Rosa struggles to come to terms with exactly what the town thinks of her. Liz continues her work. Michael struggles with his feelings for Maria. Isobel finds inspiration from an unexpected source.

So, what happens when you come back to life after a decade gap and not only have to hide your very existence from your hometown but also find out some painful truths about exactly what that home town thought of you? Rosa is beginning to go down that particular rabbit hole this time out, despite Liz’s best efforts at keeping the truth from her. You can understand her point of view, given she’s innocent of the things the town blames her for, but equally there’s a rng of truth to one character trying to comfort her by assuring her that it’s not her that’s caused the divide in America.

Yes, it’s one of those overtly political entries in the Roswell canon, where the show goes beyond simple metaphor and really digs into things. Aside from the vexed question in the US of immigration and the resurgence of racism in the country, we also get comments on healthcare, an explicit namecheck of the previous president and one particular narrative thread which feels brave even by the standards of the show.

Between all the politics (which, to be fair, never feel intrusive) there’s a lot going on all over the place. Rosa is still being haunted by the… spirit, I guess, of Max, begging her to stop Liz resurrecting him. Maria is still worried about her vanished mother. Michael is wrestling with his own feelings about his mysterious mother as well as the more present feelings for Maria, Isobel is understandably struggling with the thought of carrying Noah’s child and Liz is doing her best to make some advances in her research.

All of them get sidelined in their own ways. All of them make mistakes, and all of them end up with a renewed sense of purpose which may or may not be healthy/a good thing. Some of the sources of their resolve are surprising, and overall there’s plenty going on here on both a general narrative footing as well as a deeper, reaching out to the audience one. There’s commentary buried in the story here about addiction, mistakes and redemption as well as one really, really tricky subject that I wait to see whether the show will manage to stick the landing on.

Verdict: As good as ever, telling stories and putting out messages all in one entertaining package. 8/10

Greg D. Smith