On the anniversary of Rosa’s death, tensions are running high in the town, prompting Max to keep an extra special eye on Liz and her father. Meanwhile Michael and Isobel worry that Max’s feelings for Liz will expose them and Kyle must grapple with his own conscience.

If there was one overriding characteristic of the pilot episode of Roswell, it was silliness. Yes, it ached to be relevant with all its references to immigration and the state of the country as it stands right now, but there were too many leaps of logic, too many preposterous and unbelievable actions and speeches by characters and far too much being revealed too quickly for it to stand any real chance of being taken seriously. So how does this second episode measure up? It doubles down on the silliness.

Last time out, for example, we saw Kyle taken into the confidence of Master Sergeant Manes who showed him his secret underground bunker as he revealed details of the army’s clandestine alien-hunting project in the hope that Kyle would give him a new lead having mentioned that he had seen a handprint. That’s bonkers enough on its own, but Kyle’s decision and, more important, the way that the show allows him to get away with it are whole new levels of ‘Oh my gosh, this script really didn’t see an editor or sense check at all did it?’

This week’s relevance points are scored when a man with a Hispanic-sounding name (so that we know he’s likely an immigrant – we never get to actually see him) is in the frame for the shooting at the diner. Of course, there’s more to the whole thing, leading to a confrontation between Max and the real perpetrator which ranks highly in the ‘Nobody who wrote this has ever actually observed real human beings or done any research about how law enforcement works’ stakes. Still, it gives the show another chance to score extra woke points for having a character profess to be a feminist because he let a girl shoot a gun to show up a volatile man. Cool, I guess.

Meanwhile, Isobel and Michael (well, really Isobel) continue to worry about Max’s little indiscretion exposing their secret. They pay a visit to Liz which doesn’t go all that well, especially after Max decides to join them, and Jeanine Mason gets to do her best ‘I’m really tough’ acting (which isn’t convincing on multiple levels) before it all sort of goes nowhere.

Liz also decides to try to learn as much as possible about the death of her sister in order to attempt to feel forgiveness for what Rosa did, which involves enlisting the help of Kyle so that the show can jam the both of them together in their respective shared knowledge that aliens are real and exhibit another classic example of ‘Seriously, the world just doesn’t actually work like this’ writing.

The one part that I am enjoying is the relationship between Michael and Alex. As much as the rest of the show only ever really feels like it is playing with the idea of relevance and liberal values, it really does feel like it genuinely commits to a male gay couple and more importantly it doesn’t feel like it’s artificial or there to tick a box. Michael Vlamis and Tyler Blackburn both turn in excellent performances and honestly their troubled, on-again/off-again relationship and longing stares at one another are pretty much the only thing keeping my interest.

Verdict: With all the random hooking up (and the overt suggestion of some kink in at least one relationship) going on, this feels like Mills & Boon crossed with The X-Files, but very much leaning most heavily into the former. As a genre show, it has little to no merit, but I’m here for Michael and Alex and currently hoping they get their own spin off. 4/10

Greg D. Smith