Isobel’s treatment takes a turn for the worse, leading Michael and Liz into a desperate alliance. Max turns to his mother to try to solve the mystery of the symbols. Alex takes some unexpected action against his father.

The surprising thing about Roswell as the show progresses is how it keeps revealing hidden sides to its characters, and how those sides quite often flesh out those characters in whole new ways. Michael was an early example, portrayed as the wild-child rebel without a cause of the alien siblings who has gradually turned out to be the noble, self-sacrificing and quite brilliant member of the trio, whereas Isobel has gone from the sensible, together adult of the group to the fragile one everyone else acts to protect.

This week, it’s the turn of Alex Manes and Kyle Valenti in their respective ways. Alex reveals a ruthless, efficient side we’ve never glimpsed before as he uses his skills and training to confront his father in a more direct way than we could have expected. Kyle, meanwhile gets to reveal a bit of who he actually is under all that bluster, and why despite his awful jock past and some recent terrible decision-making, he’s actually a damned good doctor and more of an honest man than we might expect.

Roswell also does unexpected alliances quite well, and it’s a blast watching Liz and Michael get over their mutual distrust as they are faced with a common goal – saving Isobel’s life after she finds herself in a world of hurt that even Max’s powers seem unable to do much about. When you think about it, it makes sense that Liz the geeky scientist and Michael the naturally gifted genius would work well together, and that proves the case, the co-operation on a professional basis helping them to find some common ground personally. When Michael opens up to Liz about something from the past, it’s refreshing that the show doesn’t take it (as others would have) as an opportunity to start fresh drama – these are characters which grow over time, and a revelation that might have sent Liz off in a huff weeks ago is now something she just takes in her stride.

We also get to meet Max and Isobel’s mother for the first time, and oh boy, is it hard not to feel sorry for her. Someone who has loved her adopted kids since she took them on, but has felt naturally excluded by their mutual closeness (much like Michael himself), it’s rough seeing her deal with the fact that even at her daughter’s apparent lowest ebb (remember, she’s supposed to be in rehab), she doesn’t need her as much as she apparently needs her brother. The conversation as to the origin of the symbol provides some interesting results though, and makes me think that we are going to see a shifting again of the spotlight among the siblings soon.

Verdict: Juggling everything it does nicely, and with a lot more sci-fi starting to be thrown into the mix. Things are only getting more interesting. 8/10

Greg D. Smith