Michael and Isobel interrogate Jones in their search for some way to save Max, but discover more about their own heritage along the way. Maria starts taking some big risks. Alex pursues a mystery. Liz makes a big decision.

If the first episode of this new season of Roswell New Mexico was breathless, this one slows down a fair bit, though that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot packed in here. This episode is dense.

Having awoken Jones and placed him in a cage that Michael has constructed, Isobel and her brother start interrogating him. Their hope is that they can find information that will assist them in saving Max from the fate he seems to have accepted. The only problem is that they are coming at this from different angles – Isobel genuinely wants to learn all she can from Jones whereas Michael would rather the bare minimum of interaction and then a swift terminal conclusion.

That lack of unity means that it can be difficult to work out whether Jones is playing around with the pair of them as part of some longer game or not. But regardless, he’s quite the talker once he gets going, and the two of them start to learn an awful lot more about where they came from and why. If I’m honest, this is not the best way that this could have been handled. Much as the show has obviously had a budget top up and never really looked poor on that front in the first place, there’s a world of difference between genre japes in the desert and actually showing us flashbacks of a whole alien world. The combination of Max’s long monologues and the extremely minimal, bare-bones aesthetic the show is able to give us in those visual flashbacks just doesn’t really work, and I started to wish that they had left the visuals alone entirely.

Maria meanwhile is freaking out having had the extended vision at the end of last week’s episode which determined that Max wasn’t the one in the coffin and that Alex felt that they had ‘covered up a murder all over again’. Determined to prevent said murder if she can. Maria starts taking some fairly bold risks to try to stimulate more visions, directly against the wishes of everyone who loves her and realises that each vision kills her brain a little more.

Liz and co-worker Heath have that awkward morning after vibe, as do Max and Anatsa, but it ends up panning out in very different ways for each of them, meaning that one of this eternally star-crossed pair of lovers may well be in for disappointment in the short term when they finally, and inevitably, meet up again. Don’t try to tell me that Max and Liz aren’t destined for one another, because I won’t believe you, and neither, I suspect, will any of the fans of the show.

Alex ends up pursuing an intriguing lead which takes him to the heart of an even bigger mystery. To be brutal, this is another part of the episode that doesn’t quite work as well as might have been hoped for. Tyler Blackburn is usually one of the stronger performers in the show but I have always believed his affection for Michael and his general romantic messiness far more than his soldier alter ego. Here, a sort of super smart Sherlock type vibe is added to the mix, and it comes off as awfully contrived and unconvincing.

And speaking of Michael, Jones’ revelations strike him pretty deeply, setting him wondering about exactly who he is and what his part in all that he and Isobel are slowly learning about might be. The answer may well prove to be the most explosive revelation the show has delivered yet – if Jones is to be believed.

And there’s Rosa, feeling spectacularly guilty about having overdosed Wyatt on a memory wiping drug. Except, the drug has had the most unexpected effect on young Wyatt, and that may be a good thing. Although can it ever be a good thing if it’s been achieved in a bad way? I suspect this is just one of the many thorny issues with which the show intends to wrestle this season.

Verdict: Some bits don’t work, but overall this is still solid. It needs to stop with the prep and crack on with the meat of the thing fairly soon though. 7/10

Greg D. Smith