Roswell, NM – #103 Tearin’ Up My Heart Review by Leonard
Written by Leonard
Liz monologues about the scientific method while looking at Rosa’s autopsy pictures. She wants to remove her feelings about Max to determine if Max is involved in Rosa’s death. She lists her observations, prediction and hypothesis that Max killed Rosa.
And then we see Liz arrive at Max’s home. She has an EKG machine with her and tells Max to relax because she left her scalpel at home. Max says he remembers what she did to that frog freshman year. She tells Max he doesn’t have to be scared of her, he tells her it’s not racing because he’s scared of her.
Kyle is out jogging and meets up with Manes. Manes says he provided him the information about Rosa’s death so now he wants something in return. Kyle wonders why he any of his 4 war hero sons can be his alien hunting buddy. Manes said that it isn’t for the faint of heart and Kyle asks if he’s saying that Alex is because Roswell threw him a parade when he came home from Iraq. Manes tells Kyle he can participate in Project Shepherd because it is his legacy or he fears what the government can do to him and his friends, and walks away. Kyle tells him he won’t tell him where he saw the handprint. Manes tells him he doesn’t want that, he needs access to Kyle’s father’s research material, that’s why he didn’t bring his sons in and he needed a Valenti.
Liz looking at Max’s cells on the microscope and asks about the nail polish remover if it heals him. Max says no but it kills pain. She asks when did he realize he was different what are full extent of his capabilities. Max says he knows he’s being interrogated. Liz tells him she’s just established his heart’s baseline so now she needs to see how emotions trigger. Max asks if she can stop the light show that happens when he feels strong emotion. She says maybe if she knew more. She asks what Michael and Isobel’s powers are and if they leave handprints. Max doesn’t want to talk about them because they don’t know she’s testing him. She asks if they are all capable of electrostatic discharge. Max says maybe but they don’t know how it works. The EKG is beeping louder. She tells Max there are plants that use electricity as a defense mechanism or weapon. The EKG machine is beeping even louder now. She grabs Max’s hand asks if he can heal with electricity can he also harm. The EKG machine beeps even louder and explodes. Max asks if Liz is ok, Liz has lightning fractals on her arm like Rosa did in her autopsy. Max asks to see but Liz asks him not to touch him. Suddenly Isobel arrives and gives them both a look.
Liz has left and Isobel begins chewing Max out as she has the Air Force in town for the veterans fundraiser. Max tells her Liz already knows about them so what’s the harm, he trusts her. Isobel tells Max that Liz and Kyle hooked up at Wild Pony and that the handprint was still on her chest. Max tells Isobel she’s jealous that someone know him and that her marriage is built on a lie. Isobel tells Max that Liz is using his feelings for her to gather data on them and that it’s pathetic.
At the Crashdown in Rosa’s room, Kyle is bandaging up Liz. Liz asks Kyle not to tell anyone, but Kyle is still worried pointing out the blown up EKG machine and suggests turning Max in. He mentions that he never liked him too. Liz says she had to provoke Max for the EKG to happen so what did Rosa do. She looks at Rosa’s book shelf saying that Rosa hid things all the time. (I like that they snuck in a copy of Twilight and Eclipse on the shelf as I’ve always viewed Twilight as Roswell on steroids with a studio actually behind them. They also had Vampire Diaries on there as of course a lot of the cast is from that show or its spinoff.)
Liz pulls out the copy of Pride and Prejudice with a heart on the spine. She opens it and finds it hollowed out and an old joint in it. Liz says murder investigations need clues. Kyle says she does have one but she’s ignoring it because it’s tall. Liz says she needs a motive too.
Michael and Alex wake up in bed together. Isobel honks her horn screaming she has bagels. Alex gets up and tries to leave, Michael tells him to relax it’s just Isobel. Alex asks if she knows about them, replies would it be so bad if she did, Alex says yes. Michael goes outside. His trailer is now parked outside Sander’s Auto. Isobel asks if Michael got his old job back. Michael says he did because no one can fix a car as fast as he can. Isobel tells Michael what just happened with Max and Liz. Isobel says she has a plan of how to get Liz away from Max.
At the Wild Pony, Maria is working as Liz arrives. She asks Maria if she could help with Rosa’s secrets, things she only told her. Maria tells her to look behind the “No Hunting” sign. Liz goes up to the wall and finds a heart there, and pulls out a CD from behind the lighted sign.
Liz thinks the song titles are clues. Track 1 being “Here in Your Bedroom” and track 2 being “Pony”. It’s a treasure map to all of Rosa’s hiding places. Liz convinces Maria to come with her to Track 3 which is “Under the Bridge”.
Max starts hitting his computer monitor when it freezes. Cameron arrives and drops a 1st edition copy of “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman on his desk. Max asks Cameron to the drive in on an actual date.
Kyle is in his Mom’s office and asks about the letters his dad sent while in the hospice. The Sheriff turns around looking at his badge on the wall explaining how cancer changed him while Kyle steals a portion of her keys.
Liz and Maria are now under a bridge while Maria is explaining her relationship with Rosa. Liz spots a heart and starts looking for a loose rock. When she finds the loose rock, she finds a lunch box behind it. Inside she finds a pair of spray paint cans and a note “Dear Rosa, you will never be alone. Ophiuchus”. Maria tells Liz that Ophiucus is the 13th sign of the zodiac, tying it in to “a fraudulent zodiac”. Liz asks if Rosa was seeing anyone. Maria said she didn’t mention anyone but recalls sleeping at their house that week and noticed Rosa sneaking out and “took extra care of the eyeliner”. Track 4 is “Small Town Saturday Night” so Liz guesses the drive in.
Michael fixes the projector and asks Isobel when she will mindwarp Liz. Isobel says she will know when the time is right. Michael asks why she’s ready to do it now while at the reunion she was hesitant. Michael tells her she is afraid that Max will love Liz more than he loves her. Noah arrives surprised to see Michael at a town event, but Michael leaves. Noah asks Isobel just to be present.
Alex catches Michael as he’s leaving and offers to split a 6-pack if he can watch from his truck. Back at the Sheriff’s office, Kyle unlocks a drawer and finds the drawings his father mailed to them in his final days. He pulls out his phone and takes pictures of them. As he leaves the back door, Max confronts him and asks what he was doing in the file room. Max says he could have him arrested. Kyle asks if this overreaction is about Liz. Kyle tells Max about the Wild Pony and the electrical wires above Max start sparking. Kyle dares Max to hit him when Cameron arrives, ending the showdown. Max and Cameron leave for the drive in.
At the drive in, Manes bumps into a kid with a laser gun. The kid shoots him with it and he pretends to be hurt. Alex sees this. Alex asks his dad if he embarrasses him. Manes tells him he is a decorated soldier while Michael is arrested weekly for gambling and bar fighting and the only one who’s embarrassing is himself. Isobel climbs on stage and thanks the patrons for doubling last year’s donations to the V.A. She asks Manes on stage. As Manes talks onstage, Isobel spots Liz and Maria. Liz tells Maria she wants to spy on Max and Cameron. After Maria leaves to get them food, Isobel begins to mindwarp Liz. In the mindwarp, Isobel asks Liz to do something, Liz turns around and becomes Rosa. Rosa asks Isobel why she is doing this, she thought they were friends. Isobel concentrates more and Rosa turns back to Liz. She tells Liz it’s time to leave Roswell and not to come back. Liz turns back to Rosa and says she wishes it could always be like this. It turns back to Liz who says she can’t leave because of Max. Isobel releases the mindwarp and looks ill.
Maria comes back and snaps Liz out of her frozen state and tells Liz she doesn’t think this is Rosa’s idea of small town Saturday night but knows what is. Isobel is in the back puking, Michael arrives and hands her a bottle of nail polish remover. Isobel tells Michael he couldn’t mindwarp her because she thinks Liz and Max are … Max interrupts. Michael leaves. Max tells Isobel he’s going to give him and Cameron a shot.
Liz and Maria are searching up on the roof of the Crashdown. Maria tells Liz to enjoy a small town Saturday night in Rosa’s shoes and offers her a joint.
Alex sees Michael receive cash for a roll of wire on his truck. Back to Liz and Maria are talking on the roof of the Crashdown smoking the joint. Maria mentions she dated a guy named Chad and Liz mentions she left her fiancé Diego in Denver 3 weeks ago. Liz asks Maria what she and Rosa would do on the roof. They smoked, drank, looked at the stars and the first to spot Pisces could dare the other to do something stupid. Maria points Pisces out, Liz tells her that it looked like an arrow, which is what Rosa said too. Liz notices the arrow points to a junction box. She opens it and finds a love letter. Max and Cameron are making out in the car when Liz interrupts and demands to talk to him. Max goes over to Liz and she says he was sleeping with Rosa and hands him the love letter. Kyle is at the drive in leaving Liz a message when he’s stopped by his mom and demands the keys he stole. Kyle says he was trying to find Max’s file to get dirt on him. Sheriff Valenti asks if it’s about Liz, smirks and says he doesn’t like her family because her parents struggled to enter the country legally while her family gives them a bad name. She tells him his dad almost lost the election that year because Manes supported someone else. Liz reads the letter out loud
Max tells Liz he wrote that letter to her not Rosa. She tells Max straight up that she knows he lied about the last time he saw Rosa, she knows Rosa was murdered by an alien and asks if he killed her.
Alex confronts Michael about the wire transaction he saw earlier. Max explains that he wrote the letter and left it on Liz’s car when a drunk and high Rosa told him to stay away from Liz. Max says he has loved her his entire life, he didn’t kill Rosa and to leave the past in the past. Isobel arrives home and finds Noah has prepared a full romantic setup for her. He asks her not to worry so much about Max and to focus more on them. Liz and Maria are drinking at Wild Pony and Liz tells Maria that Max told her he loves her and that Rosa tried to keep Max away from her. Kyle shows up at Project Shepherd. He refuses to tell Manes about Max but gives to Manes the letters and drawings his father made before he died and says they’re square. Manes then voice overs the flaw of “innocent until proven guilty” and what neighbors say when a terrorist is caught as Max tries to call Isobel but she’s enjoying her time with Noah, and Michael who doesn’t pick up. Max goes outside, screams and pounds the ground. His lights go out and eventually all of Roswell loses power.
This episode was all over the place. At this point, I’m only truly intrigued by the “what really happened to Rosa storyline.” Once that is finally revealed, probably at the finale, I don’t think I will have any connection left with this show. I remember seeing just a little bit of me in each of the 8 main characters of the original show. All the characters here don’t seem to have a real relatable soul for me. Ultimately that is the problem of this show. Maybe that fixes itself at some point but I don’t see that happening. Not with this writing team and not with this cast of characters.