More on Roswell
Aug. 8th, 2005 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI am going to get to my BSG write-up later today. 2.4 was soooo good. And also need to go through flist. Go away for a weekend and everything explodes :)
OK, the Roswell thing is becoming an addiction, as I am already on Ep 11. I guess if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
But how can I resist? It’s like Bollywood only with teenagers and no songs. I am a sucker for all the angst.
I have to say, seeing that serious and very responsible guys are a thing of mine, Max is really developing into a big TV crush of mine. Especially when he not only thinks the burden of the world is on his shoulders but also has a mad pash-angst thing going on. He was written just for me! Plus, if he isn't mad at you when your actions can potentially result in his death, he is a keeper. And that whole tendency to blame self for everything? (the inverse side of control issues). Great because he will spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to you.
Well, actually, I prefer my SO’s not being wanted by the government for dissection, and my idea of a date is a bit more fun then trying to check out ancient runes, but hey, he looks like a good kisser so there are compensations I suppose.
It’s funny, because you know how a lot of girls go through the stage where they find bad boys attractive? Well, Liz is too goody-two-shoes to take up with a biker (or even someone like Michael), but this way she has solved this dilemma because she gets both a really upright and upstanding solid citizen (the only kind of boy she really could fall for), and the “wanted by the F.B.I. guy” for the bad boy part. Heee.
The funny thing is, if it wasn’t for the alien thing, Liz and Max would totally be the couple who’d date through high school and college, get married and have 2.5 kids and a nice house, be volunteers in the community and send their kids to Sunday school. And he’d take her away somewhere nice on their anniversary. But of course, there is the little problem of his coming from “up there somewhere” which puts the kibosh on the white picket fence. And ergo their pain, and ergo my entertainment. But as it is, I love all the melodrama: the whole “he says he has to stay away from her” thing which gets broken when he rushes to the hospital because her grandmother is sick and he is worried about her (awwww, and he comes up with an utterly lame excuse and there is staring and he gets beaten up), and the whole “he knows they will get hurt and he doesn’t care for himself because it would be worth it, but he doesn’t want to see her hurt” (uber awww, but my husband who was in the room was telling him to get more testosterone. This is NOT a show for guys). And their lovely first kiss on the terrace with all the lights and how he says if he stays one moment more he won’t be able to help himself and then there is kissing (and I squee) and he stops after a really short kiss to see if she is OK with it….Le sigh. I also liked (on the angsty level, duh) when he gets mad at her because he wants to see her and can’t and wrecks the school bathroom (I like it when he loses his temper which happened all of once, so far), and when he tells her their brief relationship is over (sigh). And their first date was completely adorable, what with the billiards, and the dinner and the dancing (I also love his not telling his sis and Michael it’s a date. Heee). Made me want to ruffle their hair and give them lumps of sugar. Basically, considering he can also heal you from bullet wounds and help you communicate with your dying grandmother, the ideal boyfriend. Except for the “wanted dead or alive” thing. :D
I do like Liz, too. She seems pretty persistent and straightforward about what she wants, and she is quiet and rather sure of herself (love that after their breakup, she asks him to pause and gives him a kiss “to remember”). But I guess it’s easy to be secure when someone allowed you inside literally and you can see what they feel about you. I don’t think Max would be up for the verbal sparring and the tug of war. He is pretty reserved, and he’d just withdraw. Basically, they are totally Harry/Ginny.
But I like that the more the show goes on, the less perfect Max is. Because Liz is right, he is controlling. That’s the corollary of being the responsible one, and I think because he is so scared of discovery, and because so much of his background is a mystery, he tries to keep control of what he has/knows as much as he can.
Well, if Max/Liz are the “soulmates” types, I have to say that Michael/Maria amuses me even more. They don’t have an ideal kiss on a candlelit terrace. It’s more of a spur of the moment smooch in the kitchen. They don’t have lovely speeches about “not being able to bear to hurt you,” as Michael is not much into verbal communication, is he?
Now I see why![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crumpeteer loves Michael. Because I do too. I started liking him when he came and returned Liz’s journal to her. And I LOLed when he tried to pick up that nurse in the hospital with great aplomb to cover up the theft of Max's blood. He is snarky and funny and has a complete Ron/Hermione snark at each other/make out dynamic with Maria. Kinda vulnerable, deep down, too, and more intelligent than he lets on (as his conversation with Maria in the motel shows). He’s also pretty emotionally unavailable unless you are Max or Isabel, but since I am not his girlfriend and he is a fictional character, I don’t mind.
I love the whole “he highjacks Maria’s car and they go to Texas” bit. And they actually have a conversation (!!!). But word to the wise: Maria is extraordinarily low maintenance. She doesn’t require “love me forever” type of commitment Liz would (probably because she comes from a screwed-up family. I love her Mom saying that Maria doesn’t tell her anything any more. I guess “making out in closets with aliens” is a hard to explain thing), she doesn’t even seem to require pretty speeches or being taken out on dates. She just wants a little something more than just necking in closets. And any girl that put up with getting her car (with her inside) taken, and ending up in a motel she labels “the porn version of Aladdin” and still likes you, is kinda a keeper. I think if you can’t keep Maria, you can’t keep anybody. So yeah, seems so far Michael is going to remain extraordinarily single :D
The funny thing is, and I think I like this ship because, when (e.g.) Maria says that she knows what they have isn’t true love, there is an undertone there that she would love to be convinced wrong. She is a hard-headed cynic by necessity and would like to believe is soulmates, star-crossed lovers, all that Liz/Max stuff for herself, but she doesn’t want to get her hopes up. And I think Michael has that same guarded thing going on. Sort of like you don’t expect good things to happen to you because then you won’t be disappointed. Because he clearly likes her but couldn’t express it if his life depended on it. (And you do see a hint of it when he talks to Max and says that he’s been worrying all week that what if he will hurt her just by being who he is, which is a very Max thing to think, but Michael being Michael would never even say that to Maria, but just draw back. Awwwww).
Favorite scene actually involves Michael and Maria because it’s so darn funny. They are necking in a closet, and it goes like this:
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: You know, you just drag me into the closet…
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: So?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: shouldn’t we at least exchange pleasantries?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: All right, how are you?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: Fine
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
ROFL.
But yeah, I love Maria, even to the extent of girl-crushing on her, because she is funny, and in a dramatic way unflappable, and very straightforward (also, her drama queen side has a lot of fun fighting with Michael who kinda likes being pushed).
I also like Isabel by now, she has been very humanized (e.g. in her desire to tell their adopted Mom), and Alex is cool, but I don’t have much interest in them, as there is no romantic angst or hotness factor there.
And the guidance councellor? Duh she is evil. She is played by Angel's Darla after all.
OK, the Roswell thing is becoming an addiction, as I am already on Ep 11. I guess if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
But how can I resist? It’s like Bollywood only with teenagers and no songs. I am a sucker for all the angst.
I have to say, seeing that serious and very responsible guys are a thing of mine, Max is really developing into a big TV crush of mine. Especially when he not only thinks the burden of the world is on his shoulders but also has a mad pash-angst thing going on. He was written just for me! Plus, if he isn't mad at you when your actions can potentially result in his death, he is a keeper. And that whole tendency to blame self for everything? (the inverse side of control issues). Great because he will spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to you.
Well, actually, I prefer my SO’s not being wanted by the government for dissection, and my idea of a date is a bit more fun then trying to check out ancient runes, but hey, he looks like a good kisser so there are compensations I suppose.
It’s funny, because you know how a lot of girls go through the stage where they find bad boys attractive? Well, Liz is too goody-two-shoes to take up with a biker (or even someone like Michael), but this way she has solved this dilemma because she gets both a really upright and upstanding solid citizen (the only kind of boy she really could fall for), and the “wanted by the F.B.I. guy” for the bad boy part. Heee.
The funny thing is, if it wasn’t for the alien thing, Liz and Max would totally be the couple who’d date through high school and college, get married and have 2.5 kids and a nice house, be volunteers in the community and send their kids to Sunday school. And he’d take her away somewhere nice on their anniversary. But of course, there is the little problem of his coming from “up there somewhere” which puts the kibosh on the white picket fence. And ergo their pain, and ergo my entertainment. But as it is, I love all the melodrama: the whole “he says he has to stay away from her” thing which gets broken when he rushes to the hospital because her grandmother is sick and he is worried about her (awwww, and he comes up with an utterly lame excuse and there is staring and he gets beaten up), and the whole “he knows they will get hurt and he doesn’t care for himself because it would be worth it, but he doesn’t want to see her hurt” (uber awww, but my husband who was in the room was telling him to get more testosterone. This is NOT a show for guys). And their lovely first kiss on the terrace with all the lights and how he says if he stays one moment more he won’t be able to help himself and then there is kissing (and I squee) and he stops after a really short kiss to see if she is OK with it….Le sigh. I also liked (on the angsty level, duh) when he gets mad at her because he wants to see her and can’t and wrecks the school bathroom (I like it when he loses his temper which happened all of once, so far), and when he tells her their brief relationship is over (sigh). And their first date was completely adorable, what with the billiards, and the dinner and the dancing (I also love his not telling his sis and Michael it’s a date. Heee). Made me want to ruffle their hair and give them lumps of sugar. Basically, considering he can also heal you from bullet wounds and help you communicate with your dying grandmother, the ideal boyfriend. Except for the “wanted dead or alive” thing. :D
I do like Liz, too. She seems pretty persistent and straightforward about what she wants, and she is quiet and rather sure of herself (love that after their breakup, she asks him to pause and gives him a kiss “to remember”). But I guess it’s easy to be secure when someone allowed you inside literally and you can see what they feel about you. I don’t think Max would be up for the verbal sparring and the tug of war. He is pretty reserved, and he’d just withdraw. Basically, they are totally Harry/Ginny.
But I like that the more the show goes on, the less perfect Max is. Because Liz is right, he is controlling. That’s the corollary of being the responsible one, and I think because he is so scared of discovery, and because so much of his background is a mystery, he tries to keep control of what he has/knows as much as he can.
Well, if Max/Liz are the “soulmates” types, I have to say that Michael/Maria amuses me even more. They don’t have an ideal kiss on a candlelit terrace. It’s more of a spur of the moment smooch in the kitchen. They don’t have lovely speeches about “not being able to bear to hurt you,” as Michael is not much into verbal communication, is he?
Now I see why
crumpeteer loves Michael. Because I do too. I started liking him when he came and returned Liz’s journal to her. And I LOLed when he tried to pick up that nurse in the hospital with great aplomb to cover up the theft of Max's blood. He is snarky and funny and has a complete Ron/Hermione snark at each other/make out dynamic with Maria. Kinda vulnerable, deep down, too, and more intelligent than he lets on (as his conversation with Maria in the motel shows). He’s also pretty emotionally unavailable unless you are Max or Isabel, but since I am not his girlfriend and he is a fictional character, I don’t mind.I love the whole “he highjacks Maria’s car and they go to Texas” bit. And they actually have a conversation (!!!). But word to the wise: Maria is extraordinarily low maintenance. She doesn’t require “love me forever” type of commitment Liz would (probably because she comes from a screwed-up family. I love her Mom saying that Maria doesn’t tell her anything any more. I guess “making out in closets with aliens” is a hard to explain thing), she doesn’t even seem to require pretty speeches or being taken out on dates. She just wants a little something more than just necking in closets. And any girl that put up with getting her car (with her inside) taken, and ending up in a motel she labels “the porn version of Aladdin” and still likes you, is kinda a keeper. I think if you can’t keep Maria, you can’t keep anybody. So yeah, seems so far Michael is going to remain extraordinarily single :D
The funny thing is, and I think I like this ship because, when (e.g.) Maria says that she knows what they have isn’t true love, there is an undertone there that she would love to be convinced wrong. She is a hard-headed cynic by necessity and would like to believe is soulmates, star-crossed lovers, all that Liz/Max stuff for herself, but she doesn’t want to get her hopes up. And I think Michael has that same guarded thing going on. Sort of like you don’t expect good things to happen to you because then you won’t be disappointed. Because he clearly likes her but couldn’t express it if his life depended on it. (And you do see a hint of it when he talks to Max and says that he’s been worrying all week that what if he will hurt her just by being who he is, which is a very Max thing to think, but Michael being Michael would never even say that to Maria, but just draw back. Awwwww).
Favorite scene actually involves Michael and Maria because it’s so darn funny. They are necking in a closet, and it goes like this:
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: You know, you just drag me into the closet…
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: So?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: shouldn’t we at least exchange pleasantries?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: All right, how are you?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: Fine
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
ROFL.
But yeah, I love Maria, even to the extent of girl-crushing on her, because she is funny, and in a dramatic way unflappable, and very straightforward (also, her drama queen side has a lot of fun fighting with Michael who kinda likes being pushed).
I also like Isabel by now, she has been very humanized (e.g. in her desire to tell their adopted Mom), and Alex is cool, but I don’t have much interest in them, as there is no romantic angst or hotness factor there.
And the guidance councellor? Duh she is evil. She is played by Angel's Darla after all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:28 pm (UTC)Michael: Why are you so afraid to be alien?
Max: Why are you so afraid to be human?
That really is part of Michael's issues. His powers he considers the bad powers. He hurts people, Max fixes them. That wears on Michael, or he wouldn't bring it up. He's the monster of the group in his mind, therefore no one should get close to him because he's more than capable of killing them. And when Maria breaks up with him, boy goes to pieces in his own way. Always felt for Michael.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:35 pm (UTC)I think the precise moment I fell utterly for Michael was when he and Maria were stuck in her car that stopped working and she said (paraphrasing): "do your alien thing and fix it" and he reluctantly responded that he just isn't very good at it, and then tried and got her engine fried. Because you know, if it was Max, he'd probably fix it, and it's got to be so bad for the ego (insert "awwww" there).
Max is articulate and open enough to get help or sympathy or whatever.
Max has his own issues (a bucketful of them), because he does so badly want to be human and fit in (though it never works, when he takes Liz on a normal drive they end up in a car crash), but if he feels something, he can express it. I don't think Michael can. Maybe it's because Max has a sister and a stable loving family. Michael? Doesn't seem that way.
I do think Michael needs someone like Maria for a g/f, because she is both insanely pragmatic and also pushy. He said to Liz at one point that she is yet another reason for him to envy Max, but someone like she wouldn't do for him at all (and I love the whole "another" reason. There appears to be a bucketful).
The last ep I watched he was telling Maria he didn't want to be with her because it made him feel human. I think he doesn't want emotions because emotions=hurt, but the problem is a part of him would like to make a connection.
Actually (unrelated) I wonder? How do they know Isabel is Max's sister. They all came out of pods, after all...
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:46 pm (UTC)Suppose you haven't gotten to the part where Michael's powers are really defined have you. His issues with Max having the healing powers or at least envy of those powers, is sort of understandable.
The thing with Michael/ Maria is that Maria gives him second chances, which Michael desperately needs. He can screw up and have a little leeway with Maria. Any other girl wouldn't let him be the jerk he can be sometimes without getting hurt or leaving him. Sometimes I dont' think he knows how to act other than a jerk. He doesn't know how to express himself so it bottles up (with some rather amusing results later on).
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 07:07 pm (UTC)Suppose you haven't gotten to the part where Michael's powers are really defined have you
Nope. But hope it's angstful :D
Michael hasn't been shown that humans are all that great either
True. One of the eps I watched already had Max Michael and Isabel discuss what to tell Max & Isabel's Mom and Michael had this hard-line "adults can't be trusted" thing going on. And if you think about it, he seems to spend half his nights camping out on the floor of Max's bedroom and his "father" doesn't seem to care one way or another (or even notice).
He was talking to Maria about wanting to find out info about alien stuff because whatever it is, it has to be better than Roswell. And I think that plays into that. Max and Isabel have a nice home life and Isabel, at least, appears to have a number of girl friends (poor Max seems to be a loner, though). They have something nice in Roswell. Michael doesn't.
The thing with Michael/ Maria is that Maria gives him second chances, which Michael desperately needs.
And quadruple and quintuple chances :) The thing about Maria that is atypical for a lot of girls (and Liz has it as well), is that if she has a problem she will say what it is and what you can do to correct it. Which is actually much better than wanting the guy to read your mind or hold grudges or what. Maria doesn't seem to demand Michael be anybody else, which must be quite nice.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 07:41 pm (UTC)Michael: No, I'm not safe. All right, I mean, I can do these things that I can't control. Look at what I did to Pierce. I'm not going to take that chance with you. I don't want you to be around for what's going to happen.
Maria: Wait. Don't do this to me Michael, please. You need me now, more than you have before, alright?
Michael: No, I don't need anyone.
Maria: Well, maybe I do. Did you ever think of that? I mean, look at Max and Liz. They can't bear to be separated. But you, you can just throw me away. Just like that. Why is that, Michael? Why?
Michael: Maybe because I love you too much. Goodbye.
GUH.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 07:50 pm (UTC)Which makes him a cool fictional character, though hell to live with in RL.
Of course, pushing someone away for their own protection does create a problem. One is, they will stay pushed and you will end up dreadfully alone, and another is, what if they don't want to be protected? You are really doing it more for your own piece of mind than their safety (OK, now I am having Harry and Ginny break up flashbacks).
And that little bit of dialogue? Guuuh. *Slavers at the thought of more eps*
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 07:54 pm (UTC)*is geeky but happy*
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 08:01 pm (UTC)Michael's only people he cared about were the fellow freaks. He had no loving parents or hidden love for a human girl or any of that baggage.
he pulls a Harry Potter by trying to keep her safe by cutting her out
If anyone did that to me, I'd be torn between "awwww" of "he loves me so much and is so caring" and the strong desire to hit him with something exceedingly hard because it's not his choice.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 08:15 pm (UTC)And Michael can be startlingly if awkwardly romantic at times. I always liked he and Maria's more realistic relationship to Liz and Max's idealized one.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 08:32 pm (UTC)Exactly. Because no matter the kind of disclaimer she gives, if she is hurt, she is hurt and the fact that she took the risk earlier won't make it OK.
I always liked he and Maria's more realistic relationship to Liz and Max's idealized one.
I think when you are 16, a lot of girls dream of the Max/Liz thing, not Michael/Maria. I like them both (and husband is certainly more of a Max than Michael), but realistically, at that age, even if you truly love each other, you are going to end up in a Michael/Maria one, with the awkwardness, and the necking rather than the speeches.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 08:55 pm (UTC)Guuh, you always put it so well. Of course, Michael is smarter and/or more self-aware than Anakin if he is trying to do damage control ahead of time. Much better than just assuming everything will be hunky dory and ending up having hell to pay.
But it sucks to be the woman involved in either case.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-08 09:21 pm (UTC)And I think that's the crucial difference. Anakin has no one to hold the leash on him. He won't allow anyone. Michael, however annoyed he might get at Max's caution, or level-headedness, or better life, knows that it's better to leave decision making of crucial nature to Max.
Michael, unlike Anakin, doesn't seem to be arrogant. Maybe because Anakin has known he is the "Chosen One," the only one, from childhood, while Michael isn't the prophesied messiah, but one of three aliens, with a miserable home life to boot.
he's destructive and he's selfish and he's emotionally stunted
To be fair, to be emotionally stunted at 16 isn't a horrible crime (or even all that unusual). And allowing your selfishness to fade enough to try to take care of the few people you do love is quite a good thing.