Written by Eva McKenna
Directed by Laura Petzke
New episodes air Monday on CW

by Emily Maesar, Staff Writer

We are truly in the final windup of Roswell, New Mexico season three and I feel like it’s really hitting its stride. Not always perfectly, of course, but it feels like the show actually knows where the last two episodes are going and how it plans on getting there. Something that lacked quite a bit in the first half of the season.

In a continuation of last week’s episode, we open with Liz and Heath being held captive by Jones. Heath has been tasked to build a new version of what Liz used to separate Jones and Maria, while Jones is propositioning Liz to help him with his plan. It’s very super villain dinner vibes… and it’s a lot of fun. Silly, certainly, but fun.

The gang gets together to try and plan out their angle of attack on the house where Jones is keeping their friends, after Dallas gets a message from Heath. I’d point out that this would be a great time for Dallas and Rosa to have a little convo, but apparently that’s not of interest. Which is fine, but it speaks to my larger complaint about character building versus plot building that the show has been leaning into.

So, the plan is this: Max and Dallas will go to the cave and Max will hide in the honeycomb cave. Rosa and Isobel will use Rosa’s hearing powers to try and find Isobel’s mother’s sword so she can use it to fight Jones. And Michael will make some alien-proof, power dampening handcuffs for them to (hopefully) use on the evil dictator once they have him knocked down.

While the alien crew starts working on their individual plans, Jones gives Liz a lot of backstory (Thanos-style) about the planet all the aliens came from, how he “saved” them, and how Liz can help him save Max and both of their planets. Heath finishes the machine, but Jones finds something else he’s been making: something to kill Jones with. Liz agrees to help Jones with his plan, though, in exchange for not killing Heath and healing the sheriff. Jones uses the newly healed sheriff to track down Max and Dallas in the cave, though, and bring Dallas back to the house so he can get the equation he needs from him.

Before the sheriff comes to find them, though, Max and Dallas have a nice, long conversation about what Dallas’s father told him. If they cannot find a way to pull Max and Jones apart, then Dallas has been tasked to kill Max and take his evil twin down with him. Which… Max understands and accepts. And that’s why I love Max! Good for him, or not, the sacrificial vibes that Max has have always been such an enduring quality to him since the pilot.

Rosa and Isobel are successful in getting the sword from where it’s been hidden, although they have to go onto Wyatt’s family property to do so. He’s back, at least for this moment, and helps them sneak around. I was relieved that it doesn’t seem like they’ll ultimately do anything romantic between Rosa and Wyatt, but it’s certainly something.

Michael, on the other hand, has a good ol’ time making some alien handcuffs and reveals that he does actually have the mind walking power that Jones does. Isobel can leap into somebody’s mind and compel them, but Michael and his father can both control people and walk around in their skin (like how Jones is moving the sheriff around). And like Noah, in season one.

So, as all the pieces fall into place and the storylines all converge on the house where Jones is keeping Liz and Heath. The latter pair is planning an escape, while team alien is working on breaking in. Jones and Isobel fight with their respective alien weapons, and Michael is able to free the sheriff from Jones’s control.

Until, that is, Jones pulls (and locks) everyone in his mindscape. Which is where, I assume, the final two episodes will take place. Or at least the final battle. And I’m interested to see if the change in showrunner might alter the way the series looks at, and breaks down, its final episodes. All things considered, though, my guess is no.