Max Musings
Aug. 20th, 2005 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieMax is my favorite Roswell character. In fact, he is one of those rare fictional characters where I get not just sympaty but empathy for him. By that I mean that if someone hurts/annoys that character, I get hurt/annoyed on his behalf. He is sweet and still somehow innocent (even by the end of S3), and a bit quiet and studious (I love his desire to find a New Year's party in S3 and how Liz is so lovingly amused at it and he himself is a bit flustered by it, and how no one can believe that Max Evans wants to go to a party).
I really like his quiet sense of humor, that he really doesn't bring out much because I guess he thinks nobody would be interested or just shoot it down. But it actually blooms with Liz and the more they are together, the more they tease each other and it's not Michael and Maria zingers because they are not that kind of people but it's adorably fun nontheless, to see him let his guard down completely and forget his unqueness or destiny or issues, or whatever.
And he is rather clueless when it comes to women outside of Liz and doesn't notice any of them, or the fact that he really is gorgeous. I love the college girl trying to pick him up at that party and his response that he is meeting his girlfriend later, not as a put-down, but because her interest doesn't even register. The boy is single-minded.
And this brings me to the one time I wanted to strangle my favorite, adorable Max Evans. Strangle him, and shake him until his teeth rattled in his head.
That time is when he is in LA looking for his son and he almost gets on that spaceship going to Antar. It's not even the fact that he would do that, even though it's incredibly stupid, he will probably get caught as soon as he gets there, though I guess he could have Kal navigate so as to avoid population centers. He'd still stick out because Antarans don't exactly look human (and I wonder if he remembers Tess' comment that he won't remember Liz if he goes to Antar. It's lies of course, and she went by granolith and I don't see how entering via spaceship could ever cause that, and I am sure he realizes that, but it's just not bright).
It's not even that he would leave Liz to go rescue his son. His son needs him and is in trouble (he believes) etc etc, and he will do his damnedest to come back to her. It's the fact that he would leave without telling anyone. In fact, when Liz calls, he rejects the call, I think because he knows that if he heard her voice he won't be able to go through with it. However, if he just disappeared, right after he went to LA to track a killer, does he even realize what that would do to Liz? To Michael and Isabel? Even to his parents, even though they are estranged?
But the thing is, he is so singleminded and obsessed with this one idea of rescuing his son, I don't think he is even thinking straight. He is so caught up that he doesn't snap out of it until the ship fails and then he is fallng apart horrified, at how almost irretrivable his step was, and at how he hurt Kal in the process, and even at the kind of person that makes him. And he never backtracks from that again. But I do think it fits his personality. Max, like many quiet people, is very intense. And he is quiet but not shy, someone who won't back down. He is very single-minded. When he throws himself into something, he really does it with all his heart mind and soul (which combined with the fact that he is bight makes him a pretyt good leader). The thing is, this passionate obsessiveness is what makes him so sexy and wonderful when he romances Liz, and is with her. But that same quality is what causes him to do what he does when he translates it to the child and he will let nothing stand in the way.
f you think about Tess knew exactly how to get him. In fact, Max is so transparent in that one regard that he might as well have a big button marked "push here." Max is responsible. He was born that way. He feels deeply responsible for all sorts of things that are not even his fault (I think this stems partly out of his control issues (his is a way to maintain the illusion that you can control events in your life) and partly out of his overdeveloped conscience), and the baby definitely is his responsibility. He didn't want it, hates its mother, and had sex just once during an emotional and spiritual nadir (at tha time the boy needed therapy not sex), but it's his nontheless. And in some ways, rescuing him takes a priority over Liz. The baby is helpless and in danger. Liz is neither.
And I think one of the many reasons he is so compatible with Liz is that she is the same way. She can push aside her personal wants out of sense of responsibility (the way she did with Future Max), to do what she thinks is her duty and to save those close to her (the way Liz is with Future Max, Max is with his kid. The situation's principles are similar).
I do wonder what would happen Max he had to choose between Liz and Zan. If he had to pick who to live with and see on a daily basis, there is no question it would be Liz. But if he could save only one? No idea, he'd probably go insane but save Liz.
I do like that he is flawed. It would be boring if he was always perfect. I like that the character traits that make him so wonderful are also the ones that make him make mistakes. And I love that his wistful "sometimes I wish I didn't have to be so invisible" comes true with Liz. Liz really sees him, the way he is, and loves him. And he loves her back. And yes, we end with the OTP.
I really like his quiet sense of humor, that he really doesn't bring out much because I guess he thinks nobody would be interested or just shoot it down. But it actually blooms with Liz and the more they are together, the more they tease each other and it's not Michael and Maria zingers because they are not that kind of people but it's adorably fun nontheless, to see him let his guard down completely and forget his unqueness or destiny or issues, or whatever.
And he is rather clueless when it comes to women outside of Liz and doesn't notice any of them, or the fact that he really is gorgeous. I love the college girl trying to pick him up at that party and his response that he is meeting his girlfriend later, not as a put-down, but because her interest doesn't even register. The boy is single-minded.
And this brings me to the one time I wanted to strangle my favorite, adorable Max Evans. Strangle him, and shake him until his teeth rattled in his head.
That time is when he is in LA looking for his son and he almost gets on that spaceship going to Antar. It's not even the fact that he would do that, even though it's incredibly stupid, he will probably get caught as soon as he gets there, though I guess he could have Kal navigate so as to avoid population centers. He'd still stick out because Antarans don't exactly look human (and I wonder if he remembers Tess' comment that he won't remember Liz if he goes to Antar. It's lies of course, and she went by granolith and I don't see how entering via spaceship could ever cause that, and I am sure he realizes that, but it's just not bright).
It's not even that he would leave Liz to go rescue his son. His son needs him and is in trouble (he believes) etc etc, and he will do his damnedest to come back to her. It's the fact that he would leave without telling anyone. In fact, when Liz calls, he rejects the call, I think because he knows that if he heard her voice he won't be able to go through with it. However, if he just disappeared, right after he went to LA to track a killer, does he even realize what that would do to Liz? To Michael and Isabel? Even to his parents, even though they are estranged?
But the thing is, he is so singleminded and obsessed with this one idea of rescuing his son, I don't think he is even thinking straight. He is so caught up that he doesn't snap out of it until the ship fails and then he is fallng apart horrified, at how almost irretrivable his step was, and at how he hurt Kal in the process, and even at the kind of person that makes him. And he never backtracks from that again. But I do think it fits his personality. Max, like many quiet people, is very intense. And he is quiet but not shy, someone who won't back down. He is very single-minded. When he throws himself into something, he really does it with all his heart mind and soul (which combined with the fact that he is bight makes him a pretyt good leader). The thing is, this passionate obsessiveness is what makes him so sexy and wonderful when he romances Liz, and is with her. But that same quality is what causes him to do what he does when he translates it to the child and he will let nothing stand in the way.
f you think about Tess knew exactly how to get him. In fact, Max is so transparent in that one regard that he might as well have a big button marked "push here." Max is responsible. He was born that way. He feels deeply responsible for all sorts of things that are not even his fault (I think this stems partly out of his control issues (his is a way to maintain the illusion that you can control events in your life) and partly out of his overdeveloped conscience), and the baby definitely is his responsibility. He didn't want it, hates its mother, and had sex just once during an emotional and spiritual nadir (at tha time the boy needed therapy not sex), but it's his nontheless. And in some ways, rescuing him takes a priority over Liz. The baby is helpless and in danger. Liz is neither.
And I think one of the many reasons he is so compatible with Liz is that she is the same way. She can push aside her personal wants out of sense of responsibility (the way she did with Future Max), to do what she thinks is her duty and to save those close to her (the way Liz is with Future Max, Max is with his kid. The situation's principles are similar).
I do wonder what would happen Max he had to choose between Liz and Zan. If he had to pick who to live with and see on a daily basis, there is no question it would be Liz. But if he could save only one? No idea, he'd probably go insane but save Liz.
I do like that he is flawed. It would be boring if he was always perfect. I like that the character traits that make him so wonderful are also the ones that make him make mistakes. And I love that his wistful "sometimes I wish I didn't have to be so invisible" comes true with Liz. Liz really sees him, the way he is, and loves him. And he loves her back. And yes, we end with the OTP.
