![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieOK, I watched 12 episodes of Roswell yesterday. Other than my brain being scrambled and my eyeballs falling out, I had a great time.
However, this is likely to be long so I will try to break it down by eps.
The crazy girl eps:
Being the episode where Michael and Maria go on a road trip with Crazy Laurie to find out why Michael looks like her grandfather, and the rest of the gang saves the world. Or something. I don't watch Roswell for plot.
It was neat to find out why Michael looks like Michael. So he (and the rest) are a mixture of the alien progenitor and the human "donor" (for the template). I loved how excited Michael was to discover family, because of course that is something he's always wanted.
I totally love Michael period, after the second season, but that's another matter.
Michael and Maria continue to crack me up. They make a great team (from watching people having sex in the hardware store instead of watching the Sheriff's office to nonchalant attitude they both have about bending the law, love). I loved Maria's matter-of-fact assertion that yes, they are dating and no reply from him necessary. I just love the girl's common sense. I also loved that Michael did manage to get through to Laurie by telling her the truth: that he is loyal and will protect her. Because it is, of course, the truth. Michael is about the most loyal person on the show. I do love that he keeps his word (and Maria's "my hero" at the end, cracks me up). I love Maria. Seriously. She knows that Michael sees Laurie as a sister by the end and is OK when Michael is thinking of inviting her to move in. Michael, don't blow it, you won't get a better gf!
On the Liz and Max front, I love when Max comes into Maria's house looking for Liz and sees her and Sean having a really cute pillow fight. I just love the look on his face. The boy's life is really not a picnic (and about to get spectacularly worse, but I digress). What I find really cool is that though they are not together, Liz still feels guilty in doing something even so mildly flirty with another person. Poor babies!
The Las Vegas ep.
I had a great time watching this.
Poor Michael, he has dreadful nightmares. It's actually really rare to see him this vulerable. I feel horrible for him. I also like that Max is the first person he goes to and tells him that he wants to go to Vegas and Max is of course, the one who comes up with a viable plan. No questions asked or anything, he just sees Michael needs it. That's their relationship, pretty much in a nutshell.
Of course, neither Liz nor Max end up having much fun. Max must be a babysitter for Michael (and is still pining for Liz of course) and Liz is flashing back to what Future Max told her about getting married there. Guuuuh. I love it when she is sneaking looks at the Elvis Chapel. And I love how in the hotel room, with everyone there, they still fixate just on each other, so it looks like the rest are excluded and just the way they look and talk to each other...Poor things...
Of course, Max's day goes from bad to worse when he and Michael get arrested and thrown in jail. I loved the scene of Michael and Max confrontation in the jail. I actually wanted to smack Michael there, when he accuses Max of being a machine who doesn't know how to feel. Great, something else for Max to feel guilty about. Because Michael is just blowing off steam and what not, but you just know Max is going to add it to his collection of things to beat himself about.
On the completely other side of the spectrum, I loved Maria thinking Michael is being so inattentive to her, when he actually pays that restaurant so she can sing on stage. Ohhh...I love him just standing there and watching her with this really proud and happy look on his face, as she is singing her heart out. And she just glows at him. You know, he might forget your birthday and what not, and certainly isn't much on speeches, but he is capable of the sweetest, most unexpected gestures.
I loved Max and Liz's conversation re: chapel where he says it's tacky but you just know Liz is thinking about that other alternate reality she destroyed and the look on her face. And then he leaves to go to the airport and on the way to the cab sees this couple about to be married and imagines himself and Liz instead looking so happy and in love and...awwww. And then he comes back and asks her to dance and tells her about it and she has this utterly wistful look on her face and things are at peace between them for a bit (by which you know, a disaster is about to strike).
The Prom ep (or Dangermousie's heart breaks a little ep)
OK, Sean tries to kiss Liz. Ignore me while I quietly hurl in the corner. I do love the fact that Liz doesn't want to, even though she is not together with Max, and that she jumps to defend his honor immediately because she is sure he won't do anything dishonorable. You go girl!
There is a bucket of Max and Liz angst here. Their conversation re: prom, when Liz says that she accepts they are not together (and I want to yell "you are the one who caused it to be so") and their going to the prom together anyway. Screwed-up kids. And of course, he tries to tell her about remembering bits about the planet and I love that she is still the one he wants to share everything with but she doesn't want to hear it because the more he remembers about the planet, the further he gets away from her. And then of course, Liz sees Max and Tess hug, and out comes that heartbreaking conversation at the prom. Where she tells him that she can't deal with knowing that at some point, he will remember Tess and loving Tess and leave and etc etc and that it's all completely over between them and she is going to Maria instead I want to smack her when he just looks at her and says "go ahead" really quietly. And then he is sitting outside the dancing floor, just drawn into himself, talking to Tess, saying he knew on some level it was all falling apart, but it's clear this is totally tormenting him and Tesswho should painfully die knows she's got him where she wants him and he does remember her and they kiss and Liz walks in and sees them, and I can't bring myself feel too sorry for her, because now she knows how he felt when he saw her with Kyle (and also, she is the one who let him go).
But there is a lovely mushy silver lining here too: Maria and Michael. Michael continues his utterly adorable habit of showing very awkwardly but sincerely about how much he cares for Maria. He takes dancing lessons (secretly) for her sake because he knows prom is important to her. And is pronounced unteachable, heeee. I love the two of them.
Now come the episodes that make Dangermousie bawl.
Alex dies. Never having been a huge Alex fan, I am more interested in the Michael/Maria, Liz/Max fall-out. And boy, is there one.
I love Max coming out of the van all dazed, hands covered in blood, looking up in shock. I love that the first person he wants to talk to is Liz. (I also love Michael and Maria holding on to each other for dear life.) I love Max calling Liz's house to see how she is holding up. It's pretty clear, break up or no break up, the two are never really be able to let go. Though I find it really ominous (and in retrospect, knowing that Tess is the one who killed Alex, very twisted) that Max confides in Tess and not Liz about how he couldn't heal Alex and how he didn't want to touch him because he was covered in blood and he is so distraught and I just want to give the guy a hug because once again, his overdeveloped consience is making him beat himself up for something that is only natural.
Michael proves to be the dream boyfriend. I love how he is always holding on to Maria. How he basically moves into Maria and Amy's house and spends all his time taking care of them and seeing they are OK. I love Maria flipping and trying to push Michael away so she won't be hurt later (which is of course, illogical, but makes total sense) and I love Michael realizing what is going on and telling her straight up, that yes, he will have to leave sometime, he doesn't know when, but he can promise her now. Maria melts and I swoon. Basically, right now, Michael is looking a lot more like a viable dating prospect than Max. Max is losing it, Michael is pulling it together. Of course, he didn't have his head royally screwed with a la Max.
I do love that Liz still goes to Max, when she feels in emotional trouble re: Alex, despite the prom and all that. And I love how he is able to comfort her, and feed her, and even get her to laugh a bit, and he promises to take care of Valenti for her, and does lose it at him because he's really upset Liz (because the cops think it's suicide). I do love how she makes him promise to always be her friend. Of course, Liz brings up the prom and seeing Max and Tess kiss and she tries to be so hard in denial re: her feelings. Well, enjoy the ability to talk to each other, because soon your relationship is going to turn into pure hell.
Because after the funeral, Liz posits her theory that Alex was killed by an alien, and all hell breaks loose as Max (who is obviously grieving himself) completely denies any possibility of it, because he'd feel responsible for the death and Liz says something truly awful ("you don't want to admit the possibility because then it would be your fault") and he just bolts out, Tess, Michael and Iz leaving with him. OK, Liz, I know you are grieving, but seriously, that was low.
Of course, Max tries to compromise with Liz and tell her he will forget what she said because she was upset but Liz refuses to back down. And they have a war and it's totally dreadful to watch. Because part of the reason he is so upset is because he is concerned for her safety, but the situation really falls apart. The bit in the hallway where he grabs her arm and she just goes "Let go of me" and he drops her arm as if he's been burned is...argh! I am pretty much on Max's side in this argument. But his fixed "Liz is wrong" is half anger, half not being able to bear the thought of guilt.
And his week goes from bad to worse when Iz becomes really set on going to college in San Francisco. Once again, he tries to compromise (Santa Fe state) but when that doesn't work, yet again, he blows up at her in a spectacular manner, because of all the accumulated issues, and that was the one time I wanted to hit him. Because he tells her that if she tries, he will tell their parents she has a drug problem, that she cheated on all the tests, that he will physically drag her back. And you can tell he means it. I think he is trying to keep what he can under control, because the rest is slipping away so fast, and he is clearly such a mess, what with Liz and Alex dying and all, but of course this completely alienates Isabel from him. He really is cracking up and has no one to turn to. Tess is a smart smart girl.
And Liz leaves for Sweden and he tries to stop her and tells her they will not be friends any more if she goes and she leaves anyway and he is compeletely lost and so he goes to Tess, the only one who "stood by him." And he makes this heart-breaking speech about how he always hated the alien part of him, how he just longed and wanted to be human and how he thought the alien part was the freak part, but now he realizes it's the other way around and he is ready to wake up. And I feel horrible for him, because he is only "bonding" with Tess and wanting to be alien because he has no one else and because I think he thinks then he won't feel all the hurt and pain. And they end up having sex and I scream at the TV.
This Max is miles away from shy S1 Max, and I am sick, but I think he is hot when he is mad.
The eps where things go from bad to worse.
The look on Max's face the morning after! Let's just say it's not a look of a man happily contemplating a repetition of recent experience. And I love that Max being Max, he puts on a happy face when Tess can see him. And of course, he has no one to talk to, even though he is completely falling apart and freaking out. When he tries to talk to Isabel, she understandably tries to hurt him back as much as he hurt her and he feels even worse. And then she keeps using her powers to make his life even more miserable than it is.
The day from hell continues when he finds out Liz didn't go to Sweden after all. She comes to ask Tess something and Max is there and the cold between them is so thick you could make an igloo out of it, and it just hurts to see the two of them so estranged (I think for both of them, it's partly a defense mechanism).
And then Tess announces she is pregnant. She, being a smart girl, hooks Max through his sense of responsibility. He is far from delighted, and he doesn't love her, but he would never abandon her and she knows that. He is trying to look for apartments etc etc. But it's completely horrifying him, and then he finds out that the baby is dying in earth atmosphere and...honestly, the boy needs Prozac.
I do love the scene where he finally loses it and completely wrecks all the trash buckets and then slumps on the ground, crying. Because he's been holding up pretty well, considering (I'd be screaming by now), but he really is falling apart in a spectacular fashion and I don't think he can hold it inside any longer. And Iz sees him and he tells her everything: about Tess and the baby, and how the baby is dying and there is nothing he can do, and how will he tell their parents (and unspoken in all of this, is "how did I get into this, I don't love her and now I have her forever") and that he is so scared and my heart just breaks for him. And Iz drags him out and makes a little pretty snowfall and they talk and he can function again.
Michael continues to be lovely. I love that he realizes right away that Liz is lying to him re: where Maria and Liz are going and draws Maria quietly aside and tells her to tell her where, because he won't tell Max, but he needs to know because if she is getting into danger, he will have to know where she is to protect her. He just says it matter of factly and Maria tells him where they are going and my shippy heart is happy. And then he does show up and save them both. Michael love!
The ep with the crazy Englishman.
OK, Brody goes insane (sorta) and Max, Liz et al. end up being hostages in the UFO center. Brody knows Max is an alien (and Max chartiably refrains from pointing out that he healed Brody's daughter so he should lay off). Blah blah blah. Points of interest to me are the fact that Liz and Max still love and want each other. I love the way they look at each other when Liz comes in with the food. Max jumps when Brody goes for Liz, and admits to Tess that he still loves Liz. And what I really loved is when Brody almost shot Liz, Max offered himself up for Liz, saying Brody should kill him instead. You poor poor lovers.
Coming up next: S2 finale, and first 3 eps of S3.
However, this is likely to be long so I will try to break it down by eps.
The crazy girl eps:
Being the episode where Michael and Maria go on a road trip with Crazy Laurie to find out why Michael looks like her grandfather, and the rest of the gang saves the world. Or something. I don't watch Roswell for plot.
It was neat to find out why Michael looks like Michael. So he (and the rest) are a mixture of the alien progenitor and the human "donor" (for the template). I loved how excited Michael was to discover family, because of course that is something he's always wanted.
I totally love Michael period, after the second season, but that's another matter.
Michael and Maria continue to crack me up. They make a great team (from watching people having sex in the hardware store instead of watching the Sheriff's office to nonchalant attitude they both have about bending the law, love). I loved Maria's matter-of-fact assertion that yes, they are dating and no reply from him necessary. I just love the girl's common sense. I also loved that Michael did manage to get through to Laurie by telling her the truth: that he is loyal and will protect her. Because it is, of course, the truth. Michael is about the most loyal person on the show. I do love that he keeps his word (and Maria's "my hero" at the end, cracks me up). I love Maria. Seriously. She knows that Michael sees Laurie as a sister by the end and is OK when Michael is thinking of inviting her to move in. Michael, don't blow it, you won't get a better gf!
On the Liz and Max front, I love when Max comes into Maria's house looking for Liz and sees her and Sean having a really cute pillow fight. I just love the look on his face. The boy's life is really not a picnic (and about to get spectacularly worse, but I digress). What I find really cool is that though they are not together, Liz still feels guilty in doing something even so mildly flirty with another person. Poor babies!
The Las Vegas ep.
I had a great time watching this.
Poor Michael, he has dreadful nightmares. It's actually really rare to see him this vulerable. I feel horrible for him. I also like that Max is the first person he goes to and tells him that he wants to go to Vegas and Max is of course, the one who comes up with a viable plan. No questions asked or anything, he just sees Michael needs it. That's their relationship, pretty much in a nutshell.
Of course, neither Liz nor Max end up having much fun. Max must be a babysitter for Michael (and is still pining for Liz of course) and Liz is flashing back to what Future Max told her about getting married there. Guuuuh. I love it when she is sneaking looks at the Elvis Chapel. And I love how in the hotel room, with everyone there, they still fixate just on each other, so it looks like the rest are excluded and just the way they look and talk to each other...Poor things...
Of course, Max's day goes from bad to worse when he and Michael get arrested and thrown in jail. I loved the scene of Michael and Max confrontation in the jail. I actually wanted to smack Michael there, when he accuses Max of being a machine who doesn't know how to feel. Great, something else for Max to feel guilty about. Because Michael is just blowing off steam and what not, but you just know Max is going to add it to his collection of things to beat himself about.
On the completely other side of the spectrum, I loved Maria thinking Michael is being so inattentive to her, when he actually pays that restaurant so she can sing on stage. Ohhh...I love him just standing there and watching her with this really proud and happy look on his face, as she is singing her heart out. And she just glows at him. You know, he might forget your birthday and what not, and certainly isn't much on speeches, but he is capable of the sweetest, most unexpected gestures.
I loved Max and Liz's conversation re: chapel where he says it's tacky but you just know Liz is thinking about that other alternate reality she destroyed and the look on her face. And then he leaves to go to the airport and on the way to the cab sees this couple about to be married and imagines himself and Liz instead looking so happy and in love and...awwww. And then he comes back and asks her to dance and tells her about it and she has this utterly wistful look on her face and things are at peace between them for a bit (by which you know, a disaster is about to strike).
The Prom ep (or Dangermousie's heart breaks a little ep)
OK, Sean tries to kiss Liz. Ignore me while I quietly hurl in the corner. I do love the fact that Liz doesn't want to, even though she is not together with Max, and that she jumps to defend his honor immediately because she is sure he won't do anything dishonorable. You go girl!
There is a bucket of Max and Liz angst here. Their conversation re: prom, when Liz says that she accepts they are not together (and I want to yell "you are the one who caused it to be so") and their going to the prom together anyway. Screwed-up kids. And of course, he tries to tell her about remembering bits about the planet and I love that she is still the one he wants to share everything with but she doesn't want to hear it because the more he remembers about the planet, the further he gets away from her. And then of course, Liz sees Max and Tess hug, and out comes that heartbreaking conversation at the prom. Where she tells him that she can't deal with knowing that at some point, he will remember Tess and loving Tess and leave and etc etc and that it's all completely over between them and she is going to Maria instead I want to smack her when he just looks at her and says "go ahead" really quietly. And then he is sitting outside the dancing floor, just drawn into himself, talking to Tess, saying he knew on some level it was all falling apart, but it's clear this is totally tormenting him and Tess
But there is a lovely mushy silver lining here too: Maria and Michael. Michael continues his utterly adorable habit of showing very awkwardly but sincerely about how much he cares for Maria. He takes dancing lessons (secretly) for her sake because he knows prom is important to her. And is pronounced unteachable, heeee. I love the two of them.
Now come the episodes that make Dangermousie bawl.
Alex dies. Never having been a huge Alex fan, I am more interested in the Michael/Maria, Liz/Max fall-out. And boy, is there one.
I love Max coming out of the van all dazed, hands covered in blood, looking up in shock. I love that the first person he wants to talk to is Liz. (I also love Michael and Maria holding on to each other for dear life.) I love Max calling Liz's house to see how she is holding up. It's pretty clear, break up or no break up, the two are never really be able to let go. Though I find it really ominous (and in retrospect, knowing that Tess is the one who killed Alex, very twisted) that Max confides in Tess and not Liz about how he couldn't heal Alex and how he didn't want to touch him because he was covered in blood and he is so distraught and I just want to give the guy a hug because once again, his overdeveloped consience is making him beat himself up for something that is only natural.
Michael proves to be the dream boyfriend. I love how he is always holding on to Maria. How he basically moves into Maria and Amy's house and spends all his time taking care of them and seeing they are OK. I love Maria flipping and trying to push Michael away so she won't be hurt later (which is of course, illogical, but makes total sense) and I love Michael realizing what is going on and telling her straight up, that yes, he will have to leave sometime, he doesn't know when, but he can promise her now. Maria melts and I swoon. Basically, right now, Michael is looking a lot more like a viable dating prospect than Max. Max is losing it, Michael is pulling it together. Of course, he didn't have his head royally screwed with a la Max.
I do love that Liz still goes to Max, when she feels in emotional trouble re: Alex, despite the prom and all that. And I love how he is able to comfort her, and feed her, and even get her to laugh a bit, and he promises to take care of Valenti for her, and does lose it at him because he's really upset Liz (because the cops think it's suicide). I do love how she makes him promise to always be her friend. Of course, Liz brings up the prom and seeing Max and Tess kiss and she tries to be so hard in denial re: her feelings. Well, enjoy the ability to talk to each other, because soon your relationship is going to turn into pure hell.
Because after the funeral, Liz posits her theory that Alex was killed by an alien, and all hell breaks loose as Max (who is obviously grieving himself) completely denies any possibility of it, because he'd feel responsible for the death and Liz says something truly awful ("you don't want to admit the possibility because then it would be your fault") and he just bolts out, Tess, Michael and Iz leaving with him. OK, Liz, I know you are grieving, but seriously, that was low.
Of course, Max tries to compromise with Liz and tell her he will forget what she said because she was upset but Liz refuses to back down. And they have a war and it's totally dreadful to watch. Because part of the reason he is so upset is because he is concerned for her safety, but the situation really falls apart. The bit in the hallway where he grabs her arm and she just goes "Let go of me" and he drops her arm as if he's been burned is...argh! I am pretty much on Max's side in this argument. But his fixed "Liz is wrong" is half anger, half not being able to bear the thought of guilt.
And his week goes from bad to worse when Iz becomes really set on going to college in San Francisco. Once again, he tries to compromise (Santa Fe state) but when that doesn't work, yet again, he blows up at her in a spectacular manner, because of all the accumulated issues, and that was the one time I wanted to hit him. Because he tells her that if she tries, he will tell their parents she has a drug problem, that she cheated on all the tests, that he will physically drag her back. And you can tell he means it. I think he is trying to keep what he can under control, because the rest is slipping away so fast, and he is clearly such a mess, what with Liz and Alex dying and all, but of course this completely alienates Isabel from him. He really is cracking up and has no one to turn to. Tess is a smart smart girl.
And Liz leaves for Sweden and he tries to stop her and tells her they will not be friends any more if she goes and she leaves anyway and he is compeletely lost and so he goes to Tess, the only one who "stood by him." And he makes this heart-breaking speech about how he always hated the alien part of him, how he just longed and wanted to be human and how he thought the alien part was the freak part, but now he realizes it's the other way around and he is ready to wake up. And I feel horrible for him, because he is only "bonding" with Tess and wanting to be alien because he has no one else and because I think he thinks then he won't feel all the hurt and pain. And they end up having sex and I scream at the TV.
This Max is miles away from shy S1 Max, and I am sick, but I think he is hot when he is mad.
The eps where things go from bad to worse.
The look on Max's face the morning after! Let's just say it's not a look of a man happily contemplating a repetition of recent experience. And I love that Max being Max, he puts on a happy face when Tess can see him. And of course, he has no one to talk to, even though he is completely falling apart and freaking out. When he tries to talk to Isabel, she understandably tries to hurt him back as much as he hurt her and he feels even worse. And then she keeps using her powers to make his life even more miserable than it is.
The day from hell continues when he finds out Liz didn't go to Sweden after all. She comes to ask Tess something and Max is there and the cold between them is so thick you could make an igloo out of it, and it just hurts to see the two of them so estranged (I think for both of them, it's partly a defense mechanism).
And then Tess announces she is pregnant. She, being a smart girl, hooks Max through his sense of responsibility. He is far from delighted, and he doesn't love her, but he would never abandon her and she knows that. He is trying to look for apartments etc etc. But it's completely horrifying him, and then he finds out that the baby is dying in earth atmosphere and...honestly, the boy needs Prozac.
I do love the scene where he finally loses it and completely wrecks all the trash buckets and then slumps on the ground, crying. Because he's been holding up pretty well, considering (I'd be screaming by now), but he really is falling apart in a spectacular fashion and I don't think he can hold it inside any longer. And Iz sees him and he tells her everything: about Tess and the baby, and how the baby is dying and there is nothing he can do, and how will he tell their parents (and unspoken in all of this, is "how did I get into this, I don't love her and now I have her forever") and that he is so scared and my heart just breaks for him. And Iz drags him out and makes a little pretty snowfall and they talk and he can function again.
Michael continues to be lovely. I love that he realizes right away that Liz is lying to him re: where Maria and Liz are going and draws Maria quietly aside and tells her to tell her where, because he won't tell Max, but he needs to know because if she is getting into danger, he will have to know where she is to protect her. He just says it matter of factly and Maria tells him where they are going and my shippy heart is happy. And then he does show up and save them both. Michael love!
The ep with the crazy Englishman.
OK, Brody goes insane (sorta) and Max, Liz et al. end up being hostages in the UFO center. Brody knows Max is an alien (and Max chartiably refrains from pointing out that he healed Brody's daughter so he should lay off). Blah blah blah. Points of interest to me are the fact that Liz and Max still love and want each other. I love the way they look at each other when Liz comes in with the food. Max jumps when Brody goes for Liz, and admits to Tess that he still loves Liz. And what I really loved is when Brody almost shot Liz, Max offered himself up for Liz, saying Brody should kill him instead. You poor poor lovers.
Coming up next: S2 finale, and first 3 eps of S3.
