  Maybe "the boy" is a fourth alien? 

That's an interesting idea, because I mentioned above, I'm so confused as to why Mrs. Evans doesn't realize that was Michael. There's no way she doesn't know him. He was her children's only friend, lol. Also, Michael's picture was shown in the very beginning with Isobel and Max as the mute children without names in the paper. It was a thing in both the books and the show that there were other aliens in pods (in the books, it was Nicholas and Adam. In the show, it was Tess). Maybe there were other pods here too. 

[Catfi9ht]

I think I'm in the minority because I was pleased with the ending of this episode. For me, Isobel was written like a self-absorbed, melodramatic teenager which didn't fit with the relative maturities of the rest of the cast. I'm looking forward to the rest of the cast interacting without constantly babysitting or worrying about her. However, I'm not looking forward to Max whinging over his sister which I'm guessing will be the case by the way they ended the episode.

I like the multi-faceted aspects of some of the characters:

• Kyle - the jerky jock who has learned some humility since high school
• Alex - who finally bullies his bully (his dad) by using skills he learned in the Army (which was forced conscription by his father) and is not closeted and self-loathing which he appeared to be when they introduced his "secret romance" with Michael
• Michael - who's a genius but doesn't flaunt it and doesn't define his identity by it
• Maria - who's embraced her differences but doesn't let her "otherness" define her

Now that Liz learned the truth about her sister, I hope her obsession can be put to rest. It made her character one-dimensional and uninteresting to me. I hope this show doesn't devolve into a petty Team Alien vs Team Human melodrama but instead everyone comes together to solve the MOTW (mystery of the week).

[kj4ever]

On 3/13/2019 at 10:22 PM, Samwise979 said:

Did Michael remember drawing that symbol all over the walls when he was a boy?  Maybe "the boy" is a fourth alien? 

In an earlier episode Isobel said something to Max about him trying to make up for Michael not getting adopted all his life.  I thought this was a piece of that puzzle, that maybe Max was the one who did all those drawings and Michael got blamed for it.

So super Liz can not only make a serum in under a week, she can magically melt silver in record time and figure out how to get Isobel in the pod.  God I hate her character.

Michael and Kyle are quickly becoming the only characters I actually like and care about what happens to them.  This is a true re-imagining because they were probably my least favorites in the OG.

Like shapeshifter said above I think me being such a fan of the original is what is tainting my experience with this show.  They really do seem to be going for a new story, and if there wasn't the Max/Liz undertones I think I'd like it much better.  Just the pilot of the OG made me invested in Max/Liz, and IF this show is going to go with that pairing I don't see it.  At. All.

I'm really starting to think that maybe in this version there isn't a Max/Liz relationship because it would make both characters look like complete idiots if they got together.  Max set up Liz's sister, and Liz totally used Max's feelings for her for her half-assed investigation.  God I wanted to hug Michael when he called her sorry ass out on that one!

[bettername2come]

I thought it was strange in this one that they seem to think they had lives on their home planet they don’t remember, which was never something considered in the OG series or books. I don’t know how I feel about that one. On the one hand, yes, they were old enough to have lives they could have remembered. On the other, it seems just as implausible for them to have them to have been in stasis for 50 years and be amnesiac as it does for them to have gestated that long before hatching.

Michael’s been growing on me as they’ve given him more layers. I like how they’ve made him the smart one. Also, the man can work a cowboy hat.

New Mama Evans has nothing on Mary Ellen Trainor.

[Callaphera]

So I was thinking about this episode last night and I realized that it might have been better to coat the alien pod with the melted silver Suave versus bathing Isobel in it. They just needed it to open so she could get in there, which okay, having her covered in the stuff got her in. But it's not like the silver stuff would just evaporate (or maybe it would - it's not like there's a real life alien pod that I can reference for this but I'm going to assume that it wouldn't evaporate) and if she's still covered the melted silver Suave mixture, how is she not falling out the back of the pod? But if they would have coated a section of the pod with the melted silver Suave, she could have just pushed herself through that and not had to worry about keeping her balance inside. And then they could have hosed it off or wiped it off so no one else could get in.

Sure, it doesn't look as pretty and you don't get to play somber music while a pretty blonde rubs in all over herself with much woe and sadness but I think I had a new respect for Isobel's core. Girl must work out a lot to be able to stay in there without hilariously falling out the back end of it and taking a face plant in the dirt. 

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, bettername2come said:

I thought it was strange in this one that they seem to think they had lives on their home planet they don’t remember, which was never something considered in the OG series or books.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean, but, for instance, OG Roswell Tess remembered Max as her husband.

[bettername2come]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean, but, for instance, OG Roswell Tess remembered Max as her husband.

No, I don’t mean their past lives. I mean in the books and OG series they hatched as six-year-olds. And that’s when their lives began, whereas here, they’re saying “we were seven years old, someone put us in those pods” like they think they had a childhood on their home planet they don’t remember and were sent here Superman style after they were born. It was just a difference I noticed, and they seemed so sure of it that it seemed odd to me.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, bettername2come said:

No, I don’t mean their past lives. I mean in the books and OG series they hatched as six-year-olds. And that’s when their lives began, whereas here, they’re saying “we were seven years old, someone put us in those pods” like they think they had a childhood on their home planet they don’t remember and were sent here Superman style after they were born. It was just a difference I noticed, and they seemed so sure of it that it seemed odd to me.

Ah! Yes. I noticed that too. It's actually one difference I wouldn't mind being explored.
The other differences are getting to be too jarring for me.
I read the books about mid-way through the first season of the original series, which might be why those differences didn't bother me so much.
I never watched the OG Battlestar Galactica series and couldn't understand all the rejection of the reimangined version; now I get it. Sort of. Minus the anger, LOL. 

So, now I'm thinking I'd like Isobel to come out of the pod as a 7-year-old again. 
But no rapid aging, please.
Noah would have to deal. Maybe they could tell him the truth (show him the pods, give him an I Know An Alien Club membership pin), and he could tell the world she is their niece. 
Okay. I'll stop now. 😉

[phoenics]

On 3/13/2019 at 10:54 AM, Cristofle said:

Oh, and two other things - so we got confirmation Isobel does not believe she has the power to make the mark (which again, further convinces me that another alien is behind the murder somehow) and that Max has a much more powerful connection to Isobel than Michael does, possibly meaning they truly are related. 

Maybe they came out of one pod and are truly twins.  And another alien came out of the other pod.

[phoenics]

3 hours ago, bettername2come said:

No, I don’t mean their past lives. I mean in the books and OG series they hatched as six-year-olds. And that’s when their lives began, whereas here, they’re saying “we were seven years old, someone put us in those pods” like they think they had a childhood on their home planet they don’t remember and were sent here Superman style after they were born. It was just a difference I noticed, and they seemed so sure of it that it seemed odd to me.

This is an interesting thought.  But I thought those pods started off tiny and then got bigger as they grew?  In the previous episode, the scientists pulled a pod out of the woman on the table.  At least, I thought it was a pod.

This episode held my interest the least, btw.  I did have a crazy busy week, but even now on the weekend, I have no desire to rewatch.  I think my experience with the books and the OG show is interfering - that and how marginalized Maria is and how her stories/importance and screentime seems to have been given to Alex and Kyle - and it's starting to wear on me how off Max and Liz are.  Michael feels more like Max to me than Max does - this Max is just overly emotive and emotional (Jason Behr's Max was just SOOOO good).  I like this Max but ugh...  they haven't even convinced ME why this Max loves Liz so much. 

I guess I could understand teenage Max falling in insta-love and then show us how right Max/Liz were for each other (every episode in the OG series just reinforced this in S1 - so much so that they had to rip off Thania St. John's Royal Krypton story and give Max a wife from a past/old life to even come close to threatening the epicness that was Max/Liz).  

In this version, I feel like if a compelling enough "past life" alien showed up for Max, we'd all be like - go with her, Max!  As it is, Cameron and Max almost felt like a better pairing - except you knew Max just couldn't get into it.

I don't want to see an imprinting storyline here - that would be such a CHEAP and horrible treatment of Max/Liz.

Is this on purpose?  Is this what TPTB want?  Do they not want Max/Liz?  Because they've really made them look horrible as a couple and took away everything I loved about them in the OG show AND the books.

When this show got picked up, I remember being so excited and happy because I missed my epic Max&Liz.  I missed that "soulmate look into my eyes" thing.  Now it feels like they gave that to Michael and Alex and I'm really upset by that.

I'm beginning to hate that Julie Plec/Carina got their hands on MY beloved Roswell and did this to my favorite part of it.  I'm beginning to understand some of the rage I'm seeing from OGRoswell fans about what they did to what we old fans considered OURS.

I didn't sign up for TVD with Aliens.  I signed up for Roswell, dammit.

[KittenPokerCheater]

I thought they all remembered coming out of their pods, so I think Isobel and Max would remember if they shared a pod.  But it will make sense if a 4th alien shows up.

I rewatched the episode, and I really liked the Liz/Michael scenes.  I hope they get a lot more to do together. 

How long will Isobel be in stasis, you think?

[Jacks-Son]

On 3/13/2019 at 3:55 AM, Cristofle said:

Why doesn't Mama Evans realize the child drawing on the walls was Michael? Michael appears to have literally been Max's only friend growing up.

Aeryn/Vala Mal Doran!!!!!  Love Claudia Black and was not aware she was going to play Mama Evans.  Hopefully, she’ll be around for awhile.

Yes, I too was confused by her apparent lack of knowledge of a person so closely associated with her own adopted kids.  Makes zero sense. Although in OG Roswell, the parents knew of him as their best friend, Michael really didn’t get along with the Evans, but that was Michael’s fault. It’s strange. What is also strange is that Isobel is married and loves her husband, a human, yet Max is forbidden to even get serious with Liz.  Why is it fine for Isobel (it may have helped if we knew Noah BEFORE they got married or at least show us a flashback of that courtship) yet forbidden for Max?

I’m finally starting to get comfortable with these actors in their roles.  Lily Cowles, is shaping up to be a capable Isobel.  I still don’t like Michael Trevino, but if he can make me forget his role as Tyler Lockwood, I would feel better.  It’s still touch and go with Maria and Alex. I’m not in love with the actress who plays Liz, but that’s MY problem, and has nothing to do with her acting.

I’m enjoying the show and look forward to it. I still don’t understand why Isobel killed Rosa. I can understand killing the girls who were planning to harm Rosa, but killing Rosa, her friend who she confided in?  I sure hope that Nacedo isn’t a multiple personality type thing with Isobel as opposed to a separate alien Guardian.  Does anyone know if there are plans to follow the Royal Four story or is that only in OG? I suppose I should just wait and let the show flow, but it’s so radically different from OG, that it’s hard to sit back and let it unfold.

I need to amend a question.  I understand that the Isobel/Noah relationship is not the same as the Max/Liz relationship in that Rosa died and Max could not bear to see Liz suffer from her loss and was primed to reveal their secret.  I guess Isobel would have preferred to reveal her secret to her husband but decided against it.  I got that, but Isobel has to feel SOME need to reveal her true self to her husband, if she's anything like the Liz in OG. who cried herself to sleep because she wanted to share with their mom.

I think the show's decision to place Isobel back in the embryonic egg until her urge to kill is abated or gone, is a terrible one considering, we're just getting used to these characters AND actors and they are denying the audience an opportunity to warm up to a different actress playing such an important role.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Jacks-Son
Final thoughts. Some such bullshit to write here.

[Regalbegal]

22 hours ago, Jacks-Son said:

I still don’t understand why Isobel killed Rosa. I can understand killing the girls who were planning to harm Rosa, but killing Rosa, her friend who she confided in?

I am still not fully convinced that she actually killed Rosa, or at least there is more going on than we think.  The way they shot it, and at this point the fact that we only saw what Max/Michael saw, makes me pretty sure there is a lot more to unfold here - maybe the other girls hurt Rosa and Isobel tried to help her, but actually ended up killing her accidentally? Maybe there was another alien involved?  I really hope this is resolved by the end of the season. 

[phoenics]

2 hours ago, Regalbegal said:

I am still not fully convinced that she actually killed Rosa, or at least there is more going on than we think.  The way they shot it, and at this point the fact that we only saw what Max/Michael saw, makes me pretty sure there is a lot more to unfold here - maybe the other girls hurt Rosa and Isobel tried to help her, but actually ended up killing her accidentally? Maybe there was another alien involved?  I really hope this is resolved by the end of the season. 

I think Isobel (or her other personality or something controlling her) killed the other girls to "protect" Rosa as some kind of warped "cat brings its owner dead mice as tokens of affection" and revealed to Rosa that she was an alien, but Rosa told her new-dad Jim Valenti and Isobel decided she couldn't be trusted and killed her just as Michael showed up.

What's not really clear is what part of Isobel killed Rosa and the girls.  Was it an entity controlling her, another personality or ????

I wish I cared either way now.  The showrunner has admitted to not using the Roswell High books for any episodes past the Pilot.  That's the ONE episode that felt like Roswell (maybe the second one).  Since then, the show is floundering and doesn't seem to have any of the magic of the books or the OG show.  I keep waiting around - hoping to get a flicker of it but I just can't discern much more of "Roswell" (books or show) in this.  The brief elements of it seem to get pushed down in favor of other stuff I'm not as interested in.

It feels like the showrunner didn't or doesn't understand what made Roswell so special and iconic in the first place.  I wouldn't mind it so much if she changed a bunch of stuff around, but kept the heart of the show the same.  She hasn't.

And given her admission of not paying attention to the books or using them as inspiration past the pilot (she says she's been doing her own thing), I'm not sure why I'm sticking around.

Even I'm surprised at how over it I am.

[Whodunnit]

You know, while I'm glad that Liz wasn't too upset (like... at all, really) when Michael revealed to her what he and Izzy did to her ten years ago--giving her The Mind Whammy TM to leave Roswell without Max so she wouldn't ask too many questions--it also kind of underscores the message that Max's feelings are unreciprocated.

Edited March 18, 2019 by Whodunnit
M-dash is better

[MzLiz]

13 hours ago, Whodunnit said:

--it also kind of underscores the message that Max's feelings are unreciprocated.

Exactly. I felt so bad for Max when she said that to him. Sorta steps on the whole Liz/Max thing. 

[ParadoxLost]

On 3/18/2019 at 5:25 PM, MzLiz said:

Exactly. I felt so bad for Max when she said that to him. Sorta steps on the whole Liz/Max thing. 

I don't feel bad for him.

If you ignore the books and RoswellOG, Max's feelings for Liz probably aren't "real".  

He had a teenage crush.

He took a shot at telling his crush how he felt.

That wasn't a strong enough bond for him not to cover up his crush's sister's murder..

He wallowed in guilt and what would have been if that never happened and is basically stunted emotionally.

[Jacks-Son]

Shouldn’t Isobel be able to feel Max’s love for Liz?  Perhaps she knew how Max really felt.  Anyway, love isn’t dependent on reciprocation. He felt the way he felt regardless of how Liz felt for him.

[shapeshifter]

43 minutes ago, Jacks-Son said:

Shouldn’t Isobel be able to feel Max’s love for Liz? 

I thought in one of the first few episodes of this show Isobel went into Liz's head and saw how much Max loved her--which makes no sense. So I probably got it wrong.

[Jacks-Son]

No, you got it right. In that episode, Isobel broke down with guilt when she realized how much he was hurting. That doesn't tell us anything about how Liz feels for Max now.  She couldn't go through with her attempt to make Liz forget what Max revealed about their true nature.  I'm not even sure Liz CAN feel anything for him after learning about the mind control and Rosa's murder.  It would take a prodigious amount of love to get past that.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Jacks-Son

[phoenics]

3 hours ago, Jacks-Son said:

No, you got it right. In that episode, Isobel broke down with guilt when she realized how much he was hurting. That doesn't tell us anything about how Liz feels for Max now.  She couldn't go through with her attempt to make Liz forget what Max revealed about their true nature.  I'm not even sure Liz CAN feel anything for him after learning about the mind control and Rosa's murder.  It would take a prodigious amount of love to get past that.

Actually Isobel tells Michael that she felt what Liz was feeling - for Max.  That's when she realized Liz did love Max, "deep down".

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, phoenics said:

Actually Isobel tells Michael that she felt what Liz was feeling - for Max.  That's when she realized Liz did love Max, "deep down".

Which episode?