Roswell, New Mexico continues to deliver heart pumping drama and mystery every week, and “Free Your Mind” was no exception to this exquisite third season! Let’s break down what we learned.
Liz Unlocks the Science of Sound Frequency
Liz’s journey this episode is primarily spent taking care of Maria as the Jones infection spreads through her body. Alex smartly gets Maria “transferred by the military,” aka they take Maria to a barn where Liz can monitor her vitals and attempt to treat her. Liz tries to mutate the serum she created while simultaneously keeping Maria stable and alive so Maria and potentially Isobel and Rosa don’t die. No pressure, right?
After Liz has quite the personal revelation out loud she has a breakthrough that Rosa’s truth about everything having signature vibrations is the key. Liz can use sound to affect Jones’ cell vibration and separate him from Maria. Rosa rejoins Liz and they uncover the correct frequency to sever Jones’ hold on Maria.
Jones is a Math Nerd
We finally discover why Jones has put Maria in a coma and is wreaking havoc on her memory. He’s after a very specific equation on a piece of alien glass that Maria’s grandmother, Patricia, saw in 1969. In a clever move by Jones, he takes a step back and allows Maria, Isobel, and Rosa to go on the journey “alone.” He reappears after they’ve uncovered the math symbol he so desperately wants.
Jones reveals there were many Maxs, many clones back on their planet. It was the key to his supposed immortality, he used science to jump into other clones’ bodies. The triad (Nora, Louise, and Theo) killed every last one except Max who was made a little different. We don’t learn exactly how Max is different yet. Our hopes? That one key difference will come in handy for Liz in the coming episodes.
Maria, Isobel, and Rosa Go on a Memory Quest
As mentioned above, Maria is forced to relive Patricia’s memory of that day in 1969 if she, Isobel, and Rosa are to uncover what Jones is after. Throughout the day, Maria has to face some hard truths including the realization that Patricia was fighting Caulfield from the inside. She “helped” with the experiments by administering them, but she swapped out the serums for placebos. Patricia meets with Nora who has been helping Patricia create the Lockhart machine. The final piece comes from the third in Nora and Louise’s triad, Theo, the scientist Jones forced to make clones. They discover Theo is dead, but Maria charges up the glass using the symbol on Theo’s forehead. Naturally, this is when Jones makes his reappearance to claim said glass.
What follows is Maria finishing the mission with Patricia installing the glass into the Lockhart machine but getting caught for her actions with the placebo swap by none other than Dr. Lockhart. Meanwhile, we get to watch Isobel kick Jones’ ass inside the mind palace to protect Maria and the glass. This buys enough time for Liz’s vibrational science to separate Maria and Jones, waking her and Isobel at long last.
A Grand Gesture
Is it even Roswell if there isn’t a little drama between Alex and Michael? The episode starts with these two finally starting to communicate again. Alex shares he joined Deep Sky, oh and that he joined it for Michael. He wants to build a world where Michael (and they as a couple) don’t have to live in fear. Michael airs out his annoyance that Alex lied to him about Kyle, but with all that out in the open, the duo set aside everything to go after Jones. Alex puts his tactical mind to the mission, and they track Jones as far as a national park where Alex casually writes a program to search for Max’s license plate using game camera footage. Because that’s so easy to do from the back of a pickup truck. Alex also shares a failed mission from his time in Iraq. A small child was killed for befriending him, and Alex let his emotions drive his actions during a mission. His emotion-based actions caused the enemy to scatter and through tears, he explains this to Michael.
“You are the one piece that I cannot go through life without.” – Alex Manes
The duo find Jones and steal back the pod with Max in it in a tense few moments. Michael nearly lets his emotions get the better of him, but Alex is there to rein him in thankfully. Instead, they take the pod from a meditating Jones (who is busy fighting Isobel in Maria’s mind). Naturally, he wakes just as they are leaving. We can’t have this going too smoothly now, can we?
They do make a getaway and with Maria’s memory revealing the Lockhart machine, Alex comes clean with Michael. He tells him about the machine at Deep Sky and hopes to get Ramos’ approval for Michael to work on it, too. Michael doubts he will get clearance and simply tells Alex, “one mission at a time.” Michael’s current mission? Well, it turns out it’s Operation Reunion. He flat out kisses Alex outside the Wild Pony effectively confirming they are on their way to, if not an outright reunion, at least the beginnings of one.
Jones and Max Are Linked and Not in a Good Way
Jones reveals to Michael (before Alex low key runs him over) that shooting Jones will also injure Max. They may have swapped bodies when Jones healed Max, but their cells are still psychically linked. That’s all we learn before Alex literally backs into Jones’ truck, but this presents a huge problem going forward. How can they stop Jones if killing him means also killing Max?
With everything learned in this episode, Liz can now begin to do what she does best and “save Max Evans.”
Roswell, New Mexico airs Mondays on The CW. Be sure to check out all our coverage including recaps, new images, and synopsis as they drop every week!
