Season 4 of Roswell, New Mexico is just around the corner, and in preparation for its return to our screens, we’ll be rewatching season 3 of the series! Last week, we watched episodes 4-5, and each week we will rewatch two episodes and discuss our favorite moments and the foreshadowing we missed the first time around. Beware, this will be a spoiler-filled discussion on everything that went down in season 3 of Roswell, New Mexico. You can find every episode of Roswell on Netflix now. Without further ado, let’s jump right into episodes 6 and 7!
Bittersweet Symphony
Written by: Leah Longoria and Steve Stringer
Directed by: Rachel Raimist
- Now, thanks to hindsight we know that “Max” isn’t Max, but is actually Jones in Max’s place via body swap. For the sake of clarity, I’m going to call him Jones from here until the swap back moment later in the season. For fun, let’s keep a tally of Jones’ tells in these two episodes.
- His biggest tell here is his unwillingness to look Liz in the eye or be too close to her. Tell number two comes when we see Lucky chilling outside Max’s house. Tell three is when he yells at Liz, he’s too abrasive and argues with her in a way Max wouldn’t. Tell four is when Liz finds the handprint and he tries to explain it away by saying he put a pillow under her head. His self-guilt and secret keeping is extra suspicious to both us and Liz.
- The gang spend much of the episode looking after Maria who is in the hospital with a mysterious coma they presume was brought on by the “attack” at Max’s house. We know that this was really done by Jones, trapping Maria in her mind until he gets the equation he needs from her.
- Isobel’s mind-ception doesn’t work to reach Maria because Jones keeps her locked away and Isobel only sees a dilapidated Wild Pony that shakes and breaks things every time she tries to reach Maria. Nice move on Jones’ part to scare her away.
- This also sets off Rosa’s journey to get a handle on her own new powers. Without the bracelet, Rosa realizes her powers are sound based. Isobel takes her into Maria’s mind to find her, and she’s able to recognize a song that’s Maria’s clue.
- Everyone is also very concerned that Kyle is now missing and certain that the local racists are behind it. However, we know that Ramos (aka the secret uncle guy) followed the radio signal from Kyle’s radio at Max’s house (his SOS when he was attacked) where Ramos found him unconscious. This was an agonizing episode believing that Kyle was at best kidnapped and at worst already dead.
- This episode becomes so much more enjoyable now that we know Maria’s real illness and Kyle is alive (albeit in a coma thanks to the men who broke into Max’s house and stole Jones’ sword).
- I want to give a shout out to the deep dive into Deep Sky via Alex and Ramos. Ramos is an excellent new character who gives us amazing insight into what Deep Sky is about and also has a believable connection to aliens, Kyle, and the whole group. Kyle activating his radio and confusing bats infrared location was not on my bingo card of what would kick off the Malex reunion arc but here we are. RIP to those bats, and thank you for your sacrifices.
- Michael piecing together the clues of Jones seeing a flash, Kyle missing, and Sanders talking about communications issues is a favorite of mine. He’s right up there with Liz for the smartest character award and I love when they let that part of him shine through.
- We also get the glorious back and forth between Sanders and Michael that absolutely every fan loved. It’s a short interaction but one that helps Michael see through his own anger to the truth of the matter.
- Alex (thankfully) plays a bigger part in this episode, testing the DNA and providing the link that the blood on the shovel isn’t Kyle’s but is a relative. This season felt like we saw a lot less of Alex than in previous seasons, and I’m hoping season 4 will have more Alex Manes. I loved watching Alex follow the leads and find the hidden radio, the Valenti radio twin, in Ramos’ office. Ending that scene with Alex held at gun point was so typically Roswell I can’t even be mad.
- Thanks to Rosa’s sharp ears, the episode ends on Maria’s memory of her explaining what happened to Jones. The regiment attacked Kyle and Kyle’s radio broke the doors and Jones knocks Maria out. Liz finds out about Jones’ burn victim request and pieces everything together in one of the best twists of the season: Jones is out, he’s not Max. Jones retrieving his sword and slaughtering the men who took it was a chilling end to a great episode.
“Goodnight Elizabeth”
Written by: Kristen Haynes and Christopher Hollier
Directed by: Heather Hemmens
- I love that this episode was directed by the show’s own Heather Hemmens. Getting to see actors step behind the camera as well brings an extra element to television and she certainly brought a unique element to the episode.
- Episode 7 is all about the crew’s attempt to beat Jones at his own game. Liz whips up her specialty alien inhibitor and tries to micro-dose Jones at Gregory’s fundraiser for Maria, which of course, doesn’t go according to plan.
- Liz and Isobel do a fantastically bad job at acting like they don’t know Jones is actually Jones.
- We also meet Dallas in this episode and knowing how significant he will become makes his intro this time around much more intriguing. I love that the writers are choosing to expand the circle of aliens in Roswell, the potential for where they can expand this show is one of the reasons I love it so much.
- Meanwhile, we also learn what’s happening with Kyle who is also in a coma from a mystery drug injection. Ramos gives Alex full access to everything about the Lockhart Machine. Jim smuggled the machine, built by aliens, out of Caulfield. The machine actually killed the last person who worked on it, so no pressure for Alex. Of course, we know he goes off the deep end a bit in his effort to get to the bottom of it.
- Michael and Isobel coaching Rosa in hearing alien wavelengths is such a great comedic moment. The little quips between the characters and acting just brings these interactions to life. No matter who is paired up on the show, be it Rosa and Michael or Alex and Liz or Isobel and Maria, everyone delivers incredible performances without fail. No one pairing ever feels forced or unnatural.
- The chess game between Jones and Liz is so fascinating to watch knowing what we know. Even knowing it’s Jones, Liz still falls for his trick to lure her away from the Wild Pony. He picks her brain and learns what he wants to know about their DNA and her scientific capabilities.
- Rosa’s new power gains them an upper hand in retrieving Jones’ sword for all of 10 seconds before they confront him and yet another huge twist comes to light. Jones is the dictator. Meaning Michael’s father is standing right in front of him. Not life altering for Michael or anything.
- Rosa saving the day with a handy dandy shot gun and the Roswell police department after Jones’ show of power was a great moment. Jones gets away and takes the pod with Max/Jones’ body raising the stakes even more for the crew.
That’s it for our rewatch of episodes 6 and 7. Join us next week as we continue with episodes 8 and 9. Roswell, New Mexico season 4 will premiere on Monday, June 6 at 8/7c on The CW.
