The WB presents Roswell.S1
The Complete Primer.
Inside season one with Jason Katims.
In the quiet town of Roswell, New Mexico, Max Evans lived the life of a normal teenager until the day he saved Liz Parker’s life. By healing her fatal gunshot wound with nothing more than his hand, he and Liz were forever bonded and the secret he’d been hiding his entire life was finally exposed: Max, his sister Isabel and their friend Michael Guerin were aliens.
With the arrival of a fourth alien, Tess, and the trust of their secret in the hands of five human friends, Max must now balance the life he’s known on Earth, and his love for Liz, with the search for his true identity and the truth about his destiny.
THE PILOT.
LIZ PARKER and her best friend MARIA DELUCA are waitresses at The Crashdown – the restaurant Liz’s father owns in Roswell, New Mexico. When two customers break into a fight, gunshots ring out and Maria screams realizing Liz has been shot. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“Watching Jason Behr…I believed this whole thing was going to work.”
THE MORNING AFTER
Liz and Max continue their lives, with an obvious new bond between them. Liz attempts to maintain her relationship with Kyle, but what she and Max have created begins getting in the way. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“A lot of what that episode was about was setting up…building blocks.”
MONSTERS
Maria’s fears of the aliens are heightened when she has an encounter with Isabel who freely uses her powers to taunt her. Maria becomes unraveled, and ends up running her car into the back of Valenti’s. Liz tells Maria it’s important they stay in control. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“It was really amazing to see what Majandra did…”
LEAVING NORMAL
After an encounter with Kyle’s friends over Liz, Max realizes he may be risking revealing their secret. Max decides he needs to back off from Liz, and go back to the way things were before he healed her. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
View the original ending of this episode.
MISSING
Liz becomes distressed when she realizes her personal diary, with details about the aliens, is missing. Liz realizes she could be jeopardizing the lives of the people she has come to care about if her diary ends up in the wrong hands. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“The whole thing was very fun to watch…”
285 SOUTH
Wanting to follow his vision, Michael breaks into the UFO Center to obtain an address on James Atherton. Michael is caught by Milton and Deputy Blackwood, and is arrested. Max saves Michael by telling Milton he lent Michael his key to do research at the museum. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“A breakthrough episode…something was happening.”
RIVER DOG
..Continued from 285 South.
Topolsky realizes she has missed the kids, who have escaped from the dome with the Atherton files. Once home, Isabel shows a pendant to Max that she found at Atherton’s. Each admits to recognizing the symbol on the pendant, although neither is sure of the meaning. Max decides to hide the files under his bed until everyone can go through them together. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“We weren’t just in a high school…”
BLOOD BROTHER
Wanting to share a normal teenage moment, Max and Liz ditch school to take a drive on an old highway. Things take a turn for the worse when Max swerves to avoid a wild horse and crashes into a ditch. Liz is unhurt, but an unconscious Max is whisked to the hospital. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“Having David (Nutter) back really energized everybody…”
HEAT WAVE
When Liz spies Michael and Maria in a romantic tryst, she begins to wonder why it’s okay for them to be together but not for her and Max. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“A place where our…ensemble cast came to life…”
THE BALANCE
When Michael discovers Max has been withholding information from him about what he found at the cave, he becomes determined to find the answers he desires for himself. Max makes Michael promise not to do anything until he returns from his first official date with Liz. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“The idea of Michael being sick…what do they do?”
THE TOY HOUSE
When Max uses his powers in order to save his mother, DIANE EVANS, from an accidental fire, Diane becomes suspicious. When Diane questions Max as to how he saved her, Max tells her she should not be suspicious of her own children and offers no real answer. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“This was an episode that helped us ground the series.”
INTO THE WOODS
The annual Roswell High father’s camping trip takes place in the same wooded area of a recent UFO sighting. Max and Isabel convince their father they want to participate in the camping trip, in real hopes they will be able to get close to the UFO sighting area. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…everything was like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
THE CONVENTION
Wanting to get Liz off his mind, Max dives into work at the annual UFO Convention being held at the museum. Max’s life is further complicated when he discovers the two civilians who witnessed his healing of Liz at The Crashdown, are back in town and have plans on exposing him as an alien. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…to have a dramatic story emerge out of…a very comedic set up.”
BLIND DATE
Wanting to help her get over her feelings for Max, Maria enters Liz in a blind date radio contest. Liz wins the contest, and wanting a normal life agrees to go on the date. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“My favorite parts…the scenes between Jason Behr and Nick Wechsler.”
INDEPENDENCE DAY
After Max and Isabel discover Michael’s foster father has been beating him, they offer him a place in their home. Feeling isolated, Michael struggles with not having a real family like what he witnesses at the Evans. Michael goes to Maria for comfort, but is thrown out by Maria’s mom. Michael then considers leaving Roswell in search of his real family and Nasedo. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“I love the themes of (Michael) being an actual alien, and him being an alienated teen.”
SEXUAL HEALING
Not being able to contain their feelings any longer, Liz and Max give in to their attraction and share an intense kiss. Liz, however, experiences visions of Space that neither her nor Max are able to explain. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“It communicated how being intimate was both exciting and scary.”
CRAZY
Together again, Max and Liz go up to make-out point.’ The two are interrupted by Agent Topolsky who warns them there is an alien hunter aware of Max’s existence. Topolsky further explains she was part of an elite alien hunting unit of the federal agency, headed by an AGENT PIERCE. She then explains she left the unit when she realized Pierce was killing innocent people in order to find the fourth alien, Nasedo. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“We knew we were on the bubble…for a second season.”
TESS, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE
Suspicions about the new girl, Tess, are further raised when everyone notices Max is oddly drawn to her. Unable to fight his attraction, Max kisses Tess not knowing Liz is watching in the distance. Max attempts to explain the kiss to Liz as something he had no control over, which raises Liz’s own suspicions about Tess’s identity. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“Our original plan was…reveal the fourth alien as the season finale…”
FOUR-SQUARE
Now thinking Tess is the fourth alien, the shape-shifter Nasedo, the kids decide to stay close to each other.
Michael and Isabel begin having sexual dreams about each other confusing their relationship, which has always been like brother and sister. Not wanting to act on their feelings, each pursues a stronger relationship with a human – Michael with Maria, and Isabel with Alex. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…Michael and Isabel being together…there was something intriguing…”
MAX TO THE MAX
With Tess’s help, Max, Isabel and Michael discover the pod chamber where they were born. They realize their destiny has been predetermined when they view the book from Tess, which contains pairings of Michael with Isabel, and Max with Tess. They also realize they were engineered, and not born as they thought. Tess then reveals Nasedo is there to protect them from the alien hunter, Pierce, they now know is out there. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…There’s a huge carnival in this show! Are you crazy?”
THE WHITE ROOM
Max is interrogated and tortured by Agent Pierce, but is able to keep his true identity hidden. Agent Pierce shows Max the orb communicator he has had in his possession and demands to know where the other one is. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…Jonathan Frakes who directed the episode…he did a great job with it…”
DESTINY
After escaping from the FBI, Valenti orders the kids to meet him at an abandoned mill where they can regroup. Max and Liz are separated from the group, and Max tells Liz he has control over his own destiny no matter what any book says. The two then declare their love for each other. Read More »
Jason Katims Commentary
“…episodic television is like a MASH unit in a war…”