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Roswell, New Mexico: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

“I know what it’s like when heroes fall.”

Max’s rage is gone but the consequences of healing Liz continue. Isobel makes a startling discovery. Manes has either found a new ally or made a new enemy. Liz’s search for the truth leads her down an unexpected path. Oh yeah, and we learned who killed Rosa. Maybe.

When faced with Liz’s awareness of the alien hand in Rosa’s death Max caves in to Michael and Isobel’s desire for Isobel to use her abilities to send Liz away. This would be all good if Isobel was strong enough to do so. Never fear. She just needs a little practice.

Isobel’s trial run was entertaining before taking its dark turn. Seeing the beer-swilling, race-baiting Hank turned into fruit drink drunk that donates to pro-immigration charities put a big ole smile on my face. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that Isobel needed a harder challenge. A challenge she definitely found in Maria.

Given her supposed psychic abilities I half expected Maria to be immune to Isobel. I say “supposed” because up till now her abilities as a psychic have been played for laughs. However, her reading of Isobel was frighteningly accurate. Regardless, it appears that either Maria’s psychic powers do offer some kind of protection or Isobel’s abilities are on the fritz. Given that Isobel looked tipsy after dealing with Hank, I’m going with the latter.

We also learned that Isobel’s flashes of Rosa in last week’s episode weren’t a fluke. She and Rosa were friends, and they had a falling out. Could Isobel be the mysterious person who made Rosa don her personal version of armor?

Meanwhile, as if being Liz’s prime suspect in Rosa’s death wasn’t enough… The blackout Max caused led to malfunctioning streetlights, a dying child, and the hospital’s power too unstable to save him. Kyle’s knowledge of who and what Max is doesn’t help matters. He suspects Max’s hand in the blackout but it’s Max’s refusal to heal the little boy that engenders Kyle’s anger. Max puts up a brave front, but he is riddled with guilt and once again puts someone else’s well-being ahead of both him and his family. In doing so, he earns Kyle’s respect and unknowingly staves off one potential path to a government-sponsored autopsy table. Unfortunately, he may have opened up another.

Because the ever-suspicious Manes has his engineers looking into the blackout’s cause. Which leads him to the Sheriff Valenti’s door. Why her and not the Mayor? Did he think he could count on some type of police/military reciprocity? Or did he assume that his former friendship with her husband entitled him to special privileges? From their conversation, Manes’ relationship with the old Sheriff had taken a nosedive, and it appears the new Sheriff loathes him even more than her husband did.

This is not to say Manes’ trip was wasted. The visit did put Cameron squarely in his path. It turns out that she was military before she was police and still has a high regard for her superior officers. Too bad that regard was misplaced when it came to Manes. He could have used Cam’s natural inclination to help a fellow officer to develop the willing ally he claims to want. Instead, he digs into her personal life and not-so-subtly blackmails her with the well-being of Charlie. Cam doesn’t seem like the type to take kindly to ultimatums. So, I guess we’re about to find out who is more important to her, Max or the mysterious Charlie.

Liz continues to dig into Rosa’s final days by reaching out to Rosa’s ex. Like Rosa before him, he’s trying to clean up his act and make amends. If he can’t apologize to Rosa, he can at least return the backpack he stole from her to her sister. A backpack that contained a wad of cash that the younger Frederico helped himself to, a bus ticket to Los Alamos, and a handwritten note stating that the author would always be by Rosa’s side.

Turns out the note was from Valenti Sr. which leads both Liz and Kyle to believe that they were having an affair. If Isobel wasn’t our mystery person, could it be Papa Valenti? And even if it is all true, it doesn’t make him a viable suspect. Valenti may have known about aliens but he couldn’t have left the handprint on Rosa’s face.

Which leads us right back to our alien trio. On the night she died, Rosa had her run-in with Max and actively tried to avoid Isobel only to meet up with Michael who killed her. Now, why don’t I believe that?

Could it be that there has been zero evidence of any connection between Michael and Rosa for good or ill? Or maybe because Michael’s willingness to confess because Max had a good life and Isobel had Noah while all he had was scrap metal was as heartbreaking and honest as his actual confession was flat and disingenuous. Yet neither Max nor Isobel contradicted him. So maybe I’m reading too much into this.

Other than Michael’s less than full-throated confession, I had no issues with this episode. It was well structured, well-acted and we are obviously marching toward some specific and most definitely impactful event. But while I’m perfectly content to see where this road will take me, I wasn’t exactly wowed by the current scenery.

3 out of 5 red dresses of armor

Parting Thoughts:

This week’s title is brought you by the Paula Cole song of the same name.

Max’s rage has been a plot point for three episodes now. Please tell me we’re going to get a better explanation than an off-the-cuff remark from Michael.

Just for the record, I would have loved to have seen Maria’s interpretive dance/Sarah Palin protest. That and the “paper towels” comment prove this show is not shy about its politics.

Is it lucky that Arturo’s health issues coincided with the blackout? It certainly helped to keep him off of ICE’s radar.

Liz and Kyle finally hook up. Why does that bother me more than Max sleeping with Cam?

Rosa’s death succeeded where Rosa failed. Liz built a wall around her heart and emotions that nothing could penetrate except, possibly, Max.

Finally, who’s Charlie? And what does this person mean to Cameron?

Quotes:

Rosa: “There’s a reason God put a cage around your heart.”

Green: “This blackout is pure alien phenomena.”

Max: “Will she forget me?”
Isobel: “No. Just how she feels about you.”
Max: “Well, she feels like I’m a murderer, so…”

Cameron: “Yeah, well, when people are denied AC and cold beer in this town, they start committing crimes for fun, so… grab your boots and your badge.”

Michael: “You didn’t tell Max about how Liz really feels about him.”
Isobel: “It’ll hurt less if he doesn’t know.”

Arturo: “I stopped trusting Rosa when she started to keep secrets. Not the other way around.”

Liz: “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Kyle: “Free fries for life?”
Liz: “You’ve already been stealing them for 20 years.”

Maria: “You can’t swindle a mercenary, Guerin. I keep a tab.”

Max: “Let me make it up to you.”
Cameron: “Okay. But no drive-in this time. I want expensive wine. Caviar.”
Max: “Seriously?”
Cameron: “No. Queso, tequila and no less than three orgasms.”

Maria: “You’re afraid a flawed child might disrupt this curated Pinterest page you call your life.”

Kyle: “Are you so desperate to clear Max’s name that you’ll drag my dad’s through the mud?”

Michael: “You can’t get inside the mind of a dead girl, Isobel.”

Shari loves sci-fi, fantasy, supernatural, and anything with a cape.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I'm also confused. It just doesn't seem likely that Michael would be responsible for Rosa's death.

    (Coincidentally, I saw this episode last night.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! Now I don't feel like I'm crazy.

    ReplyDelete

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