Reviews By Kate Ancel

Season 1

#105 Missing – Review
#106 285 South – Review
#107 River Dog – Review
#108 Blood Brother – Review
#109 Heat Wave – Review
#110 The Balance – Review
#111 The Toyhouse – Review
#112 Into The Woods – Review
#113 The Convention – Review
#114 Blind Date – Review
#115 Independance Day – Review
#116 Sexual Healing – Review
#117 Crazy – Review
#118 Tess, Lies and Videotape – Review
#119 Four Square – Review
#120 Max To The Max
#121 The White Room – Review
#122 Destiny – Review

#105 Missing – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Secrets and Lies – A review of ‘Missing’
November 5, 1999

“Max, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, but I have to tell you, Liz, at this point I don’t have any secrets left.”

This entire episode revolved around the secrets these characters are keeping from each other: Liz and Maria keeping secrets from Alex…Liz keeping secrets from Kyle, from her mother, from Isabel and Michael, from Topulski…Topulski keeping her real agenda a secret from the kids…Max not telling Isabel and Michael about the missing journal initially…Michael and then Liz keeping it a secret that Michael had taken the journal…Liz wanting to keep the intimate thoughts in her journal secret from Max…Max feeling that he’s shared all his secrets with Liz…The insight and power Michael has into Liz now that he knows all her secrets.

The power of a secret is a powerful force indeed.

Random Thoughts:
Liz is always reassuring Max that she’s in control of things in her life that she really doesn’t have the ability to control. How many times has she told Max that “I’m on top of this…I’m taking care of it”?

And then I realized that Max plays that same role for Michael and Isabel. They are always looking to him to be the leader, especially Isabel. That could stem from the fact that they are looking to him for reassurance that he’s taking care of damage control. But the practice seems a little more ingrained than that, as if they are used to looking to him for leadership. This episode showed us yet again that Max accepts this leadership role, but it’s not always an easy role for him to play.

Again in this episode we see that Michael keeps laying the guilt trip on Max for revealing their secret to Liz, even carrying it to the length of blaming Liz for knowing. To him, it’s black and white…the secret should never be told to anyone else regardless of the consequences, even life and death ones. Isabel is much more compassionate of Max’s reasons. She’s extremely worried about the situation this puts them in, but she seems to understand without having to be told, how Max has always felt about Liz and she knows he couldn’t have done anything else when faced with the prospect of her death. She doesn’t like where this puts them, but she understands why they are there and doesn’t seem to be blaming Max.

Max took the news of the journal very calmly, I thought. It seemed to me that he wasn’t angry about it’s existence because he completely understands how overwhelming this secret is for Liz and how compelling the need to sort through the whole situation externally. The same reason he didn’t get mad at her for telling Maria. This secret of theirs is a huge burden and it’s unrealistic to expect that she can deal with it entirely on her own. He seems to understand that she needs to be able to verbalize what’s happened. After all, it’s been hard for him, Isabel and Michael and they’ve always had each other to confide in. He also likes the one-on-one communication with Liz, and that it allows him to be closer to her and be her confidant. I think that’s also why he tells her she doesn’t owe him an explanation about why she wrote everything down. Interesting, too, to see that Liz is more willing for Max to believe she would misplace something that important than to accept the fact that someone may have wanted it badly enough to break in and steal it. A misplaced journal is entirely within her control to fix, but a stolen journal takes away any hope she has of controlling the situation. Our Liz is a bit of a control freak, in case anyone missed that.

But from the very beginning when she tells him it’s missing, I got a sense that Max was as much interested in the contents of the journal as he was afraid that their secret was in danger. I loved the culmination of this in the final scene between him and Liz when he finally comes right out and asks her if he can see it. The dawning realization on his face as he begins to understand that to read it would let him see himself through her eyes. Since that’s a gift he’s already given her, he understands just exactly how vulnerable that makes you to another person. She told him all he needed to know when she said that she wanted to document the experience so when someone touches her the way Max did, she would know what it’s suppose to feel like. She gave him an understanding that he holds a special place in her heart without flat-out telling him so.

Let’s start with the Dislikes:
There really aren’t very many of them, so let’s get them out of the way.

• Topulski really annoys me. Even for a guidance counselor, she’s a nosy thing. Seems to me the kids should not set aside their initial suspicions quite so readily.

• I classified this next one as a dislike to begin with, although I am willing to see if they go anywhere with it. The shadowy figure who beat them to Kyle’s house (and presumably left the front door open) was not explored enough. We got spooky music and an all-too-brief glimpse of someone hiding in the shadows outside the house, but no more follow through. It will be a legitimate dislike if it’s allowed to drop with no explanation.

• Minor nit….wasn’t Kyle even the slightest bit curious about the door being open? Are we really supposed to believe that the sheriff would leave home with the door, not only unlocked, but unlatched enough to open at a knock? Maybe I’m too much of a big-city girl to understand the security of a small town, but I had trouble with it. Especially since they made a point of adding dialogue to bring it to our attention.

Likes:

• Max’s protectiveness of Liz, both to the other two and to the world in general. He’s always defending her to Isabel and Michael and trying to get them to see her in same light in which he sees her. The first words out of his mouth when it was time to tell them about the lost journal was that it wasn’t her fault. He trusts her and he likes her and he wants the two people who mean the most to him in the world to feel that way about her too.

  He’s shown in past episodes that he’s there for her when she calls and proves it again in this one by accompanying her to Kyle’s house on a search and rescue mission. He knows that his presence would be awkward if he’s with her when she goes to the door, so he waits patiently until it becomes clear that the house is empty and the door is open. Then he jumps in to be the first in the door in case there’s trouble. Of course, I realize he has more than just a little bit at stake here too, but the romantic in me still likes that he demonstrates that protectiveness.

• I really like that Max is showing just a bit more of a playful side to Liz. It came across especially in the scene at the vending machine and the first back room scene when he was teasing her about the conversation not really warranting the privacy of the back room.

• Which brings me to a small nitpick….how little everyone smiles. I know they’re supposed to be in this really serious situation, but come on! They’re teenagers for God’s sake…they need to lighten up and laugh a little on occasion. They all have great smiles….we need to see them a little bit more.

• I can’t help thinking how handy it would be in the real world to be able to tap into all those little tricks their powers allow them do. Seems like there are a lot of practical uses for a power that lets you sharpen pencils with your hand, manipulate a vending machine into giving you what you paid for when it eats your money, and erase paint strokes with a single swipe of the hand.

• I can’t help it….I get a kick out of the fact that Max works at the UFO center. The irony of that just works for me.

• I thought Jason played the scene in Liz’s bedroom wonderfully! The discomfort of finding himself in her bedroom combined with the curiosity of learning more about her in spite of himself came through beautifully.

• I loved the scene in the diner between Michael and Liz. The flashback was handled very smoothly and the insight we gained into Michael’s character was deftly delivered . I like how Michael drew things out to keep Liz nervous and off-balance before revealing that he had the journal. Possibly payback for all the hours he’s spent worrying since she learned of their secret? We are made aware yet again of much he envies Max and all that he has going for him….nice parents, a nice home, security and now a nice girl who believes in him and accepts him for who and what he is. Makes me wonder if that envy will come into play down the road and be cause for more serious contention between Max and Michael. This scene was well played by both Brenden and Shiri.

• They did a great job of showing Michael’s turn-around in his regard of Liz. His obvious hostility to her in the beginning to the pleased, secret smile when Max told them Liz’s journal had been returned by a ‘good friend’. However much Michael may be envious of them, Liz’s feelings for Max make her OK in his book. If she feels that way about Max, she must be someone they all can trust.

• Michael’s sarcastic sense of humor. How can you not love a guy who would draw a nude as a stick figure in art class to get out of an assignment?

• And finally…what I love best about this show shone through with beautiful clarity in the final scene between Max and Liz…the incredible chemistry these two people have. It just radiates between them in every scene together, and this one was no exception. They convey the breathless wonder of the other’s presence so strongly it’s a physical thing. We can almost see the butterflies flying around their bellies and the thought train derail as they look into each other’s eyes.

Favorite Quotes:

Liz: “Max, don’t go Maria on me”

Michael: “Hey man, what’s going on?”
Max: “Since you asked, REM sleep.”

Max: “You saw a semi-circle?”
Michael: “I saw this, Max. This.”
Max: “And what is this?”
Michael: “I don’t know. But it’s what I saw. I didn’t even remember it until now. I had to tell somebody.”

Max: “And I appreciate that I’m the one you chose to wake at 3:00 in the morning to
tell you’ve been dreaming of semi-circles. But maybe we can talk about this in the morning?

Max: “You said you’d be nicer to her.”
Michael: “And you said you’d stay away from her. Call us even.”

Max: “Someone ought to tell the sheriff the deadbolt doesn’t work as well when you
leave the door open.”

Michael: “And you might want to get better window locks… …for when your
criminals are human.”

Liz: “How am I going to tell Max?”
Maria: “My advice? Over drinks.”

And my personal favorite:

Max: “Patience, Spaceboy.”

I for one am grateful this show is one secret we’re all privy to. I give this episode 4 UFOs out of 5.

#106 285 South – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

The Quest – A Review of ‘285 South’
November 11, 1999

“Oh my god! You’re kidnapping me! No, you’re abducting me!”

This episode was a pivotal one for the gang. There are no more secrets to be kept from each other and the potential break in the ranks was mended. After this little adventure, Topulski shouldn’t hold her breath for these 5 to fall apart. Writers William Sind and Thania St. John spelled out for us where each of them stands on the whole question of seeking the answers in this episode. Michael wants answers because he wants a better life away from Roswell. Max wants the answers almost as much, but it’s not for a ticket out for him…it’s just the knowledge of his past. Isabel is afraid of the answers because they endanger a life she’s comfortable with. Liz wants to help them find the answers because she knows it’s important to Max even though it may mean losing him. And now even Maria has a higher stake in things with the introduction of a possible connection to Michael.

Random Thoughts:

The tension between Max and Michael is growing, and the scenes in the police station and at the motel together were filled with a jumble of emotions. Michael may resent that Max is always coming to the rescue, but he depends heavily on it at the same time. Just as Max is coming to resent being looked to all the time to be the responsible one. But even in his resentment, Michael still looks to Max for approval and guidance. Interesting to note that when they finally got to the dome and the key didn’t work in the lock, Michael relinquished the lead in the quest to Max. Max is the one who opened the door and led them inside to explore.

But the best part of this episode for me, was an opportunity to get to know Michael outside the dynamic of the threesome. In Maria, he finds someone he didn’t think existed…a human who really can understand what drives him.

And this was certainly Michael’s episode for coming face to face with his heritage. From the first moment when he landed on the stuffed alien in the UFO Center to the alien head on Maria’s antenna to the blowup doll in Maria’s car. He couldn’t escape it. But then I guess it’s pretty hard to escape aliens in Roswell, isn’t it?

I don’t get the sense that Kyle is really malicious, just hurt and confused. He does get an unholy delight in getting Max’s goat, but I really think that he had convinced himself that Liz was getting sucked into something against her will and was entertaining visions of himself as her next savior. He didn’t seem at all anxious to point his father in the right direction to find them.

I did find myself wondering if Michael knows about front doors. Because if he does, he seems to have a distaste for them judging by how often he chooses alternate means of entry. And do you suppose there really are such people as Certified UFOlogists? If so, how do you become certified?

Dislikes:

• I still dislike Topulski. Not just her presence as an antagonist for the kids, but the way the character has been written and portrayed. She’s much too intrusive in the daily operations of the school. I certainly never had a guidance counselor who could fill in for a math teacher one day and prepare the course schedule for the history class the next while evaluating the entire sophomore class in her spare time. When does she have time to do her real job? In addition, she gives off a sexual vibe that is inappropriate for what she’s trying to accomplish. It’s jarring and misplaced.

• Which brings me to my next one…how did Topulski know where the kids were headed? Did she get there first and hide? Or did she follow the sheriff? Where could she possibly have been hiding when the sheriff walked in that he didn’t see her, giving her the opportunity to get the drop on him ? None of these things were ever explained to my satisfaction and I hate it when things are left dangling.

• The portrayal of the FBI in general. They are portrayed as bumbling and inefficient. If they are going to be a presence on this show, the field agents should at least look like they know what they are doing. Topulski seems to be the only one who can make any independent decisions. And don’t get me started about Mr. Inconspicuous following Max, Isabel and Liz down the highway.

• And how did Kyle find our intrepid fivesome anyway? Are we expected to believe that a simple phone call to Liz’s cell phone allowed him to hone in on them and determine what direction they were heading? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

Likes:

• We really got much more of a sense of who Michael is as a person in this episode and it added some nicely complex layers to his character. He’s rounding out quite nicely, and is played to the hilt by Brenden Fehr. I’ve said before that I love his sarcastic sense of humor and he didn’t disappoint in this episode, throwing out outrageous answers to Maria’s questions just for the fun of it. But there was so much more. We got to see him progress from someone tunnel-focused on a mission without regard to anyone or anything else, to someone who comes to realize that there are people who can understand him if he just lets them in enough to try.

• Some of my favorite scenes in this episode were Michael’s wordless reactions to Maria. The look on his face when he realized she wasn’t going to give him up to the cop was a comic mixture of relief, disbelief and amusement at the story she concocted. His sudden realization that Maria was frightened at the motel and his gentle admonition for her to lock the door while he scavenged for food. And of course, his little smile of appreciation when she threw his insult back in his face about sharing the bed. But I think my favorite was his instant gratitude when she believed in him and his ability to sense the key’s secrets and her show of support in front of the others.

• The bickering/bantering flirtation going on between Michael and Maria. Majandra and Brenden played off each other perfectly in their scenes together. I look forward to seeing how this plays out and if and how it affects Michael’s plan to be unencumbered when they get the answers they seek.

• Michael quoting Ulysses, page number and all. It’s easy to see why that particular passage would have been noteworthy to him.

• Loved Maria’s hair.

• I got a kick out of the interaction between Max and Kyle. Kyle was obviously milking the opportunity to needle Max for all it was worth and Max was working so hard to not let Kyle goad him. Makes me wonder just how far he’s going to be able to let Kyle push him before he snaps. And I did chuckle at how quickly he changed his mind about letting Liz come along for the ride when it gave him the opportunity to one-up Kyle.

• The easing of hostilities between Isabel and Liz when Isabel realized that Liz wasn’t going to be intimidated and that she actually saw through the hostility to the fear that inspired it. Like Michael, once Isabel realized the depth of Liz’s feelings for Max, she became a little more trustworthy in Isabel’s eyes. And it was maybe the first time Isabel realized that Liz was just as scared of losing Max as she is.

• I know a few people I’d like leave with flat tires. The cool things they can do with those powers just keep racking up.

• Anyone else notice the sweet little smile Max and Liz exchanged when Isabel was wondering about the sleeping arrangements in the Jeep?

• How could you not love the scene in the Jeep? It may very well be my favorite Max/Liz moment. My heart just stops when they look at each other like that. The UST in that car was running high enough to run it for a week. Kudos yet again to Jason and Shiri. They’re magic together.

• Minor nitpick: I couldn’t help but think what a typical guy thing it was for Max to notice a rip in the fabric at a moment like that. And conveniently avoid Liz’s question at the same time. Even if he did cover it nicely with a sweet comment.

• Director of Photography John Bartlett gave us a nice visual panning in on Liz’s face when Max confesses that he’s never been in love. Her face is framed and the music just dies.

I give this episode 4.5 UFOs out of 5. They’re setting the bar pretty high.

Favorite Quotes:

Max: “Don’t do me any more ‘favors’.”

Maria: “You do not watch the View.”
Michael: “It keeps me in touch with my feminine side.”

Maria: “I have to pee.”

Isabel: “The perfect Liz Parker lying to her mother?”
Liz: “Yeah, well, at least my parents know what species I am.”

Maria: “It’s like the porno version of Aladdin.”

Michael: “I don’t suppose we could share?”
Maria: “Not if you were the last alien on earth.”

Max: “First of all, nothing about you is stupid.”

Maria: “I mean this is like cruel and unusual education. I mean, aren’t there like Geneva conventions against this sort of thing?”

Maria: “God, I knew you had illegal tendencies. You even drive erratically.

Maria: “I told you you can’t go over 80, the engine won’t take it.
Michael: “Maybe it’s just tired of hearing you talk.”

Maria: “You owe me big.”

Maria: “Do something. Go.”
Michael: “Don’t tempt me.”

Maria: “Come on. Wiggle your nose, blink your eyes. Do your Samantha/Jeannie/alien thing.”
Michael: “I can’t.”
Maria: “Why not? If there was ever a time to have a secret power, this is it.”

Liz: “We thought you were in trouble. I guess we were wrong.”
Maria: “No, no. You don’t think…I mean that is like so unreal. Come on, (kicking Michael) would you tell them?”
Michael: “Come on honey. We don’t have to lie.”
Isabel: “I believe you. The day Michael calls anyone honey, it’s all over.”

Maria: “You kidnap me and blow up my car and you expect me to spend the night with you in here?”
Michael: “Not exactly my fantasy evening either.”

Michael: “You know, if you would stop being such a princess about things…”
Maria: “Princess? No, no I think I’ve been a pretty good sport about things until now. But I am cold, and I’m hungry and I’m stuck in some nookie motel with a guy I barely even know.”

Maria: “So do you get hungry just like the rest of us?”
Michael: “Of course I get hungry.”
Maria: (eyeing the bed) “What other human urges do you feel?”
Michael: (also looks at bed, gets right in her face) “Not if you were the last woman on earth.” Max: “I just wanted to keep you warm.”

#107 River Dog – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Answers and Questions – A Review of ‘River Dog’
November 18, 1999

“I have been acting covertly.”

“Drop kicking the sheriff – you call that covertly?”

Writer Cheryl Cain gave us an episode that answered some questions and raised a few more. She gave us the banter we’ve come to love between Michael and Maria and a healthy dose of pure romantic magic for Max and Liz. The trio is coming ever closer to discovering pertinent information about their heritage with a little help from their friends and the bonds of trust that began so shakily in ‘285 South’ are beginning to cement.

Random Thoughts:

This episode showed us clearly that their joint adventure to Texas has strengthened the bonds of trust between these five people. They were all much more comfortable with each other and it allowed us to see a little more of their lighter sides. In spite of the fact that the situation is growing more dire, they all found time to laugh, smile and tease each other. It was a nice change.

One thing that does bother me a bit is that things seem to be falling apart awfully fast. It makes me wonder how much farther they can stretch this story believably. Both the FBI and the sheriff are pretty convinced that Max, Isabel and Michael are suspicious. What are they waiting for in the way of evidence to make a move? It seems apparent from this episode that they are watching them to see what the kids will uncover. But it’s unclear to me how discovering artifacts from the crash and information about the people involved translates to hard evidence that the kids are aliens. If that was all that was needed for evidence, every UFOlogist in the world would be under suspicion.

River Dog is still an unknown quantity. It’s true he provided some answers; confirming the existence of at least one other survivor of the crash and giving the kids yet another link to their past. But he raised more questions about the whereabouts and actions of that survivor.

We did get confirmation that Topulsky is indeed working for the FBI, although the possibility of an agenda hidden even from them still exists. I do have to wonder how the Bureau expects to accomplish anything with such inept field agents, though. Topulsky is about as subtle as a Mack truck and Mr Inconspicuous on tail duty is failing abominably at blending. At least Topulsky seems to be taking fashion tips from Scully with the high-heeled boots on a stakeout. And let’s not mention the important pieces of evidence they conveniently left behind for the sheriff when they ransacked his office. The key I can understand, but an envelope of pictures under his desk drawer? Please. Very sloppy work indeed.

Speaking of the picture in the envelope, did anyone else notice that this was a different picture than the one the sheriff showed Liz in the first episode? In the picture Liz saw, the chest and the handprint were clearly visible, but the face was in almost complete shadow. Now we have a face so clear we can match it to an author’s photograph in a book.

Interesting choice of movies playing at the theatre where Max and Liz pulled their bait and switch. The Lady Vanishes and The Secret Agent. Very appropriate, I thought.

It seemed a little out of character to me for Isabel to wear the necklace she found at the dome in plain sight, especially when she was so harsh with Michael about displaying his painting at school. But it was nice to see her get a little more excited about finding keys to their past. She’s still scared, but now her interest has been piqued too.

I couldn’t help but think it’s pretty lucky Max lives on the first floor. That window gets more traffic than most front doors.

Dislikes:

• The flirting between the sheriff and Topulsky. It just doesn’t work for me. I haven’t made my mind up about the sheriff yet. I can’t decide if he’s a really bad guy or just someone with something to prove. But he makes my skin crawl whenever he flashes that flirty smile at Topolsky. Stick to the facts, officer; just the facts.

• I’d like to know what kind of forcefield Max has put over his Jeep that keeps the wind from ruffling anyone’s hair.

• How did they get Maria’s car to start for the return trip? I guess those secret powers can be really useful when you know how to use them, eh Michael?

• Where has Alex been? This character is sadly underused. He’s got great potential when he’s not missing in action.

• It bothered me that Max didn’t write down the symbols on the cave wall, especially after he was told they couldn’t come back. How are they ever supposed to decipher them if they can’t reference them? And it denies Isabel and Michael the opportunity to even see them. Just because Max couldn’t remember what they meant, doesn’t mean that the other two won’t. Seemed sloppy and out of character to me.

• Teasing us with trailers that include scenes not in the aired episode. What happened to the “Are you insane?” scene between Isabel and Michael we were shown at the end of ‘River Dog’? Wasn’t that from ‘The Morning After’?

Likes:

• I liked the montage of scenes at the beginning of episode before scenes from last week were shown.

• It gave me a lot of satisfaction to see Topolsky getting her butt chewed for sloppy field work.

• We got to see laughing and teasing and smiling!! It was a long time coming, but it was worth it. Great scenes between Maria and Liz discussing Michael and also between Max, Isabel and Michael discussing Maria. I liked the teasing between them.

• The love/hate relationship between Maria and Michael is wonderful. Their bickering is hysterical and their lines are priceless. Brenden and Majandra look like they’re having such fun together. I’m glad we’re along for the ride.

• It’s nice to see that Liz doesn’t view Max as the father-figure Michael and Isabel do. His word is not law to her, which appears to be a fairly new concept to Max. He didn’t quite know how to handle it when she made it clear she didn’t need his permission, but wanted his understanding. His struggle to hang on to some semblence of control of the situation was obvious, and as was his fear for her.

• The increasingly close relationship between Max and Liz just continues to enchant me. I can’t help it. The scene in his bedroom was just beautiful, in my opinion. I loved when Max held out his hand to help Liz in the window and his nervousness when he realized that he’d held her just a tad too long after catching her. I loved how shaky his voice got when he told her to come back. But mostly I loved the intensity of emotion that passed between them at so simple a gesture as touching foreheads. Jason and Shiri continue to blow me away with their scenes together.

• I liked the way the final scene played out. Max didn’t much care for River Dog playing mind games with Liz and attempting to put doubts in her mind. With his outstretched hand he seemed to be asking for her trust and the image of them walking away hand in hand worked for me.

Favorite Quotes:

Maria: “Oh, the Stalker. Good luck with that one Lizzy.”

Maria: “Michael is the type of person my mother likes to refer to as a vibrator.”

Max: “I’m not worried.”

Sheriff: “Only when they blow through three red lights, two stop signs and do 70 in a 30 MPH zone. Miss Topolsky, you are a walkin’, talkin’ movin’ violation.”
Miss T: “I’ll take that the best way I can.”

Max: “Friggin’ Eddie.”

Maria: “Interesting. You know Michael, some wome of the 20th century would find that last comment a tad bit offensive.”
Michael: “Why?”
Maria: “Why?”
Isabel: “Welcome to Michael-land.”

Isabel: “Are you guys flirting? Could my life get any worse?”

Maria: “I mean, it could never be. There are a number of obstacles… his hair, his personality, the fact that he was hatched.”

Isabel: “Fine, but don’t let her blather too long because I’m desperately low on minutes.”

Sheriff: “I woke up with one hell of a headache.”
Miss T: “You must have had your head in the wrong place.”

Maria: “I hope you intend to pay for that.”
Michael: “I do not.”
Maria: “Well that’s theft, buddy.”
Michael: “Arrest me.”

Isabel: “We all like things extremely sweet and extremely spicy.

It’s our little dietary quirk.”

I give this episode 4 UFOs out of 5. All in all, a solid, well-crafted outing.

#108 Blood Brother – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Runaway Train – A Review of “Blood Brothers”
November 25, 1999

“I need one more moment now. One more chance to change directions.”

Things are spiraling out of everyone’s control in this episode. There are more people than ever involved and on the verge of learning the secret despite the best efforts of the kids to keep things quiet. The choices Liz will have to make are becoming ever clearer, as are the ramifications of those choices. She’s finally realizing that trusting and protecting one friend may mean sacrificing not only another friend, but also her own reputation. There are no easy answers here. Writers Barry Pullman and Breen Frazier also vividly outlined for us the moral dilemma Alex is faced with and the equally strong influences of friendship, loyalty and conscience.

Random Thoughts:

This episode delved into the bonds of friendship and the impacts of hiding parts of your life from the people who love you. I was pleased to see Alex involved in the story finally. Colin Hanks gave us a great performance, giving Alex much more depth and dimension than we’ve seen from this character in the past. The scenes between Liz and Alex were some of the best in the episode. He is clearly torn between his loyalty to her and his need to do what he believes is the right thing.

It seems to me that Alex is much more dangerous to them feeling left out and hurt than he would be if he knew their secret. As the situation stands now, he is reacting out of hurt, and that makes him an unknown quantity. He’s much more likely to keep his mouth shut if he feels he is being trusted.

Interesting that both Alex and Kyle seem so willing to believe that Liz is involved with drugs, and that she would be willing to cover up for someone using them. She doesn’t strike me as the type. Even if that’s the only logical story to explain the blood switch, it seems to me that Liz has grounds for some hurt feelings herself that her friends are so quick to jump to that conclusion.

Liz was on the right track with Alex, taking everything except their friendship out of the equation. But she should have gone a little further and asked him to understand that this wasn’t her secret to tell and she has bonds of trust with other people that he has to respect. He certainly would expect to be able to trust her not to share his secrets with her other friends, but I don’t think he’s thought about it in those terms. As it stands now, Liz is pretty much in a lose-lose situation.

Topolsky has been very clever in the way she used Alex’s isolation to manipulate him. She said all the right things, but didn’t count on the strength of his loyalty to Liz. Too bad she wasn’t quite clever enough to keep from having her cover blown. I’d love to be a fly on that wall when she has to explain to her superior how a high school sophomore was able to hack into the encrypted FBI logs she’s been sending and blow her cover. I get a certain satisfaction in that.

Likes:

• The added character development for Alex was long overdue. He’s been an underused character up to this point and it was high time we got a little insight into what makes him tick and into the dynamics of his relationship with Liz.

• Michael flirting with the nurse to divert suspicion was pure Michael. You just gotta love that guy.

• The whole scene in the hotel room with Michael and Maria, with Michael doing exactly what Maria was suggesting while trying to make it appear that it was all his idea. And while we’re on that one, remind me never to call Maria the next time I need a baby-sitter. It’s a little frightening that she makes a habit of going through the garbage of the families she baby-sits.

• I noticed with interest that Michael is no longer in flight mode. It was good to see him want to stay and fight instead of run away. Could it be he has more of a reason to stick around than ever?

• I loved the scene where Liz meets Max’s mother for the first time and the sweet look exchanged between Max and Liz. Although I did wonder why Mrs. Evans singled Liz out for an introduction and not Maria. Mother’s intuition?

• I got a kick out of the irony of Miss Topolsky using a coffee cup from the UFO Center. How appropriate.

• I like the closer relationship we’re seeing between Liz and Max. It was nice to have an opportunity to see them just enjoying being young and together and ‘normal’ for a change. Their relationship is progressing nicely and it’s evident they are moving beyond the shy awkwardness of past episodes. I like the development and growth we’re seeing there.

• Isabel’s continuing exasperation with the flirtation going on between Michael and Maria is funny and very sisterly.

• I like that Alex didn’t offer up any information to Topolsky even though he was feeling used and hurt and in danger of serious repercussions himself.

• Director David Nutter offered us a well constructed scene at the Crashdown after discovering Topolsky’s phone number in the trash at the motel. The ping-ponging back and forth between Liz and Maria and the trio at the table was very well delivered and entertaining. As were the differing viewpoints of what actually transpired there from Michael and Maria.

• Anyone else notice how popular Mrs. Deluca’s blow-up aliens seem to be at the UFO Center? She’s doing a booming business.

• The SWAT music accompanying the FBI agents as they attempted to retrieve Max’s blood was a nice touch, I thought.

Dislikes:

• My first and most major dislike about this episode was how contrived the whole situation with Alex seemed. I just don’t buy the premise that they couldn’t have used Liz’s blood because they would have been able to tell the difference between male and female blood. I think it’s unlikely that they would have done the extensive testing that would have been required to determine gender for a simple head injury. So the need to call Alex in was extremely contrived, in my opinion.

• I know I said that I wanted more smiling and laughing, but was that forced laugh while walking with Max the best Liz could do? They need some work on appearing natural and casual.

• How convenient that Topolsky answers her phone using her name.

• I found myself wondering that if Topolsky has had that handy little nose-bleed drug all this time, why hasn’t she used it on Max or Michael or Isabel? It’s possible they would have been careful enough to flush their tissues, but it’s also possible they wouldn’t have expected someone to slip them the nose-bleeder and been careless.

• If they went to all the trouble to show viewers a real prefix for Topolsky’s phone number instead of the infamous 555, they should have at least done their homework a little better. 505-437 is an Alamogordo prefix, which is about 120 miles away from Roswell and certainly not a local call.

• I had a little trouble with Maria sending Michael back for her purse. Why wouldn’t she just have gone back for it herself? Oh, right…because then Michael wouldn’t have been able to ID the FBI agents collecting evidence from Max’s bedside.

• What ever happened to the forcefield on the Jeep? Liz’s hair was actually flying around in the wind this time. Although it was exceedingly neat and tidy at the hospital for someone who had just been driving with the top down and been in a car accident to boot. Are we supposed to believe she took the time to groom herself in the ambulance?

• West Roswell High certainly goes all out to keep their guidance counselors in the loop on student activities. I have a hard time believing the principal would rush immediately to the guidance counselor with news of a student car accident.

• And speaking of the car accident, why wouldn’t the sheriff have been all over that? He was conspicuous in his absence in this situation.

Favorite Quotes:

Michael: “I heard you saved Mr. Ed.”

Maria: “Relax. God, you guys act like I’ve never tailed someone before.”
Isabel: “Subtle. He’ll never notice us going backwards.”

Maria: “This is the second time you’ve dragged me into some cheap motel.”
Michael: “Yeah, well, don’t spread it around; you’ll ruin my reputation.”

Maria: “How long is this going to last, us waiting out here like this?”
Michael: “Why? You got a date?”
Maria: “Maybe.”
Isabel: “You know, I’m the one that should be complaining stuck out here with you two.”

Liz: “Maybe you could stay for dinner. You know, Blue Moon burger, Saturn rings and a Mercury milkshake for $3.99.”
Max: “Sounds tempting.”

Maria: “You know, um, toiletries say a lot about a man, which, by the way, you should take note of, but I am guessing you’ll have more luck by the phone.”

Maria: “Keep looking, Sherlock.”

Maria: “Listen, any baby-sitter worth her salt knows that the best place to look is in the garbage can. It’s always revealing.”

Maria: “Anyway, so Spaceboy was looking at this guy’s aftershave, so I told him to look in the trash because, you know, that’s where you find the best trash.”

Maria: “Clear as a bell, no mistake, that’s right. Miss Topolsky, all American guidance counselor and big, fat liar.”

Michael: “Never trust a blonde.”

Michael: “Stick a fork in us, Maxwell, we’re done.”

Max: “Liz told him we were into drugs, just to get him to stop asking questions.”
Isabel: “Great. That will be a lot easier to explain to Mom and Dad.”

I give this episode 2.75 UFOs out of 5. A passable episode if you overlook the plot holes.

#109 Heat Wave – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Pairing up and Moving Forward – A Review of ‘Heat Wave
December 2, 1999

“It’s kinda funny, isn’t it, how people have started pairing up and moving forward?”

Heat Wave offered a delightful blend of gentle humor and insightful character study that was presented with flair by writer Jason Katims. As the citizens of Roswell paired up, he offered us a peek into the inner workings of all the main characters in this episode and we took away a more in-depth understanding of what makes them who they are.

Each couple had their own set of problems to deal with and it was interesting to see the different paths they each followed to resolution.

Random Thoughts:

The contrast of Michael and Maria’s relationship meltdown to Max and Liz’s step forward was handled nicely. Michael and Maria’s headlong rush into intimacy may not have worked out so well for them, but it did serve as a catalyst for Max to finally re-evaluate his relationship with Liz. We could see him struggle with the information about Michael and Maria and what that situation meant in terms of the closely guarded limits he had placed on himself. It was apparent yet again, that Max feels the need to take responsibility for everyone he cares about. He needed Liz’s reminder that it’s not his place to decide for her whether or not she’s willing to deal with the hurt they may have to face as a consequence of involvement.

The allusion to Romeo and Juliet in the final balcony scene was a subtle and bittersweet reminder that the path to true love may not be smooth for these two, but young love is strong and enduring.

By the same token, I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael finds his decision to remain a loner a bit harder to live with now that he’s let Maria under his skin. He may want to believe it was only physical, but I think she made a bigger impression than he is allowing himself to consider.

Director Patrick Norris excels at scenes that transition from one setting to another and incorporate the same story. The opening sequence back and forth between the Crashdown and Liz’s home gave us everything we needed without words. The scene in the two bathrooms meshed together nicely and offered us both sides of the same situation and the perspectives of all involved.

I think the pairing of Isabel and Alex has a lot of potential as well. Alex is a strong, loyal person and I think Isabel would benefit a lot from his presence in her life. She needs someone to put her first because of the person she is and not because of what she looks like or because she’s family. Despite her apparent popularity at school, we’ve seen she’s longing for someone with which to make a connection. The two men in her life she’s always depended on, now have their attention turned elsewhere and Alex would fill that void quite well.

Interesting to note that Alex didn’t seem to have any problem with Isabel being involved in the whole hospital cover-up. Of course, Liz and Maria would get the brunt of his anger and disappointment because he felt personally betrayed by them. But for all his condemnation for Liz wanting to be involved with Max, it didn’t seem to affect his desire to be with Isabel. It wasn’t until he felt Isabel used him that his opinion of her dimmed.

On an unrelated note: Did anyone else think “Got Milk?” when Liz opened the refridgerator?

Dislikes:

Dislikes were few and far between for me in this episode.

• Max and Liz really need to stop apologizing to each other. It’s been established that Max believes he’s messed up Liz’s life and Liz believes she’s messed up Max’s life. The regret is apparent. Can we please stop with the apologies now?

• I had a hard time believing that the sheriff would have released Liz and Alex just because Alex demanded it. The parents had already been contacted and agreed that they should stay overnight and they had been breaking the law. Whether they had been drinking the alcohol or not, they were in posession of it at the time of the arrest. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that those circumstances gave the sheriff every right to hold them at least overnight, regardless of whether he had another agenda or not.

• But the only big fault I could find with this episode was that I disliked the fact that Liz was the one to tell Alex the truth. Of course, once they were in jail and Liz was faced with the choice of Alex spilling the beans or revealing the truth to him, it made sense that she would be the one to tell him. But I believe it would have been a stronger story if Isabel had been the one to further explore the trust she is beginning to feel for him and been the one to let him in on the secret. It’s her secret to tell, after all. I think it would have given a great opportunity for character development for Isabel and still allowed Liz to keep the promises she’s been making to Max and the others. Unless that broken promise is going to figure into the future story, I would much rather they hadn’t taken her character there and had her compound the problem by not telling Max what she’d done.

Likes:

• This was a great episode for Isabel. We were treated to another aspect of her in this episode and it was wonderful to discover a little more about her instead of just that she’s frightened. The dream sequence was a beautiful scene. Kudos to Katherine Heigl for the study in vulnerability she presented while watching her dream self dancing with Alex and discovering there is more to him than meets the eye.

• It was fun to watch how flustered Isabel got when trying to explain to Max what she’d seen in Alex’s dream. I would hazard a guess that the ice princess doesn’t fluster easily over the interest of the opposite sex and it was revealing that she didn’t quite know how to process what she’d discovered about him. She doesn’t appear to have a lot of experience with a male who is interested in what’s below the surface beauty.

• I really enjoyed Isabel and Liz bonding over nail polish. It’s nice to see them forging bonds of friendship.

• I did appreciate the symmetry of Liz using the same imagery Max used with her when trying to explain to Alex where they came from. And his response was entertaining as well.

• Diane Farr gave a nice performance as Amy Deluca. She makes a good addition to the supporting cast. I found myself hoping the sheriff is really interested in her and not just trying to dig up new information. Although the idea of Kyle and Maria as potential step-siblings could really throw a wrench in everyone’s works.

• The opening scene was steamy and very effective in setting the tone for the rest of the episode. The lack of dialogue worked extremely well. Words would have ruined the effect. Norris left us with a series of impressions that were infused with the intensity that builds in the heat and that intensity continued throughout the remainder of the episode.

• Isabel continually unbuttoning Alex’s shirts was a cute touch.

• Alex continues to display surprising strength when threatened. His spirit when confronted by Topulski in the last episode and Sheriff Valenti in this one proves that.

• As always, the scenes between Max and Liz were wonderful. They were honest and sweet; alternating between passionate and fun. I’m always struck by the incredible tenderness with which Max treats Liz, and it was extremely evident in this episode. And it just doesn’t get any better than the final scene, in my romantic opinion.

• But the highlight of this episode for me was the opportunity we were given to see inside Max’s soul. Simply stated, I loved every scene that gave us the chance to know him better. We were allowed, not only to see the real cause of the fear that has been holding him back from Liz, but also the process of coming to terms with it, and moving beyond it. Jason Behr was outstanding in this episode. Well done.

I give this episode 5 UFOs out of 5. This was the best episode to date, in my opinion.

Favorite Quotes:

Max: “Are you saying there’s something going on between Michael and Maria?”
Liz: “No, I’m not saying that. But would it be so bad if there was?”
Max: “Yes! (pause) I mean, I don’t know.”

Alex: “What do you want from me, Liz? More blood? A urine sample? How about my kidney?”

Michael: “I hate to break it to you, Max, but when I’m feeling urges, you’re not exactly the first person I think of.”

Isabel: “He’s a complex individual with a lot of complexities.”

Michael: “Like suddenly the eraser room isn’t enough.”

Teacher: “Liz, how are you doing on your mating ritual?”
Liz: “I was doing just fine.”

Liz: “Let’s hope nothing explodes.”

Liz: “Have you observed any differences in his behavior at all?”

Amy: “There were more than 20 of us out there that day. I was 18, naïve and clueless. Why did you pick on me?”
Sheriff: “You were cute.”

Isabel: “Are you afraid? I mean to let someone in; to let someone see who you really are?
Liz: “Yeah, of course I am.
Isabel: “Well, multiply that by about a million.”

Max: “I think that what I’m afraid of isn’t that that we try this and it works out really badly. What I’m afraid of is that we try it and it works out really well. Somewhere down the line, we’re gonna get hurt. And I can live with that. I just couldn’t bear to hurt you.”

Alex: “I like the way you look in red.”
Isabel: “I know.”

Alex: “What? They’re from Wyoming?”

#110 The Balance – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Splitting Up and Stepping Back – A Review of ‘The Balance’
December 16, 1999

“This whole thing is going to work out. We just have to be prepared for whatever comes along.”

The Balance was a beautiful blend of real-time events and dream-like sequences that filled in a lot of the missing pieces of the aliens’ heritage. Thania St. John penned an emotional episode that gave us a closer look and deeper understanding of the dynamics of the relationship between Michael, Max and Isabel. With that, we were also given more clues as to what drives their interaction with those outside their little circle.

We were finally given the details of how Max, Isabel and Michael all met. The images of the small, frightened children wandering the desert looking for each other were vivid and completely in keeping with the teenagers they turned into. I could imagine Isabel taking Max’s hand while they searched for Michael and Michael watching them from the cover of a rock while he made up his mind to trust them or not; Max urging Michael to take his hand when they saw the lights of the Evans’ car; Michael, unwilling to trust anyone enough to go with them; and Isabel, crying every night about leaving him behind until they found him again three years later. The Balance ceremony not only allowed them to heal Michael in the present, but maybe also allowed them to heal the damage done in the past when Michael couldn’t trust them and Max and Isabel were forced to leave him behind.

This look at their past helped us understand why Max feels so responsible for what happens to Michael. I think he feels guilty for having left him all those years ago and what Michael has had to live with as a result. This would explain Max’s motivation in breaking up with Liz as well. It doesn’t have as much to do with the fact that they are different, as it does with the fact that Liz distracts him from his responsibility to Michael and Isabel. He’s not used to putting his own happiness above theirs; it throws him out of balance. He feels he should have been able to prevent Michael from going to the reservation alone, thus preventing the events that led to his illness. But he allowed himself to put that situation on the back burner for the night so he could enjoy an evening with Liz. And the result was almost fatal. Also, it was obvious that it tore him up to see Liz so afraid for him. I don’t think he ever wants to be the cause of that kind of fear for her again.

Random Thoughts:

I was glad to see that Max did make a copy of the drawings on the cave wall. I was afraid after the last trip to the cave, he had just committed them to memory.

I’ve noticed that Michael and Isabel seem to set higher standards for Max to live up to than they do for themselves. They don’t feel any need to make their own dating habits a group decision and yet they jump all over Max for even considering going on a real date with Liz. He shouldn’t have to justify that to them. Maybe it’s the fact that they are aware that, with Liz, it’s not just casual dating. But I do think Michael’s “I’ll be just as trustworthy as Max” comment was way out of line.

In spite of Liz’s brave words that they just need to be prepared for whatever happens, Maria is really the one who handled the whole crisis with aplomb. As worried as she was for Michael, she kept her head and didn’t panic. She seemed to be the only one with any real clue how to treat the more obvious symptoms. Which is not really what I would have expected from the self-proclaimed wacky friend, but was glad to see, nonetheless.

I wonder what Michael’s newfound determination not to run away from complications means for his relationship with Maria? Let’s hope it means a return to each other and a more meaningful relationship.

Anyone else wonder who they left running the Crashdown when Liz and Maria went upstairs to help take care of Michael?

Dislikes:

• There was a complete lack of fallout over the fact that Liz let Alex in on the secret. Everyone just took it in stride. I know that Isabel had already come to the conclusion that he could be trusted, but Liz didn’t know that when she told him. If it really wasn’t that momentous, then why all the fuss about telling him in ‘Blood Brothers’?

• I didn’t completely buy into the foundation of Liz’s fear. She’s been such a strong character up to this point, taking things in stride that would unhinge a lot of people. It would have made more sense to me if there had been a more immediate threat to Max. I didn’t really have a problem with her reaction to Michael’s illness before they discovered the cause of it. Up to that point, it was perfectly natural for her to be afraid for Max. But what didn’t work for me was how much more afraid she got after discovering that Michael’s illness had been induced by River Dog. The possibility of a direct threat to Max had been removed and it seemed completely out of character to me that she would then let fear so overcome her that she would let Michael and more importantly, Max, down because of it. Of course, River Dog did make a small comment about there being some danger in the Balance ceremony that could have explained some of her fear. But she was afraid and hesitant even before that. The Liz we’ve come to know up to this point would have been trying to show support for Max and wanting to do whatever she could to help Michael, especially once River Dog was able to give them something concrete they could do.

• I was incredibly disappointed that we got such a little taste of Max and Liz together as a couple. I understand that the whole premise is that they are a Romeo and Juliet couple who must be kept apart, but couldn’t we at least have had a whole episode to enjoy their couplehood?

• I wish that Isabel and Maria had given some explanation for how the cocoon started forming on Michael. Where did the cocoon material come from? Did it just appear out of thin air? It made a spooky visual, but I found myself needing more detail.

• Max really needs to stand up for himself a little more and stop letting Michael and Isabel ride roughshod over him. Michael guilt-trips him and Isabel bosses him around. I was hoping his “I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to you” comment to Michael about the cave drawing was a positive sign of things to come.

• Small set inconsistency – the door and the closet in Max’s bedroom miraculously switched walls.

• One last minor character nit-pick – Liz has an annoying habit of denying what she’s really trying to say when she thinks that’s not what the other person wants to hear. Which I guess we all do to a certain extent, but it’s just really obvious when she does it. She either needs to stop doing it or get better about lying about it. She did it in this episode when Max asked her if she was worried the same thing would happen to him. She did it in ‘Heat Wave’ when she brought up the whole Michael and Maria situation and Max asked her if she was saying there was something going on between the two of them. I wish she would just say what’s on her mind.

Likes:

• This was a great ensemble episode for all six of the main characters. Everyone had their own moment of brilliance and this was, for me, the best episode for the group as a whole.

• Director of Photography John Bartlett deserves high praise for the dream-like sequences in Michael’s altered reality. The camera angles, the melding of the child and teenage aliens and the images of Michael wandering alone in the desert among oversized symbols and huge rocks were stunning.

• Maria sticking toothpicks in the alien voodoo doll was very funny and so very Maria.

• Despite his skepticism, and an unfortunate slip of the tongue in the UFO center, Alex came through like a trooper for them. He was the first one to step up to the circle to help Michael and took over the Crashdown so Liz and Maria could focus on the problems at hand. And I like the closer relationship that is developing between Alex and Isabel too.

• I was glad to see River Dog again. After his final warning to Liz at the end of ‘River Dog’, I wasn’t sure if he would prove to be a friend or foe. Although, I do think there were probably safer ways to test Michael than a ceremony that could kill him if he did prove to be a ‘visitor’. How did Max get so lucky with his test? All he had to do was make light with his hands.

• I loved the pool lesson. Liz and Max looked a lot more comfortable and relaxed with each other than we’ve seen up until now. Our Liz is quite the little pool shark. I especially loved that the only shot Max was able to make was with his eyes squeezed shut.

• I was glad to see Michael finally able to show the people he cares about what he’s feeling. It was good to see something positive come out of the experience. Although, I would have liked to have seen more interaction between him and Liz in the Balance ceremony. We saw how much it meant to Max that she was finally able to participate, but I would have liked to see what it meant to Michael as well. I hope we get to see more development in that relationship in the future.

• The tug of war between Isabel and Maria over the care of Michael was both touching and at times, humorous. I always like to see Isabel’s ice princess facade drop, allowing us to see the real person behind the perfection. She becomes a much more diverse and three dimensional character at those times. And Maria, for all her claims of being Teflon, is much more tied to Michael than she’s willing to examine too closely.

• I love to see Max lose his temper. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it makes an impression. He normally has such unhealthy control of his anger. It’s refreshing to see that even he can lose it on occasion.

• The final scene was heartbreaking. Max’s fear, confusion and defeat were vividly apparent, as were the raw edges of Liz’s emotions. Jason and Shiri continue to amaze me. The haunting Jewel ballad provided a perfect background to the events as they unfolded. I was torn between empathy for the fear and guilt driving Max and deep sadness that stepping back from Liz was the only answer that made sense to him.

Favorite Quotes:

Maria: “If it isn’t Prince Charming and Quasimodo.”

Liz: “Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?”
Maria: “Cherry cola with arsenic?”

Max: “You broke up? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Michael: “I don’t know if we did or we didn’t. It’s kind of confusing.”
Liz: “Cherry cola on the house”
Maria: “Yours is $1.25”
Michael: “I guess it’s not so confusing anymore.”

Max: “What is it? Is something wrong?”
Michael: “Compared to nuclear winter? No.”

Alex: “I’ve got two theories. One is that you and Liz have been brainwashed by a drug cult. The other is that I’m trapped inside some extremely weird, extremely long nightmare.”

Maria: “I guess when Liz got shot and Max dissolved the bullet to nothingness and repaired the damage inside her that would have otherwise resulted in her death, that kind of changed my thinking.”

Eddie: “She’s not deaf. She’s just not answering you..”

Alex: “Why on earth, excuse the phrase, why would you be sent here to begin
with? What purpose could you possibly serve?”
Isabel: “To wipe out the world one annoying teenager at a time?”

Isabel: “We’re just as human as you are, Alex. Only we can manipulate the molecular structure of things.”
Alex: “What?”

Isabel: “Look, the whole staring thing is making me uncomfortable.”
Alex: “What staring thing?”
Isabel: “You haven’t taken your eyes off me all night. Like you’re waiting for me to turn into something else.”

Liz: “My parents are away for the weekend. They were going up to Phoenix and camping out. Something about Venus in the morning sky.”

Max: “Funny, I thought she was standing right in front of me.”

Isabel: “Alex, do you need a ride?”
Alex: “What I really need is a sedative.”

Maria: “Oh, the non-human factor. What if they’ve, like, ruined it for us with anyone else? Leave it to Michael to just wreak havoc on the rest of my life even though he doesn’t want any part of it.”

Maria: “Hey, I’m Teflon, babe.”

Max: “I don’t want forgiveness. I want answers before my friend dies.”

Max: “When he first revealed himself to us, he was standing on this rock, just like you’d expect from Michael…’Here I am, deal with me.'”

Liz: “How is it possible I could be the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life and now the saddest, all at one time?

Max: “I think that’s what being in love is.”

I give this episode 4.5 UFOs out of 5.

#111 The Toyhouse – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Blind Faith – A Review of ‘Toy House’
January 20, 2000

“Max, you know what your problem is? You put everything on yourself, on your own shoulders. Maybe you should have some faith in the people around you.”

The relationship between mother and child was explored in this touching and, at times heartbreaking, outing penned by Jon Harmon Feldman and Jason Katims. It clearly showed us how secrets can divide families and how difficult blind faith and unconditional love can sometimes be. There were no easy answers to be had here and I was pleased they didn’t wrap the story up conveniently by telling the secret. This outcome was much more realistic and offered much greater potential for future story development as Isabel and Max must now deal with actively keeping the truth from their mother.

This episode also gave new dimensions to the relationships between Michael and Maria and between Liz and Kyle as they found their way past hostilities.

Random Thoughts:

I wonder how much of Max’s resistance to telling their mother stems from the resistance he’s been facing from Isabel and Michael for months about bringing Liz into the fold. He threw their words back in Isabel’s face more than once in this episode and the frustration he feels about it was apparent. I did find his absolute refusal to even consider telling their mother a little hard to believe given his complete faith that Liz could be trusted. Certainly you would think Diane has given him more reason think she would be accepting of the idea than Liz had before he confided in her. I would have thought Liz’s acceptance of his true nature would have made him more open to trusting the woman who has apparently loved him unconditionally most of his life.

But maybe it’s a case of too much too soon for someone almost completely unused to sharing himself with anyone other than Isabel and Michael. Also, the relationship he’s had with his mother is one of the few normal relationships he’s allowed himself to have over the years. It must be frightening to think of that being taken from him and being confronted with suspicion from the last person he expected it from.

And it’s obvious that Isabel has some real issues with Max taking charge when she disagrees with his position. I don’t get the impression this happens often and that she is fairly used to getting her way when it does. It’s equally obvious that Max doesn’t find it easy to stand his ground when faced with her anger and her desperation.

I find Isabel to be such a paradoxical character. With her family, she is almost completely open, warm and loving. She has obviously felt safe and secure in the love of the parents who’ve raised them since the very beginning. And yet she’s developed a persona that is the polar opposite of the warm, loving girl she is at home to deal with the outside world. I enjoy watching the different facets of her personality unfold. Katherine Heigl does such a great job showing us the many layers of Isabel. Her despair at having to withhold the truth from her mother was heartbreaking.

But I found it strange that Diane’s suspicions focused so intently on just Max. It seems reasonable to me to assume that if Max had special powers to hide because of where he came from, so would Isabel, since they obviously came from the same place.

While this was primarily an episode that focused on Max’s inability to control everything around him, we also saw Liz struggling to get back in control of her life. She refused to admit that it was Max’s decision for them to break up by insisting that the decision was 99% mutual. She took steps to resolve the tension with Kyle by extending an olive branch and followed through, opening the door to a more solid friendship with him. And she made it clear to Max that she’s not going to be sitting around pining for him.

There was also some real progress in the lines of communication between Michael and Maria. Maria forces Michael to deal with all those messy feelings he’s managed to avoid most of his life. She doesn’t make excuses for him or make it easy for him. In spite of his repeated statement that he has to remain uninvolved, he’s finding himself entangled in a very earthly relationship whether he likes it or not. Her opinion matters to him and he goes out of his way in this episode to make things right with her. I hope Maria realizes what it cost him to be so honest with her and how much he must care about her to make that effort.

Likes:

• I loved the exploration of Max and Isabel’s relationship with their mother. We have a much clearer understanding of their dynamic, both individually and together. The bonding scenes were very well done and Mary Ellen Trainor did a great job of conveying love for the kids as well as the frustration any mother would have at feeling left out of something significantly important in her children’s lives and the hurt of feeling inadequate as a parent.

• I like Diane’s protectiveness of her kids. She shows us again that she’s aware of the undercurrents between Max and the sheriff and she doesn’t appreciate it.

• I was glad to see the easing of tensions between Liz and Kyle. He’s got a lot of potential as a character and now that they are on the road to friendship, maybe we will see more of him in the future. And let’s hope that any further life lessons he learns from Sally Jessy are as enlightening as this one proved to be.

• I got a chuckle out of Maria spontaneously cheering for the other team and her subsequent reaction.

• The scenes between Michael and Maria were fabulous. I loved that Michael didn’t give up when faced with her hostility, but instead kept making serious efforts to put things right between them. I found it very in keeping with the Michael we’ve come to know that he would try to solve the interpersonal problem by fixing the napkin holder for her. It represented something real and concrete without the messiness that comes with feelings. I found his anger at her failing grade touching and sweet. Brenden Fehr conveyed the confusion and determination Michael was experiencing superbly.

• I liked how subtly Sheriff Valenti fed Diane’s suspicions about the fire. Instead of coming right out and asking how Max put out a grease fire with a pan of water, he leaves a brochure for her to read, allowing her to wonder that for herself instead of raising her protective shackles by being accusatory.

• I thought it was cute how Alex rearranged everyone in the bleachers to make room for Isabel and her friends and conveniently created a space for himself right next to her.

• Loved Mom giving Max the third degree about his mysterious female lab partner.

• I loved that Max wrapped the toy house in newspaper and then was embarrassed about it.

• I thought Jason Behr did an outstanding job of showing the frustration and fear Max was feeling as things spiraled out of his control. From watching Liz gravitate back to Kyle to his first serious fight with Isabel to his heartfelt plea to his mother for understanding, his reactions were completely believable and real.

Dislikes:

• There were more set inconsistencies in the Evans and Valenti homes. There was a window where the fireplace should be in the Evans’ living room and the Valenti living room was completely different yet again. This makes the three different sets used for that house, by my count.

• The scene at the lockers with Max and Liz felt contrived. Since when is there reserved seating at a high school basketball game? There was nothing explained about why they would be compelled to sit together and therefore the conversation was unnecessary. And if they were uncomfortable enough about the whole situation to actually have a conversation about it, why would they sit next to each other instead of Liz sitting with Maria?

• How ironic that both Isabel and Liz were very quick to condemn Max for his controlling ways, without ever acknowledging their own tendencies in the same direction. While I think it was good that Max was forced to confront this in himself, we’ve seen time and again that Liz is every bit the control freak that Max is and Isabel has been trying to control Max ever since he confessed the truth to Liz. If they really believe that Max is the only one with a control problem, we need to take up a collection and buy them both tickets on the clue train.

• I thought Max’s pretext for going to see Liz after work at the Crashdown was weak. I think it would have been a much stronger scene if he had admitted that he was there because he needed someone to talk to who could provide a little perspective on the situation and wasn’t as emotionally vested as Isabel and Michael. I think the same result could have been achieved if they had left Kyle out of it, and Max would have established that he still values Liz as a friend and respects her opinion. He could have even asked her directly if she was getting back together with Kyle without creating the ill will giving her permission created.

Favorite Quotes:

Max: “You’re a real party animal, Mom..”

Max: “Everything you always wanted to know about a dead frog.”

Max: “Thank you. You mentioned that. Like 10 times.”

Michael: “Dealing with Frick and Frack over there is one thing, but we can’t bring adults into this and expect them to handle it..”

Liz: “Hey.”
Max: “Hey.”
Michael: “Hey.”
Maria: “Yeah, whatever.”

Michael: “Humans. How excited they get over someone putting a ball through a hoop. It’s ridiculous.”

Isabel: “What are you saying? That if we tell Mom the truth, she won’t love us anymore?”
Max: “I’m saying we’ll never know the answer to that question.”

Maria: “Look, I know how to grip, OK?”
Michael: “Apparently you don’t.”

Maria: “Interesting. You know, you should get yourself massive doses of therapy, like immediately.”

Maria: “Maybe you should figure out what’s wrong with you, Michael. Why you can’t just piece together an apology like any normal human being. OOPS! Maybe that’s the problem.”

Isabel: “We can’t just do a Max on this. We can’t just sit back and passively watch.”

Michael: “You healed a pigeon. Great. Now you’re Doctor Doolittle.”

Liz: “Excuse me? Are you apologizing to me?
Kyle: “I guess.”
Liz: “Wow. You know, I wasn’t aware that this was part of your repertoire.”
Kyle: “I didn’t either.”

Kyle: “About lunch. I was hoping for something high in both fat and cholesterol without any inherent nutritional value.”

Maria: “I guess I can safely rule out any career paths involving wood.”

Michael: “It redefined the term napkin holder.”

Michael: “I gotta be a stone wall and when I’m with you sometimes I don’t feel like a stone wall anymore.
Maria: “What do you feel like?”
Michael: “I don’t know…like, confused.”
Maria: “Human?”
Michael: “Yeah, and I don’t want to feel that way.”

Max: “She’s got this thing all of a sudden that I’m controlling.”
Liz: “Oh, so it’s her thing?”
Max: “What?
Liz: “Just take a Psych class, Max, because you are controlling.”

I give this episode 4.5 UFOs out of 5.

#112 Into The Woods – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Father’s Day – A Review of ‘Into the Woods’
January 27, 2000

“It’s a father’s weekend. A get-to-know your dad kind of thing.”

Penned by Thania St. John and directed by Nick Marck, this episode delved into family dynamics and also provided more clues in the search for a fourth alien. With a prologue worthy of the X-Files, the episode opened with a UFO sighting that stirred the interest of everyone from the resident UFOlogist to River Dog. A school sponsored father-child camping trip provided the perfect excuse for everyone to be crawling about the woods looking for evidence.

Random Thoughts
It was nice to explore the relationship between Kyle and his father. We’ve been given tidbits of information about their family history in the past, but now it’s really been laid out on the table for us how Kyle feels about his father’s preoccupation. As if it’s not bad enough that he lost Liz to Max Evans, now he’s losing his father to him as well. I did like the way the episode wrapped up, with Valenti mending fences with his own father. Hopefully this bodes well for his future relationship with Kyle as well. The symmetry of the two relationships was very well portrayed. Both William Sadler and Nick Wechsler did a great job showing the difficulty both characters are having communicating with each other and their struggle to understand the situation they find themselves in.

They’ve done a good job adding dimensions to Sheriff Valenti and not just giving us a black and white villain. His agenda hasn’t been fully exposed yet and we’re still not sure whether he poses the threat that Max, Michael and Isabel obviously think he does.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Michael is in serious need of a father figure in his life. In spite of the fact that he’s a self proclaimed loner, he is searching desperately for someone to fill those shoes. His jealousy is apparent in his gruff manner whenever he talks about Max and Isabel’s father and his acute need in his haste to jump to the conclusion that River Dog is not only the fourth alien, but also their father. There hasn’t been anything up to this point to support his belief that the missing alien is even related to them, much less a parent. The scene where Michael confronts River Dog for answers was sad and heartfelt.

I liked the dramatic extreme shown as we cut from the scene of Liz and her father sharing a warm hug to Michael’s home where Hank can’t even be bothered to keep milk in the house, much less provide any kind of nutritious meal for him.

I did wonder why River Dog only attempted to track down Michael. I originally assumed that Michael told him about the camping trip and they were planning to meet up with Isabel and Max, but they were all surprised to run into each other in the woods and I didn’t get the impression that Michael and River Dog expected to see them.

It seemed strange, too, that Max was the one pushing to look into the sighting. That seemed much more up Michael’s alley and yet Michael seemed to dismiss it until River Dog showed up. It seemed out of character for him to not pursue the possibility of a clue even if it meant joining the Evans’ party. More evidence that Michael doesn’t have the best relationship with Philip Evans, perhaps?

Interesting that Max, Isabel and Michael would call one of their own an alien. Doesn’t it stand to reason that everyone else would be the aliens to them?

>Dislikes

• Overall, I really liked the deeper look we were given into the dynamics of the Valenti family, but I thought the last scene between the sheriff and Kyle ended badly. We were just left hanging with Kyle’s accusation that he’s filling the same position that Jim did as a child with his father. I was hoping to see more of a reaction to this from the sheriff. It apparently made some impact since it inspired him to visit his father in the nursing home, but the scene with Kyle was unresolved. I was hoping for some acknowledgement on his part to Kyle that there was some truth to the accusation.

• And speaking of the nursing home, just imagine how long it’s been since the sheriff has actually been to see his dad since he didn’t even recognize him and had to have him pointed out by an orderly.

• So, Max, Michael and Isabel needed a private place to talk and the eraser room at school was the best they could manage? I agree it made for some comic relief to have them all pile into the eraser room, but since Max found out about the sighting the night before, it seems to me he could have found some privacy with at least Isabel at home or in the Jeep on the way to school.

• For such a deadbeat, Hank sure manages to move himself and Michael around a lot. This was the third home we’ve seen them living in. The first was a house in the pilot episode and the second was a completely different trailer in ‘The Morning After’. They are moving up a little though, because this one actually has a covered patio.

• Mr Evans was looking different in this episode. Oh, maybe that’s because it wasn’t the same guy who played him in ‘The Morning After’.

• So now, even Liz’s dad thinks she’d be involved with drugs. The people in her life don’t trust her very much, do they? I’d be starting to get a complex if I were her.

Likes

• I loved the look on Max’s face when Milton asked him about close encounters.

• The interaction between Alex and Isabel was wonderfully done. I liked how casually she turned the tables on him when he asked her to the arty film festival and asked him to a regular movie instead. And I loved the scene when they are looking at the stars together. She looked so pleased when he explained how the stars were so full of possibilties now. And so panicked when she realized how seriously Alex was taking her interest.

• I was glad to see Isabel taking a little of her own medicine when it comes to getting serious about anyone. I should qualify that by saying that I don’t agree with that decision, and really want her to be with Alex. But it is only fair that if she’s going to be so stubbornly resistant to Max dating Liz, then she shouldn’t indulge in serious relationships herself. And it’s clear that she’s beginning to realize a relationship with Alex would be serious.

• Maria’s whole attitude change provided comic relief, although it seemed like a case of “the lady doth protest too much”. She did have most of the best lines this time around though. The whole aqua bra bit was great. As was the effort to convince Max and Michael they had big dates for the weekend. With men, no less. I laughed out loud when Max discovered they’d been lying.

• How cute was Max playing poker with the men and cheating so Liz’s dad could win? I hope Liz appreciates his efforts to win brownie points.

• Michael’s powers are improving. He must be practicing. It’s probably a good thing River Dog didn’t know about the past disasters caused by Michael’s lack of control over his powers.

Favorite Quotes

Maria: “Liz, today is the first day of the rest of our lives.”
Liz: “Spending time with your mother again?

Maria: “Ixnay on the iningpay”

Maria: “Like a puppy in heat. He’s my next project.”

Isabel: “I can’t believe I’m in the eraser room with you two.”

Michael: “There’s no milk.”
Hank: “Use beer.”

Maria: “My idea of the great outdoors is rolling my windows down in the car on my way to the mall.”

Deputy: “He’s a walking bundle of stress.”
Kyle: “That’s my dad.”

Maria: “Am I going to have to do an intervention with you?”

Maria: “It’s an aqua bra. You know, all the fun of implants without the invasive surgery part.”

Maria: “We’ve both been kind of busy.”
Michael: [looking at her chest] “Yeah, I can see that.”

Liz: “It’s not that cold.”
Maria: “You’re not wearing an ice bra.”

Maria: “Another one being sucked into the alien abyss.”

Maria: [Watching Michael follow Max into the eraser room] “No wonder he couldn’t make a commitment.”

Alex: “Did I mention that I’m not very athletic except for dodgeball?”

Alex: “I was wondering – do aliens enjoy the cinema?”
Isabel: “Alex…”
Alex: “Yeah, right. Sorry. The ‘A’ word.”

Max: “So River Dog saw the light.”
Michael: “The Dog himself.”

Liz: “Alex, your paranoid schizophrenia? It’s kicking in.”
Alex: “Right. I’m going to go to the bathroom and have a little talk with myself.”

Max: “We’ve been looking forward to it.”
Isabel: “Yeah, absolutely. Mosquitos, pit toilets and animal droppings. Yes!”

Liz: “Maria, having a life is one thing, but having a whole fantasy life is just a little bit troubling, don’t you think?”

Isabel: “Well, that’s our new policy, Dad. We’re joiners. Right, Max?”
Max: “Joiners.”

Maria: “We were making such progress.”

Max: “I wanted us to slow down, not screech to a halt.”

Milton: “Where’s Max Evans?”
Maria: “I thought he worked for you, dude.”

Milton: “A close encounter. How many of us can say we’ve had that?”

Liz: “I hate not knowing what’s going on with Max.”
Maria: “His decision, if I recall.”

I give this episode 3.75 UFOs out of 5.

#113 The Convention – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Alien Hunter – A Review of ‘UFO Convention’
February 3, 2000

“Who was that?”
“That, Deputy, was a genuine alien hunter.”

This episode was an artful blend of levity and danger written by freshman writer Emily Whitesell and directed by Tucker Gates. Set against the comical backdrop of the 10th Annual Roswell UFO Convention, Max and Sheriff Valenti are both confronted with a ghost from Valenti’s past. Everett Hubble, the man that Valenti holds responsible for the mental breakdown of his father, drifts back into town after a 30 year absence with an unhealthy interest in Max. Tempted by the chance to discover the truth and against his better judgement, Valenti forms an uneasy alliance with the alien hunter, with disasterous results.

Random Thoughts:
This episode was a great mixture of humor and solid story points. I feel like we know Valenti’s heart a lot more after this. He’s a man almost as much in need of answers about his past as Max, Michael and Isabel. This was a pivotal moment for him and when faced with the consequences of his misplaced trust, he made the right choice.

The return of Larry and Jennifer added to the story nicely as well. I liked that we got to know them a little better individually and the bonding between Liz and Jennifer was sweet. Liz is such a tender-heart. And I loved Jen’s choice of reading material… ‘Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars’; how appropriate.

The use of the slow motion as we see Liz and Maria through Max and Michael’s eyes was interesting and different.

How could Alex not see how hard it was for Isabel to send him away? That was the least convincing send-off I’ve ever seen. Note to Alex Charles Whitman: when the girl’s face lights up when you enter a room and her voice breaks and trails off when she’s sending you away, chances are pretty good her heart’s not in it. He’d have to be blind to not see how much it cost her to hurt him like that.

Did anyone else notice how fast it got dark after Max pulled into Peppers? When they cut away to the Crashdown, it was still daylight. When they cut back to Max and Hubble, it was pitch dark.

Michael made me laugh with his interrogation of all the conventioneers, looking for answers. Especially his insistence that Max introduce him to ‘the real guys’, and his expectation that there are real answers to be found at a UFO convention.

Likes:

• I loved the interaction between Michael and Maria’s mother. Especially Michael ‘Stonewall’ Guerin stepping in and saving the day in the Alien Takedown. He works so hard to hide his heart of gold, but he’s really going to have to stop making these grand gestures if he wants to maintain the facade.

• The captioned stills announcing each day of the convention was a nice touch, I thought.

• I loved the irony of Max taking relationship advice from Mr. Lonely Heart himself, Michael. Nothing like going to the experts.

• Milton makes me laugh every time. Steve Hytner plays the quirkiness to the hilt.

• The appearance of Jonathan Frakes at the UFO convention was funny, but I do think they overplayed that joke just a bit.

• The sheriff’s dad and Amy DeLuca are great supporting characters and John Cullum and Diane Farr play them beautifully.

• The flashback scenes at Pepper’s Café were beautifully done. I loved the use of color to distinguish between the past and the present and the suble blending as we moved back and forth.

• I loved that Michael was finally in a position to save Max for a change. Although you know there is something seriously amiss when he’s the calm, level-headed one of the group.

• I thought the final showdown between Max and Sheriff Valenti was fabulous! William Sadler outdid himself in this episode in general, but in this scene especially. The remorse he was feeling at the outcome of the whole situation was obvious and well played. Jason Behr was also outstanding in this scene as he finally confronted the sheriff with all the anger, fear and frustration that has been building for months. He can do so much with facial expressions and tone of voice. It was such an amazing scene; superbly written and acted.

Dislikes:

• Hubble died awfully quickly. He appeared to be hit in the upper right shoulder and yet he immediately lost consciousness with no discernible loss of blood. A little too convenient for my taste.

• I know this is nitpicky, but it’s a personal peeve of mine…I really wish they would test simple things like cell phone functionality. You don’t get a dial tone when someone hangs up on a cell phone…. you get a quick busy and then dead air.

• How did Michael get to Pepper’s Cafe so quickly? He doesn’t have a car and there was no evidence of a bicycle. I was glad to see him there, but it stretched my credibility a bit to believe he made it there on foot faster than the sheriff in a vehicle.

• I wish there had been more interaction between Amy and Valenti. He blew her off so quickly at the convention. I’m looking forward to future story development between those two.

• Max really needs to add a little color to his wardrobe. Does he even own a shirt that’s not dark? Light grey doesn’t count.

Favorite Quotes:

Isabel: “I want to get the hell out of here. This place is psychologically damaging.”

Michael: “This place could hold the answers to everything.”
Isabel: “Yeah, I’m sure it’s a real mecca for factual information.”

Max: [From under Alien head] “Save me….I’m a human trapped in an alien body.”

Isabel: “You realize we’ve just lost our last shred of dignity.”

Customer: “I am Zenaplox from the planet Zetagon. I come to destroy humanity and return to my home planet.”
Liz: “Well, then, it’s really great that you’re starting out with a nice, hearty breakfast.”

Liz: “Can I get you a beverage?”
*
Larry: “A beverage would be good. How about one of those milkshakes you have…here it is…Alien Encounter. I’ll have an Alien Encounter.”

Max: “Michael, I have to talk to you about something….personal”
Michael: “Nothing’s too personal.”
Max: “How did you deal with Maria?”
Michael: “Too personal.”

Michael: “You can’t let yourself be led around by your [pause] energy source.”

Michael: “Alien Takedown? What is that? Some sort of wrestling match?”
Maria: “Yeah, the Alien Takedown. You have a problem with that?”
Michael: “Yeah, you know what? I do. I’m here trying to figure out the meaning of my existence and I’m tired of having to wade through the kooks like you and the freak shows like this to do it.

Maria: “Mom Michael Michael Mom.”

Maria: “My mother. Great first impression.”
Michael: “Why would I want to make an impression?”

Milton: “I’m not going to lie to you, Evans. I’m moved right now.”

Max: “Michael, there are no real guys. It’s a freak show.”

Amy: “If I’d known real life was going to be so difficult, I never would have signed up.”

Michael: [Maria kisses him] “Mud. I’m thinking about mud.”
Maria: “Why do I even try?”

Alex: “No, no, no. Not a date. Just two friends out at the same place enjoying the same thing at the same time.”

Hubble: “I’m no Captain Kirk, but I’ll give it my best shot.”

Larry: “Jen, I have had an epiphany.”
Jen: “Really? I thought you said it was an allergy attack?”

Max: “You’re the sheriff…you’re supposed to protect me.”

Max: “You want me? Well, here I am!”

Valenti: “Son….”
Max: “Would you treat your son this way?”

I give this episode 4.75 UFOs out of 5.

#114 Blind Date – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Night on the Town – A Review of “Blind Date”
February 10, 2000

“Ladies and Gentlemen, who is M.E. and what has he done with our Dream Girl?”

‘Blind Date’ was written by Thania St. John and directed by Keith Samples. The dissention in the ranks predicted by Topolsky is starting to show itself as Michael and Max draw their lines in the sand. Max makes it plain that he thinks further investigation into the identity of the other alien is dangerous and foolish. And Michael makes it equally plain that it’s too soon to make that judgement and he’s determined to continue the quest with or without Max.

Max, meanwhile, has issues of his own to occupy his night as Liz prepares to embark on a very public blind date arranged by a local radio station. The date, whose description is uncannily familiar, attempts to woo her with promises of a normal date while Max and Kyle do their best to make sure his efforts are in vain.

Random Thoughts:
As Max and Michael were coming to loggerheads again over the 4th alien, I found myself wondering if these two would even acknowledge each other if they weren’t tied together by the whole alien thing. We’ve seen very little real friendship between them. They’ve come to each other’s rescue; they’ve argued; they’ve shared secrets. But when have we ever seen them laugh together and just have fun and be friends? Granted, they do spend a lot of their free time together, but how much of that is simple mathmatics? Neither one of them seems to have an over-abundance of friends in their lives. Isabel and Michael genuinely care about each other, but Michael and Max seem to have such an adversarial dynamic. They can count on each other to cover their backs, but it’s becoming clearer that the basis of their relationship is changing and they are going to have to deal with it.

As Michael comes closer to the answers about Nacedo, he becomes more convinced that he will find a father in the 4th alien. Max has been so used to being Michael’s father figure, I don’t think he quite knows how to approach Michael in any other capacity. Michael and Max need understanding and compassion from each other so much now…more than either one of them seems to want to admit. You’d have to be pretty hard-hearted to not have been touched by Michael’s defeated, resigned assertion that no one ever comes for him.

I like how we’re discovering bits and pieces about Nacedo as the kids do. The mysterious peek we get of him at the end of the episode was a good teaser. I was a little confused about the significance of the picture, however. If it was supposed to be a sign to Michael, why burn it? The only point I could see for leaving it was for the audience to see that he’s been keeping an eye on them.

So Max can become invisible and levitate when he’s been drinking. Or is it just that he can make ladders out of thin air? Nice trick.

I must admit, I was disappointed we didn’t get to see Max make Doug into a blonde. I’d like to have seen him talk his way out of that one.

And I want to know where Liz buys that fantastic lip gloss. It manages to stay put and glossy even after being thoroughly kissed not once but three times. And not a speck of it ended up on the lips of the ones doing the kissing. I’m definitely shopping in the wrong places.

Liz needs to be taught a few things about fire safety. It’s not generally a good idea to leave lighted candles burning unattended on your balcony.

Anyone else catch the Mulder and Scully dolls on Liz’s cabinet?

Dislikes:

• I was absolutely loving this episode right up until the inevitable Max-coming-to-his-senses scene. Must the writers toy with us this way? I should have suspected something like it was in store for us when they hit us with Liz’s daydream kiss with Max. It would have been bad enough for Max to take everything back, but to add insult to injury, he denies even remembering it. Please. Who does he think he is, Bobby Ewing? I thought this was a weak ending for this story.

• I would have much preferred to see Max and Liz dealing with the consequences of his unguarded admissions in the cold light of day.

• I didn’t like having the whole Nacedo storyline relegated to the C story. I thought there was some really valuable information revealed in that ongoing story, but layered in with the blind date and band storylines, it lost its impact.

• Doug seemed a bit old for Liz. After all, he’s a sophomore in college and she is only a sophomore in high school.

• And where were Liz’s parents during all of this? We’re expected to believe that their daughter is going out with a complete stranger who also happens to be a college boy and they don’t even show up to meet him? Especially after they made a point of showing us a Jeff Parker who was a concerned, involved parent in ‘Into the Woods.’

• I have some issues with teenagers solving their problems with alcohol and pressuring others to do the same. Although a drunken Max and Kyle were undeniably cute, I don’t think teen drinking should be presented in quite such a light-hearted manner.

• Do you really think Liz would hear the name of the Crashdown on the radio during the prize announcement and just continue to sweep the floor as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening?

• I have to give a serious thumbs down to misleading trailers. We were led to believe that Max had gotten himself in trouble with the law yet again when we see him running away with a siren in the background. And yet, it turned out to be as innocent as a foot race.

• This one is unrelated to this episode…just an overall gripe. Whatever happened to the FBI anyway? Do you suppose the whole hacking incident instilled the fear of God into them and sent them packing for good?

Likes:

• I liked the bonding we got between Isabel and Michael. This is the first time their friendship has been spotlighted and it provides some valuable insight into their relationship. I do wish she’d spoken up at the Crashdown on Michael’s behalf when he was there to hear her, but it’s clear she doesn’t like being in the middle between him and Max. Their scenes together were sweet and tender. Michael doesn’t let himself show Isabel how much she means to him when there are others around. It was nice to see real feeling between them. Isabel understands him better than anyone else in his life. She alone seems to understand that the hope of finding a real father is what keeps Michael going.

• I like how they worked in the musical talents of both Majandra Delfino and Colin Hanks.

• Who would have thought Max would be a cheat when he’s drunk?

• You know we’ve entered a serious alternate universe when Kyle is playing guard dog so Max can spend some quality time with Liz.

• I got a kick out of both Kyle and Liz treating Max like a disobedient puppy when he was drunk.

• It was cute how Max superimposed himself over the images of Alex and Maria in the picture in Liz’s bedroom. It made me wonder if that indicates a bit of jealousy on his part at the roles they both play in her life that he is unable to play.

• Max looked so proud of himself for flagging down the KROZ van to give them a ride.

• I liked symbolism of Max viewing Liz out of focus and then suddenly have the image become clear as his head suddenly cleared and everything crystalized around him.

• I was absolutely enchanted with the magical evening Max gave Liz. He makes himself a hard act to follow. How can some normal college boy hope to live up to mirrorball street lights, car alarm serenades and a heart with initials that spontaneously light up? Not to mention sparkling parking meters. And let’s not even get started on the whole connection thing they make when kissing. Doug did not stand a chance. I hope we get to see a bit more of light-hearted, carefree Max. He deserves to have some fun once in awhile.

• For me, though, the highlight of this episode was Kyle. Nick Wechsler deserves a round of applause for his performance in this one. I loved the bonding between Max and Kyle. Let’s hope they really can bury the hatchet once they’ve both sobered up. I’d like to see them actually (gasp!) become friends. Max could use a friend outside the tense trio and who better to understand what he’s going through than someone who’s been there himself? Every scene they had together made me laugh.

Favorite Quotes:

Kyle: Every line he uttered qualifies as a favorite quote in this episode. I’ve listed a few of my favorites below, but in the interest of space, let’s just say every word out of his mouth was a classic. And most of Max’s were as well.

Liz: “Do you guys sound this good plugged in?”

Liz: “Ok, embarrassing, humiliating, mortifying…I don’t know…pick your SAT word.”

Announcer: “What’s running through your mind right now?”
Liz: “Yeah, nothing I can say on live radio.”

Kyle: “Evans, I know your pain, man.”

Michael: “Fine. Both of you sit here with your cherry colas and your high school fantasies.”

Michael: “It was clear in my hallucination.”
Max: “Hallucination would be the key word there.”

Liz: “What am I going to do?”
Maria: “You’re going to get some phone numbers, that’s what you’re going to do.”

Liz: “I guess that’s sort of a contradiction of terms…being normal in Roswell.”

Kyle: “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re here in the gutter while she’s out smooching with dog boy.”

Kyle: “You tell me and I’ll tell you. How far did you and Liz get?”
Max: “We saw into each other’s souls. How about you?”
Kyle: “Second base.”
Max: “Well, we can’t win ’em all.”

Kyle: “We can’t leave now. Look where we are…Liz’s bedroom. It’s Mecca.”

Alex: “What are you doing?”
Maria: “I’m hyperventilating.”

Maria: “They have no style..”
Alex: “We have a very specific style. It’s called normal, not thrift shop freak.”

Michael: “Well, it’s either the concert or discovering where we come from.”

Michael: “The only father I need is the one out there waiting for us to find him.”

Max: “She’s going to forget all about Mr. Shallow and come back to us.”
Kyle: “How do we split her up exactly? Every other week? Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays? Alternate Saturdays?”

Kyle: “There is no ladder.”
Max: “Well, yeah, now.”

Isabel: “I’m just afraid you won’t find what you’re looking for. Or that you will and you won’t need Max and me anymore.”
Michael: “That’s not possible, ok?”

Kyle: “Girls always like that meaningful stuff. I suck at that.”

Liz: “This can never be normal, Max.”
Max: “What’s so great about normal?”

[setting off the parking meters like sparklers]

Michael: “Just forget it. He’s not coming.”
Isabel: “Maybe not tonight.”
Michael: “Not ever. No one ever comes for me.”
Isabel: “I will. Whenever you need me.”

Isabel: “Michael needs his hope. It’s the only thing that keeps him going.”

I give this episode 4.75 UFOs out of 5. The sobering-up cop-out was the only thing that kept this from being a perfect episode for me.

#115 Independance Day – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Family Ties – A Review of ‘Independence Day’
February 20, 2000

“The three of us belong together. There’s a reason we’re together. We’re family.”

In ‘Independence Day’ writer Toni Graphia gave us a heart-tugging look at Michael’s personal hell. There have been hints along the way that his home life was less than ideal, but this was the first time the degree of both physical and mental abuse was detailed. It’s no wonder that Michael has made it his personal crusade to find Nacedo.

This episode dealt a lot with family dynamics. In addition to learning more about Michael’s situation, the mother-daughter role reversal that comprises Maria and Amy’s relationship was examined, as well.

Random Thoughts:
This episode helped me understand what drives Michael a lot more. It’s clearer now that his isolation and his defensiveness are in large part results of the mental and physical abuse he’s been suffering for years. It explains why he pushes people away and his sense of worthlessness, in addition to his intense need to find Nacedo.

It’s interesting that after all this time Michael is still such a stranger to Philip and Diane Evans. Michael works awfully hard to keep himself separated from inclusion in that family unit, however much he may envy it from afar. And while the Evans elders appear willing to include Michael in the family, they are not willing to lay aside the rules of the family for him. It was made fairly clear that if he wanted to be accepted by them, it would be on their terms. And it’s understandable that this would be a threatening concept for a boy raised by someone like Hank. It’s hard to grasp that rules can mean love when rules have always meant punishment in the past.

I thought the helplessness and frustration Isabel and Max were going through was well presented. It’s horrible to watch someone you love going through trauma and not only be powerless to help, but also in danger of losing him. I liked how they both tried to make him see that the only way out of the situation was to take control of it and that running away from it and the people who love him was not going to make it better.

It was obvious how hurt Isabel and Max were that after all this time and all they’ve been through together, Michael still considers Nacedo his only family.

I did have to wonder if emancipation would really have been granted to a minor with Michael’s record and lack of any visible means to support himself.

The shapeshifter turning into Hank was a surprising twist. I had convinced myself it was the guy who picked Michael up hitchhiking.

I liked the effect of the light streaming through the tree while Nacedo buried Hank.

Did anyone else notice that the weather was a little schizophrenic? One minute, rain would be running down windows and windshields and the next sunlight would be streaming through the windows and the ground was dry as a bone.

Dislikes:

• I didn’t like that Max immediately broke his promise to Michael about not telling anyone. Isabel needed to be told and I know that Max told her because he was worried, but it wasn’t a promise he should have made in the first place.

• Was Amy really using the old tried and true “We have to step back” approach to romance? I was just waiting for her to tell Jim she needed to regain her balance.

• And we have yet another apology between Max and Liz. It was getting to be an old plot device about 6 episodes ago.

• I was surprised to see Michael open the package from Max in front of a stranger. I realize he is the least paranoid of the three about stuff like that, but it was very careless of him to take the crystals out of the bag so the truck driver could see them.

• Set inconsistency of the week: Since when did they install that wavy glass in Liz’s bedroom window and what happened to the other one? It was a double window in previous episodes.

• I didn’t feel like there was any resolution between Michael and Maria. She was there for him (again!) and (again!) he didn’t express any gratitude or even let her know he was leaving town. I wanted to see something between them at the Sheriff’s office. I would have much preferred to see that than the scene between Jim and Amy that we got instead. I know that “Thank you” is not really a big part of Michael’s repertoire, but I wanted some acknowledgment from him that he appreciated her actions…both at the Sheriff’s office and the night before.

• The scene where Max healed the bruised eye bothered me a bit. I wasn’t sure why he would hesitate to heal it in the first place. And once he did heal it, why didn’t he have to make a connection with Michael to do so and why was it so easy? In the past, Max has had to concentrate very to heal and it’s taken a lot out of him. If it was effortless because Michael is another alien, that wasn’t made clear. And why couldn’t Michael heal it himself when just a couple of weeks ago, he was able to heal River Dog’s broken ankle?

Likes:

• The grief relief was a funny bit. Both when Maria was giving it to Liz to help her keep perspective and then again later, when she herself chugs the entire bottle when Michael shows up outside her window.

• I’m really liking the character of Amy DeLuca. She is so quirky and funny, but at the same time it’s very obvious how much she loves Maria. And her relationship with Valenti adds such a human dimension to his character.

• The whole role reversal between Amy and Maria is both funny and a little sad. It’s apparent that Maria seems so self reliant because she’s had to be. In spite of the fact that her mother loves her, Amy has a lot of growing up to do herself and I would guess that Maria ends up playing the mom role more often than not. I was glad to see Amy take such a firm stand on the issue of Michael sleeping over, as well as coming through for Maria and talking to Valenti on Michael’s behalf.

• It made me laugh to hear Liz trying to convince Maria, as well as herself I suspect, that she has a handle on the whole Max situation. Her powers of resistance when Max is actually in the room remain to be seen.

• Loved the scene on Liz’s balcony where Max opened up to Liz. It’s a definite sign of progress that he is sharing his problems with her and trusting her with his feelings about the whole situation.

• I was very glad it was Max who went to Michael and told him how much he means to them. Isabel has told him in the past how she feels and that she is there for him. I don’t think Max has ever verbalized his feelings before. Michael needed to hear from Max that Max thinks of him as family.

• I really liked that Maria was the one that Michael turned to in his hour of need. It showed that in spite of his words, he knew that she was the one who would be able to give him what he desperately needed…understanding without questions or solutions. He needed someone to just hold him and let him cry without judgment and without attempting to tell him what he should be doing.

• Michael’s understated return was well done and completely in character. It was completely believable that Michael would just show up and offer breakfast as a peace offering. And I loved the ‘sir’ he used when he finally worked up the courage to ask Mr. Evans for help.

• Brenden Fehr played Michael’s shame and anger superbly. He was outstanding in this episode. My heart cracked when I saw his bottom lip quivering while Maria was toweling his head and completely broke as he emotionally melted down in her arms. This scene was the most heart-wrenching of the series to date and incredibly well acted, directed and written. Michael’s wordless cry for help was wrenching.

Favorite Quotes:

Isabel: “Something’s wrong with Michael. He’s acting weird.”
Max: “Weirder than usual?”

Maria: “It’s grief relief. It’s this herbal remedy that shocks the body back into reality when the mind has gone into overload. Veterinarians use it to calm wild animals.

Maria: “This is your brain on Max.”

Valenti: “If you make it, I’ll eat it.”
Amy: “Just remember Jim, in this date we have a three strikes law now.”

Amy: “Ah…my favorite little wrestler.”
Amy: “I need to ask you for some space. I can’t feel like you’re judging me all the time.”

Isabel: “You just need to speak up and tell him the truth.”
Michael: “And what? Be the poster boy for domestic abuse? It’s not going to happen.”
Max: “He’s not easy, Isabel. He never has been. You can’t just push him like that.
Isabel: “He was acting like a child.”
Max: “Maybe. And maybe you need to stop treating him like one. You can’t make up for in one night what he’s never had in a lifetime.”

Amy: “Maria, there are like three single guys in all of Roswell. And two of them live in the Desert Inn Retirement community.”

Maria: “He’s a cop. And you’re a hippie.”
Amy: “Well, opposites attract.”

Amy: “I hope you’re not talking from experience.”
Maria: “Just yours.”

Michael: “I don’t belong there. I don’t belong here. I don’t belong anywhere.”

Amy: “My baby is having sex.”

Amy: “What exactly were you thinking letting him stay here, young lady? And besides, why is it OK for you and not for me?”

Liz: “Just last night I said it really clearly…NO! Of course, Max wasn’t there, but when he is, I’ll be ready for him.”

Maria: “You know the boy I slept-but-didn’t-sleep-with?”
Amy: “Unfortunately, the shock has indelibly imprinted his face on my brain.”

Isabel: “I think it’s time you either put up or shut up, Michael.”
Michael: “Very poetic, Isabel.”

I give this episode 4.5 UFOs out of 5.

#116 Sexual Healing – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Unsealed With a Kiss – A Review of ‘Sexual Healing’
March 2, 2000

“At this minute, I can’t NOT touch you.”

First time writer Jan Oxenberg gave us an uneven episode in which Max is led to another alien artifact through the visions Liz experirences as a result of his kisses. There were some nice visual effects as Liz was transported to a cosmic universe in the throes of passion.

Director David Semel made good use of the chemistry between the characters to offer some good interaction between them that was much more comfortable and free than we’ve come to expect from them, in spite of the sexual tension.

Random Thoughts:

I didn’t feel like we were ever given a good reason for the visions. There were hints and implications that this was caused by some kind of chemical reaction and that there was a potential risk to Liz’s health, but that’s all they were. It was never really explained why Liz was the only one getting these galactic visions or why Max is the only one capable of giving the amazing glowing hickey. Two teenagers giving in to sexual frustration and getting carried away is completely understandable, but the vague references to other physical causes were confusing. I thought the episode relied too much on the appeal of beautiful people making out and too little on actual plot development.

I wondered if the lack of visions between Max and Liz in the final scene indicated that the only reason for them in the first place was to find the orb. And if that’s the case, it didn’t explain why Max and Liz were the only ones getting the visions. It makes more sense to me that if the whole reason for the visions was to lead the kids to the orb, then the more people getting them, the higher the success rate. I think this was a key plot point that was underdeveloped and poorly explained.

Nasedo’s appearance at the signal tower indicated that he was possibly involved in whatever was going on, but that wasn’t explained either. We were left to wonder how long he’d been there and what his purpose was.

Under set inconsistency of the week, we can file Liz’s balcony. In Heat Wave, the fire escape was to the right of the window, but now it’s directly opposite the windows. Nice to know you can move those things in an emergency.

I thought it was interesting that of all the parents, Liz’s dad was the one most willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. He was the one I most expected to be up in arms about his daughter spending the night away from home with a boy.

Did anyone else want Isabel to just reach out and grab that ping pong ball that Michael was bouncing on the paddle in front of her face?

Dislikes:

• I thought the jump into physical intimacy for Max and Liz was rushed. I know they’ve been pining for each other for months now, but what really changed? This could have been explained if they’d followed up on the chemical reaction angle of things, but since that remained vague and ambiguous, it just didn’t work for me that Max would all of a sudden forget all the reasons he’s had for maintaining his distance.

• Liz’s reaction to Max stroking her hand in class seemed way over the top to me. Again, this could maybe have been explained by more detail on the reasons for the urgency, but without that, it just seemed out of character to me that she would forget herself so much in the middle of a class.

• And speaking of that scene, what are the chances that they are going to get detention for inappropriate behavior in class and then get left alone to serve that detention? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?

• Liz’s aggressive hostility to her mother seemed out of character to me, as well. She’s been portrayed to have a fairly good relationship with her parents, in spite of typical teen frustration over their attempts to remain involved in her life. But she became aggressively confrontational both in the principal’s office and after her mother caught her sneaking into her bedroom.

• The kiss between Isabel and Alex didn’t work for me. I’m all for more development between the two of them, but that scene felt like a sidenote to me. I think it could have worked if Isabel hadn’t so completely and dismissively blown him off earlier about experimenting. But, in spite of her ice princess persona, I don’t think Isabel would be so unkind as to coldly use him for experimenting. It would have worked for me a lot better if they had shown her being tempted by his offer and affected a little more by his kiss.

• I found myself wondering how Michael managed to find an apartment he could afford and what means he found to continue to afford it. I think they missed a good opportunity for backstory on Michael to overlook the whole apartment-finding process. It would have been fun to see him going through that.

Likes:

• In spite of it feeling rushed, I was glad to see progress in Max and Liz’s relationship. It was good to see them give up some of that infamous control and just let themselves feel what they feel for each other.

• I loved the scene in the girl’s locker room when Max sneaks in to research his vision. I loved his honesty with her both about the fact that it could have been his own imagination and how her feelings for him made him feel.

• Maria handing the strawberry to Max was cute, as was his reaction to it.

• I laughed at Isabel playing little Miss Homemaker setting up Michael’s kitchen.

• Jo Anderson did a nice job as Liz’s mom. She came across as a very caring and compassionate mother worried about her daughter.

• Michael was a lot more open and less defensive in this episode and it was a nice change. Being on his own appears to agree with him.

• There was a nice moment of empathy from Isabel to Liz when Liz arrived at Michael’s apartment and says things are strange. You could see that Isabel understood how confusing it all must have been for her. It would be nice to see more development in their friendship.

• I thought Michael and Maria made some huge strides forward in their relationship. Their final scene on the couch when he puts his arm around her, kisses her on the forehead and actually says “Thanks” was incredibly tender and sweet. I was glad they were able to be honest with each other about what they had been experiencing while they kissed.

• It was nice to see Max and Liz smiling and laughing with each other. Makes a nice change to the pining, soulful looks they’ve been exchanging of late.

• I liked the final scene with the parents framed in the doorway of the Crashdown as Max and Liz walk in hand in hand to face them together.

• I loved that we finally got some friendly, joking banter between Michael and Max in this episode. We see entirely too little of that and it was a welcome change.

Favorite Quotes:

Maria: “Liz, nice strawberries.”

Liz: “I always knock over strawberries this time of night. Always.”

Max: “I have orders from my home planet to take over the earth.”

Liz: “When I actually do it, it’s not going to be between a plate of kielbasa and a deep fryer..”

Mrs. Parker: “Don’t ever have sex, don’t ever leave this house, don’t ever stop being my baby girl.”

Michael: “Did she see anyone else on the ship, like our parents?”
Isabel: “Yeah, like Captain Kirk and the Klingons? Do you have a paper towel holder?”
Michael: “I could act like a person. But then I’d have to fake it.”

Michael: “Maxwell, let me assure you, you have not experienced anything I have not experienced many times or caused to be experienced.”

Michael: “I see you.”

Alex: “In the interests of science, kissing being purported to invoke…insights, I wanted to, you know, offer myself as a human subject available for experimentation.”
Isabel: “Not gonna happen, Alex.”
Alex: “Right, right. Thought I’d give it a shot.”

Science Teacher: “You are an excellent student, Miss Parker. I’d hate to see anything get between you and the…uh…beauty of the universe.”

Isabel: “Do you have a juicer?”
Michael: “Isabel, you’re pushing it.”

Michael: “Go for it, Maxwell, for the good of all mankind, you lucky, undeserving dog.”

Michael: “Listen, Maxwell. You’re a sensitive guy and you have available to you one of the top three seduction lines in history with ‘It’s going to help me find my home planet’. And you’re refusing to use it. No guy is that sensitive. Use it.”

Michael: “OK. We’re leaving now. But I have some Chaka Khan queued up on the CD player.”

Liz: “I can’t do it to you.”
Max: “I’m glowing everywhere; my toes, my heart. You can’t see it…it’s on the inside.”

Maria: “Michael, I was looking for you at your apartment, but I found Max and Liz instead.”
Michael: “Yeah. Are they still there?”
Maria: “No. I just drove Liz home.”
Michael: “Great. I won’t have to miss the hockey game.”

Max: “You’re not the only one who could worry about being used. I mean, some girls would give a lot to see themselves fly through outer space.”

Liz: “So what you’re saying is that you’ve saved me from a life of watching Kyle barf.”

I give this episode 3.75 UFOs out of 5.

#117 Crazy – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Just Act Normal – A Review of ‘Crazy’
April 11, 2000

“Would that be alien normal or we’re the subjects of an FBI manhunt normal?”

This episode, written by Thania St. John, explored the issues of trust and how far it can be and should be stretched. This is a subject that has been addressed before, but this was really the first time the kids have had to address those issues as a group in addition to trust amongst themselves. New players are being brought into the mix and old enemies are proving not quite so easy to categorize.

Random Thoughts:

I am as yet undecided about the motivations of Topolsky and Tess. Topolsky’s capture at the end of the episode certainly lends credence to her claims of conspiracy and to her terror. But I did wonder why Nacedo would have intervened to prevent any further contact between her and the kids if she really was trying to help them. Possibly he believes that Pierce is too close on her trail and any contact with Topolsky would lead Pierce right to them. But how did he managed to create a cover story about Topolsky being hospitalized at Bethesda that would stand up under investigation without some help? Possibly Nacedo has connections and resources that we have not yet been made aware. I guess the more likely story is that Pierce really did have her hospitalized at a facility at Bethesda for her interrogation in the event of the need for just such a cover story. What do you suppose Nacedo had in store for her if he had caught up to her before Pierce? Keeping Hank company with the worms, probably.

I’m equally ambivalent about Tess. I suppose she could be exactly what she appears to be…a new girl in school looking to make some friends. But things are rarely what they appear to be on this show. The timing of her appearance and the fact that she seemed to be trying a little too hard to ingratiate herself with the alien trio, make me suspect that there’s something fishy about her. Not to mention her habit of interrupting private conversations between Alex and Isabel and eavesdropping on Max and Michael. It will be interesting to see how she interacts with Liz and Maria.

The new ending scene in the opening segment was a good visual addition. I like that it ends with all six of them standing at the edge of the reservoir, showing that the story has expanded to include them all.

If Liz knew ahead of time that she and Max were going to catch a movie, why would she wait until the very last second to ask Maria to cover her shift at the Crashdown? She put Maria completely on the spot. And Max was no better letting Isabel believe he was joining her when he had no intention of staying at all.

So Max and Liz had their first date at a place called Senor Chows. What do you suppose they serve there? Chinese Mexican food? Enchiladas eaten with chopsticks? Chinese Mexican food, a pool table and a dance floor. What more could you ask for?

I thought it was noteworthy that Isabel referred to Michael as her brother for the first time. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that certainly seemed like foreshadowing of some sort to me.

Fashion note of the week: bra straps are meant to complement an outfit, not to be strategically hidden away. I’ll have to make note of that. I just have to shake my head when I think of all the years I’ve wasted trying to hide those suckers.

How do you suppose the mysterious guy in the car knew that Alex was one of the ones in the group that voted to talk to Topolsky? Lucky guess, maybe.

I thought it was an interesting development that the sheriff now has the orb, although I did wonder why he noticed it there in the dark with the symbol facing downward and looking so much like a rock. Maybe that’s the safest place for it to be right now. It certainly would be one of the last places Pierce would logically think to look for it, especially if he doesn’t know that Topolsky enlisted the sheriff’s help.

It was an interesting contrast to see Max and Michael having a friendly discussion about relationships to the hostility at the end. That fight was a definite sign that Max was serious when he told Michael that it was time for him to be held responsible for his actions. It did seem a bit of an overreaction for the normally so contained Max, though. Especially since he’s been guilty of following leads on his own a few times himself.

I thought it was strange that no one except Maria noticed how quiet Michael was when they gathered at the reservoir the second time. It was such a glaring difference from his previous loud protests. Max and Isabel are usually pretty quick to pick up on mood swings that extreme from him. They should have seen that something was up.

Did anyone else think the Gidget and Moondoggie reference was a little dated for kids in the 21st Century?

Dislikes:

• It seemed out of character to me that Isabel would so openly and unreservedly befriend Tess. Maybe she sensed another ice princess type and Tess is someone she would have befriended under normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances. Given everything that’s happened lately, a new girl on the scene should have immediately raised the red flags for Isabel that it did for Max and Michael. Granted, Isabel is feeling a little needy these days for someone to fill the void that is being left by Max and Michael, but she knows better than anyone that what she needs is a confidante. Why would a girl she just met fit that bill any better than any of the other friends she’s made over the years? Her open acceptance of Tess seemed a little too convenient to me.

• The reactions of Max and Liz when Topolsky shows up at the window out of the blue in the middle of nowhere seemed entirely too mild. It should have scared the hell out of them to all of a sudden have a crazy woman appear, at least initially.

• I know I’m probably going to be lynched for this thought, but I thought director James Whitmore, Jr. relied a little too heavily on Max and Liz kissing and cuddling all the time in this episode. I know it’s a natural progression, but it got to be a bit much. These two can say so much to each other with just a look or a casual touch and I found myself missing those lines of communication between them.

• The MIA status of Kyle is puzzling. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since he tied one on with Max in Blind Date. Must be one hell of a hangover to keep him sidelined this long.

• Michael’s snide comment to Liz that her judgment of Topolsky couldn’t be trusted because Liz trusted her the first time around was unjustified. After all, Liz was the only one to suspect Topolsky wasn’t what she claimed to be initially and went out of her way to warn Michael that Topolsky had pulled his school records.

• The Crashdown appears to be remarkably self sufficient if the waitresses and cooks can just disappear on a whim and the owners are rarely in attendance. I wish I had a job that flexible.

• I was disappointed that Sheriff Valenti was convinced that the doctor had tracked Topolsky to Roswell from her credit card transactions. He should have been suspicious that an FBI agent suffering paranoid delusions of being followed would have dared use a credit card knowing how easy it is to track those transactions.

Likes:

• This was an outstanding Michael and Maria episode. While it’s obvious they are struggling with the rules and boundaries of their relationship, it’s equally obvious how much they really care for one another. Michael is trying so hard to give Maria what she wants, in spite of the fact that he has very little in his personal life to draw from. There were some very sweet, tender moments between them that showed without words what their real feelings are. I loved when Michael put his arm around Maria on the couch after learning Topolsky was back in town because he knew she was scared. Also, the moment by the reservoir when he pulled her close and just held her. It’s nice to see that he’s finally learned how to use her first name, too. This was the first episode for me that the Michael and Maria story took precedence over any other aspect of the plot. I thought Brenden Fehr and Majandra Delfino were fabulous in this episode.

• I liked that Michael finally called Maria on her need for him to be a certain type of boyfriend, asking her why she wanted to be with him if she thought he was such a loser. I don’t think Maria realized up until that moment how unrealistic and how unfair she was being to him asking him to be something he doesn’t know how to be, not to mention completely different than the boy she first liked.

• Kudos to Wardrobe for finally finding something for Max to wear besides dark colors for at least two scenes.

• I laughed out loud when Maria called out Max’s name when she and Michael were making out, as well as to Michael’s reaction to it.

• I do like the new, comfortable closeness between Max and Liz, in spite of the previously mentioned dislike. It’s nice to see them be affectionate and close, as long as they don’t go overboard with it. I would hate to see the writers substitute sex for real, honest character interaction.

• It was fun to see the tables turned and have Michael asking Max for romantic advice this time around, even if it did lose something in the translation to action. Gotta love Michael’s wrapping paper of choice, though.

• I always love to see the friendship between Isabel and Alex grow. Slowly but surely he’s winning her over in spite of her fear of being vulnerable. Katherine Heigl and Colin Hanks both played the scene at the booth in the Crashdown beautifully. Very sweet. Tess could sure use some lessons in timing, though. Every time Alex and Isabel were making progress, Tess would appear to put a crimp in things, almost deliberately it seemed to me.

• I liked that the FBI loose end wasn’t left dangling as I had originally thought. I didn’t expect Topolsky to show up with a second communicator, and I have to wonder how the FBI got their hands on it.

• I’m glad they are continuing to show the sheriff in a more favorable light and his possibilities as an ally to the kids. That said, I’m also glad Max didn’t trust him too much when the sheriff approached him in the UFO Center, since his motivations are still suspect.

Favorite Quotes:

Michael: “Just a couple of horndogs looking for a place to make out.”

Maria: “How many light years away is my Eclipse Burger?”
Michael: “Depends on how they feel about raw.”
Maria: “I put that order in 10 minutes ago.”
Michael: “Yeah, well you can’t rush an eclipse.”

Alex: “Whoa! Peep show!”
Maria: “Don’t worry. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
Alex: “Don’t be too sure.”

Alex: “You two have plans?”
Tess: “Girl’s Night.”
Alex: “Guess I have the wrong hormones for that.”

Michael: “This whole dating thing really bites.”

Michael: “If I’m such a loser, why do you even want to go out with me?”

Liz: “I believed her.”
Michael: “Let me remind you, Liz, that you believed her the first time, too.”

Michael: “Now she says what we’ve got isn’t good enough. She wants more.”
Max: “You mean like…”
Michael: “No, if that’s what she wanted, would I be here talking to you?”

Michael: “I’m serious, Max. Things are getting frosty. She went to the French club meeting today instead of meeting me in the eraser room. The French club. What the hell is that?”

Max: “She’s a stranger, Isabel.”
Isabel: “Well, it’s not like I’m going to fall in love with her, tell her our secret and compromise our very existence.”

Maria: “Hey, Gidget. You got some flowers from Moondoggie.”

Liz: “I’ve never seen anyone so scared.”
Alex: “Taken a look at me lately?”

Maria: “If you want me, you have to earn me. That’s how relationships work.”
Michael: “No, Maria. That’s how Boy Scouts and merit badges work.”

Maria: [Looking at gift from Michael] “Shampoo.”
Michael: “Shampoo and conditioner.”
Maria: “A real time saver.”

I give this episode 4 UFOs out of 5.

#118 Tess, Lies and Videotape – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

New Girl in Town – A Review of ‘Tess, Lies and Videotape’
April 18, 2000

“I’m checking out the new girl.”

“Tess? Why?”

“It’s classified.”

The storyline, furthered by this episode written by Richard Whitley and Toni Graphia, just kept getting more tangled and complicated and so did the cast of shady characters. Now, in addition to the shadowy alien hunter Pierce, we also have someone who may or may not be Tess’ father added into the mix. What part does he play in all this? Is he really Tess’ father or is that set up all part of some elaborate plan to trap the kids into exposing themselves? Or are Pierce and Mr. Harding one and the same person? Maybe Mr. Harding is actually Nasedo. They both seem to have quite a photo collection of one or more of the kids.There were a lot of questions raised in this episode and very few answers.

Random Thoughts:

After the events in “Crazy” I wondered if the sheriff really had bought into the story Nacedo gave him about Dr. Margolin. It appears that he not only did buy into it, but that Pierce had covered his bases by holding Topolsky in the mental ward at Bethesda after all. Since those things really did happen, Nacedo was able to use those facts for himself in the last episode instead of needing resources to falsify medical records.

Why does the sheriff concentrate so exclusively on Max? By this time, he knows that whatever Max is hiding, Isabel and Michael are hiding as well. But he’s never approached either one of them to try and get answers or to gain their trust. Surely he must realize that in order to earn Max’s trust, he’s also going to have to earn Isabel and Michael’s. He should be making attempts to gain the confidence of all of them.

No wonder Max has always been so afraid of losing control. When he does get himself into a mess and tries to work it out with the people he loves and trusts, they all turn on him. Liz can’t seem to make up her mind about whether he’s God’s personal gift to her or the Devil incarnate. Granted, she did have grounds for hurt and anger after witnessing the kiss, but she was having doubts even before that. And if she wanted to talk about the situation with him, it seems like there should have been a better way to approach it than grilling him about whether he’s going to continue to be Tess’ lab partner. How is he supposed to know?

Then there is Michael. His hero has fallen off the pedestal in a big way and he doesn’t forgive that easily. First the punch last week and now collusion with the enemy. Unforgivable. Even after he discovers that Max was right about there being something fishy about Tess, he still didn’t let up on him. They didn’t even call him to let him know Liz was in trouble.

It was surprising to me that, even as well as they all know Max, no one was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he tried to tell them something strange was happening. Certainly strange occurrences are not so strange for them and, given recent events, it seems to me they should have taken him a little more seriously. Max is not the type to cheat, he’s proclaimed Liz as his soul mate, and he’s pretty good about taking responsibility for his own actions without trying to make up excuses. And yet at the drop of a hat, every last one of them believed he would just out of the blue have some secret fling with a girl he barely knows and doesn’t trust.

It was also made clear in this episode that Max is the alien most susceptible to the memory/vision flashes that come through the kissing connection and that they don’t have to have some sort of emotional connection in order for the flashes to work. Just think what they might have found out about themselves if Max were a little more uninhibited.

So Topolsky died in the fire, huh? I have my suspicions that we haven’t seen the last of her.

Was anyone else reminded of The Truman Show when the mini camera recorded events from Michael’s refrigerator?

Thania St. John seems to be doubling as an investigative reporter these days.

I was just waiting for Tess’ dad to start sculpting the Devil’s Tower out of that mound of mashed potatoes on his plate.

I don’t remember things being so sexual in my high school science classes. Everything they talk about seems to take on sexual overtones. I must have been taking the wrong classes. Or maybe I just have my mind in the wrong place now.

What’s the point of referring to the aliens as Czechoslovakians if you are going to say they’re not human in the same sentence?

Michael is either working on keeping his electric bill down or relying on his enhanced vision, but he doesn’t make much of a habit of turning the lights on in his apartment.

So Tess was born in Omaha, Nebraska and last went to school in Chicago. I couldn’t quite place her accent, but it didn’t sound Midwestern to me.

Dislikes:

• Tess. She’s nosy, she’s manipulative, she’s got an agenda, and I wouldn’t trust her as far as I can throw her.

• How convenient that the science teacher picked Max out of everyone else in the class to be lab partner to Tess. She couldn’t have planned that better if she’d asked him herself.

• And speaking of convenient plot devices, what are the odds that the army is going to show up at the Harding house on what appears to be urgent business and station an armed guard at the door just when Michael happens to be there looking for clues? Although the armed guard doesn’t appear to have been very competent since Michael was able to sneak away without being detected.

• Have these people never heard of eavesdropping? They all talk about the most private things in the most public of places. The Crashdown is certainly not their own private dining room and yet they carry on their conversations in regular voices most of the time completely disregarding the fact that there are other customers in the area. If we are to assume that other customers couldn’t overhear their regular voices, then why can they hear each other from across the room? And what was the sheriff thinking just laying the orb on the counter for all the world to see when he gave it back? I’ve heard the argument that the orb and the other artifacts don’t have any significance to anyone else, but that is obviously not true or there wouldn’t be so many people after them. If they are really so scared the FBI is after them, they should learn to use a little more caution and take Mulder’s advice…Trust no one. And for heaven’s sake, keep your voices down.

• I still have a problem with how quickly Isabel bonded with Tess. Now all of a sudden she’s the only friend Isabel has ever had and she immediately leaps to her defense assuming the worst of Michael and Max when they are suspicious?

• Tess’ dad was creepy and unnatural. He was fairly normal with Isabel, but could he have broadcast “bad guy” any more loudly when Liz was there? The contrast between his face and Tess’ smile when they practically demanded Liz stay for dinner was spooky.

• Set inconsistency of the week…Michael has apparently replaced his front door. When we last saw it, there was only a peep hole and now it has 4 panes of wavy yellow glass.

• Nit-pick of the week: When Liz called Max from Tess’ house, there was bright sun shining through the windows and yet when the kids showed up in front of Tess’ house, it was dark, foggy and raining. It didn’t seem like enough time had passed for that drastic a change in the conditions.

Likes:

• It was nice to see Kyle make an appearance. So he’s been holed up watching basketball all this time. Now that the Final Four are over, can we expect to see more of him or does that have to wait until after the NBA playoffs?

• The pictures of Liz and Maria in Liz’s locker at the Crashdown were cute.

• I was glad that Liz wasn’t completely convinced even with first hand observation that Max would cheat on her. Her heart knows what’s true, even if her head doesn’t.

• I liked how protective of Liz Michael was in this episode. Maybe there is potential for a friendship there after all. We haven’t seen much evidence of it since Missing, but he was really trying to watch out for her. There were signs of it throughout the entire episode. From giving Max a hard time about kissing Tess behind Liz’s back to sending Maria up to take care of her when she was so upset to his frantic insistence that they get Liz out of that house, his concern for her was touching.

• I like the way Emilie De Ravin plays Tess. She’s very good at using her expressions, gestures and tone of voice to create a character we don’t trust.

• The ending was extremely well done. The way they transitioned from sleepy boredom, to alertness to downright shock when Tess put the figurine back together was very well played. I did find myself wondering if Tess knew the camera was there and was performing a little show for anyone watching. After all, the marble bowl wasn’t the most inconspicuous place to hide the camera.

• My “awwww” of the week comes in the form of a sweet little Alex/Isabel moment when I caught sight of Isabel resting peacefully on Alex’s shoulder during watch duty.

• I like that they are keeping us a little off kilter as far as the sheriff is concerned. Just when I think I’ve got him figured out, he does something to make me wonder about his real motives. He seems like he’s become someone they can trust and his arguments to Max that he’s in danger as well, hold credence. But then he goes and does something like spying on them and taking pictures without their knowledge.

• Shiri Appleby did a good job of showing Liz’s struggle with what she believes in her heart and what she is seeing with her eyes. Her confusion over actions that don’t make sense was well played.

• Max underwent a wide variety of emotions in this episode and they were carried off beautifully by Jason Behr. Feelings ran the gamut from loving playfulness to fear, confusion and anger and they were all believable and heartfelt.

Favorite Quotes:

Isabel: “Do you have to do that?”
Max: “What?”
Isabel: “Be so public. It’s kind of creepy.”

Maria: “So either give it to me straight or you’re not going to give it to me at all.”

Michael: “You’re just making friends all over the place.”

Alex: “I don’t mean to get all warm and fuzzy, but I’m really glad I can use what I know to help out…you know, what we’re doing.”
Michael: “Whatever.”

Maria: “I’m not as flat as I thought I was.”
Michael: “Well, it’s a wide angle lens, so…”

Isabel: “What are they doing in there?”
Alex: “Passing the mashed potatoes.”

Maria: “Max isn’t human. What if Czechoslovakians can’t resist temptation?”
Liz: “So what you’re saying is that this is not just a romantic problem…now it’s intergalactic?

Max: “I didn’t want anyone to panic and do something stupid.”
Michael: “Hey, I’m trying to know which problem to panic over.”

Maria: “Whatever you do, you know I’ve got your back, right?”

Maria: “What happened to partners? What happened to an equal exchange of information, Michael?”
Michael: “I lied.”

I give this episode 4 UFOs out of 5.

#119 Four Square – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Strange Bedfellows – A Review of ‘Four Square’
April 25, 2000

“You are who you choose to be. Just like you’re with who you choose to be with.”

Writer Thania St. John and director Jonathan Frakes presented an episode that explored fate versus destiny. The alien teens are faced, for perhaps the first time, with the prospect of a future planned for them instead of a future they are allowed to choose for themselves. They are made aware in no uncertain terms that being alien may mean living a life that has been predestined for them instead of enjoying the free will their human counterparts enjoy.

Random Thoughts:

I thought it was very telling that Isabel’s first dream started out with Alex. It reinforced the notion that he’s the one she would choose to be with, as did the urgency with which she attacked him in the janitor’s closet.

We see yet again that Max’s alien connections scare Liz, even more than the other two humans. She seems to approach the search for their roots as some kind of fascinating science project, but when faced with any evidence that Max is not a normal boy, it really puts her out of her comfort zone. Maria may have had a higher freak factor initially, but she really has accepted the notion that Michael is another life form better than Liz has. Well, except when it comes to romance and table manners.

Max is starting to wonder if he, Isabel and Michael really are family. Maybe that’s why he’s so afraid of finding Nacedo. Finding Nacedo means having to make a choice between his alien and his human heritages. He’s not so sure that, in choosing his alien heritage, he won’t lose everything that is dear to him, including the two he has always considered his family. The idea of Nacedo has already caused him to lose the Michael he’s always known and he doesn’t know how to deal with the person Michael has become in his quest for answers. By attempting to deal with him the way he always has, he’s just driving the wedge between them even deeper. Answers about themselves threaten everything Max holds dear and because he doesn’t understand it, he can’t control it. As he tells Michael, the goal is to stay in control; it always has been.

Max needs to come to grips with the fact that Michael is not the scared little boy in need of a role model anymore. And even if he were, he’s past the point of accepting Max in that role. He needs to acknowledge the fact that Michael has worthwhile contributions to make in their quest and stop disparaging him or he really is going to lose him.

How come Max has visions, but Michael has hallucinations?

I found myself wondering how Tess seems to know all about their past and where to find things, when the other three do not. There is still so much the kids don’t know about her and I hope they are cautious about accepting what she has to say at face value. If she really does have powers of mind control, there isn’t any way to be sure that what seem like memories aren’t actually mind manipulations. It seems to me that if she really is what she claims to be, there isn’t be any point to the mind games. She obviously knows the other three are aliens or she wouldn’t be giving them clues and teasers. The fact that she won’t come right out and give them the answers makes me suspect that there is still something more up her sleeve.

Mr. Harding continues to be spooky. I’m not sure what he hoped to accomplish by turning the camera into the sheriff, or what role he plays in the whole scheme of things.

I think it odd that during a heat wave, kids can make out in every hallway and behind every library stack without attracting much attention, but when Michael kisses Maria in the middle of the hallway, all of a sudden they are a circus attraction.

Isabel looked like she was on the verge of cracking up when Michael and Maria discovered them in the janitor’s closet.

Speaking of the janitor’s closet, haven’t the school officials learned anything yet? Someone needs to introduce them to the concept of keys. They know that the janitor’s closet and the eraser room are hotbeds of heavy petting, and yet locking the doors doesn’t seem to have occurred to them.

I thought Michael accepted the news of Isabel’s pregnancy with amazing calm. Isabel looked properly unsettled, but he just accepted the news as if he’d been waiting his whole life for just such a destiny to be fulfilled.

Dislikes:

• Do these kids not have parents? It never ceases to amaze me how much freedom they have to come and go as they please and how little they have to deal with parental consequences.

• It bothers me how often scenes are just left hanging. A prime example of this is when Tess asks Liz why everyone is following her. Liz never answers and we aren’t given any clue as to how this confrontation played out.

• How dense can Alex and Maria be not to pick up on the serious undercurrents of tension between Michael and Isabel, especially in the janitor’s closet when proclaiming their staked claims?

• I thought Maria’s response to Michael’s sudden need to talk about their relationship was entirely too glib. For someone who has been trying for weeks to get him to talk about their relationship and take it seriously, she sure managed to be awfully sarcastic.

• Set inconsistency of the week: In the scene where Maria is standing behind the counter at the Crashdown talking to Max and Liz, the wall behind her starts out as a glass case filled with desserts. When Kyle walks in and the camera pans back to Maria, the wall behind her is two shelves of glasses on a blue wall.

• I was incredibly glad to see Kyle, but I thought he and Liz had gotten past the whole bitterness issue and settled their differences. Looks like he didn’t spend enough time with Sally Jessy while he was MIA.

• Isabel gets pregnant from a dream encounter with Michael. Please. Did they really have to add an alien baby to the whole situation? And does this mean that Tess could have gotten pregnant from her dream encounter with Max in the science lab?

• Max and Michael really need to sit down and talk through their hostility for each other. It’s getting completely out of hand. Now more than ever, they need to join forces and work together instead of at odds with each other. Keeping secrets and cutting each other down all the time is counter-productive.

Likes:

• I loved Katherine Heigl in this episode. I thought she did a great job conveying the fear and confusion the whole situation is instilling in Isabel. Her safe, little world is being turned upside down and it’s obvious that she’s frightened by the changes. It’s equally obvious that she fears the influence Tess has on her. She played the confusion and guilt over her dreams about Michael very well. I must admit, I laughed out loud at her little Mary Sunshine routine in the administration office, too.

• I liked the interaction between Liz and Max in this episode better than I have for awhile. The tenderness and caring were no less apparent, but the gooeyness factor was removed. I could go back to enjoying it without worrying when my next dentist’s appointment is scheduled. Max’s little kiss on Liz’s forehead in the hallway before she followed Tess into the bathroom was perfect.

• I liked that they addressed the fact that Isabel has felt compelled to befriend Tess. As I mentioned in the last two reviews, her ready acceptance of her seemed out of character to me. Katherine played the scene in Max’s bedroom when she’s telling him about Tess’ power over her beautifully.

• It was a nice touch to have each of the aliens seek to re-connect with their human love interests after experiencing the erotic dreams/visions. I thought it reinforced how important the humans are to them and highlighted the difference between where their hearts are leading them versus where their alien destiny would take them.

• I loved how tender, loving, and downright happy Michael was during all the dream sequences, both with Isabel and with the baby.

• How cute that Liz made special note of Tess’ grades when they were looking over her transcript. That seemed very in character to me.

• I liked that the book that Tess retrieved was in the public library, proving that Michael had been right in his calculations.

• Heart-melt moment: Alex was so incredibly sweet when he tucked Isabel into bed and kissed her on the forehead.

• Kyle!! Welcome back from the land of the lost. We’ve missed you.

• It was nice that we finally got to see what happened when the aliens broke out of the pods, although this version of events differs from how Max told Liz it happened. In the original version, Max and Isabel encountered Michael for the first time in the desert. I guess we’re supposed to chalk that up to the fact that he didn’t fully remember events when he first told Liz.

• I was glad to see that they didn’t just let the events of the last episode just drop. While I was glad that Liz realized Max was being coerced into actions against his will, she didn’t entirely let him off the hook for it either. It seemed very normal and in character for her to ask him what it had been like to kiss Tess. And while she was ready to forgive him, she wasn’t entirely ready to forget it, judging by the lengths to which she went to make sure it didn’t happen again.

• This show does a great job keeping the viewers wondering about motivations and agendas. I found myself rethinking my opinion about Tess. I still don’t trust her, but I’m now open to the possibility that she’s acting from honorable intentions, even if her agenda is at cross purposes with the humans.

Favorite Quotes:

Michael: “You just want to deny who we really are?”
Max: “I want us to stay who we really are.”
Maria: “Operation Never-Leave-Max-Alone-for-an-Instant. That way one of us is always around in case she works the voodoo on you again.”
Max: “I don’t need a baby-sitter.”
Maria: “No, you’re right. You need a bodyguard at all times.”

Max: “We’ll go watch her on the monitor.”
Valenti: “Isn’t that against the law, Mr. Evans? I wish you’d stop doing that.”

Michael: “Why are you so scared to be an alien?”
Max: “Why are you so scared to be human?”

Max: “The goal is to stay in control. It always has been.”

Michael: “I’ve been thinking…”
Maria: “Great. That usually involves me having to get my car towed.”

Isabel: “You know how I said I wanted to take things slow?”
Alex: “The word glacial comes to mind.”
Isabel: “Maybe it’s time to melt the ice.”

Maria: “It must be something in the water.”

Kyle: “What a knockout, huh? Can’t beat a blonde. [looks at Liz] Oh, sorry.”

Liz: “Just the way she treats guys – she just leads them on and then drops them cold.”
Kyle: “Yeah, I guess it takes one to know one.”

Kyle: “What is this, a jealousy thing?”
Liz: “No…”
Kyle: “Oh, so it’s just a everyone-deserves-to-be-happy-except-Kyle thing.”

Liz: “Just don’t be alone with her, OK? She could be using you.”
Kyle: “That’s exactly what I had in mind.”

Tess: “There’s just this one book I need for history class.”
Kyle: “Well, what say we start speaking the most ancient language known to man?”

I give this episode 4.75 UFOs out of 5.

#120 Max To The Max – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Shell Game – A Review of “Max To The Max”
May 2, 2000

“Don’t believe everything you see.”

In a tense game of cat and mouse, the stakes have been raised in this episode penned by Toni Graphia and directed by Patrick Norris. Nacedo has finally revealed himself and proven to be just as dangerous as Max had feared, at least to the humans. He seems to be willing to stop at nothing to draw his enemy out, but the result may prove unexpectedly tragic.

Random Thoughts:

So Mr. Harding is actually Nasedo. That would explain the creepiness factor. I also find it fascinating that he can shapeshift into inanimate objects. That would certainly be a handy talent.

Why do you suppose Nasedo made sure Liz got safely out of the fun house instead of going back to get Max? Max is supposedly the one that he’s so desperate to protect and yet he just left him there for the Feds to grab him. He claims to have their safety at heart, and yet all his actions put them at risk.

If Harding just transferred from Alabama, why did the school records for Tess show her last residence as Chicago and her records transferred from the Illinois school system?

The fact that they were engineered would explain why they are all so beautiful, although it’s a little strange that Max, Michael and Isabel all have a similar look in spite of the different coloring and Tess looks very out of place. The former are all tall and have brown eyes, while Tess is significantly shorter with blue eyes.

The force field previously in place around the Jeep to prevent blown hair, seems to have been transferred to the convertible for the night.

Anyone else notice that the precipice where the cave was located is the very place Isabel and Michael had their dream sex?

I noticed that Isabel used the past tense when talking to Alex about her feelings for him and her declaration to him. That doesn’t bode well for their future.

Michael seemed genuinely disappointed to learn there was no baby. He’d already wrapped his mind around the idea and seemed ready to run with it. He seemed reluctant to give up the idea that his destiny was to be with Isabel. Maybe it’s a case of seeing the future and the future making him happy.

Isn’t it interesting that Liz could tell the difference between Max and Nasedo by the visions conjured up while kissing? What does that make her…some kind of human satellite dish? If she can pick up signals from any old alien who kisses her, I guess that blows the theory that they have to be emotionally connected in order to get good reception. Also, the fact that he didn’t seem to realize she’d had a strange vision puts a few dents in the school of thought that he was causing them in the first place.

The hostility between Max and Michael seems to have cooled a bit in this episode. They were still having the same arguments, but there seemed to be less heat to them.

The funhouse mirrors were a great analogy for the theme. Nothing and no one is what they appear to be.

I guess we know now why no one has just happened upon the discarded pods if they were buried within the mountain.

I’m glad the writers remembered that Max’s birthday was in March, therefore making him 17 now.

That gas station must be doing better business than it appears to be if they can afford surveillance cameras that produce such high resolution pictures.

Anyone else wonder where Nasedo’s breath mints were?

I did have to wonder why Liz kept flashing on Sheila Hubble whenever she would kiss evil Max. Nacedo’s killed many people since then, by all accounts. It seemed strange that she would be the one Liz would see.

Dislikes:

• The whole idea of the alien baby didn’t seem to freak out much of anyone except Isabel, and neither did the idea that Michael and Isabel were sleeping together. They were the only two that knew they hadn’t been and everyone else immediately jumped to the logical conclusion that they were. But everyone just kind of took it in stride as something new and alien to deal with. Even Max was more concerned that they had kept it from him. He practically assaulted Michael over the fact that Michael wasn’t listening to him about Tess, but the idea of Michael sleeping with Isabel doesn’t inspire hostility? Please.

• Just who did they leave in charge of the Crashdown this time when they went tearing off to rescue Liz?

• I had to wonder why the real Max didn’t do something to differentiate himself to Liz so she would know which was the real Max and which was Nacedo. Seems like it would have been easy enough to just take off his coat or something.

• Just for the record, you don’t get a dial tone when a cell phone hangs up on you either.

• How were they planning on convincing the sheriff that Max is really a good guy once he caught up with him. Assuming he arrested Nacedo, the real Max would have to stay in hiding for as long has evil Max was in custody. Although it was a good way to get Valenti involved in a way that Michael could accept.

• Where were Alex and Maria when the pod squad ran off to rescue Liz? We’re supposed to believe that they just stayed quietly behind after reporting Liz’s kidnapping to the sheriff? That doesn’t sound like the Maria we’ve all come to know and love.

Likes:

• The way the action picked up immediately where it left off from the last episode, gave it a nice touch of continuity.

• I thought it was great that Maria confronted Michael calmly and immediately about what she overheard about the baby instead of just flipping out and I liked that Michael was honest with her instead of just blowing her off.

• Is Alex too good to be true or what? Confronted with the possible alien pregnancy of his girlfriend and without any assurances that she hasn’t been sleeping with Michael on the side, he is immediately supportive and sweet. Do people like this exist outside the realm of fiction?

• I liked the fact that Isabel seems to be physically gravitating to Michael more and more. It seems to fit with the increased awareness she has of him now.

• I got kind of a kick out of evil Max. It was fun to see the normally uptight Max be the devil-may-care rogue, even if it wasn’t really him. Jason Behr did a great job with the dual role. He was delightfully creepy with the sly innuendoes and the way he kept looking at Liz.

• I thought ‘evil’ Max was a great way to create conflict between Max and Liz without it really being between Max and Liz.

• I, for one, am heartily glad there isn’t really an alien baby.

• How cool was that alien batsignal? Beats having to use a telephone to reach out and touch someone.

• Michael just keeps growing on me more with every episode. I loved that he was the one to hug Liz and comfort her when she escaped from Nacedo and told them Max had been captured. And you just have to love how much concern he showed Isabel when they thought she was pregnant.

• They have done a great job in the last couple of episodes of giving us suspenseful cliffhanger endings.

• Shiri Appleby did a wonderful job showing the fear that Liz was feeling when confronted with Nacedo in the guise of Max.

Favorite Quotes:

Max/Nasedo: “All I care about is protecting them. Nothing else matters.”
Michael: “Whether you want to believe it or not, we weren’t born. We were engineered.”

Isabel: “I thought you said we can’t trust her.”
Max: “Who said anything about trusting her?”

Isabel: “You were so happy, Michael. I’ve never seen you that happy.”
Michael: “Well, I’ve never been that happy.”

Liz: “What kind of hostage am I? Pierce would just kill me.”
Max/Nasedo: “Now there’s a thought.”

Max/Nasedo: “You could come in extremely handy in terms of my survival. And even if you don’t, you’ve been fantastic company.”

I give this episode 4.5 UFOs out of 5.

#121 The White Room – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

Lab Rat – A Review of “The White Room”
May 9, 2000

“I know what you are and now you’re going to tell me everything.”

The White Room, written by Jason Katims and Thania St. John and directed by Jonathan Frakes, was an intense, disturbing episode that explored the aliens’ worst nightmare. Agent Pierce has finally captured Max and will do anything it takes to get him to reveal the secrets Pierce thinks he’s hiding. The others are desperate to rescue him and past hostilities and mistrust is put aside in their efforts to find him before it’s too late.

Random Thoughts:

It was great to see how Michael and Isabel reacted to meeting Nacedo. Michael clearly wanted more information and Isabel only trusted him to help them because she didn’t feel they had any other options.

Michael didn’t appear to be as overjoyed to finally meet Nacedo as he thought he’d be. He seemed to finally realize that embracing Nacedo means giving up his human side. I don’t think he realized until the moment that he saw how easy it was for Nacedo to kill that agent, what giving up his human side would fully entail. Nacedo is not bound by human laws or morals, but I don’t think it will be as easy for Michael to dismiss those things are he supposed it would.

At the same time, Nacedo is someone who knows exactly what Michael is capable of and is not willing to let him cop out of that. He was there to encourage Michael into using the powers he’s been engineered with, even if that encouragement was a little abrupt. Nacedo had absolute confidence that Michael was capable of transferring those fingerprints. Michael hasn’t encountered a lot of absolute confidence in himself before and I have to imagine that will be a very compelling factor when it comes time for Michael to decide his own destiny.

I love the fact that their ‘alien’ powers are actually ‘human to the max’ powers. Except for those pesky green blood cells, the humans and the aliens aren’t really so different after all. And why do you suppose the aliens bleed red blood if their blood cells are green?

It disturbed me that Tess chose an image intended to frighten Isabel when she revealed her ability to manipulate thoughts. Isabel was clearly just barely holding it together; she really didn’t need to be frightened anymore. It is just one more incident to add to the list of why Tess doesn’t fit in with the pod squad. She has yet to convey any sense of genuine caring about any of them, except for how they fit into her pre-planned future.

My heart went out to Liz as the scene in the Crashdown opens and Maria and Alex both leave her just standing there to go comfort Michael and Isabel. She looked so lost and abandoned with no one left to turn to but Tess.

It seemed strange to me that Tess uses the name Nasedo for the other alien. Do you suppose he’s gone by that name ever since River Dog started calling him that and that really is what Tess has called him all these years?

Now we know for sure that Isabel is the only one who has explored the power of dreamwalking.

According to Pierce, the government captured 4 aliens from the crash site. 2 were dead and 1 was held in captivity. What happened to the other one? Is Nacedo the one they held in captivity before he escaped? Or do they still have one locked away somewhere? Maybe there is still another alien on the run that has yet to be identified.

Dislikes:

• Maria took the news that Max was captured entirely too calmly. They have toned down a lot of what makes her such a fun character. The ‘Maria-filter’ made her stand out from the rest of them in an entertaining way. But I think that Maria must be hiding somewhere with Kyle because we haven’t seen much of her lately.

• These kids apparently need some breaking and entering lessons. Rubber soled shoes are big plus when trying to be stealthy, I’ve heard. They would have been hard pressed to make much more noise when they broke into the research lab.

• I had a little trouble with Liz asking Valenti to just trust her. What possible reason has she given him for trusting her? She’s continually lied to him. I understand that she didn’t feel she could tell him everything, but the “Just trust me, please” was a bit much.

• We’re expected to believe that these kids can just be gone for days at a time without checking in with the parents?

Likes:

• The whole episode was incredibly intense and disturbing. It kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire hour. This has to be one of the best episodes all year. The writing was tight and solid and the acting was outstanding. The tension was drawn out well and sustained throughout the full hour.

• I’m always glad to see episodes written by Jason Katims. I can generally count on his episodes being good ones because he has proven time and again that he knows these characters intimately.

• I was glad they were able to use the UFO Center for information on where to find Max. Although I was a little surprised Isabel remembered the logo was something she’d seen at the UFO Center.

• Loved the scenes where Isabel was able to connect to Max through her ability to dreamwalk. The surreal, distorted images conveyed the drugged and fragmented state of his mind powerfully.

• Katherine Heigl was fantastic in the dream scenes, especially her absolute, abject terror for Max after she snapped out of the dreamwalk. She continues to impress me with the way she plays Isabel.

• I thought it was great that Valenti differentiated between the two Max’s in the funhouse by referring to one of them as “the one we all care about”.

• The introduction of Nacedo in the morgue was very well done. That must have been quite a shock for Michael when the target of his energy surge gave back better than he got.

• I actually found myself liking Nasedo in this episode. Jim Ortlieb does a great job with the character, playing him with kind of a quirky sense of humor. He’s still a little creepy, but I enjoyed it.

• Michael in a suit was a strange sight to behold. He looked more like Mulder than ever. I laughed when Nacedo produced a comb for him to help him look the part.

• I was glad that Valenti was able to come through for them at crunch time. He really proved his good intentions in this situation and hopefully has earned their trust.

• Jason Behr just blew me away in this episode. His terror and pain were so unbearably real, his scenes were painful for me to watch. My heart literally hurt as I watched the torture scenes, both mental and physical. His frantic desperation when he is faced with the virtual reality image of Liz lying dead was palpable. He was simply outstanding.

Favorite Quotes:

Alex: “I’m going to stay with you. If I’m holding onto you, maybe you won’t get lost.”
Michael: “You’re different than me?”
Nasedo: “Biology lesson later.”

Nasedo: “Humans are weak. Which doesn’t bother me.”
Nasedo: “The only one stopping you is you.”
Michael: “Stop saying that! It’s not helping me.”

Nacedo: “It’s inside of you. You’re programmed.”
Michael: “Hey, I didn’t get the manual, OK?”

I give this episode a resounding 6 UFOs out of 5. This was unquestionably the best episode of the season, in my opinion.

#122 Destiny – Review

Written by Kate Ancel

A Review of ‘Destiny’
May 16, 2000

“We choose our own destinies, remember?”

In this teleplay by Toni Graphia and Jason Katims and story by Thania St. John, a lot of the answers the kids have been searching for since that fateful day in October have been revealed. Max is the once and future king with Michael his second in command betrothed to Isabel, the sister of the leader. Talk about a heavy load to place on their young shoulders. How the hell are they going to keep this a story about alienated teen aliens just trying to fit in?

Random Thoughts:

I thought it was very clear right from the beginning that Max is the leader of this group. As soon as they all gathered at the mine and regrouped, he was the one they all looked to for the answers and the plan. Everyone was involved, but he seemed to give them a direction and a cohesion they had been lacking while they were attempting to rescue him. It came as no surprise to any of them, except maybe Max, when it was revealed that he was the leader of their people. Michael and Isabel have always known that Max had the leadership qualities, no matter how much they may have chafed against it.

I was so sad for Michael that when they finally found a link to their home, the parental figure belongs to Max and Isabel yet again. Although, it strikes me as a little too coincidental that the two who just happened to be brother and sister in reality were both adopted by the same couple and raised as siblings. It would have been so nice if this loving, benevolent mother figure could have been all for Michael.

Michael really seemed to step into the role of second in command naturally, didn’t he? All the hostility that has been present in his relationship with Max just took a backseat to all the things going on. They were really working as a team and look what they can accomplish when they work together instead of against each other.

Tess was working awfully hard to keep the aliens separated from their human counterparts, going out of her way to make sure they felt like they were hindering efforts to get the aliens to safety.

I thought it was interesting that Max took the same approach interrogating Pierce as the agent had taken with him. There were definitely shades of Nacedo-as-Max in his demeanor during that scene.

Max is getting a lot better at that healing touch. This time he even managed to make the blood disappear on Kyle’s shirt. Think what messy questions they could have avoided if he’d done that with Liz’s dress.

How inconvenient for Nacedo that he retains the shape he’s shapeshifted into if that shape dies. Lucky for him the trio had already recovered the magic stones.

I wonder if anyone is ever going to tell the kids the name of their home planet?

Why do you suppose Tess wasn’t involved in the rescue effort when they went back for Nacedo? She was the one insisting they go back for him, after all.

Did anyone else notice that in order for the communicators to work, Max was paired up with Tess and Michael was paired up with Isabel? I wonder if they can make them work with any other pairing?

I really like the idea of Nasedo as Pierce working his magic from the inside. They’ll never know what hit them. I’d love to be a fly on that wall as he makes them jump through his hoops.

The bait and switch at the UFO Center was fun. Valenti really had me going there for a bit. And there was something very ‘Pulp Fiction’ about Max and Michael holding them at gunpoint.

Likes:

• The intensity was immediate and lasted through the entire episode. The opening scene grabbed us by the collar and held us there for the whole ride.

• I liked how Michael continued to distrust the sheriff even when faced with overwhelming evidence that he could be trusted and didn’t fully set aside that distrust until he’d had a chance to talk to him face to face and get an answer that satisfied him.

• I loved the Mommagram from the home planet.

• They did a good job keeping us guessing right up until the end what side Valenti was really on. I wanted to believe that his double-dealing with Pierce was all part of the set up, but I still found myself wondering which way he’d go to protect Kyle.

• I loved the way they involved Kyle in this episode. And it about time! It was good to see the lengths he went to to protect his dad, too. I’m glad Max came through and healed him. I loved how that whole story played out.

• Even though the consequences were extreme, Michael’s energy burst power is very cool. Once he gets that under control, it will be a very useful power to have. Although I did wonder how he managed to bypass Max and Liz and just send the first energy bolt directly at the Hummer.

• Speaking of the consequences, I’m glad they showed how hard it was for Michael to deal with having killed someone he wanted to kill. That will be something he has to come to terms with and learn to control without ‘giving in to the dark side’. I wish they’d had time to explore that a little more fully. Especially Michael’s perception that he’s the bad one and Max is the good one. He’s been living with that perception entirely too long and was just starting to get out from under it. He’s gotten as far as he has emotionally because of Maria. It will be interesting to see how he deals with all of this without her loving influence.

• Michael telling Maria that he was walking away from her because he loves her too much to stay was wonderfully bittersweet. The look on Maria’s face went from stunned amazement to sad acceptance in the blink of an eye. Kudos to Majandra.

• The symbolism of Sheriff Valenti taking off his sheriff’s badge once he’d made his decision to continue helping the kids was well done and subtle.

• The interaction between Max and Liz in this episode was fabulous! They were everything I love about them as a couple. Their chemistry was so incredibly apparent and they were able to convey their complete support and love for each other with looks and touches and just the occasional kiss. The final goodbye scene was wrenching and well played by both Jason and Shiri. I was very glad that the decision to leave was hers and not brought about by some mind manipulation on the part of Tess. It was much more powerful for her to realize that this is something Max needs to pursue on his own, I thought. The complete devastation Liz was experiencing was heartbreaking.

Dislikes:

• I found myself wondering why Max and Liz went off alone in the slowest car. It seems strange to me that Michael and Isabel would have let him out of their sight even for a minute, much less put him in Maria’s old clunker. And the decision to get out of the car and run in Max’s condition seemed less than wise as well.

• Those have got to be the slowest FBI agents on earth. They were right behind Max and Liz and yet the kids had time to climb the railing, kiss and hesitate before jumping into the river and the agents didn’t even get there until after they’d jumped. What happened to those big guns they were hauling around?

• So they’ve saved Max from a fate worse than death and after running through the woods and jumping from a bridge to escape the death squad, Max and Liz finally have a moment alone. Max is weak from the torture and the running and when they kiss, he allows Liz to see some of the hell he’s been through. After all this, the only thing she wants to do is…talk about their relationship? I realize that the fact the he’s destined for another woman is devastating to her, but let’s get some perspective, shall we? The boy almost died, for heaven’s sake. Surely she could have held off on the relationship conversation until he’d had a chance to get a little bit of his strength back and found some comfort in her arms.

• I wish there had been more time to explore the psychological impact of the torture on Max. I know there was too much to tell in a short amount of time, but I suspect that by the time we return next fall, that aspect will have fallen by the wayside. That would be a shame to just let that fall through the cracks. It would be worth exploring, in my opinion.

• Jeers to the old soap opera trick of cutting away to a commercial and leaving us hanging about whether Kyle is going to die and whether Max is going to save him or not. The hesitation on Max’s part didn’t make any sense to me from a story perspective. What possible reason would Max have for hesitating? Valenti had just saved their butts at no small risk to his own, not once but twice. So in return for that, we’re expected to believe that he’s just going to let Kyle die from a gunshot wound that everyone knows he’s capable of healing?

• I have not warmed up to Tess at all. She comes off as whiny and selfish and completely unconcerned about anyone but herself. I got the impression she only wanted to go back for Nacedo because she was afraid to be left alone. And her timing leaves a lot to be desired too. She’s been witness to the unmissable emotion passing between Max and Liz and is aware that they believe they are soulmates. And yet when the ‘mommagram’ is done, the first thing she does is cozy herself up to Max right in front of Liz and tell him she knew it was meant to be. I got a kick out of Max firmly putting her back in her place, though.

Favorite Quotes:

Max: “Knowing you has made me human.”

Liz: “The day you saved my life, your life just ended.”
Max: “No, that’s the day my life began.”

Valenti: “We’ll be safe here for awhile.”
Michael: “There is no safe anymore.”

Kyle: “Who the hell are you talking to?”

Liz: “Do you just do that with everyone? Make them see things that aren’t even there?
Tess: “Sometimes it’s easier to do that than to make someone see something that’s right in front of her.”

Agent: “What just happened here?”
Kyle: “I was kind of hoping you could tell me.”

Valenti: “If I’d wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

Michael: “I always thought you were out to get us. I’m glad I was wrong.”

Michael: “Just get out of here. It’s not safe.”
Maria: “It’s never been safe. What difference does it make now?”

Maria: “You can just throw me away just like that. Why is that?”
Michael: “Maybe because I love you too much. Goodbye.”

Isabel: “Are you sure this is him?”
Michael: “Well, this is who he was the last time I saw him.”

Michael: “Why are you helping us?”
Valenti: “There’s a right side here and a wrong side and I don’t think Pierce is on the right side.”

Michael: “The bottom line, Maxwell – I kill people. I kill people and you heal them. You’re good and I’m bad.”
Max: “That’s not true, Michael.”

I give this episode 5 UFOs out of 5. They have certainly gone out with a bang.