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Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Give Me One Reason

Critic's Rating: 4.3 / 5.0
4.3

Talk about information overload.

In Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2, we learned more about the alien's origins and history than the rest of the series combined. But all this information came from the ever mysterious Jones, whose intentions are still not entirely known.

Is he telling the truth? Michael and Isobel are trying to figure that out, and we're just trying to keep up!

On Duty Max - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

The Oasis is beautiful.

The alien's home planet is a glorious configuration of colors, and the little glimpses we get outside of the caves lend themselves to a beautiful world. But it's a world that the dictator took over, forcing many people to flee.

A few of those people were Nora and Louise, who, as Jones tells it, weren't nearly the innocent mothers we were led to believe they were in Roswell, New Mexico Season 2.

Nora and Louise were set up from the start to be martyrs of some kind, and there was really no reason to ever question that. But Jones's tale sounds more like two women fighting against the machine and putting their self-interests above anyone else's.

They were the ones to create Max from Jones, though it's unclear what their intentions were for him.

Kyle Helps - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

Have him tell it, Jones was a victim of the dictator, a kid forced into a brutal life of doing someone else's bidding. But what about Max?

'Protect the child' takes on a much greater meaning when you consider the scenario of Max being a clone of a man who was a precious asset to the dictator.

And speaking of the dictator, his Jesus-like description sounded terrifying. This was a man that was walking through fire and conquering an entire planet. And even with resistance, he wasn't able to be felled.

Of all the home planet information we collected, learning about the dictator was the one thing I wished we got more of. But it appears there will be plenty of time to confront that now that we know Michael is his heir.

Checking In - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

Poor Michael can never catch a break. His whole life, he feels unwanted, unloved, and out of place on Earth. Then he discovers he was wanted and loved by his mother, but now the pretty picture he had in his head of Nora is tainted by the knowledge that she was far from perfect.

And now he finds out he's the product of a woman who created Max like a sheep in a lab and a man who may or may not be immortal and sounds like an overall nightmare.

Maria [to Michael]: Your abilities are the only ones that don’t have limits. You really never noticed that?

🔗 permalink: Your abilities are the only ones that don’t have limits. You really never noticed that?

It was nice to have soft, fix his hair in the window Michael for a little while, but there is no way this news doesn't send him spiraling. Realizing you can walk through fire unscathed will do that to a person.

Is he immortal like his father? And will this increase that feeling of pulling home he's always had?

It makes such sense when you think about Michael and how much he's always wanted to go back to the home planet that his father would be the literal ruler of the land. And the fact that his powers never leave him sick or in pain should have been a dead giveaway ages ago that he wasn't like Max and Isobel.

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Michael is going to need to lean on someone as he works through this newfound knowledge, and it would be nice if it were Max, but for whatever reason, he's still not telling Max that he and Isobel freed Jones and have him holed up in a cage.

If they're afraid Max will be upset because he doesn't want to be saved, it's too late for all that. Lying to him isn't going to make the inevitable reveal any easier.

And considering there's no timetable on his health, it would be pretty terrible for him to die, having never gotten to ask any of the questions he has about he and Jones shared history.

It remains to be seen whether or not Jones is lying because the man is good at what he does. He knows how to weave a tale, and he knows how to make you feel comfortable. There's nothing inherently threatening about him from the outset, and it's no wonder that Isobel while pretending to play his game, lets his words affect her.

But even saying all that, you'd be foolish to believe the man wholeheartedly.

Worried Kyle - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

Either way, this story just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

Elsewhere in Roswell, Maria was reeling from the attack at the bar and her latest vision. And to know Maria is to know that she was never going to be content to put her bracelet back on and just pretend that she didn't know a murder was going to take place in the future.

Maria will take action and damn anyone or anything that gets in her way.

Poor Kyle can try all he wants to stop her from hurting herself, but it's an effort in futility. And he eventually realizes that helping her and lending his expertise is better than having Maria go off and do something dangerous on her own.

There's not much more information about the vision revealed here, so there's no point in throwing out too many more guesses until we can see a bit more of the vision and the players involved.

Dazed Maria - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

I've seen many people playing with the idea that Maria is the one in danger, seeing as Alex seems to be looking past her when he speaks. Or someone innocuous to the group, like Wyatt Long, and the Isobel tears are just an elaborate ruse.

Who knows at this point, but we've got plenty of time to overthink this, people!

Speaking of Wyatt Long, what the hell is going on with this Rosa and Wyatt story?

Kyle: Long, you need to do the things you used to do. Spend time with the people you know.

Wyatt: I thought I knew her. She brought me here.

Kyle: Your friends aren’t hard to find. Just look for any dick waving a Confederate flag.

🔗 permalink: Your friends aren’t hard to find. Just look for any dick waving a Confederate flag.

Not a single soul was looking for a Wyatt redemption arc. And yes, I know that Wyatt lost his memories, so it's not as if he just woke up on his own one day and decided to be a better person. But still.

He's mild-mannered and awkward and almost shy around Rosa, and what are we supposed to do with that?

Iced Up - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

There's some excellent material to mine with Rosa and her fear about getting things right now that she has this second chance at life, but it's going to be wildly unsatisfying if she's saddled with amnesiac Wyatt Long on this new journey.

It's crazy that after the events of Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 1, this next hour seemingly takes place one day later.

So that means Forrest Long left town, Alex went to sleep, woke up the next day for some coffee at the Crashdown, and was in Deep Sky by night.

Life comes at you fast.

The escape room-like initiation into the mysterious organization was a bit over the top, but we got to see Captain Alex Manes in action, which is never a bad thing. He's incredibly smart and tactical, and both were on full display as he put everything together and figured out he was being tested.

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Eduardo Ramos makes a great first impression and seems like the complete opposite of a man that would lead a covert paramilitary organization.

We still don't know nearly anything about Deep Sky beyond their knack for rings and sleek office quarters in the middle of nowhere. But Alex is now in for better or worse, and all signs are pointing to worse becoming a reality sooner than later.

It's wild to go through this whole installment and realize that Liz's story is an afterthought, but that's exactly what happens. The Heath hookup aftermath is swept under the rug for another day, and all their interactions are about the push to get Liz back to Roswell.

And Liz needed to go home. The LA scenes are fine on the surface, but there's just a massive disconnect right now with the Roswell happenings and the lab scenes. Getting her back to Roswell will fix that immediately.

Liz At Work - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

And it's fitting to have things end with Liz and Max coming face to face after a year apart under the lights of the Crashdown. These two have a boatload of work to do in the way they communicate, but just their looks at each other alone show how much love is still there, just brimming under the surface.

Show us the love, Roswell! It's been a rough year.

Loose Ends

  • How convenient of Michael to also be heading to the Crashdown right when Maria threw herself off the roof!
  • There is no way we don't see Heath again, but if Liz is presumably back in Roswell for good, what reason would Heath have to tag along? There's something there with him, I can feel it, but I don't know what it is yet.
Heath At Work - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)
  • Kyle is always the MVP when he's around, but give him more to do than be the bearer of solid life advice.
  • In a blink and you'll miss it scene, Michelle lost the election and is leaving town but not before bestowing Kyle with a decades-old radio that is 1000% going to be an important plot point later.
  • Anatsa is lovely, and now that we know she's a reporter in town looking to investigate racism in the police department, I'm very intrigued to see how her relationship with Max evolves. And good on Roswell for tapping into yet another real-life societal issue. Now let's see how they address it.

So, approximately how many rewatches until you get everything straight? Feel free to use the comment section as a sounding board as we try to get things in order!

Maria Listens - Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 Episode 2
(John Golden Britt/The CW)

Why haven't the aliens told anyone about Jones?

Is Maria right to seek more answers about her visions?

Do you believe Jones's story?

What's next for Michael know that he knows he has greater powers than her ever imagined?

Let me know what you're thinking and remember you can watch Roswell, New Mexico online anytime via TV Fanatic!

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