Roswell, New Mexico Season 4 Episode 5 Review: You Get What You Give
Now, this is the Roswell we know and love.
Roswell, New Mexico Season 4 Episode 5 was the best installment so far this season, and coincidentally it was also the hour where we got a lot of information dropped into our lap. And while sometimes an hour feels so top-heavy with reveals that it becomes bloated and overwhelming, this was the exact opposite.
We got just enough to whet our appetites and move into the next phase of the season.
The big shapeshifter reveal at the end of Roswell, New Mexico Season 4 Episode 4 hung over the hour significantly as we learned some more about Tezca’s mission and just whose body she was inhabiting.
Things have been off with Max since Jones showed up on the scene. And, hell, if we’re being honest, things have always felt off with him. And while he’s tried to almost suppress his alien side, especially as of late in conjunction with his relationship with Liz, we all knew it was a matter of time before the next alien event drew him in.
Max has talked about a change in his powers, but he hasn’t tried very hard to figure out what exactly has changed and what it means. The comfortability of his relationship with Liz definitely had a lot to do with it. Still, even if he had wanted to lock into learning more about his powers, he didn’t have anyone that would understand them.
Enter Tezca.
Look, we already know Tezca has a plan. They’ve told us ad nauseam. And it’s a plan that has her putting in an awful lot of effort to turn into reality. But if there were someone to explain anything to Max that might help him understand himself better, it would be her.
Pulling herself into his mindscape was a nifty trick, as was learning that he could conjure up his kind of power through a powerful blue flame.
Now there’s more to this blue flame than we’re privy to here, but it’s a highly destructive power, and it’s not something we saw from Jones. Its emergence comes at an integral point in the story, as we consider other things that happen throughout the rest of the installment, but we’ll get to that later.
Tezca’s teachings actually do Max some good, though if there’s one thing we know about Max, it’s that he has never been able to control his powers fully, and one thirty-second mind-numbing exercise with Tezca wasn’t going to change that. So giving him a bunch of new ones would always end badly.
The fight between Max and Tezca was another information dump, but it was important because it once again sets up this conflict that has to eventually lead to a decision for the pod squad.
Max flat out proclaims in all his Max Evans glory that Earth is his home, not the planet where he was born. This dichotomy between the Oasians and the pod squad is simmering, and it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens when things finally come to a head.
Because there is very much a mentality amongst at least parts of the pod squad that the problems of their home planet aren’t theirs, and that’s definitely worth a deeper dive, especially once we have all three aliens sharing meaningful screentime again.
For now, we know at least Max has a good life on Earth and is in no rush to be a savior or play a savior for a place to which he has no connection.
Liz tethers Max to Earth in all the ways, and while their relationship has been the strongest it’s ever been, this was truly the first time this season where it felt a bit unstable. With Max blatantly withholding information and Liz choosing not to push the issue. And on the surface, I can understand where they’re both coming from.
But these alien problems are mostly life and death, so the idea that he’ll come to me when he’s ready is severely misguided.
Luckily, Cam was there to talk some sense into everyone, as she has been all season!
There has been an awful lot of Cam in her comeback season, but she was right on the money here in pushing both Liz and Max in different ways, though it’s wild that you need your ex (who’s maybe still a little into you) to force you to be honest with your girlfriend, but whatever.
Michael: So, what are you hiding from Liz? Cuz I can feel you humming. And you’re lucky that miss centrifuge can not.
Max: Do you tell Alex everything that’s going on with you?
Michael: I was trained in the art of trust issues for twenty-some years, Max. So, no, I do not. But I regret it. Every single time I don’t let him in.
I’m not exactly sure we needed the super mini-arc of Max and Cam getting their closure because that relationship seems like it ended forever ago, but if there was a time for it, it’s here before Cam departed.
But hopefully, both Max and Liz took what she had to say here to heart and talk when they need to talk and push when they need to push. Otherwise, that stability they worked so hard to achieve will evaporate right before their eyes.
They glossed over Liz’s injury by way of Max’s out-of-control powers here, which I think was a mistake. Though, it may come up again at some point.
Considering Tezca knows all about Liz, much like Jones did, everyone has figured out Liz’s importance to Max. And I wonder if they realize that the key to getting Max to realize his full potential only happens with Liz’s involvement.
We’re still nowhere near figuring out exactly what Jones put in motion and what Tezca hopes to accomplish, but it has to start involving all the other characters eventually.
Dallas and Maria, for instance, are off on their own, tracking down the location from Dallas’s vision, and it seems disconnected at first, but as we’re slowly learning, everything fits into the big picture.
Finding the tree with the Oasian fruit is a significant discovery in an episode full of them, and it being the same tree from the drawing Mimi wanted Maria to find was a nice touch. Everything is somehow connected, and it’s getting to the point where everyone just needs to get in a damn room together and start comparing notes!
Side note: they haven’t mentioned Gregory since Roswell, New Mexico Season 4 Episode 1, and while Dallas and Maria are currently in investigative buddy territory, I can’t be the only one who sees the potential. I can appreciate them not going the love triangle route, but I also think they could be squandering their potential.
Do you know whose potential they’re not squandering? KYBEL.
We got a LONG overdue and very steamy kiss, even if the circumstances were less than ideal, considering Isobel was broken up with the night before, but WHO CARES, honestly.
I was a fan of Anatsa and Isobel, but they were never going to last. And hindsight is always 20/20, but it helped to hear Isobel basically acknowledge that as well because she spent so much of the season holding onto this good thing, mainly since it was her first real romance post-Noah.
But there were a lot of reasons she was never able to give herself over to Anatsa entirely, and if it takes someone walking away from you to realize that, then it is what it is.
To this point, Kybel has been a lot of one-way pining on Kyle’s part, which is how it had to be because Isobel was with someone else. And Kyle has never pressed Isobel in any way, and he doesn’t here either. It’s just the two of them existing as they always are, walls crumbling down, and desires peering through.
The two make such a great team, and their friendship makes this pairing. They’ve spent so much time together just getting to know and understand one another, and that’s a beautiful foundation for a relationship.
Seeing as how this is Roswell, surely there will be drama coming their way, and expecting them to jump into anything immediately is naive, but at least now there’s forward momentum, and we’re beyond watching Kyle get his heart stomped on every week!
While in Mexico, we meet Eduardo’s daughter, Sonya, whom we recognize as Tezca. Once more, we get information that would probably be super beneficial for the group, but everyone is off on their own scavenger hunts right now, not communicating that we can tell.
That group chat should be POPPING right now, but I feel it’s not.
The most critical nugget Sonya drops is Allie’s name because we know that she has to figure into things; we just don’t know how yet. Gosh, it feels like we’re right on the precipice of connecting the dots, but we just need to figure out a few more details.
Coming back to Eduardo, Michael was on a mission to free him, but he was already missing by the time he returned to the barn, which set us up for some more undercover work. Kind of.
The decision to give Clyde the final octahedron feels like it will come back to haunt everyone, but at this time, it’s the last step in genuinely getting Clyde to trust him. And that’s pretty much what Michael does the whole hour, as the two bond over their upbringings and how it’s shaped them into the people they are today.
But while Clyde is still Team Dark Triad, Bonnie is over it. She’s found something on Earth that she likes and wants to explore, and she’s ready to risk it all for a chance at a fresh start. But there is a negative way Clyde or Tezca will ever allow that.
There have to be three. Whatever Tezca’s endgame is, it will take all three of them to pull it off.
Well, enter Michael Guerin in all his hero glory, vowing to protect Bonnie, and I believe he will try once he wakes up.
Michael’s sudden illness and inability to use his powers is quite the cliffhanger! At first, I wondered if I’d miss Clyde poison him somehow, but I don’t think that was the case. Unless the fruit, which we later discover is somehow fuel, is doing a number on Michael’s digestive system.
But if it’s not the diesel fruit screwing him up, then the only other connection I can make is that of the emergence of the blue flame.
Perhaps it’s far-fetched, and there is no link at all, but Michael’s powers started fritzing right after Max discovered he had a whole new ability he never tapped into that Michael’s daddy also had. Oh, and Tezca set fire to Michael’s daddy with said flame, and I should just take this as one big ol’ coincidence?
I think not.
I’m begging the Roswell gods not to let this be a case where Michael is out of commission for a while because he was on the brink of something right before he passed out.
Plus, he needs to realize his boyfriend is more than just off the grid chasing weather balloons. And also, haven’t we evolved past the group really needing to track those balloons at this point? They know a shape-shifting alien is on the loose, which is a much greater concern now.
Though, a sick Michael would necessitate a call to his boyfriend, right? And Alex’s lack of a response would surely set off some alarm bells within his friend group, right? So, we should be a big step closer to the realization Alex is in very real danger.
RIGHT?
Loose Ends
- It was a very subtle moment, but I loved Michael staring up at the map of his planet in his kitchen. There’s a sense of wonder on his face that makes the brief scene very sweet.
- The conversation between Max and Michael in the truck was an excellent way of showing Michael’s continued growth and self-awareness.
- Humanizing Clyde has done wonders for his characterization. And it makes you wonder, what would he do if he ever had to decide between the mission and Bonnie?
- So, when are we gonna see Tezca’s real form?
- Where exactly is Eduardo now? Like can we see that he’s okay!
- Liz running in to help save Max in that dress was a moment.
- Tell me why I asked for Michael and more fire after the last episode, and instead, they gave Max the fire AND took Michael’s powers away.
- I’m convinced time isn’t a real concept in Roswell. It’s only been two days since Mimi died (RIP Queen) and a couple of hours since Anatsa skipped town, and you’d swear with the way the story moved on that it’d been weeks.
- Okay, now it’s just getting silly. IS ROSA OKAY?
This was my favorite episode of the season to this point, and I’m curious what you guys thought! So, let me know your thoughts and predictions in the comments so we can chat about it!
As always, you can watch Roswell, New Mexico online via TV Fanatic to catch up anytime!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
