Roswell: The Complete First Season

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

I must admit that when Roswell first premiered back in 1999, I was one of the skeptics who didn’t want to give it a chance. I’m not sure if it was because of all of the other sci-fi series that I was already hooked on, or if it was the concept itself, but something just didn’t sit right with me about it.

The basic storyline was initially so simple that it really was quite brilliant. The supposed UFO crash in 1947 Roswell, New Mexico did actually happen; it wasn’t a weather balloon and there was a government cover-up. After approximately 50 years in incubation pods 4 alien / human hybrids emerged into the desert and now appear to be normal high school students living among us. Their struggle to uncover who and what they are while constantly trying to avoid being discovered by anyone else (including their adoptive human parents) is the driving force behind each show. Oh, and I forgot to mention that there is also the most perfect ‘Romeo and Juliet’ story line between Max Evans (Jason Behr) alien king turned high school hunk and Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) innocent but sexy as hell high school science wiz, that at times is so well acted that it reminds us what true love is supposed to look like.

This is also, obviously, a show that speaks to the outcast in all of us. Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess all have these amazing gifts and abilities inside of them that they are forced to hide from the world for fear of persecution. Many of us can relate to hiding the best parts of ourselves because they make us different from everyone else.

I think that once I realized that that aspect of the show not only existed but permeated each and every episode, that’s when I became intrigued enough to start watching regularly. The cool alien powers, the ridiculously hot cast, they were all just a means to an end. There was a depth behind these characters and the show in general that is rare on television. (Especially on the WB where the show began it’s run.)

In the pilot episode Liz, a local hometown girl working in her parent’s alien themed diner is accidentally shot when a gun misfires during a petty argument between two redneck patrons. Risking total exposure to the outside world for the very first time, Max runs to her side and heals her wound; after which he begs her not to reveal the truth about what really happened to anyone. When she later asks him why he risked so much to help her, he simply responds, “It was you.” With that an amazingly deep and passionate love between the two characters is born.

Of course love, especially on TV, can never be that simple.

The first season is full of episodes which deal with the aliens “coming out” process if you will to a small select group ...