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Roswell, New Mexico: I Saw the Sign

“Reality sucks.”

Whether you’re talking symbols or hints of things to come, there were plenty of signs to be seen.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way.  Max’s tattoo.  It doesn’t take a genius to deduce it is alien in nature.  Watching the opening credits could tell you that.  However, I believe Max told the truth when he said the tattoo on his back was something he used to doodle.  Just as I believe that Wyatt Long has no idea why he drew it.

Unfortunately for Max, the coincidence made Cam’s spidey-sense tingle.  She suspected Max had something to do with the blackout or at least the hospital regaining power.  Now a mind-controlled Wyatt is drawing the symbol found on the man he shot’s back.  It’s not concrete evidence of anything but it’s suspicious enough for her to serve Max up to Manes.  Considering that Cam was choosing between her “scratching post” and her sister I thought it was decent of her to give Max the opportunity to come clean before going to Manes.  Though I doubt it’ll make Max feel any better.

But that’s a fight for another day.  In the here and now he has Liz to deal with.  Liz is not waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Her anger is fueling a search for a weapon against alien abilities.  If she can’t get justice than maybe she can stop history from repeating itself.  This leaves Max to come to terms with two realities.  One, he doesn’t give a damn about justice when it comes to the people he cares about.  And two, if he has to choose between Liz and Isobel, Liz will lose.

In a weird twist of fate, Isobel becomes Liz’s ally and not Max.  Both women believe that if Isobel is having the same symptoms she was having when she killed Rosa, there is no way to know if she will kill again.  And both believe Isobel should be stopped before she goes “Dark Willow.”  I’d like to think having Isobel committed would render the need for Liz’s serum moot but Chekov’s Gun and all that.

It seems Noah has picked a side.  Or did he just revert to the mean?  After all, he was leaning toward taking Isobel back when he showed up on Max’s doorstep.  Learning of Isobel's mentally instability has only solidified his need to be her caretaker.  The question is what does “a cure” look like in this scenario?  And what do they tell Noah if they don’t find one?

After a two week long absence Maria is back with a storyline of her very own.  She may have spent the first half of the season trying to be the fun friend but Liz isn’t the only person hurting.  Liz lost Rosa ten years ago.  Maria is losing her mother now.

Mimi, better known as Mama Deluca, seems to be suffering from some form of dementia despite numerous doctors believing otherwise.  She seemed lucid when she flung enough pebbles in the narrative pond to ensure the ripples will be felt for weeks to come.  Had Isobel really told Rosa about being an alien?  Did Rosa really fear for her life? Did Mimi know Jesse Manes and Jim Valenti’s secret?  Is Alex destined to live under the same dark cloud as his father?

Sadly, whatever flashes of coherent thought Mimi had were soon buried under the weight of Will Smith’s victorious fight to save us from alien domination.  I hate to be on the side of the old, rich, white doctors that gave Maria grief, but it’s not dementia, Alzheimer’s, or a tumor.  Are Mimi's psychic abilities going haywire or has someone  “messed with her thoughts”?

If it's the latter, and we all know it is, I doubt it was Isobel.  If it were, her relationship with Maria wouldn’t be distant with a hint of antagonism.  It would be full on guilt with a side of shame.  So, if not Isobel then who?

That’s my question about Wyatt as well.  If he wasn’t acting under his own volition then whose direction was he working under?  It’s someone who wants to keep the existence of aliens under wraps and has no qualms about killing.  Normally, I’d wager it was a government entity but Chief Master Sergeant Manes is currently in the dark.  And I find it hard to believe that there are two agencies hunting aliens in Roswell and they don’t know about each other.

Where does that leave us?

For now, our alien trio has come to a détente.  Michael and Max won’t mess with Isobel’s life.  Isobel and Michael will stay out of Max’s. And Max and Michael acknowledge their similarities, at least as far as what they would do for the people they love.  Based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s probably the closest they’ve been in a decade.

Taking a break from her problems to help Maria and Mama Deluca gave Liz a little perspective.  Regardless of Isobel’s culpability, to go from wanting to heal the irreparable to creating weapons as a means of vengeance is to become a person Liz never wanted to be.

A week has passed since Alex found his slice of alien technology and he hasn’t told a soul.  I suspect he’s smart enough to realize it’s not man-made.  As a military man, wouldn’t he be obligated to bring it to his superiors?  But since it’s Alex, what do you think he’ll do with it instead?

The only thing we know for sure is that Chief Master Sergeant Manes has his first real clue about the “alien invasion” in a decade.  Cam must realize that she betrayed her current partner to make amends to the last one she betrayed.  Regrettably, that's one sign that cannot be unseen.

4 out of 5 serum filled syringes 

Parting Thoughts: 

I Saw the Sign is from the chorus of “The Sign”  one of Swedish pop band Ace of Base’s biggest hits.

Lieutenant Colonel Harlan Manes?  I wonder if Grandpa Manes was upset that his son was never a commissioned officer.  More importantly, I’ve never heard of passing down military projects like a favorite piece of furniture.

Is Max’s rage back, or is this the logical result of the pressure he’s under?

Liz recounting Rosa’s “life”?  Heartbreaking.

Quotes:  

Liz: “Rage feels a lot better than sadness.”

Suit:  “You discharged an unregistered firearm.”
Max: “Wyatt Long executed a man, tried to barbecue a woman, and put a hole in my arm.  The shot was justified.”

Liz: “If you don’t know why you killed her, how can you guarantee it won’t happen again?”

Alex: “Mad scientist is a good look on you.”

Liz: “I haven’t really looked at my phone.”
Alex: “You know that nobody believes that excuse, right?

Alex: “Maria’s too nice to say anything.  But I left nice back in the Middle East.  You’ve been a crappy friend.”

Maria: “There are no aliens coming for us.”

Michael: “What happened to ‘I can handle the truth, Michael’? ‘I am the protagonist of my own story, Michael’?  What would Beyonce do, Michael’?”
Isobel: “Liz Ortecho happened.”

Isobel: “There is some thing inside of me that doesn’t care what I believe.  And I’m terrified what it’s going to do next.”

Max: “I’m not going to play ‘good cop, bad cop’ with you."
Cameron: “You’re not any type of cop because right now you’re off duty and violating his rights.  If you get your badge pulled, I’m gonna have to teach some new dumb ass my donut order.  Go home.”

Mimi: “You look like your dad today.
Alex: “Oh, good.  I was hoping that the rage face might skip a generation.”

Max: “Leave.”
Michael: “Missed you, too.”

Noah: “I’m not here about your fight with Isobel.  I’m here about my fight with Isobel.”

Liz: “Are some murders just more murder-y than others to you?”

Noah: “I left her when she needed me.  What kind of husband am I?”
Max: “The same kind of brother I am, I guess.”

Liz: “This isn’t how I want my mind to work.”

Max: “If something happens and I can’t protect you and Isobel at the same time, you should have a way to protect yourself.”

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

1 comment:

  1. I don't like that ending. Too writer-manipulative... Liz shouldn't have backed off from her serum development and pretend it was about backing off from vengeance when she clearly pointed out in her previous scene with Max why it's really about protecting the innocent from what Isobel's continued black-outs might entail. But they wanted to make Max look OK in Liz's eyes, and while that's definitely something I want and feel missing from this show now 7 episodes in, this was a poor way to do it. Max basically giving her permission... no.
    Max is being written like a bumbling f*ck-up and I don't approve. And I don't feel this twin thing he apparently has with Isobel. I don't see their close connection. I need him to have a certain severity and I hope he finds it. This "mysterious rage" thing just muddles him in a bad writer-conceit way.
    The show's still very watchable but in a thriller kind of way where I just want to skip through the relationship stuff because it feels like everything stalls instead of enjoyably soaking in the nice socializing stuff. I want to like the positive reinforcement stuff but it's just too... I dunno. It insists upon itself. And I'm sad about Liz and Max. Even with that last transparent attempt to bridge them, it just feels like they'll always be strained and I should probably just switch to rooting for Alex and Michael.
    To end on a positive note, I love Isabel's and Liz's kind of handsome voices lol. Maybe that's not the right word, but I dunno how to describe it. My ears tend to be negatively sensitive but theirs sound really nice... and no not in an arousing way.

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