Roswell
"Max in the City"

Airdate: November 27, 2000

The New York versions of Michael and Isabel prepare Max for the sit-down with the other Royal Families while his Roswell crew try and warn him that their doubles are the bad guys.

First of all, does no one die on Roswell?

In order to paint Rath and Lonnie as fully consumed by the dark side, they are shown to be in league with Nicholas. Yes, the kid who was supposed to have been baked to death by Tess' mental flame-thrower back in "Wipeout" with the rest of the Skins. I suppose the audience was to assume that his immense power saved him, but no mention is made of how he escaped being toasted. (And as the show has set up this moronic precedence, expect to see the supposedly dead Rath, Lonnie, and probably even Zan again.)

"A special kind of stupid."

Of course this is not the only rather important thing dismissed as inconsequential and therefore not in need of explanation. Unfortunately, the holes in the story tended to be more interesting than whatever it was that was going on in episode. While it is known how Nasedo came to his untimely end, the shapeshifter that was placed in charge of the New York set is mentioned once, then forgotten, his fate unknown. It's also left a mystery as to why the New York Royals were contacted for the summit meeting by Nicholas instead of being hunted down for extinction as the Roswell set was.

And is it just me or does former Trek scribe Ronald D. Moore have the same opinion of Max that I do? First there is this exchange regarding Kivar's offer to Max:

Nicholas: "Kivar wants him dead."
Lonnie: "I'd have to be a special kind of stupid not to have figured that out."

And then, after Max has returned to hearth and home:

Isabel: "So in the end what made you decide not to take the deal?"
Max: "I was going to. I was going to take the chance that Nicholas was telling the truth. But in the end I realized that... that any deal which meant leaving you and Michael behind was something I couldn't do."

Not, you notice, because he figured out that the deal was bogus and would only lead to his death. So I guess that makes Max "a special kind of stupid", huh?

But that's okay since it only makes him more worthy of Liz who stupidly tries to comfort Eva with "It's just a bad dream" after the latter relives the death of Zan in her sleep. Compare this with Maria's comforting of Brody after his abduction and you'll see which Crashdown waitress slept in the morning God gave out brains. Or it could just be that Maria is more in tune with the feelings of the people around her. Either way, Liz comes off as an insensitive, moronic boob. And do I even need to go into her scared routine during the attempted dream-walking contact with Max? Last season she blanched when asked to help Michael, and now she shies away from saving Max. Someone please explain to me how this girl manages to stand up without a spine.

All I can say is that Shiri Appleby needs to get the writers some really good Christmas presents this year or else by season's end Liz's single IQ point will be lost forever.

I suppose the real point of "Max in the City" was to setup the circumstances in which the aliens would invade and scour the Earth for the fabled Granalith. In that, it was successful. Of course it also made Max, Liz, and all of the aliens who didn't recognize that Kivar's offer was a ruse look "a special kind of stupid," but I took that bit as a bonus for me personally.

-- Linda M. Najera

Roswell airs Monday nights at 9pm EST on The WB.

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