Cinescape review: Harvest

Thanks to Oztralien for sending this in:

This is the latest review of Harvest by ign.com

Roswell, Harvest

The kids dig into an X-File.

November 8, 2000

Continuing in last week’s tradition of ditching one cast member per episode,
Alex is totally MIA this week. Actually, I don’t recall seeing much of Kyle,
either, but who cares about Kyle? Alex had finally transcended his Glorified
Extra status, really come into his own, and taken it upon himself to deck
Michael’s smug, Luke Perry-channeling visage. Sigh.
What this episode does have is a modest share of creepy little thrills.
After seeing a news report regarding Congresswoman Whitaker’s death, the
gang (well, the aliens + Liz) trek to her hometown of Copper Summit, located
somewhere in Generic Backwoods, USA. Right away, we know something’s up
because Whitaker’s parents and the rest of the town are all Stock Creepy
Backwoods Character Types, complete with weatherbeaten baseball caps and
toothpicks for gnawin’ on.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Maria and Michael are playing Scully and
Mulder (or whatever the kids are calling it these days), investigating
Bitchy Waitress, who Mikey learned last week is actually Bitchy Alien
Waitress. Horror of horrors, they discover a full-on shrine to Michael in
her apartment, like he’s some sort of extraterrestrial Justin Timberlake or
something. “She’s obsessed with me!” exclaims Michael. “I guess that makes
two of you then,” says Maria, my new Favorite Person in the World.

We eventually learn that Courtney (Bitchy Waitress) is part of a group of
renegade Skins who believe that Michael should be in charge instead of Max.
Uh oh. Didn’t these renegade Skins ever watch 90210? Don’t they know that
the wholesome Brandon character always gets top billing while the sullen
loner gets to score with said character’s sister? I mean, come on, it’s all
basic math.

Anyway, the little tensions popping up among our various romantic pairings
make for some good drama. Max is still smarting from Liz’s apparent tryst
with Kyle, but he also knows that there’s more to it than meets the eye.
He’s doing that hurt puppy thing, and I dare you to find an actor who does
that as well as Jason Behr. Meanwhile, now that we know that Bitchy Waitress
isn’t exactly evil, she’s poised to drive a wedge between Michael and
Maria…though really, one wonders how this is even possible since Maria is
such a sassy, sarcastic explosion of charisma while BW, at best, has good
hair.

Also intriguing are the further hints of Isabel’s destiny, which are still
vague, but will probably be developed further as the season continues.
Overall, though, this ep isn’t quite as strong as the rest of the season
thus far, and I’ll tell you why: no pull-ups. Just kidding. Actually, it
kind of flits around a lot of our continuing storylines (more aliens among
us! Liz and Max sad! Michael and Maria fighting! Isabel confused!), but
doesn’t hone in on any of them as well as I would have liked. Backwoods
Aliens do end up being kinda creepy, though, vaguely X-Files-esque, and that
at least keeps things interesting.

A postscript: does anyone find it the height of irony that Liz has a “No
Whiners!” sticker in her locker? Just curious.