Roswell 2.8: "Max in the City"
Written by Ronald Moore
Directed by Patrick Norris
In which Max is given the option to return to his homeworld if he hands over the granilith, unaware that Rath and Lonnie have been working with his enemies from the start…
Status Report
In the previous episode, several new plot elements were tossed into the science fiction mix, all pertaining to the situation back on Antar and Max’s apparent destiny. The writers were under the impression that the series had a limited shelf life, and with only a few episodes left of the original second season order, there was a need and desire to deal with the big picture and turn back to resolving character arcs. Because the fate of the series was in doubt, however, the writers had to leave the Antar situation open for future exploration. The fact that this avenue was never explored doesn’t take away from this episode, but then, there’s more than enough for this episode to handle.
It doesn’t help that the episode was also part of a sweeps stunt, the fourth episode in an intentionally sci-fi-heavy run of November episodes designed to emphasize what the network felt was the most likely draw for new viewers. Bringing Max and Tess to New York City, however, works on a thematic level by placing him in isolation. Without Isabel and Michael to directly influence his decisions, Max is forced into the leadership role he is destined to assume.
The teaser continues the mixture of good and bad plot points that pervaded the previous three episodes. It’s good to see that Lonnie and Rath are working with Nicholas, as it adds something to the sinister edge of the dupes, but that relationship is never fully defined. Nicholas’ survival is never explained, nor is it clear when he contacted Lonnie and Rath to develop this scheme. One thing, however, is made very clear: the dupes were the “rejects”, the hybrids that were considered a contingency, should the Roswell Four be compromised.
In terms of style, one has to admire the dupes’ lair. They certainly make the underground of NYC look like an interesting place to crash. It’s a little hard to believe that they would have all of that, including the pods, hanging around in relatively plain view, but it’s quite probable that the dupes were able to scare away potential thieves and interlopers right from the beginning.
One oddity is the characterization of Rath. While Lonnie is just as conniving and dangerous as she was in the previous episode, Rath seems to get “dumbed down”. For example, the blank stare during the conversation with Nicholas, and then his boorish behavior with Max and Tess in the dupes’ lair. Brendan played Rath with a more subtle intelligence in the first half of the story, so it doesn’t quite track when he starts acting less clever in this episode.
The writers finally address the fact that the characters run off without telling their parents, something that never would have worked in the first season. The excuse is tenuous at best, especially when Isabel notes that Max is missing Thanksgiving dinner. Wouldn’t that make the Evans suspect something unusual? It doesn’t quite explain how everyone else can run around without a problem, but it’s something.
The events of “The End of the World” really come back to haunt Liz in this episode, especially in terms of her relationship with Maria. It makes sense that rumors would start to fly, considering how popular Kyle is and how public Liz and Max were in the first season. Perhaps Liz was distracted, but she really should have considered that Maria would hear about it and feel betrayed by Liz keeping it a secret. Once Liz tells Maria the truth, of course, the slow but steady process of bringing Liz and Max back together begins, even if it’s not very clear.
The meeting with the Emissary is a nice touch, especially when it comes to explaining the role of alien abductions in the “Roswell” mythos. This explanation for alien activity on Earth makes more sense than the presence of the Skins, especially when it’s made very clear that the hybrids were only able to get to Earth so quickly because of the power of the granilith. It’s never explained how the Skins got to Earth so soon after the hybrids were sent out, something that represents a major plot hole.
Rath’s explanation of the “royal seal” brings up something far more annoying, however. In the first season, it was revealed that the five-star formation was indicative of a specific conjunction of the constellation Aries with the planet Venus. This coordinated with a specific time, when Nasedo was returning to Roswell to contact the hybrids. (The reason for the timing was never entirely clear, but if that wasn’t the point, then why highlight the timing of the conjunction?) The five-star formation was also used as something of a map, to point the hybrids to specific places in the Roswell region (as in “Blind Date”).
This episode, taken in context with the rest of the second season, strongly suggests that the five-star formation was chosen intentionally to mirror that of the “royal seal”. That makes sense, but the explanation regarding the seal does not. One cannot create a static map of a planetary system to designate the location of planets; planets, after all, are constantly in motion respective to one another.
One could assume that Rath meant that those were actually a star system in the sense that they were a “system of stars”, five worlds surrounding five different stars, all linked together under one kingdom. If that’s the case, of course, then it makes slightly more sense. Unfortunately, one would then have to ask the very obvious question of how the royal seal came about, since there would have to be some distant perspective well outside of the kingdom to allow the five stars to fall into such a close formation!
This adds a ridiculous amount of complexity to the very simple question of Antar’s actual nature. If Antar was the world surrounding the red giant star that collapsed, and the collapse was the result of a war that began 50 years earlier, then the science falls apart, as described in the review for the previous episode. If not, and the five-star formation is accurate, then what the hell does that red giant business have to do with anything?
It’s entirely possible to conceive of a scenario that puts all of this in a relatively simple context. For instance, the granilith is supposed to be a religious symbol, something afforded to it based on the potential power it represents. Whoever holds the granilith can do some serious damage, if it’s in the wrong hands. It also makes faster-than-light travel possible, since as Rath says, space is otherwise rather big in terms of short-term vacation plans.
So, it could be this simple: the ruler of the five worlds doesn’t live on any of the five planets. Instead, the monarchy was established on a neutral world that was only found and settled after someone used the granilith to get there (in an act that could have established the monarchy in the first place). That world could have been the one orbiting the red giant star. From the monarchy world, the five stars of the kingdom would look close enough together to form the “royal seal”.
The war could have started when Xan took the throne, moving off his family’s homeworld using the granilith to the world of the monarchy. While he was gone, Kivar could have taken control of his family’s homeworld (Antar), and with Vilandra’s help, launched the attack that killed the Royal Four and sent the red giant star into premature collapse. Thus, Kivar could now rule on the world that Xan’s family should rightfully control. Before the end, Xan’s mother would have sent the hybrids to Earth with the granilith, ensuring that the power would remain in the correct hands.
Granted, this scenario has problems as well. There’s no reason to think that the five stars would be close enough together to allow 50 years of unremitting warfare, since star formations are deceiving; stars can actually be thousands of light-years away from one another, yet look close together from a given point of view. It also doesn’t explain where the Skins come from, since the hybrids would presumably be able to live on their old homeworld, while the Skins were unable to survive in Earth’s atmosphere without protection.
There’s also the small matter of why Earth was so important to the kingdom. This theory of the Antar kingdom allows that conflict to take place in another galaxy, as hinted in “Sexual Healing”, but that re-introduces two important questions: why choose Earth, and how did the Skins get to Earth without the granilith? It might have been interesting for the writers to delve into that side of the mythology, but it was never addressed. In fact, since Antar life is supposedly hostile to Earth life, it’s even harder to conceive of a reason why Earth would be chosen. As for the Skins, there’s simply no explanation. One can only speculate that the Skins might have been able to use the space-time distortion of the granilith’s passage to follow the hybrids at a similar speed.
Despite the weaknesses in the theory, there’s nothing in the series’ canon to pin down the nature of the Antar conflict and how the kingdom works. There’s a reason for that: the writers were trying to satisfy the demands of the network rather than the demands of the story. The story only requires that Max be aware that his former incarnation was killed and supplanted by Kivar, an unpopular rival, and that his destiny is to reverse that bad fortune. The rest feels like it was thrown together simply to add drama, and this is especially the case in this episode.
One very good complication, however, pertains to the strange friendship between Liz and Ava. Some believe it possible that Nasedo intentionally switched Tess and Ava, ensuring that the less stable and more self-serving version of Ava would manipulate Max, Isabel, and Michael. It’s certainly possible, since Ava seems more like the Roswell hybrids than Tess. At the same time, the writers hadn’t worked out the Tess storyline at this stage of the game, so there’s no reason to think that the possibility was intended. It simply comes to mind in retrospect.
Max’s conversation with Isabel is probably one of the more telling of the whole episode. Max contemplates what it means to go back to their original planet, and he finds himself, thanks to the circumstances, making the decision for Isabel and Michael without their true consent. It’s the first time that the isolation of leadership falls on his shoulders, and perhaps even worse, he has to consider leaving them behind. There’s little wonder why there’s a trace of bitterness when he confronts Rath on the way to the summit.
The summit itself doesn’t make sense unless the Skins represent a rival faction on Max’s original homeworld. If there are five ruling families, one for each world, then why are there six representatives? Four of the worlds are neither Max’s people nor Skins, so that means there are six races on five worlds. One could argue that Larek and Max’s people are the same, but that’s certainly not mentioned in the episode.
It’s also not clear why the other representatives would expect Max to comply with Kivar’s offer. Everyone at the table had to know that Max would get shafted the minute he handed over the granilith. It’s also rather disappointing that Kivar dominated the entire summit; there wasn’t one counterproposal, one opposing point of view, nothing. Max was forced to either submit to Kivar or gain the enmity of the rest of the ruling families. Where was the upside to that scenario?
It’s also rather clear that Nicholas is playing Lonnie to the hilt. She’s under the impression that she’s the one playing him, but in reality, his only interest is gaining possession of the granilith. Otherwise, getting home isn’t an option and the entire debate of who gets what is moot. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Tess openly praise Max the way she does. In retrospect, it definitely sounds like Tess is trying to subtly convince Max that taking the deal is the right choice, since it plays into her hands.
If the summit itself is disappointing in its lack of actual dialogue, then the revelation about Liz makes up for it. The first season hinted at some possible biological changes to Liz, especially in terms of her connection to Max. This episode confirms that Liz was changed permanently when her life was saved, and that only makes sense. The hybrids are effectively humans with their full genetic potential activated, so when Max healed Liz, he probably unlocked something of that within her. The “flashes” are definitely a symptom of that, and the same depth of connection makes it possible for Liz to communicate with Max like she does in this episode.
Considering all of the variables at play, and how easily he could have questioned Kivar’s honesty, Max’s reply to Nicholas is rather confrontational. It makes it very easy for the others to interpret his attitude as pompous and self-serving. Even Larek, someone who was saddened by Zan’s death, seems to think that Max made a mistake. Why didn’t any of them attempt to argue or offer a compromise position? Max is hardly the one with the attitude problem in this case, even if he was a stubborn idealist in his previous incarnation!
Lonnie and Rath make their inevitable move, and then the writers drop the ball entirely. One could assume that they were leaving options open for future episodes (much as the summit left the Antar situation unresolved), but even so, it’s impossible to figure out what the hell happened with Tess and the dupes. Did she kill them, or did she let them go, possibly cutting a deal to get them home when her plan for Max came to fruition? It’s so vague as to be meaningless, and it’s one hell of a copout.
Max returns to Roswell feeling closer to Tess than ever, yet willing to attempt friendship with Liz again. The situation with Kyle, however, still stands between them. Max has also decided to trust Isabel, regardless of who she once was. As it turns out, Max was ready to trust Nicholas and make the deal, but he couldn’t leave Isabel and Michael behind. That being the case, why tell the other representatives that the granilith was central to his reasoning?
While Kivar’s struggle to gain more and more control over Antar would continue to simmer in the background for the rest of the series’ run, this is the last episode to focus so strongly on that situation. Brody’s alien abduction by Larek would come into play again in a crucial episode, but the threats against the hybrids come more from Earth and within than Antar. For all intent purposes, Kivar gets everything he wants, and Max chooses free will over destiny. The problem for Max now, of course, is seeing that decision through, when others aren’t so ready to allow that decision to stand.
The audience is left with the impression that there’s more to come in terms of revelations about Antar and the ongoing war. What is said sounds contradictory and doesn’t make an awful lot of sense. There really was no reason for a summit meeting, given the content of the dialogue, except as an excuse to send Max to NYC. It’s quite clear that the writers were looking for a way to bring some plot and character threads to a relative close while leaving options open for the future. As a result, nothing feels resolved, and the episode ends with the audience feeling like something was missing.
Memorable Quotes
MAX: “The Emissary works for a temp agency?”
NICHOLAS: “Nice to see your genocidal girlfriend again. Killed anyone today?”
TESS: “Day’s not over…”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was a disappointing end to the two-part story. The summit itself was purely a gimmick, and the intrigue surrounding the ultimatum delivered to Max lacked sophistication. There were some good character moments, but the lack of resolution in the final act leaves too much unexplained. While the network was at least partly to blame, the writers could have approached this episode with a little more confidence.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
Directed by Patrick Norris
In which Max is given the option to return to his homeworld if he hands over the granilith, unaware that Rath and Lonnie have been working with his enemies from the start…
Status Report
In the previous episode, several new plot elements were tossed into the science fiction mix, all pertaining to the situation back on Antar and Max’s apparent destiny. The writers were under the impression that the series had a limited shelf life, and with only a few episodes left of the original second season order, there was a need and desire to deal with the big picture and turn back to resolving character arcs. Because the fate of the series was in doubt, however, the writers had to leave the Antar situation open for future exploration. The fact that this avenue was never explored doesn’t take away from this episode, but then, there’s more than enough for this episode to handle.
It doesn’t help that the episode was also part of a sweeps stunt, the fourth episode in an intentionally sci-fi-heavy run of November episodes designed to emphasize what the network felt was the most likely draw for new viewers. Bringing Max and Tess to New York City, however, works on a thematic level by placing him in isolation. Without Isabel and Michael to directly influence his decisions, Max is forced into the leadership role he is destined to assume.
The teaser continues the mixture of good and bad plot points that pervaded the previous three episodes. It’s good to see that Lonnie and Rath are working with Nicholas, as it adds something to the sinister edge of the dupes, but that relationship is never fully defined. Nicholas’ survival is never explained, nor is it clear when he contacted Lonnie and Rath to develop this scheme. One thing, however, is made very clear: the dupes were the “rejects”, the hybrids that were considered a contingency, should the Roswell Four be compromised.
In terms of style, one has to admire the dupes’ lair. They certainly make the underground of NYC look like an interesting place to crash. It’s a little hard to believe that they would have all of that, including the pods, hanging around in relatively plain view, but it’s quite probable that the dupes were able to scare away potential thieves and interlopers right from the beginning.
One oddity is the characterization of Rath. While Lonnie is just as conniving and dangerous as she was in the previous episode, Rath seems to get “dumbed down”. For example, the blank stare during the conversation with Nicholas, and then his boorish behavior with Max and Tess in the dupes’ lair. Brendan played Rath with a more subtle intelligence in the first half of the story, so it doesn’t quite track when he starts acting less clever in this episode.
The writers finally address the fact that the characters run off without telling their parents, something that never would have worked in the first season. The excuse is tenuous at best, especially when Isabel notes that Max is missing Thanksgiving dinner. Wouldn’t that make the Evans suspect something unusual? It doesn’t quite explain how everyone else can run around without a problem, but it’s something.
The events of “The End of the World” really come back to haunt Liz in this episode, especially in terms of her relationship with Maria. It makes sense that rumors would start to fly, considering how popular Kyle is and how public Liz and Max were in the first season. Perhaps Liz was distracted, but she really should have considered that Maria would hear about it and feel betrayed by Liz keeping it a secret. Once Liz tells Maria the truth, of course, the slow but steady process of bringing Liz and Max back together begins, even if it’s not very clear.
The meeting with the Emissary is a nice touch, especially when it comes to explaining the role of alien abductions in the “Roswell” mythos. This explanation for alien activity on Earth makes more sense than the presence of the Skins, especially when it’s made very clear that the hybrids were only able to get to Earth so quickly because of the power of the granilith. It’s never explained how the Skins got to Earth so soon after the hybrids were sent out, something that represents a major plot hole.
Rath’s explanation of the “royal seal” brings up something far more annoying, however. In the first season, it was revealed that the five-star formation was indicative of a specific conjunction of the constellation Aries with the planet Venus. This coordinated with a specific time, when Nasedo was returning to Roswell to contact the hybrids. (The reason for the timing was never entirely clear, but if that wasn’t the point, then why highlight the timing of the conjunction?) The five-star formation was also used as something of a map, to point the hybrids to specific places in the Roswell region (as in “Blind Date”).
This episode, taken in context with the rest of the second season, strongly suggests that the five-star formation was chosen intentionally to mirror that of the “royal seal”. That makes sense, but the explanation regarding the seal does not. One cannot create a static map of a planetary system to designate the location of planets; planets, after all, are constantly in motion respective to one another.
One could assume that Rath meant that those were actually a star system in the sense that they were a “system of stars”, five worlds surrounding five different stars, all linked together under one kingdom. If that’s the case, of course, then it makes slightly more sense. Unfortunately, one would then have to ask the very obvious question of how the royal seal came about, since there would have to be some distant perspective well outside of the kingdom to allow the five stars to fall into such a close formation!
This adds a ridiculous amount of complexity to the very simple question of Antar’s actual nature. If Antar was the world surrounding the red giant star that collapsed, and the collapse was the result of a war that began 50 years earlier, then the science falls apart, as described in the review for the previous episode. If not, and the five-star formation is accurate, then what the hell does that red giant business have to do with anything?
It’s entirely possible to conceive of a scenario that puts all of this in a relatively simple context. For instance, the granilith is supposed to be a religious symbol, something afforded to it based on the potential power it represents. Whoever holds the granilith can do some serious damage, if it’s in the wrong hands. It also makes faster-than-light travel possible, since as Rath says, space is otherwise rather big in terms of short-term vacation plans.
So, it could be this simple: the ruler of the five worlds doesn’t live on any of the five planets. Instead, the monarchy was established on a neutral world that was only found and settled after someone used the granilith to get there (in an act that could have established the monarchy in the first place). That world could have been the one orbiting the red giant star. From the monarchy world, the five stars of the kingdom would look close enough together to form the “royal seal”.
The war could have started when Xan took the throne, moving off his family’s homeworld using the granilith to the world of the monarchy. While he was gone, Kivar could have taken control of his family’s homeworld (Antar), and with Vilandra’s help, launched the attack that killed the Royal Four and sent the red giant star into premature collapse. Thus, Kivar could now rule on the world that Xan’s family should rightfully control. Before the end, Xan’s mother would have sent the hybrids to Earth with the granilith, ensuring that the power would remain in the correct hands.
Granted, this scenario has problems as well. There’s no reason to think that the five stars would be close enough together to allow 50 years of unremitting warfare, since star formations are deceiving; stars can actually be thousands of light-years away from one another, yet look close together from a given point of view. It also doesn’t explain where the Skins come from, since the hybrids would presumably be able to live on their old homeworld, while the Skins were unable to survive in Earth’s atmosphere without protection.
There’s also the small matter of why Earth was so important to the kingdom. This theory of the Antar kingdom allows that conflict to take place in another galaxy, as hinted in “Sexual Healing”, but that re-introduces two important questions: why choose Earth, and how did the Skins get to Earth without the granilith? It might have been interesting for the writers to delve into that side of the mythology, but it was never addressed. In fact, since Antar life is supposedly hostile to Earth life, it’s even harder to conceive of a reason why Earth would be chosen. As for the Skins, there’s simply no explanation. One can only speculate that the Skins might have been able to use the space-time distortion of the granilith’s passage to follow the hybrids at a similar speed.
Despite the weaknesses in the theory, there’s nothing in the series’ canon to pin down the nature of the Antar conflict and how the kingdom works. There’s a reason for that: the writers were trying to satisfy the demands of the network rather than the demands of the story. The story only requires that Max be aware that his former incarnation was killed and supplanted by Kivar, an unpopular rival, and that his destiny is to reverse that bad fortune. The rest feels like it was thrown together simply to add drama, and this is especially the case in this episode.
One very good complication, however, pertains to the strange friendship between Liz and Ava. Some believe it possible that Nasedo intentionally switched Tess and Ava, ensuring that the less stable and more self-serving version of Ava would manipulate Max, Isabel, and Michael. It’s certainly possible, since Ava seems more like the Roswell hybrids than Tess. At the same time, the writers hadn’t worked out the Tess storyline at this stage of the game, so there’s no reason to think that the possibility was intended. It simply comes to mind in retrospect.
Max’s conversation with Isabel is probably one of the more telling of the whole episode. Max contemplates what it means to go back to their original planet, and he finds himself, thanks to the circumstances, making the decision for Isabel and Michael without their true consent. It’s the first time that the isolation of leadership falls on his shoulders, and perhaps even worse, he has to consider leaving them behind. There’s little wonder why there’s a trace of bitterness when he confronts Rath on the way to the summit.
The summit itself doesn’t make sense unless the Skins represent a rival faction on Max’s original homeworld. If there are five ruling families, one for each world, then why are there six representatives? Four of the worlds are neither Max’s people nor Skins, so that means there are six races on five worlds. One could argue that Larek and Max’s people are the same, but that’s certainly not mentioned in the episode.
It’s also not clear why the other representatives would expect Max to comply with Kivar’s offer. Everyone at the table had to know that Max would get shafted the minute he handed over the granilith. It’s also rather disappointing that Kivar dominated the entire summit; there wasn’t one counterproposal, one opposing point of view, nothing. Max was forced to either submit to Kivar or gain the enmity of the rest of the ruling families. Where was the upside to that scenario?
It’s also rather clear that Nicholas is playing Lonnie to the hilt. She’s under the impression that she’s the one playing him, but in reality, his only interest is gaining possession of the granilith. Otherwise, getting home isn’t an option and the entire debate of who gets what is moot. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Tess openly praise Max the way she does. In retrospect, it definitely sounds like Tess is trying to subtly convince Max that taking the deal is the right choice, since it plays into her hands.
If the summit itself is disappointing in its lack of actual dialogue, then the revelation about Liz makes up for it. The first season hinted at some possible biological changes to Liz, especially in terms of her connection to Max. This episode confirms that Liz was changed permanently when her life was saved, and that only makes sense. The hybrids are effectively humans with their full genetic potential activated, so when Max healed Liz, he probably unlocked something of that within her. The “flashes” are definitely a symptom of that, and the same depth of connection makes it possible for Liz to communicate with Max like she does in this episode.
Considering all of the variables at play, and how easily he could have questioned Kivar’s honesty, Max’s reply to Nicholas is rather confrontational. It makes it very easy for the others to interpret his attitude as pompous and self-serving. Even Larek, someone who was saddened by Zan’s death, seems to think that Max made a mistake. Why didn’t any of them attempt to argue or offer a compromise position? Max is hardly the one with the attitude problem in this case, even if he was a stubborn idealist in his previous incarnation!
Lonnie and Rath make their inevitable move, and then the writers drop the ball entirely. One could assume that they were leaving options open for future episodes (much as the summit left the Antar situation unresolved), but even so, it’s impossible to figure out what the hell happened with Tess and the dupes. Did she kill them, or did she let them go, possibly cutting a deal to get them home when her plan for Max came to fruition? It’s so vague as to be meaningless, and it’s one hell of a copout.
Max returns to Roswell feeling closer to Tess than ever, yet willing to attempt friendship with Liz again. The situation with Kyle, however, still stands between them. Max has also decided to trust Isabel, regardless of who she once was. As it turns out, Max was ready to trust Nicholas and make the deal, but he couldn’t leave Isabel and Michael behind. That being the case, why tell the other representatives that the granilith was central to his reasoning?
While Kivar’s struggle to gain more and more control over Antar would continue to simmer in the background for the rest of the series’ run, this is the last episode to focus so strongly on that situation. Brody’s alien abduction by Larek would come into play again in a crucial episode, but the threats against the hybrids come more from Earth and within than Antar. For all intent purposes, Kivar gets everything he wants, and Max chooses free will over destiny. The problem for Max now, of course, is seeing that decision through, when others aren’t so ready to allow that decision to stand.
The audience is left with the impression that there’s more to come in terms of revelations about Antar and the ongoing war. What is said sounds contradictory and doesn’t make an awful lot of sense. There really was no reason for a summit meeting, given the content of the dialogue, except as an excuse to send Max to NYC. It’s quite clear that the writers were looking for a way to bring some plot and character threads to a relative close while leaving options open for the future. As a result, nothing feels resolved, and the episode ends with the audience feeling like something was missing.
Memorable Quotes
MAX: “The Emissary works for a temp agency?”
NICHOLAS: “Nice to see your genocidal girlfriend again. Killed anyone today?”
TESS: “Day’s not over…”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was a disappointing end to the two-part story. The summit itself was purely a gimmick, and the intrigue surrounding the ultimatum delivered to Max lacked sophistication. There were some good character moments, but the lack of resolution in the final act leaves too much unexplained. While the network was at least partly to blame, the writers could have approached this episode with a little more confidence.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
posted by John Keegan | 15:52
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