Cult Times: Destiny Calling

Thanks to johnnysunshine for this:

The new Cult Times Special Edition (#17) features an article on Roswell.

DESTINY CALLING

Things have moved on considerably since, in a drunken haze, Max Evans
scrawled ‘M.E. 4 L.P.’ on Liz Parker’s wall. It’s not that simple when you
have the expectations of an alien world resting on your shoulders. We take
a look at the romantic fortunes of the ‘Royal Four’
Before marital tragedy hit our own royals, we were led to believe that
princes, princesses and the like, were paragons of true love. Fairytales
would always end with the handsome, heroic prince getting the girl.
Predictably, as Roswell has discovered, children preferred the stories
where they both got eaten. Midway through its first season, the producers
decided that the romantic emphasis the series had championed up to that
point should make way for some Sci-Fi action. They did, however, manage to
marry the two concepts in that year’s final episode Destiny.
As viewers of Sky 1 will know (and viewers of BBC2 will know when the
channel gets around to showing that episode), the aliens got a message from
beyond the stars, revealing that Max was an alien king, and that Isabel,
Michael and Tess made up “The Royal Four.” Max and Isabel really are
brother and sister (something that was actually centuated in the books by
their physical similarities). Max is destined to be with Tess, and Isabel
is meant to be with Michael.
The groundwork had already been done for Tess’ involvement in this.
She’d already spent a good few weeks getting under Max’s skin. Max and Liz
had got so close and cosy that they obviously needed something to split
them apart, to revitalize the sexual tension that had run through the
show’s early episodes.
The rogue element in this new scenario is Kyle Valenti. In the early
stages of Roswell it seemed as if Max, Michael, and Alex were going to
neatly pair off with Liz, Maria, and Isabel. Which left the Sheriff’s son
not only in the dark (about the aliens in their midst) but also out in the
cold. Tess arrives and, with the unfortunate demise of her guardian, she
moves in with the Valentis. Is it plausible that Liz will rekindle her
relationship with Kyle, or will Tess succumb to the allure of his Buddhist
calm?
The other pairing – Isabel and Michael?! – seems a little less
obvious. For a start, if they’d been paired off in the first place, when
the three aliens were adopted, it would seem a little incestuous. Isabel
does have genuine affection for Michael and seems to be one of the few
people who can emphathize with him and keep him in line, but what Michael
offers is clearly not what Isabel looks for in a relationship. From the
beginning she has wanted to ‘have fun/’ To enjoy dating guys, but not to
the extent where she got involved; had to start lying to them, or worse,
saving them from fatal gunshot wounds. Equally, Michael fancies himself as
something of a loner. He mistakenly believes he can look after himself.
But when it came to the crunch, when he needed someone to turn to when he
was being beaten by his foster father in Idependence day, he turned to
Maria despite the warm family environment Isabel was attempting to offer.
Even with the show’s newfound fondness for Science Fiction, it seems
that there is plenty of scope for romantic intrigue as the series makes its
way towards the end of its second season. But will they ever convince us
that Liz and Max aren’t meant to be together?
Michael Gardner

In addition, the magaizne has a list of the top 50 women in fantasy
television. Maria is #50, Tess is #37, Liz is #29, and Isabel is # 5. The
Special rates the women on Assertiveness, Personality, Physical Fitness,
Visibility, and Sauce and lists some of their feistiest moments and special
skills.