PLOT September 27th. I'm Liz Parker and I'll never look at the stars
in the sky the same way again. I'll never look at anything the same
way again. What did Max Evans mean when he said, 'I'll see you in
school'? Was it, 'I won't be able to breathe until we met again' or
was it just something someone says to, like, fill space. And what is
he thinking right now? Is he also obsessed, tortured, going from one
sleepless night to the next wondering what's gonna happen between us? The
Evans house. Max is asleep until he hears an intruder climbing
through the window. He's just about to smack him with a flashlight
when he sees that it's Michael, who claims that he couldn't sleep. Max
unrolls a sleeping bag for Michael and gets back into bed but Michael
doesn't want to sleep. He talks about the picture that Valenti
showed to Liz and says it's the key to their entire existence. Max
wants to know more too but Valenti has the picture, it's impossible for
them to get it. However, the next morning, Michael scopes out the
sheriff's station. At
the Crashdown, Liz and Maria are getting ready for work. Maria is
concerned about how little they know about the three aliens and what
powers they might have. Liz, who is totally casual about it, tells
her not to say "aliens" in public, so Maria continues , but now
refers to them as Czechoslovakians, only for Alex to overhear them and ask
who they're talking about. The two girls reply together and manage
to fob him off with a claim that a new kid at school is
Czechoslovakian. Once they've left Alex, Maria spots Michael peering
into the cafe, and tells Liz that he creeps her out. The
thing about Czechoslovakians that you have to sort of factor in is they
have these incredibly soulful eyes. Geometry
class. Kathleen Topolosky, substituting for the absent Mr. Singer,
asks the class if anyone actually believes in aliens before taking the
roll. Michael is absent and she asks Max if he knows where he
is. "Michael's not really into geometry," he tells
her. She says she can understand that since it's pretty uninspiring
stuff. After
class, Liz asks Max if he thought Topolsky's behaviour was weird.
"She was just taking attendence," he says before telling her not
to worry. No one's suspicious of Michael, only him. Valenti
shows up for work and notices a strange man sitting on a folding chair in
the station. Deputy Hanson tells him that he is an FBI agent on
assignment who told him just to go about his business as usual.
Valenti asks the man, Agent Hart, for identification and tells him that
having an FBI agent in the station isn't business as usual before telling
him to leave since he has no jurisdiction. Liz
and Maria discuss Topolsky over lunch. Maria says that it's
suspicious because no substitute teacher takes attendance and that she's
obviously there to find the Czechoslovakians. She thinks that they
need to get a little perspective on the situation and that they should
tell Alex, who is trying to impress some girls with a double-jointed
trick, forcing Maria to admit that "he's not James Bond, but he's all
we've got right now." Later,
the pair are stood by Liz's locker when Maria warns that Kyle Valenti is
heading in Liz's direction. Liz tells Maria that she just saw him
over the summer and it was casual and that she's sure he thinks she was
just a summer fling. Kyle's opening of "How's my girl?"
seems to disprove this, so she tells him that she's busy with school
stuff. He tells her that he thinks people should be honest and that
she agreed to meet him at the Crash Festival and that if you care about
someone, as he does, then you should be on time. Whilst
he's talking, Liz notices Topolsky leaving the Student Registrar's office
carrying a pile of files. She walks after her and bumps into her,
causing Topolsky to spill the files. Liz notices that she has a
picture of Michael pinned to a file and goes to the trailer park where he
lives with his foster father Hank to tell him. Later
that evening, Valenti is on the phone. He wants an explanation as to
why Agent Hart was sent but they hang up on him. He opens a filing
cabinet and pulls out a folder containing the photographs of the
corpse. In the back of the folder is a small envelope containing a
key which he hides in a thermos flask that he then puts in his drawer
before leaving the building. Michael
emerges from a store carrying a large brown paper bag under one arm and
goes into the sheriff's station. He's stopped by Deputy Hanson but
say that he's selling candies for charity, which Hanson declines to
buy. He then says that he'll just take a look to see who else is
around, but Hanson tells him that no-one is and that it's usually pretty
empty at night. At
the Evans house, Isabel asks if the cops bought the story and Michael
tells her that they did. She proceeds to tell him that she's got a
date with a guy that she likes and that she likes her life in Roswell and
doesn't want to end up running from the law. Michael
wants to break into Valenti's office, find any information in the file and
put it back again before they're discovered. Isabel doesn't even
want to consider the idea, but Max hypothetically runs through the
plan before claiming that it's not feasible. Just as Max and
Isabel's parents return home, Michael tells them that government agents
are after then and tells Max to speak to Liz. In
geometry class, Liz corrects Topolsky over the number of degrees in a
triangle and shares a look with Max. After class, he asks her about
Topolsky pulling Michael's record and advises her not to wind up Michael
because he's too impulsive. Liz thinks that Topolsky is some sort of
alien hunter while Max thanks her for looking out for them and says that
they all need to be careful now, her included. As he's walking
through the hallway he notices Topolsky, Sheriff Valenti and another man
and wonders if Liz could be right. Max
gives Liz a note to meet him in the 2nd floor eraser room during sixth
period. Maria warns her that it's just not cleaning erasers and
kissing that goes on in the eraser room and that they don't know what it's
like to kiss a Czechoslovakian. Liz replies that Max isn't even
interested in her. Agent
Stevens shows up in Valenti's office and tells him that all they found on
Liz's uniform was ketchup. No spaceship landed in 1947 and no aliens
are currently residing in Roswell. He tells Valenti that the
governor has given him authority to remove anything about UFOs and alien
sightings from the station. Valenti
realises that they did find blood on the uniform, why else would they want
to remove his files? Taking the thermos that contains the key, he
tells Stevens he's going to lunch and leaves him to it. Michael
watches him leave the building with the thermos and later as the agents
load the files into a car. In
the eraser room, Max tells Liz that Topolsky isn't who she claims to
be. While they wait for her to return to an office adjacent to the
eraser room, Liz asks him how he's only 16 if the crash happened in 1947
and Maria's question of whether they're really three feet tall, green and
slimy. She tells him that sometimes she wishes she could be
invisible because everyone in town knows her because her parents own the
Crashdown. Max replies that sometimes he wishes he didn't have to be
invisible. Topolsky
returns to her office and Max and Liz watch as she tells an unknown man
that Michael hasn't shown up at school since she arrived and that she'll
have to go and see him. Max
parks the jeep outside the Crashdown. Michael tells him that he saw
the files being taken out - it's now or never. Inside the cafe, Liz
asks Maria to cover for her and that she'll tell her what's going on
later. As she's leaving, Alex stops her and asks why they keep
talking about Czechoslovakians when the country hasn't even existed for 10
years. He wants to know the truth. "Cramps," replies
Maria while Liz adds that they didn't say anything because they thought it
would make him really uncomfortable, which it does. Outside,
Max tells Michael he wants to protect what he's got in Roswell.
Michael asks if he's ever thought was it's like for him in the town.
Max tells him that Topolsky has pulled his records and says that Isabel is
waiting for him at the Evans house. He tells Michael not to do
anything stupid, but he walks off. Max
and Liz drive to the trailer park, followed by Kyle. Kyle watches as
Liz moves closer to Max so she can see Topolsky and gets angry as she
ducks down to retrieve her ring. He heads over to the jeep and
demands to know what's going on. Max and Liz claim they're waiting
for Michael and then they're going bowling but when Topolsky, who has been
asking Hank where Michael is, hears them Max ducks down beneath the
dashboard. Kyle does the same, but Topolsky sees Liz. Later,
when Max walks Liz from the jeep, he suggests that they have lunch once
this is all over. "Okay, great!" says Liz.
"It's a date - no! It's not a date, it's a lunch." Isabel
calls Max over and tells him that Michael's gone AWOL. The pair
drive to the station and Isabel is concerned that Michael can't control
his powers. Michael
has climbed up to the window, which is barred. He uses his powers to
open the grate, but overdoes it and nearly falls off before slipping into
the office. Arriving
outside the station, Max and Isabel notice the open window and see Valenti
pull up. Isabel tells Max to get Michael out of the building while
she tries to stall Valenti. Inside
the station, Isabel asks Valenti to help because she's got a flat tyre and
is "so not mechanical." The deputy offers to help instead
because Valenti is off duty, but Valenti agrees to help. In
his office, Max climbs through the window just as Michael finds the
thermos. Picking up the key he gets a powerful vision that knocks
him backwards, and the three downstairs hear him fall. Valenti tells
Isabel to stay put while he and the deputy check it out. Max
and Michael climb out through the window and Max seals it back up before
the pair jump into an open dumpster. Finding the office empty,
Valenti checks out the grate, but it's locked. Later,
once Valenti has got Isabel on her way again, Max tries to get a vision
from the key, but fails to get anything. Isabel tries and pretends
she's getting something. Michael asks what she saw.
"Ricky Martin in the shower," she replies. Michael takes
the key and heads towards the trailer. Max goes after him and admits
that he doesn't really know what it's like for Michael. Michael
tells him that they always have to be ready to leave town and advises him
against getting in too deep. The
next day at school, Ms. Topolsky calls Liz over. She's not a
substitute teacher, but the new guidance counsellor and Michael is in
serious danger of being expelled. She wants Liz to get him to go and
see her soon. Liz promises to tell him. Ever
since I found out about Max and Michael and Isabel, I've been thinking a
lot about secrets. That for everyone who has a secret, there's
someone else who needs to know what that secret is. How sometimes
secrets keep people from feeling like they belong. And sometimes
secrets make you feel like you do belong. And now even I, Liz
Parker, the smallest of small town girls with the simplest of lives - even
I have something to hide. CAST
Julie Benz who makes her debut in this episode as recurring character
Kathleen Topolsky is probably best known in the UK for her role as Darla
on Buffy.
CONTINUITY
Max tells Liz that he, Isabel and Michael emerged from the incubation pods
in 1989, looking like six year olds, but they didn't know how long they'd
been in the pods. Liz
confirms that her parents own the Crashdown. According
to Maria, the eraser room is where Greg Coleman gave Marlene Garcia
"that hickey the size of a softball" and where Richie Roher and
Amanda Lourdes consummated everything. She also tells Liz that it's
"taken some of the best of us." NOTES Bartley and Collins are two students in Max and Liz's geometry class. Amongst
the Crashdown's offerings is hot fudge blast-off, which may or may not
contain 80 grams of fat. Liz's
voice-over at the end of the episode is accompanied by appropriate shots
of Valenti discovering the key is missing, Michael watching the Evanses
playing basketball and Max and Liz in the eraser room. COMMENTS As with the opening episode, Shiri Appleby continues to be a delight to
watch as Liz. There are some sweet scenes that show her feelings for
Max, such as her wondering just what Max meant by "I'll see you in
school", her comment about Czechoslovakians having "incredibly
soulful eyes" and her disappointment that Max has only asked her to
meet him in the eraser room so that they can spy on Topolsky. The
scene where Kyle mistakes her and Max spying on Topolsky as something else
- in particular when she retrieves her ring - is simply hilarious. We
also learn more about the three aliens, building on what we saw in the
pilot. Max is the obvious leader at this stage, looking out for both
Isabel and Michael. Isabel clearly likes the life that being adopted
by the Evanses has given her and doesn't want to change anything. On
the other hand, Michael's life "sucks" (hardly surprising given
what we see of his relationship with Hank) and he wouldn't be sorry to
leave town. He's also impetuous, eager to discover more about his
alien background and cannot control his powers to the same extent as Max
and Isabel. Liz's closing diary entry where we see Michael watch the
Evanses playing basketball shows how little he's got going for him, Max
and Isabel excluded. Maria
continues to be mostly a comic foil for Liz but without descending into
silliness. Her use of the word "Czechoslovakian" (which
alerts Alex to the fact that something's up) could have proved annoying,
but manages to avoid doing so. Her logic that Topolsky's insistence
on taking attendence means she's an alien hunter is charming, as are her
warnings about the eraser room. Is she speaking from person
experience when she says that it's "taken some of the best of
us"? The
major plot development concerns the arrival of Ms. Topolsky at the
school. Despite Maria's usual wackiness, she's obviously neither the
substitute geometry teacher or guidance counsellor that she claims to be,
and her unheard conversation with Valenti and the one that Max and Liz
overhear in the eraser room provide plenty of questions for future
episodes. Further
questions are asked when the FBI takes away all Valenti's files and by
Michael's vision when he takes the key from the thermos. So
another winning episode as the series continues to get off to a cracking
start, with plenty to keep the viewers guessing as to which way things are
headed. Back
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