Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 | Episode 11 “Champagne Supernova” Review

As the town attends a gala for the reopening of Grant Green’s UFO Emporium, the hunt for this body-snatching, killer alien is still on. I mean, what’s a fancy gala without a mysterious, serial killing alien on the loose? This fourth mystery alien stays a couple steps ahead of our trusty Scooby-Doo gang as he (or she) leads them to another suspect. They’re not fooled for long, though. They eventually catch on and figure out that it’s always the one you least expect… the one closest to you. You know what they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Well, this alien seems to have taken that to a whole new level.

Person of Interest

Desperate to cut a deal, Wyatt Long decides to be helpful for once by giving Max and Jenna information about the night one of the victims, Carla, was murdered. He reveals that he saw Carla and Maria having an arguing outside the bar. Normally, no one would believe a thing Wyatt says because he’s a racist prick. So, what makes everyone believe that Maria could actually be the fourth alien? Well, because she’s acting all sorts of weird this episode. Isobel recalls how she fainted when trying to influence Maria earlier in the season, how she loved Rosa and all this other stuff. Of course, Liz isn’t quick to believe that her best friend is a serial killer. At least, not until a drunk Maria steals a decoy of Liz’s alien serum. Add that to the fact that she planted a poisonous smoke bomb in Michael’s jacket that explodes and knocks him out while he’s in his bunker. Max also gets knocked out and trapped in the bunker, but we’ll get to that brotherly bonding moment later.

Thanks to an unexpected, sort of, team up between Liz and Jenna – Liz with the decoy serum, and Jenna with a date-rape-drug-detecting nail polish – they realize that Maria is just another victim of the body-snatching going on. Thank goodness, too, because I really didn’t want her to be a psycho who, not only killed others, but also her best friend who she was secretly in love with. However, the actual alien body-snatcher isn’t someone I would have suspected either. Rather, I didn’t want to suspect him. To quote Max, he’s like a human golden retriever. I guess that’s what makes him the perfect serial killer, huh?

The 4^th Alien

So, who is this 4^th alien, you ask? Well, after Liz single-handedly saves Michael and Max from being trapped in the bunker – in her heels and white gown, nonetheless – and Maria comes to, it’s revealed that Carla left the bar with Noah the night she died! Yup! You read that right, folks. Roswell’s resident, friendly attorney is the 4^th alien! I probably should have caught this early on, but like everyone in Roswell (and probably some of you), I didn’t want to believe it. I was rooting too hard for him and Isobel that I didn’t catch on to the hints: he directed Liz to Grant’s warehouse, he advised Max to stop investigating Wyatt, he got shot at the hospital so it made a good cover for him, and he told Isobel to lay off using her powers. Of course, Isobel doesn’t want to believe that the man she’s been married to for years could actually be a murdering alien that’s kind of her sibling. I mean, who would want to believe that?

Isobel’s never gotten into Noah’s mind before because she trusts him, but Max convinces her to try. It’s a scary place, Noah Bracken’s mind. He says all these creepy things before taking over Isobel’s body and forcing her to nearly shoot Max. Thankfully, Jenna comes in and saves him and Liz saves Isobel by popping out of Noah’s backseat and injecting him with the serum. However, it takes a while to kick in, and Noah nearly kills her by literally sucking the life out of her with his hand, but the serum works just in time. Isobel comes out of her body-snatched delirium shocked to see her husband on the ground powerless. Noah, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!

Notable Mentions

• Y’all. I’m as much of Malex shipper as the next, but Maria and Michael are seriously growing on me. The way he vows to “explode anyone who comes near her” while he’s watching over her. The way she says, “that’s the problem. I never do,” when he offers to leave. I know Michael and Alex are up in the air now, and Maria and Alex are BFFS, and she’s sworn to never let anything happen between her and Michael again, but we all know how these love triangles work, right? – Side note: everyone should keep any hateful comments about Maria DeLuca to themselves because she’s done absolutely nothing wrong besides catch feelings for a guy who’s been there for her. So hush.
• Speaking of Alex, where was he? And where was Kyle?
• Let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact the women of Roswell, New Mexico are their own saviors… and everyone else’s too, it seems – in heels and fancy dresses, might I add.
• Mr. Ortecho is adorable. Let’s protect him at all costs, okay?

• Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Max and Michael’s brotherly bonding that I said I’d get back to. While trapped in the bunker, they finally get real with each other by having a conversation that’s been like 10 years in the making… or as Max feels, 20. He calls Michael out for being angry ever since Max and Isobel’s parents left Michael behind, but admits to feeling guilty over that ever since. He also assures Michael that he’s not alone, he’s family. Way to bring the tears, Max Evans. Max isn’t the only one bearing it all. Michael finally reveals what happened to his hand and why he never let Max heal it. He wanted “evidence of what could happen when you believe that humanity might be good.” Alex gave him hope that he belonged, only to be proven otherwise. UGH! Michael has easily become a favorite character of mine. Especially because of statements like this, “We are literally aliens. Are you gonna hold me to some outdated binary of sexuality? I’m bisexual, Max. It’s not that complicated.” – This comes after Max finds out about him and Maria, and I just love the whole thing.
• You know that Taylor Swift lyric “you gotta leave before you get left”?? Well, Liz is trying to fight that urge… big time. (Also, don’t hate me for that reference because I know Carina Adly MacKenzie, the show creator, is a big time T. Swift fan, so she’ll probably appreciate the reference.) Since Liz’s research lab got burnt to the crisp, they’ve moved it to another city, and they want her to go. Like I said, she’s tempted, but there’s a few things keeping her in Roswell: her father and Max. She talks to her dad about trying to get citizenship again and makes Max promise to chase after her if she ever runs again.

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