Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 | Episode 7 “I Saw the Sign” Review

In episode seven of Roswell, New Mexico, everyone (Liz, Max, Michael and Isobel) is reeling from the revelation of what happened to Rosa. It’s been a week. Liz is angry and throwing herself into work, but only until a friend needs her. Max is taking his frustration out on Wyatt Long. Michael’s trying to convince himself and Isobel that she isn’t dangerous. Then there’s Jenna who is doing Sgt. Manes’ dirty work.

The Symbol

The episode kicks off with a flashback to 1947 and Project Shepherd (that anti-alien organization Sgt. Manes is part of). Lieutenant Colonel Harlem Manes (Alex’s grandfather?) oversees an autopsy of an “unidentified subject” (aka alien) from the crash. The examiner finds a familiar (to us) symbol on the palm of the subject’s hand. We see this symbol in the title card of the show. It was in the dirt when Isobel blacked out and woke up in the desert. Now, we see it twice in the present of this episode: Jenna sees it as Max’s tattoo on his shoulder blade, and Wyatt Long draws it when Jenna asks for his written statement of what happened when he shot Max, almost killed Liz, and actually killed Grant Green. Obviously, it’s an important alien symbol, but what does it mean?

After Jenna recognizes Wyatt’s drawing as the same symbol as Max’s tattoo, she tries to weasel the information out of Max. She shares the meaning of one of her own tattoos that’s the other half of her sister, Charlie’s. Ah, so that’s who Sgt. Manes offered to help in exchange for Jenna’s intell. Charlie’s in jail for being a whistle-blower, and Jenna didn’t protect her. I guess that’s why she feels the need to give Manes information. Anyways, Max gives a lame excuse for the tattoo and Jenna doesn’t buy it. She shows him Wyatt’s drawing, but still, Max storms off. That doesn’t stop Jenna, though. With the symbols and the marking Max left on the hospital generator when he restored the power, Jenna texts Manes to look into Max.

Mama DeLuca

Liz has been so wrapped up in solving Rosa’s murder, she hasn’t taken the time to check in on her long-time friends since being back in town. Alex calls her out on it, which leads them to the bar to see Maria and her mother, Mimi, who’s seemingly losing her mind. She keeps rambling about potential alien attacks and Will Smith, which only makes Maria believe her mother is simply rambling nonsense about the movie Independence Day. Doctors haven’t been able to make a diagnosis, and Maria hasn’t voiced her own family struggles because she “wanted to be the fun friend” for a while. So, Liz vows to make it a day all about Mama DeLuca full of Crashdown milkshakes and the drive-in.

Throughout the day, Mimi mistakes Liz for Rosa, causing Maria to correct her multiple times. At the drive-in, though, as Mimi is reading palms, Liz plays along. She gives Rosa the life she could have lived the last ten years: sobriety, travel, love and a beautiful relationship with her father and Liz. Jeanine Mason’s portrayal of Liz’s emotions is so beautiful it’ll bring you to tears, much like her other emotional performances thus far on the show. You can just see how much Liz wishes her sister could have had that life and how much she misses her.

There is a big revelation in Mimi mistaking Liz for Rosa – she wonders what happened with the blonde, Isobel. Mimi reveals that Isobel confessed a secret to Rosa that left her terrified. She says, “Rosa knew what I knew, and the truth was terrifying.” As Mimi starts talking about aliens lining up in different states in 2008, Liz believes she might be on to something in terms of why Isobel killed Rosa. However, Maria comes up and asks if Will Smith was there, and as expected, Mimi says of course he was. That’s when Maria comes to terms with that it may be time to put her mother in assisted living. ☹

Doing What’s Right

All episode, Isobel grapples with the fact that she’s dangerous. After Liz bites her head off while trying to apologize, Isobel coops herself up in Michael’s trailer. Michael tries convincing her, and himself, that she’s not dangerous. This was just an isolated incident, but she knows better. There’s no telling what she could happen with her blacking out again. So, when Max comes over and suggests they leave town to start new lives because Liz doesn’t feel safe and she’s created this “alien poison,” Isobel says she’s not wrong. She wants to take control of her own decisions, since Max and Michael suck at it. “I’m not going to allow myself to hurt someone again,” she says. At the end of the episode, they check herself into a hospital for a temporary psych hold for a while.

Alien Poison

I know I said that Liz was burying herself in work. That’s only half true. She’s actually in the process of developing, what Max calls “alien poison.” It’s not necessarily what you think. It’s just supposed to mute alien powers. Sure, she’s filled with rage and wants to see Isobel suffer, but she also wants to protect the innocent. By the end of the episode, though, she has a change of heart and plans to get rid of it because she remembered why she became a scientist – to help people, not harm them. Surprisingly, Max also has a change of heart after putting Isobel in a psych hospital. Maybe she can find a way to end it all and make them normal.  Besides, she was right. Isobel is dangerous, they all are. However, Isobel and Michael are all he has. He can’t give up on them, but he also can’t just let go of Liz. So, if he something happens, and he can’t protect them all, then she should have a way to protect herself. Ugh! These two give me all the feels!

Notable Mentions:

• At the end of the episode, Maria’s alone in the bar when Michael shows up. Neither of them know it, but they’re both there to drown their similar sorrows. Maria breaks down crying in Michael’s arms. She puts on this brave face for her friends, but is able to finally cry in the arms of a man she can’t stand. I think that says a lot about the feelings we hide from those closest to us. I can see something happening with these two. Whether it be friendship or more, I don’t know, but I’m kind of excited about it? Don’t get me wrong, though, Alex and Michael are everything, but Michael could use another friend.
• While having milkshakes, Mimi tells Alex that his aura reminds her of his father’s after he “learned too much.” She warns that we aren’t supposed to touch things from another world, and not to let it do to him what it did to his father and Jim Valenti.

• Max can’t stand Wyatt Long. Who can really? Since Liz doesn’t want to see him anymore, he’s trying to take his frustration out on trying to get Wyatt behind bars. It doesn’t help that Wyatt blacked out that whole night of killing Grant Green, nearly burning Liz alive and shooting Max.
• Noah feeling bad about kicking Isobel out and telling Max, “I don’t care what you think I deserve, Max. I’m not giving up on my wife” after Max suggested to him that he deserves better – SWEETNESS!
• I’m happy Jenna and Max called off their “scratching post” FWB thing. Talk about a conflict of interest for Jenna!
• Max knows about Michael’s feelings for Alex! Since when?? On that same topic, “It’s just him, you know? Screws me up.” Michael Guerin is in love with Alex Manes, ladies and gents, but he doesn’t know what to do about it.
• “Liz Ortecho is my hurricane.” – Max Evans. That’s it. That’s the note.

Roswell, New Mexico airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW!