"Into The Woods"
Airdate: January 26, 2000

During a Bond With Your Dad camping weekend sponsored by the school, our insipid heroes go in search of proof of a recent sighting. What they find is a sign that indicates that the fourth alien has returned.

This Thania St. John-penned episode shifted the focus away from Max which means that those long drawn out moments are almost entirely gone. In fact, in an interesting, but not surprising, development, Liz has been a lot more animated since she and Mono broke up. Oh sure, she still pines a bit, but since she's not been forced to make cow-eyes at him all the time, she's actually not so annoying. Go figure.

And while the most interesting, if odd, couple spent maybe a minute onscreen together, the time spent on the burgeoning couple of the nerdish Alex and the runway model Isabel wasn't so bad. Well, not bad compared to the long, drawn out, hair-pulling boring, sessions of Liz and Max making gazing in vapid adoration at one another.

However that doesn't mean I can give this episode an unequivocal thumbs up. Too many events felt like clumsy plot devices and the camping trip was only the beginning. It seemed to stretch the boundaries of believablity -- something Roswell does often -- that the heretofore headstrong Michael would so easily accept staying behind when Max and Isabel went exploring. I mean if Liz can talk her dad into letting Maria tag along, why couldn't Max ask Mr. Evans to take pity on Michael and allow him to come along?

Because the actor who played River Dog had to have a reason to show up. Duh.

And I admit it, when it became obvious that Alex (Colin Hanks) was going on the camping trip, I half expected real-life daddy, Tom Hanks to make an appearance. Ah well.

For the most part this episode wasn't offensively bad. It just sort of hovered in the bland regions of space and time. Or perhaps I've simply become desensitized to the inherent ickness of the show. Who knows?

On a side note, in this day and age of single parent families, it seems rather odd that a high school would sponsor a function limited to "fathers" and their children. It stands as both archaic and insensitive to people like Maria and Michael who have no real "fathers" to speak of. Then there's the whole idea of camping. Bugs. Cold. Dirt. Jeez. Sounds like fun. Not.

-- Linda M. Najera

Roswell airs at 9pm EST, Wednesdays on The WB.

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