“Say It Ain’t So” is another fantastic episode from the Roswell crew, so let’s jump right in! The episode begins with Liz and Isobel helping Rosa pick out an outfit, aka her way to go out without being recognized. Her cover story? She is their cousin, Rosalinda, from Arizona and clothes will help her regain her freedom. She settles on an outfit that is the polar opposite of the Rosa we know and heads out to the cave where she used to spray paint her art. Rosa finds other taggers in her old place, but when she tries to make friends the girls make a racist comment and leave. Upset, she instinctively reaches for the oxycodone and pops three, before pausing and spitting them out. Instead, Rosa stomps on the prescription bottle as a new girl, Iris, arrives and remarks on her “dance moves.” Iris guesses that Rosa is also an artist and invites her to an art show she’s hosting.
At The Wild Pony, Max is nearing the end of his shift at the bar for “Sangria Saturday” (um, yes please?) as Maria apologizes for throwing him to the wolves on his first day. After his shift he finds Liz in the lab still working. She confesses to looking for a way to speed up his heart’s recovery but agrees to stop her alien research. Max gets a text that Jenna Cameron’s car is at the junk yard and they head out to investigate. Michael greets them when they arrive, but with Sanders gone all day, Michael leaves for The Wild Pony rather than help them “Nancy Drew” Jenna’s car.
He finds Maria shuffling cards and contemplating her heirloom necklace and why Mimi was so insistent she wear it. Upon closer inspection, Michael recognizes the flower. It’s the same flower whose pollen has a paralytic effect on alien powers. With it off, Maria asks Michael to draw a card and predicts all three of his draws correctly. She believes the flower is her weakness as it dulls her abilities, but Michael views it as protection. It keeps her impervious to alien powers and also dampens her abilities that might destroy her mind. He hands it back with a commanding, “Keep it on” which we all know won’t work on Maria.
Max and Liz are mid-search when Liz finds Jenna’s dead phone. As she looks for a charger an unmarked black SUV pulls up. The woman says she’s with the FBI, but Max knows better. He hands her the phone but grabs her gun (which isn’t police issue) and pins her arm while pointing out the car is a rental. When she turns back around he sees the tattoo on her wrist, she’s Charlie Cameron. Charlie reveals she started investigating Jenna’s disappearance and believes Jenna was taken by people who want information Charlie gained from participating in a controversial project. Jenna’s phone shows her last text was to Alex looking for Jesse Manes, and Charlie says he’s one of the people who want to know what she knows.
Alex takes Forrest on a pretty epic date, paintball! Forrest checks that Alex doesn’t have any PTSD triggers with paintball (so thoughtful), and they head inside to gear up, even betting on drinks at The Wild Pony later.
Isobel finds Maria at the bar. Michael sent her to try and convince Maria to wear her necklace. Isobel shares that if she had something that could have kept Noah out of her mind she would surgically implant it. Maria sees it as a chance to learn about herself and her family and asks Isobel to train her to control her abilities. In exchange Maria offers a reading on Isobel’s future, but Isobel counters with something about her past.
At the Crashdown Cafe, Manes enters using a cane following his stroke. Max reveals that he is meeting with Manes, not Charlie. They sit and Max immediately asks what he knows about Jenna. Manes says he told Jenna about a black ops paramilitary group called Deep Sky who are interested in Charlie’s device. He even draws the logo on a napkin. Outside, Liz and Charlie wait for Max, and Charlie reveals she’s worked on “extraordinary things” but stays vague. Inside, Manes doesn’t give rise to Max challenging his legacy or the Caulfield experiments. Instead he tells Max the stroke took all the hate and fight out of him (yeah, sure). Manes leaves, so Liz and Charlie join Max and he shares the information. Charlie doesn’t recognize the name or symbol, but plans to ask her contacts and also leaves. Liz immediately asks if he thinks she’s lying (we’re suspicious too), but Max has contacts of his own to call (“from his easy chair,” he adds to appease Liz).
Alex and Forrest are having a great time with paintball, shooting at one another until Forrest gets the drop on Alex and hits his good leg. When he falls, Forrest comes to check on him and Alex reveals his prosthetic. Forrest tells him he should lead with that story in future saying, “heroes are sexy.” (We agree.) They share a heated moment and nearly kiss, but Alex pulls away at the last second as he gets a call.
In the lab, Liz finds Michael searching frantically for the remaining flower pollen. She didn’t see it while packing, and Michael goes into angry cowboy mode as she elaborates that she hasn’t found any fresh flowers and believe they are extinct. Micheal calms down enough to explain he needs it to make another necklace. In desperation he gives Liz the Caulfield files that detail what experiments were done hoping she can figure out if it can be undone. She agrees to look it over. Liz gets a text that “Rosalinda” is late for her shift at the cafe and leaves to help find her.
Meanwhile Rosa is actually at the art exhibit where she finds Iris who helps her alter her outfit to be more Rosa. It’s interesting that Iris seems to know exactly how to make it Rosa’s style. Together they wonder the exhibit and discuss art. We learn Iris is an ex-Roswell resident who went to art school and now curates art for a gallery. She also tells Rosa she believes she is an artist and gets her to paint.
Isobel brings Maria to Michael’s where she shows her the photo of Michael’s mom hoping to trigger a vision. The picture doesn’t work, but a hanging shirt does. Maria becomes unresponsive to Isobel who takes initiative and enters her mind. Isobel and Maria watch as Louise is handed a small homemade windmill by young Walt while she is hanging laundry. He then races off to find Nora, and the vision ends. They quickly leave but not before Maria gets a sudden nosebleed. (Red flag number one, Maria!)
Now dark, Max cuts Charlie off on a deserted road. He demands information and Charlie divulges she was contacted by the group and has until 11 p.m. to show up or they will kill Jenna. Max grills her about what she heard and apparently a train and demonic laugh is all he needs. They jump in his Jeep and drive to the fair grounds. It’s near the train tracks and has a demonic sounding carny, not creepy at all right? There are horse trailers in the rodeo arena, one of which holds Jenna in a sealed box. They don’t get far before shots ring out from a nearby sniper and Charlie takes a bullet to the leg. Max takes her hat then dashes to the next trailer, stopping to blow out the fuse box which gives him serious cardiac issues. With the lights out he frees Jenna, carries her back to Charlie and they head to the hospital.
Alex arrives at the hospital where Manes was admitted for mixing medication with alcohol. Alex tries to get more out of him and Manes says he let down “Uncle Tripp.” He was at the bunker still trying to crack the code. They discuss Tripp and when Alex insinuates that he got what he deserved for killing innocents, Manes loses his cool and slams his cane into the medical equipment. It seems he still has plenty of anger and fight in him after all.
Now also at the hospital, Jenna wakes up to find Max in her room. She tries to recall what happened before her abduction but only remembers a weird sound, bright light, and a horrible pain to the back of her neck. She reveals the burn mark to Max. He tells her she is safe, not to worry, and that Charlie is also there to help her. Max finds the room Charlie was treated in empty with nothing but a handwritten note for Jenna, which he delivers. Jenna is understandably heartbroken that the sister she has been searching for has chosen to leave without saying goodbye and asks Jenna not to look for her.
Rosa completed her painting at the art show and Iris lavishes praise on her final piece. Oddly, she calls her Rosa instead of Rosalinda, but when Rosa corrects her, Iris grabs her and tells her to dance as a song comes on. The two dance but the space seems to fill with smoke that only effects Rosa. She coughs while Iris dances around her and then vanishes. Distantly Rosa hears Liz’s voices and we are pulled back to the cave where Rosa is unconscious and has started a fire. Liz finds her, and we realize everything Rosa did was nothing more than a drug induced hallucination.
With Rosa now conscious in her hospital bed, Liz tells her they will figure it out together. Rosa wishes for rehab and laments that every day she tries to do better and every day she fails. The constant failure is hard to cope with and now she has the added stress of her powers. She tells Liz, “I started a fire while I was unconscious because I blow up lightbulbs with my brain.” Liz hands her Maria’s necklace which should dampen her ability so she can go to rehab. Max finds Liz in the hallway and fills him in that Rosa will be going to a nearby rehab facility to get clean. Max invites her over, but Liz has to open the diner in a few hours and needs to have a good alone cry. They share a kiss and part ways. What Max doesn’t know is Liz returns to the lab where she continues to pack until she is suddenly unpacking and settles down with the Caulfield records.
Alex meets Forrest at The Wild Pony after dealing with Manes and they have a serious conversation. Alex still has a mental block about being openly affectionate in public with a man thanks to his abusive upbringing. He apologizes to Forrest who is compassionate and understanding. He tells Alex he hopes he will hear from Alex again when he is able to sort through those difficult emotions and the two part amicably.
Isobel finds Michael at the garage and explains Maria’s vision with unbridled excitement at what they saw. She saw her mother. Michael looks on affectionately at his sister, but when she mentions the little boy with the windmill, everything changes. Michael moves to a nearby shelf, finds the windmill he has probably looked at hundreds of time. It’s the same windmill. When Sanders pulls up Michael immediately confronts him asking if Sanders is Walt. Sanders only nods.
Max finds Charlie at her hotel when he asks why she is leaving. She says she can only protect her from the inside, but their conversation is cut short as car alarms sound. Then they see a bright light, like the one Jenna and Mimi saw before their abductions, and the screen goes white.
Can Liz help Maria fight the degenerative effects of her powers? Will Walt divulge everything he knew about Louise and Nora to Michael and Isobel? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out!
Roswell, New Mexico airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET /8 p.m. CT on The CW.
