Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 | Episode 3 “Tearin’ Up My Heart” Review

Last week’s episode of Roswell, New Mexico had Liz learning that her sister was murdered, and that Max might have been the one to kill her. She vowed to stay in town to find out the truth. “Tearin’ Up My Heart” shows Liz doing just that as she searches for motives. Hot on her tail, though, is Isobel trying to convince Liz to leave town, but there’s a deeper meaning for her reasoning. Meanwhile, things with Michael and Alex get rocky after their hookup, and Kyle decides he doesn’t want to be Sgt. Maines alien hunting buddy.

Lab Rat

The episode kicks off with Liz showing up at Max’s place to do a little experimenting that he’s agreed to. At this point, he still has no idea that she thinks he might have killed Rosa. As far as he knows, she’s running tests on him to figure out this “tornado” that’s been raging inside him since he revived her. Unbeknownst to him, though, Liz is really trying to gather data. It actually works. She gives him the third degree until he releases a large burst of energy that burns her and blows up the machine. As if on cue, Isobel walks in and puts an end to Liz’s testing.

Rosa’s Secrets

After Liz’s failed experimenting, she decides that she needs to find a motive for why Max would kill Rosa. So, with the help of Maria and a mixed cd, they set out on a scavenger hunt of all of Rosa’s secret hiding places. The first one is a book with drugs. Second, the mixed cd in the bar. Third is the roof of the diner where they find something truly telling, a love letter from Max. Say whaaat?

Of course, this causes Liz to believe that he and Rosa were sleeping together, so she rushes to the drive-in and interrupts his date with Jenna. Ultimately, this leads to the truth coming out… or at least part of it. Liz tells him that she knows her sister was murdered and asks if it was him. He’s heartbroken by the accusation. The letter wasn’t for Rosa, it was for Liz. When he saw Rosa that day, she was wasted and telling him to leave Liz alone, but he didn’t do anything. He just left. He only lied because Liz didn’t need any more bad memories of her sister. “I have loved you my entire life, including every single day you were gone,” he would never hurt someone who means so much to her. Max walks away and Liz tells Maria that she still doesn’t trust Max. ☹

Can’t Be with a Criminal

We all witnessed that beautiful moment when Alex and Michael gave into their feelings and hooked up at the end of last week’s episode. So, when they’re still in bed together at the beginning of this episode, I was all sorts of happy. But like all fictional relationships, this one won’t be easy. Isobel shows up, and Alex doesn’t want anyone seeing them together. Ugh… booo, Alex.

At the drive-in, Alex wants to sit with Michael, and once again, I’m like yesss! Later, Alex’s dad, Sgt. Maines, gets in Alex’s head about being a decorated soldier and hanging around Michael the criminal. Alex is defensive at first, asking his father if he’s embarrassed of him, but then he spots Michael selling copper wire. So, he tells Michael that he can’t be with a criminal.  Ugh ☹ 

Isobel’s Plan

After Isobel walks in on Liz experimenting on Max, she becomes determined to keep Liz away from her brother. Her plan? Get inside her mind and convince her to leave town again. She spots Liz at the drive-in and decides it’s the perfect time. However, when she gets inside Liz’s mind, Liz turns into Rosa multiple times saying things like, “I thought we were friends” and “I wish it could always be like this.” It throws Isobel off her game, but what really changes her mind is when Liz says she can’t leave Roswell because of Max. That’s when Isobel realizes that Max is in love with Liz, and deep down, Liz is in love with him too.

A Little Pick Me Up

A relationship that isn’t getting much focus yet is Isobel and her husband, Noah. Ever since Liz drove back into town, Isobel has been a bit distracted trying to keep Max from saying too much. So, they plan for some romance after the drive-in. However, after her failed plan, Isobel’s distracted by the fact that she didn’t realize her brother was in love. Max has always been her person, and not knowing this sooner is hard for her. While we haven’t seen much of Noah, he seems like a sweetheart. He’s set up a beautiful movie picnic in their backyard – topped her favorite movie The Land Before Time (courtesy of Max). Then, he sweetly asks if he can be her person. Awww! Give me more of this sweetness please!

Need a Valenti

Sgt. Maines has been trying to recruit Kyle to be his alien hunting buddy ever since Kyle told him about the hand-print he saw on someone (he’s yet to tell him that it was on Liz). In this episode, Maines specifically needs a Valenti. Why? Because he needs something from Kyle’s dad. So, Kyle swipes the keys from his sheriff mom, and steals some of his late father’s letters out of the desk. He hands the letters, that are full of notes and diagrams, over to Maines, but Kyle’s not going to help him anymore. He believes in “innocent until proven guilty” and that maybe the aliens aren’t out to destroy the human world. As Kyle is walking away, Maine’s stops him by saying, “Innocent until proven guilty means justice can only be served after disaster has struck.” As he says this, Max totally loses it outside of his house and releases so much energy that he blows the power in the whole town.

Other Notes:

• As much as I love Max and Liz (or Echo seems to be their ship name), I’m glad Liz isn’t just immediately ignoring red flags of him possibly killing her sister. She may have feelings for him, but she’s not letting that get in the way of her pain and finding out who killed her sister. Do I believe Max killed Rosa? Absolutely not because, as the audience, we’ve seen this other side of Max that Liz hasn’t seen yet. It’s good that she’s digging for the truth rather than letting her feelings blind her.

• Kyle’s mom doesn’t like the Ortecho family at all, by the way. The Valentis may be Mexican, but the family worked hard to be in the states legally, whereas the Ortechos aren’t legal. I’m glad we’re getting to see both sides of the spectrum in terms of this real-life political issue.

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