Well, at least we’re getting somewhere now.
Roswell, New Mexico Season 4 Episode 10 FINALLY saw the breakthrough we’ve all been waiting for when the portal between the underground dimension opened up. And it ended on a great cliffhanger that puts the urgency back into the storyline, as Michael is one step closer to reuniting with his love.
But this was a bit of a boring hour outside of that excellent last-minute reveal.
Alex’s disappearance feels like it happened ages ago, and it stinks that in this time while he’s been away, we’ve had such little knowledge of where he was and what was going on.
Instead, Alex’s absence wasn’t a plot point until a few episodes back, and we only get the information dump about the new dimension in the form of Dallas and Bonnie’s scavenger hunt.
It’s nice to finally see what’s going on underneath that quicksand, though it’s just a densely-hued second Roswell. And lucky for Dallas and Bonnie that they found each other relatively quickly and didn’t have to navigate things alone because Bonnie would have been very much out of luck.
Armed with the knowledge from Theo’s message, Dallas has an idea of what they need to do to get out of there, and it leads them on quite the quest, with pitstops to stop and hear Bonnie once again lament her life as the alien kiss of death and wanting something different.
I feel for Bonnie. I really do. She’s spent her life used as a weapon, and life on Earth is so appealing because it affords her the chance to finally live a life free of taking something away from people. She can live freely and without hurting people in such a specific way. And hopefully, that happens for her.
But right now, Bonnie’s plight is so low on the totem pole.
Bonnie was a fine addition for this season, and she’s served a purpose, but knowing how close we are to not only the end of the season but the series as a whole, it’s just frustrating we spend more time on Bonnie than some of the characters we’ve invested so much time in over the years.
Dallas does what Dallas does and reassures her, and the two are able to piece together a very complex set of instructions that eventually get them to where they need to be. And when I say complex, I genuinely mean that.
Roswell has never dumbed things down, and they should never have to, but sometimes the information overloads work, and sometimes they don’t. Here it’s difficult because we haven’t seen the pocket dimension for more than a second, we only get a retelling of Theo’s instructions, and there was just a lot of parsing through a lot of information.
We were told more than we were shown, making things feel a lot more complicated.
Dallas and Bonnie’s journey simultaneously colliding with Maria, Kyle, and Michael’s because, of course, they would all be working on this at the exact same time. And the whole reveal with the console and the missing pieces is a fantastic moment.
The pieces want to be together, and Theo’s plan allows the portal’s opening through the console, which is such a full-circle moment for the series, right? And it’s especially poignant as it relates to Michael and Alex.
Poor Michael is going through it the whole hour, and you can feel his heart breaking each time he and Kyle hit a dead end.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Michael and Kyle team up, and it works because everything with Kyle works, but also because the begrudging respect they have for one another allows them to cut through the crap and get through to one another. Underneath it all, the love of Michael’s life is slipping away, and he’s petrified.
And Kyle can relate to that on a basic human level and does his best to remind him that Alex isn’t giving up on him, so he can’t give up on Alex.
Michael’s decision to walk through the portal is totally something Michael would do. And it highlights why it was vital for him to take a step back and look at all the angles before jumping into quicksand without a plan. Maybe he would have found Dallas and Bonnie eventually, or maybe he wouldn’t.
Either way, he wouldn’t have been with Kyle and Maria on the outside with the console and putting everything together. It took all three of them to get to that place in the desert and put him one step closer to Alex.
Dallas: So, uh, now what do we do?
Michael: Now we find Alex.
The next installment has to be the most highly anticipated one of the season because it hopefully includes the reunion we’ve all been waiting for.
Alex isn’t dead. It’s not something I’m willing to even entertain. But there must be a reason why Dallas and Bonnie haven’t found him and why he lost his necklace. Plus, there’s that whole communicating with them from an entire other dimension thing.
I may not have loved every aspect of this hour, but I can admit that it leaves us in a tantalizing place.
They split the rest of the hour between more Liz and Max drama and Isobel and Tezca scenes, with the former being a retread of a played-out tune between the two.
Outlaw Liz essentially sneaking her way back into Roswell was interesting on the surface, but the execution here wasn’t all that great. For starters, Liz’s demeanor and attitude should have tipped Max off MUCH sooner that something was off. Even when Liz can’t stand the sight of Max, she’s never deliberately cruel.
Everything about her was just off and literally coming off of a near-death experience the day before, I’m a little surprised Max wasn’t trying to micro-manage her a bit more. God knows if the roles were reversed, Liz would have.
They engineered the entire Shivani storyline to show Liz that she’s grown beyond the person Shivani wanted her to be. Shivani wanted her to throw her ethics out the door and do whatever was necessary to push the science to levels she could only dream of. It’s just a shame she didn’t meet Roswell, New Mexico Season 2 Liz.
Even with the alien mist coursing through her veins, Liz could see how different she and Shivani ultimately were. Shivani’s singular focus will eventually be her downfall, and you can feel for her pain because everything she’s doing is born from a place of total devastation, but Liz was right to walk away.
I enjoyed the confrontation between Max and Liz, with them both highlighting that they make many of their most irrational decisions based on fear. But how are we this far into their relationship, and these things still happen? Relationship conflict is a necessary part of television, but can we switch it up every now and then?
Watching Max and Liz earlier in the season in sync and leaning into each other and their love was the best version we’ve seen of their relationship. They felt like equals. And it was as if they’d taken all their issues and were doing their damndest to compromise and find a new normal.
But it’s two steps forward and five steps back for them, and it’s frustrating, especially after getting a taste of what they can be like when they’re not letting fear drive them.
If we’re getting anything from this plotline, it’s Max recognizing that he has to have his powers if he wants to be helpful in any way. He ran away from the blue flame, but perhaps getting his powers back and embracing something he’s so scared of will, in turn, help Liz fight her demons.
Before touching on Isobel, this hour did a subtle job of reminding us that Kyle and Isobel are 100% going to make it official before the series wraps. After so many episodes apart, their reunion was quiet and awkward, which is right on par for them, and they both got moments to let the audience know that they’re still very much into each other.
Namely, Isobel zooming in on Kyle’s smiling face was a lovely touch and highly relatable.
My prediction is a last-minute love confession between the two, which will be extremely satisfying and absolutely heartbreaking because we’ll never get to see what a full-blown relationship looks like between the two. Though, if there’s one thing the series has gotten right, it’s Isobel and the trajectory of her character.
She’s come a long way from the Isobel Evans we met, and she needed that time to grow and heal from what happened with Noah and to grow into the person who tries to help a broken woman in Tezca.
The Tezca isn’t totally evil thing is a pretty blah turn if only because this season has needed a big bad, and they had one in her. Jones was just SO good during Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 that it made me crave a consistent villain this season, and they seemed to try with Tezca, and then it was all for naught.
They are trying to turn Clyde into that bad guy, but he’s not nearly menacing enough or seemingly powerful enough. And while you could feel the tension building and building all season, we’re not getting that here.
But anyway, back to Tezca. In the end, she will probably play a significant role in stopping the Alighting (which we still don’t fully understand), and Isobel does her part to try to help her unlock her memories.
Fear was the theme of the hour, and Tezca physically fighting back against Jones was meant to help her face hers, but it ended up bringing forth a lot more fear and pain. It’s wild to feel sorry for Tezca, but you can tell how battered down she is.
But Isobel was right when she said that she had to face what she’d done if she ever wanted a chance at moving forward in life and trying to do something positive.
With three hours left, we’ve got Michael in the underground with his buddies, Max ready to embrace his powers, and Clyde still on the loose! There’s still a lot of story left to tell, folks! Let’s get strapped in for the last ride.
Loose Ends
- We don’t often get Max and Rosa working together, but I liked that they came together to help the most important person in their life.
- The morse code on the console was probably not meant to be hilarious, but it was.
- I’m not sure I fully understand Maria’s new powers, but they worked when she needed them to, so, yay?
- Speaking of Maria, the fact that we haven’t seen Greg and they haven’t even mentioned him since the premiere is so disappointing. Maria deserved her happy ending, and she and Greg were so cute together! It’s a shame we didn’t see more of them exploring things.
- Michael Vlamis has perfected the single tear.
- Kyle gives the absolute best advice, as does Dallas. And I would love to see them outdo one another in a giving-out advice contest (if those were a thing that existed.)
- We heard so much about Nora and Louise over the years when Theo was the one out here truly doing what had to be done to protect his people! Theo was a real one.
- We are definitely gearing up for the pod squad having a choice to travel back to the Oasis now that they’ve figured out Theo’s plans. So let’s start making your guesses about who leaps to return home! Right now, my money is on Dallas!
There was a lot of information dropped here and an awful lot to think about. Michael’s journey to find Alex will undoubtedly be a major highlight of the next hour, as will finding out if Max can get his powers back and what that will mean for him and Liz!
Drop me a line down below with your thoughts about the hour and what you want to see happen next! And remember to watch Roswell, New Mexico online so you don’t miss a second of the action!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.