ROSWELL on PLANET-SF

PLOT

In the woods, a couple are making out in the back of a truck. In the sky, lightning flashes, along with a bright white light, which causes the lights at the Crashdown to flicker.

I hate the start of a cold. That little tickle that tells you something’s about to happen that you know you can’t prevent, something that could be mild if you do all the right things, or could knock you off your feet if you’re not careful.

Liz is taking echinacea for her cold when Maria shows up, declaring that it’s the first day of the rest of their lives. She asks Liz if she’s tired of being a slave to men, and opens up her uniform, but only to show off a navel ring, which she then reveals is a fake.

Liz then borrows the ring to kid her father that she’s had her nose pierced. He tells her that she’s so busy these days that they don’t even get a chance to talk and suggests that they go on the fathers’ camping trip this weekend. Liz isn’t too keen and claims that most people have sort of outgrown it.

She’s saved by the sudden entrance of an excited-looking Milton, who’s looking for Max. Later at the UFO Center, Milton briefs Max on the sighting. Max points out that Frazier Woods is a big place, but Milton knows where the police are looking, which is near the Indian reservation. Valenti interrogates the man who reported the sighting.

Maria walks through the school hallways, attracting attention from a lot of guys, which she tells Liz is due to an aqua bra, "all the fun of implants without the invasive surgery part." The pair then notice Michael entering the eraser room while Alex hands out fliers for the camping weekend. Liz wonders if Maria and Alex want to go, but neither is at all keen.

Alex then spots Isabel, and tells her there’s a Fellini retrospective at the art house theatre on Friday. She’s not keen on that but suggests they watch a regular movie instead.

Isabel then joins Max and Michael in the eraser room, where Max fills them in about what he learned from Milton. Valenti has closed off a four-square mile area of Frazier Woods and Max suggests that he and Isabel go on the camping trip at the weekend.

Liz’s dad catches her coming out of her bathroom half-dressed and after apologising suggests they go on the camping weekend, where he can get to know her friends. She agrees to go but doubts that Max, Isabel and Michael will be going.

Michael has a bust-up with Hank and storms out of the trailer. He sees River Dog,, he asks Michael if he saw the sighting, which he knows is real because he’s seen it before.

At the Crashdown, an anxious Liz bribes Maria to accompany her on the camping weekend. Liz’s dad sees her handing over the cash, while Maria hands Liz a bag containing some more echinacea and goldenseal for her cold.

Kyle waits at the sheriff’s office because he and Valenti are supposed to be picking up a new tent. Valenti shows up, complaining that the hiker has sold his story and tells Deputy Hansen that he wants the woods combed before Agent Stephens and the FBI show up. He tells a dejected Kyle that he won’t be able to go with him on the camping trip.

At the Crashdown, Max, Isabel and Michael discuss the sighting, which Max believes is their first real proof. However, Michael thinks that they’re already had proof - River Dog, who he believes is the fourth alien and their father. Isabel tells him that she doesn’t think so.

Across the Crashdown, Alex is talking with Liz and Maria, and asking whether Isabel is glancing over at him. He tells them that it’s unbelieveable that he and Isabel are going out on a date. In fact, he thinks that it’s a joke that Liz and Maria are both in on. After he’s gone, Maria uses Alex’s behaviour as an example of how Czechoslovakians have a weird effect of humans and tells Liz to stay away from them. Liz claims that she is, but Maria doesn’t believe her since Max has been staring at her since he came into the café. Max comes over to pay and tells Liz that he hasn’t seen her in a couple of days. Maria explains that they’ve been busy, and they have dates with a pair of college guys at the weekend, telling Liz that it’s for her own good.

Alex chats to Isabel about their plans for the night, but she has to cancel because she’s going on the camping weekend, which is coincidence since Alex is also going…

The party assembles in the school parking lot. The Whitmans aren’t really prepared and Max and Isabel claim that they’ve got a new policy of joining in. Liz’s dad tells Liz and Maria that it’ll be good to get away from any outside influences but the girls are more concerned when they see Max is going on the trip as well. Maria suggests they claim that the college guys had midterms and they’ll meet them next week in Albuquerque.

Kyle is less than thrilled about being left with Coach Clay, but Valenti shows up with a new tent, explaining that the sheriff’s office will be able to get hold of him if they need to. Alex’s dad tells him that being so close to the supposed sighting makes him nervous, but Valenti says that it’s nothing to worry about. However, when he notices Max and Isabel are going on the trip, he orders extra men be stationed on the perimeter.

At the campsite, everyone is looking for a spot to pitch their tent. Max suggests a spot close to the trees so they can get away easier, but Isabel thinks it’s crazy since Valenti is with them. Max tells her that this is why they have to do it - if the sighting’s real they have to find what’s there first. Coincidentally, Valenti’s cell phone reception is best next to Max and Isabel’s campsite. The Whitmans and the Parkers also pitch their tents in the same place.

That night, Kyle tells one of James Valenti Snr’s stories about aliens, Max plays cards but deliberately loses to Liz’s dad and Isabel and Alex go stargazing. Alex tells her that it’s much better than seeing a movie and since they didn’t go on their date tonight, he wonders if they can do something next Friday. Isabel tells him that she thought they were just going to have fun, it can’t be anything like an actual date.

Max asks Liz if she’s going to always give him the cold shoulder and she replies that she thought it wanted it like this. Max tells her that he just wanted to slow done, not screech to a halt, at which Liz tells him that he should let her in - she knows he’s there because of the sighting.

Liz goes back to her tent where she finds her dad going through her stuff. He holds up the bag Maria gave her and asks Liz to explain, which she does. He tells her that he didn’t know what to think of it and that he doesn’t feel a part of her life any more.

I guess everyone has their reasons for keeping people away, an instinct to protect yourself from getting hurt. It’s part of human nature. I just Max would understand that…that he would realise that he’s not that different from us at all. Maybe then we’d have a chance.

That night, Max and Isabel sneak off. Liz follows them and later runs into them. Isabel tells Max that it’s a mistake getting everyone involved just as Maria shows up with a flashlight. She assumes that Isabel is there to talk Max and Liz out of going into the woods, but Liz her the real reason. Isabel and Max walk off, followed by Liz and eventually, Maria.

An hour later, Max says that they’re getting close but Maria moans that it’s so cold her aqua bra has turned into an ice bra. In the distance they hear search dogs barking.

Back at the campsite, Jeff notices that Liz has gone.

Max says that they can’t outrun the search dogs. Liz tells him and Isabel to keep going and she and Maria will let themselves be caught. After Max and Isabel have gone on ahead, Liz and Maria start shouting to attract attention.

Elsewhere in the woods, River Dog and Michael are also searching when River Dog falls, apparently having broken his ankle. Michael tells him to fix it and then to tell him the truth, at which River Dog realises that Michael thinks he’s Nasedo. Michael says that River Dog knew everything about them and why would he want to help them?

River Dog tells Michael that he isn’t his father. After Michael heals his ankle, River Dog says that now they’re even, but Michael doesn’t think they’ll ever be even.

Jeff is reunited with Liz and Maria. Max and Isabel’s dad asks the officer whether they found anyone else and he points to Milton, who is being led away after being found looking for spaceship. Phillip tells the officer that Max and Isabel are missing.

After having followed them, Valenti is watching Max and Isabel when Kyle sneaks up on him asking what he’s hunting Max Evans. River Dog and Michael enter a clearing where they find Max and Isabel. River Dog tells them this is where it will be.

Valenti tells Kyle to get the hell out of there. Kyle says that it’s ironic that his dad used to listen to Kyle’s grandmother cry while her husband spent the night chasing spaceman since now he’s assumed the same role.

Isabel finds the symbol from the cave burned into the ground. Turning off their flashlights, they hold our they hands to the symbol, causing it to glow. River Dog tells them that it’s a sign that Nasedo is back.

Valenti enters the clearing but Max is able to use his powers to erase the alien symbol while Michael is blocking Valenti’s view. Valenti wants to know what they were looking at, but Max just thanks him for finding them since they’ve been lost for hours.

Later, Valenti visits his father in a retirement home. His father is having trouble eating some pears and Valenti tells him that maybe he was right all along before helping him with the pears.

CAST

Garret M. Brown takes over the role of Phillip Evans, Max and Isabel's father.

Tom McCleister had a recurring role as Ike on MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN.

CONTINUITY

Roswell's Mayor is Mayor Higgins.

Alex's middle name is Charles (his comment about "Alex Charles Whitman" could mean that "Alex" is his actual first name).

At last year's camping weekend, Kyle ate five bratwurst. This year, he's planning to break the all-time record by eating six.

Kyle tells one of James Valenti Snr's stories: "that summer, they found five cows, all of them mutilated with surgical precision on Haddie Wexler's farm. When she died two months later they did an autopsy, and sure enough, they found perfectly bored holes in her skull just where she claims the aliens made them when they abducted her that night. That skull is now buried deep somewhere within Area 51."

NOTES

Powers used in this episode are Max changing his cards so he loses the hand to Liz's dad, Michael healing River Dog's ankle and Max erasing the alien symbol.

It's all change on the Max and Isabel's father and Michael's home front!

Why does Max wait until the morning after Milton told him about the sighting before telling Michael and Isabel? And why meet in the Eraser Room?

COMMENTS

Not for the first time, the idea of secrets is a focal point of a ROSWELL episode, including Liz and her father, Max and Liz and Kyle and his father.

It's just a shame that it all feels a little too contrived, especially the scenes between Liz and Jeff. This might have worked better in the context of the books, where the fate of her sister Rosa is a recurring theme between Liz and her parents. Here, however, there's no real justification for Jeff thinking that his daughter is doing drugs apart from misunderstanding what Maria is giving her. The issue of Liz's privacy also feels unrealistic - with a 16-year-old daughter, surely knocking would be a force of habit by now?

Michael is also behaving rather strangely in this episode. You would have expected him to be the one urging the others to check out the sighting but here he seems rather uninterested about it until River Dog tells him that it's real. Given his previous obsession with following up leads, it seems out of character for him to be less concerned about it than Max. His belief that River Dog is both Nasedo and their father seems rather strange since there's never been any evidence that the fourth alien is their father.

Despite all that, there's plenty of good stuff to enjoy. The alien mythology is expanded a little with the revelation that River Dog knows that the symbol means that Nasedo is back, and Valenti continues to be more than the two-dimensional bad guy that he could so easily have been. It's just a shame that we don't get to see a resolution to his scenes with Kyle that presumably prompt him to visit his father.

Maria provides plenty of comedy moments - her opening scene where Liz isn't sure just what she's doing, her non-invasive surgery and her whole fantasy life. There's also some sweet scenes between Alex and Isabel. BACK TO THE TOP

INTO THE WOODS

Written by THANIA ST. JOHN

Directed by NICK MARCK

STARRING
SHIRI APPLEBY
Liz Parker

JASON BEHR
Max Evans

KATHERINE HEIGL
Isabel Evans

MAJANDRA DELFINO
Maria DeLuca

BRENDAN FEHR
Michael Guerin

COLIN HANKS
Alex Whitman

NICK WECHSLER
Kyle Valenti

and WILLIAM SADLER
Sheriff Jim Valenti

GUEST STARRING
JOHN DOE
Geoffrey Parker

NED ROMERO
River Dog

GARRET M. BROWN
Phillip Evans

ROBERT F. LYONS
Hank Whitmore

TOM McCLEISTER

TONY PAPENFUSS

TED ROONEY

with JOHN CULLUM
James Valenti, Sr.

and STEVE HYTNER
Milton Ross

CO-STARRING
JASON PECK
Deputy Hansen

JOHN MICHAEL VAUGHN
Deputy Stone

STAN SELLERS
Receptionist

TREVOR WRIGHT
Cute Guy

US/UK TRANSMISSION DETAILS
The WB: 26 January 2000
Sky One: 23 March 2000
BBC2: 30 November 2000

EPISODE RATING: 7/10

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