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dangermousieOK, so far the second season of Roswell is making the first one seem like a light comedy, angst-wise.
I was bawling last night.
The thing is Liz tries so hard to stay detached and not to respond to Max, because she believes it won't happen and she can save both of them further grief, but you can tell she still loves him and wants him, and is still deadly jealous of Tess (because she hasn't really given up on him. Her common sense and her heart are at odds).
And it's just so hard for her, especially when Max is there, desperately trying to woo her back, and being serious and sweet and never giving up. (I love the image one of her throw-away sentences conjures, of Max coming up to her balcony and trying to convince her to get back together). And then of course she goes to the psychic at Maria's insistence and psychic tells her that the boy is true love and they will be "intimate" and get married and it's forever etc etc etc. And it breaks your heart to see her just bloom. No scene in the show reminded me of Romeo & Juliet more than when she is at home, at her mirror, trying on a lacy white veil-like thing and saying to herself "I, Liz Parker take Max Evans."
But then of course (because Roswell people like to break my heart for fun), FutureMax comes in and she finds out that if Max and Liz get together, as they are going to do, soon, the world ends in about 14 years when the "evil" aliens take over everything and kill everybody because Tess leaves town and without all 4 of them, they are weaker and can't defend as well.
And then, when he proves to her that he really is Future Max, he asks her to make Max fall out of love. And, in such a twisted way, it's showing his love for her, because he says he didn't go to Tess because Liz is the one he loves and trusts. Argh!
And then there is Max. Who, I was not surprised, starts the season in a psychologist's ofice, looking damn near catatonically depressed. He is constantly at odds with Michael (who is freaking out about their potential enemies etc etc), he has to be a leader when he doesn't know how and doesn't want to be. The weight of the world is on his shoulders and everyone is pushing him in various directions. And he is dying for Liz. He's apparently been talking to Maria about Liz all summer, and when he bumps into her on the street at the Premiere, and it turns out she's been in town for a bit but didn't tell him, you can just feel the pain. Just the way he stares at her. And he tries and tries and tries repeatedly, but it's like a stone wall. And then of course he just tells her that "This isn't about Tess. It's about you and me. You think I'm gonna forget about you or get over it or something, but...but I'm not. I don't...I don't care about my destiny or my planet or anything else. All I care about is you. So just know this...I'm coming for you, Liz." And I just die.
And then we get to "The End of the World" aka Future Max tells Liz to break Max's heart and Dangermousie is bawling in the process.
I love the bit at the beginning where Max is wooing her with a mariachi band. Because it's both inutterably corny and yet utterly adorably cute (and when he throws her a bouquet of roses and changes it from red to white in midair). And the fact that he is trying to sing too, even though he doesn't have much of voice or the fact that he has this hopeful, puppyish look on his face that just makes you want to hug him...guuuuh.
And then of course, Liz tries to set him up with Tess and Max sees and comes in and kisses her instead and you can tell he is so patient and is trying so hard. Argh.
So then, in a scene that made me cry like a 10 year old, Liz goes to his house, and that scene just kills me. Because when she climbs in, he is so excited, because he thinks it means something else, and I love how she asks him to put on a shirt and doesn't want to touch him because she is that near cracking. And then she gives her speech about how R&J is the tragedy of R&J and she doesn't want to end up dead, and Max's life is always dangerous but hers doesn't have to be and she wants children and old age and then she says (and the look on his face kills me), "I love you, but I don't want to die for you" and leaves and the next thing you see is her crying her heart out on her balcony because she would gladly die for him and he is the love of her life and she hurt him and....*weeps*
But even that is not enough. I love the scene where Max is talking to Maria and he says that despite it all he can't give her up, and basically is willing to take her on any terms and my heart just breaks for them more and more because the next thing she does is...pretend to have sex with Kyle where Max can catch them (and it's a surefire plan, because Future Max is completely jealous of Kyle, even all these years later). And then Max sees them and something in him just dies. The last scene, where he is sitting on the bench, with just no energy to do anything and Tess sits next to him and he doesn't want to talk or not talk or anything, but is just profoundly defeated and if his strings have been cut...whoa.
And of course, it is intercut with Liz and Future Max on the balcony and she asks him for her wedding dance. And she tells Future Max (even though she now knows she will never have him and Max probably hates her) that he is the love of her life and everyone else with allways be second best.
Nothing in this whole freaking episode (even remembering is making me sniffle again) made me cry as much as Future Max's description of their wedding, early in the ep, the one they had before Liz changed the past. Because they eloped when they were 19 and they went to some dive with Michael and Maria and Alex and Isabel and danced all night and you can just sense how happy and in love and wonderful it all was and how beautful and how it will never be. And Future Max and Future Liz, who loved each other and were with each other for years will dissapear and never exist and none of this will ever happen (and I love that Future Liz tells Future Max that she had no regrets before he goes into the past even though it will mean none of them will ever exist if he succeeds) and...bawl. I am seriously, sitting here at the computer, crying like an idiot. I went to bed and kept hugging and hugging my husband as if he might dissapear any moment.
OK. On to other aspects of the show. Isabel has slipped from "indifferent" to "annoying." That whole ep that centered on her? Whatever.
Michael and Maria have their issues too, though they don't break my heart the way Max and Liz do. Maria is waiting for Michael to snap out of his fit of nobility. I love that now that she knows he loves her and is just trying to protect her, she will persevere until she gets him back, and of course, he still wants her. I love their little exchange:
MARIA: I miss you, Michael.
MICHAEL: I know, but don't.
Michael has plenty of issues of his own. He is freaking out about enemies who are going to stalk them and he doesn't know what to do (though he takes over effectively one time Max is freaking outfrom Nasedo's death), and the fact that he killed a man is just easting at him. I love his conversation with Valenti in the jail that maybe he does deserve to be there because he killed a man and Valenti tells him that Pierce killed dozens and Michael says he tells himself that but it doesn't help. And he tries to pull away from everyone, but after that ep with the veteran who, it turns out, saved the alien pods, he decides to open up a bit. He is capable of exceptionally gracious gestures. When the old soldier says that none of what he tried to do meant a damn, Michael quietly shows him his powers and says "You saved me." Wow. And he apologizes to Maria and everything seems to be on track but then she sees him sucking face with Courtney (one way to investigate) and just to see her sobbing is..the end. And then she just gives up and this thing makes me utterly sad.
And forget sad, Liz/Max are curretly tearing my heart out in small bleeding pieces. It's a good thing I know how it all ends because even with that, it's waaaay too painful.
On a frivolous note, Max should have aliens die in his bedroom more often. The resulting freak-out will enable him t forget to put a shirt on and make Dangermousie happy; and I love when he runs to the Crashdown, severely distraught, even though Liz and he aren't together, and this is even before the psychic he just focuses on her and she on him and tries to take care of him (and then Tess intrudes and heals him). OK, we are back to Liz/Max and I am off to cry some more.
I was bawling last night.
The thing is Liz tries so hard to stay detached and not to respond to Max, because she believes it won't happen and she can save both of them further grief, but you can tell she still loves him and wants him, and is still deadly jealous of Tess (because she hasn't really given up on him. Her common sense and her heart are at odds).
And it's just so hard for her, especially when Max is there, desperately trying to woo her back, and being serious and sweet and never giving up. (I love the image one of her throw-away sentences conjures, of Max coming up to her balcony and trying to convince her to get back together). And then of course she goes to the psychic at Maria's insistence and psychic tells her that the boy is true love and they will be "intimate" and get married and it's forever etc etc etc. And it breaks your heart to see her just bloom. No scene in the show reminded me of Romeo & Juliet more than when she is at home, at her mirror, trying on a lacy white veil-like thing and saying to herself "I, Liz Parker take Max Evans."
But then of course (because Roswell people like to break my heart for fun), FutureMax comes in and she finds out that if Max and Liz get together, as they are going to do, soon, the world ends in about 14 years when the "evil" aliens take over everything and kill everybody because Tess leaves town and without all 4 of them, they are weaker and can't defend as well.
And then, when he proves to her that he really is Future Max, he asks her to make Max fall out of love. And, in such a twisted way, it's showing his love for her, because he says he didn't go to Tess because Liz is the one he loves and trusts. Argh!
And then there is Max. Who, I was not surprised, starts the season in a psychologist's ofice, looking damn near catatonically depressed. He is constantly at odds with Michael (who is freaking out about their potential enemies etc etc), he has to be a leader when he doesn't know how and doesn't want to be. The weight of the world is on his shoulders and everyone is pushing him in various directions. And he is dying for Liz. He's apparently been talking to Maria about Liz all summer, and when he bumps into her on the street at the Premiere, and it turns out she's been in town for a bit but didn't tell him, you can just feel the pain. Just the way he stares at her. And he tries and tries and tries repeatedly, but it's like a stone wall. And then of course he just tells her that "This isn't about Tess. It's about you and me. You think I'm gonna forget about you or get over it or something, but...but I'm not. I don't...I don't care about my destiny or my planet or anything else. All I care about is you. So just know this...I'm coming for you, Liz." And I just die.
And then we get to "The End of the World" aka Future Max tells Liz to break Max's heart and Dangermousie is bawling in the process.
I love the bit at the beginning where Max is wooing her with a mariachi band. Because it's both inutterably corny and yet utterly adorably cute (and when he throws her a bouquet of roses and changes it from red to white in midair). And the fact that he is trying to sing too, even though he doesn't have much of voice or the fact that he has this hopeful, puppyish look on his face that just makes you want to hug him...guuuuh.
And then of course, Liz tries to set him up with Tess and Max sees and comes in and kisses her instead and you can tell he is so patient and is trying so hard. Argh.
So then, in a scene that made me cry like a 10 year old, Liz goes to his house, and that scene just kills me. Because when she climbs in, he is so excited, because he thinks it means something else, and I love how she asks him to put on a shirt and doesn't want to touch him because she is that near cracking. And then she gives her speech about how R&J is the tragedy of R&J and she doesn't want to end up dead, and Max's life is always dangerous but hers doesn't have to be and she wants children and old age and then she says (and the look on his face kills me), "I love you, but I don't want to die for you" and leaves and the next thing you see is her crying her heart out on her balcony because she would gladly die for him and he is the love of her life and she hurt him and....*weeps*
But even that is not enough. I love the scene where Max is talking to Maria and he says that despite it all he can't give her up, and basically is willing to take her on any terms and my heart just breaks for them more and more because the next thing she does is...pretend to have sex with Kyle where Max can catch them (and it's a surefire plan, because Future Max is completely jealous of Kyle, even all these years later). And then Max sees them and something in him just dies. The last scene, where he is sitting on the bench, with just no energy to do anything and Tess sits next to him and he doesn't want to talk or not talk or anything, but is just profoundly defeated and if his strings have been cut...whoa.
And of course, it is intercut with Liz and Future Max on the balcony and she asks him for her wedding dance. And she tells Future Max (even though she now knows she will never have him and Max probably hates her) that he is the love of her life and everyone else with allways be second best.
Nothing in this whole freaking episode (even remembering is making me sniffle again) made me cry as much as Future Max's description of their wedding, early in the ep, the one they had before Liz changed the past. Because they eloped when they were 19 and they went to some dive with Michael and Maria and Alex and Isabel and danced all night and you can just sense how happy and in love and wonderful it all was and how beautful and how it will never be. And Future Max and Future Liz, who loved each other and were with each other for years will dissapear and never exist and none of this will ever happen (and I love that Future Liz tells Future Max that she had no regrets before he goes into the past even though it will mean none of them will ever exist if he succeeds) and...bawl. I am seriously, sitting here at the computer, crying like an idiot. I went to bed and kept hugging and hugging my husband as if he might dissapear any moment.
OK. On to other aspects of the show. Isabel has slipped from "indifferent" to "annoying." That whole ep that centered on her? Whatever.
Michael and Maria have their issues too, though they don't break my heart the way Max and Liz do. Maria is waiting for Michael to snap out of his fit of nobility. I love that now that she knows he loves her and is just trying to protect her, she will persevere until she gets him back, and of course, he still wants her. I love their little exchange:
MARIA: I miss you, Michael.
MICHAEL: I know, but don't.
Michael has plenty of issues of his own. He is freaking out about enemies who are going to stalk them and he doesn't know what to do (though he takes over effectively one time Max is freaking outfrom Nasedo's death), and the fact that he killed a man is just easting at him. I love his conversation with Valenti in the jail that maybe he does deserve to be there because he killed a man and Valenti tells him that Pierce killed dozens and Michael says he tells himself that but it doesn't help. And he tries to pull away from everyone, but after that ep with the veteran who, it turns out, saved the alien pods, he decides to open up a bit. He is capable of exceptionally gracious gestures. When the old soldier says that none of what he tried to do meant a damn, Michael quietly shows him his powers and says "You saved me." Wow. And he apologizes to Maria and everything seems to be on track but then she sees him sucking face with Courtney (one way to investigate) and just to see her sobbing is..the end. And then she just gives up and this thing makes me utterly sad.
And forget sad, Liz/Max are curretly tearing my heart out in small bleeding pieces. It's a good thing I know how it all ends because even with that, it's waaaay too painful.
On a frivolous note, Max should have aliens die in his bedroom more often. The resulting freak-out will enable him t forget to put a shirt on and make Dangermousie happy; and I love when he runs to the Crashdown, severely distraught, even though Liz and he aren't together, and this is even before the psychic he just focuses on her and she on him and tries to take care of him (and then Tess intrudes and heals him). OK, we are back to Liz/Max and I am off to cry some more.
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 02:00 pm (UTC)Max? I think he becomes a lot more needful of therapy as the show progresses.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 02:09 pm (UTC)Michael is actually sort of funny when he's put in charge because he never spazzes until he's put in those situations. And Michael spazzing is rather entertaining, because generally the more he's spazzing, the snarkier he gets.
Behr and Fehr's acting styles actually compliment each other pretty well. Behr has the "calm in the storm" style that leds itself as a good foil for Fehr's "sarcasm and playfulness" style.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 03:00 pm (UTC)Heee. Haven't gotten to that yet :)
He's got less issues at the beginning of the series than he ends up with in the end, which is saying something.
Seriously, the boy needs antidepressants.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:32 pm (UTC)and saying to herself "I, Liz Parker take Max Evans."
to
her to make Max fall out of love
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:58 pm (UTC)And she should really tell th rest about Vilandra.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:43 pm (UTC)*hugs
While I don't wish you any pain, it is nice to know that others cry over their keyboards about television shows.
I am seriously going to have to buy/rent this series to watch again.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 02:12 pm (UTC)Don't feel like an idiot, really.
I grew up in a family that stared at me, laughed at and mocked me when I cried over tv shows. They couldn't understand how I got so emotionally attached to these fake people.
The fact is, well-written characters are supposed to get at you, under your skin. The whole point is that you are supposed to care about them. As as writer, I understand that, and strive for that. I only wish everyone else got that so I didn't have to feel stupid when they look at you funny.
So we do get attached. *shrug* God, I cried so hard when the new Doctor Who season ended back in June. That killed me. I felt like someone had died. Fortunately tv show tears don't last as long or hurt as bad as real life. And sometimes, it's great catharsis!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 02:59 pm (UTC)So, is the new Dr. Who really that good? Need to find it, then.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 03:54 pm (UTC)I loved the new Who. It grows on you, and by the end it has quite an emotional punch. And hey, 13 episodes, so it's not *that* much of a time committment. Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper do a fantastic job of grounding the show and generating pathos amid often absurd circumstances.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 05:42 pm (UTC)Also to see The Rising I will have to drive about 25 or so miles, which is a pain, but it looks so angsty and revolutionary and full of 19th century goodness that I think it will be worth it.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 05:51 pm (UTC)I think it does work a lot better when watched in order (because that way it's much more impactful) and in condensed time frame (because that way the impact can keep building). But it just might not be your thing. Half the people on my flist are in love with SG-1 or Atlantis and I never could get into them.
Re: Rising. Opening today. Woo-hoo!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 09:52 pm (UTC)The funny thing is that while I've seen more tightly plotted (BSG) or better written in terms of memorable dialogue quotes (Buffy), with the exception of Farscape, I haven't been this emotionally affected by a show ever. I don't know why, but it just hits something perfectly right for me emotionally.