Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 | Episode 5 “Don’t Speak” Review

Episode 5 of Roswell, New Mexico, aptly titled “Don’t Speak”, is all about secrets of the ones we love. Michael said he was going to confess to killing Rosa and the girls, but did he really do it, or is he just willing to take the fall for someone he loves? What really happened that night and who was there? Liz finally gets some answers. Meanwhile, Kyle’s trying to grapple with every new secret he finds out about his beloved father, and one’s a doozy! Roswell is full of secrets, but they’re all starting to unravel as we find out more about that fateful night in the desert. The question is, what lengths will people go to protect the ones they love?

A Father’s Secrets

I can only imagine what Kyle is feeling learning that his later father, a man he idolizes, possibly had an affair with a teen addict. It’s no wonder he wants answers. Unfortunately, the new secrets he discovers leave him more conflicted. His mom has given him a box of his father’s important belongings. Two stints in rehab, multiple affairs and an obsession with aliens is how Kyle learns that everything he knows about his dad is essentially a lie. At least, that’s how he feels. However, those aren’t the only secrets he discovers, and this next one is quite the bombshell.

An old keychain leads Kyle to his father’s old hunting cabin where Alex now lives. Kyle’s dad left the key and a letter for him when he returned from Iraq so he’d have a place to go. Kyle’s there on a mission to find out the truth about his father and Rosa, and boy does he find it. He and Alex find an underground bedroom that gives you every creepy reason to believe that the alleged affair is true. That all dissipates, though, when they find detoxing medical supplies. So maybe Mr. Valenti was just trying to get Rosa clean? You know, helping a desperate teenager like Alex says he would do instead of take advantage of one. Still, something’s off. Why keep it a secret? Well, maybe because Mr. Valenti is Rosa’s father! They find a chest full of baby stuff and a photo of Kyle’s dad holding a baby Rosa! How is Kyle supposed to handle this news?

People who talk…

Elsewhere, Liz gets herself into danger while sleuthing local alien enthusiast, Grant Green, after hearing an old 911 call of him in the desert the night Rosa died. Liz tries to interrogate him into showing her his documentary, but he’s adamant that “people who talk end up dead.” You’d think the threat of being killed might slow Liz down in her effort to find out what happened to Rosa, but nope. If anything, it pushes her to want more answers. So, she breaks into his storage building, only for him to pull a gun on her. Ever the convincing researcher, Liz breaks Grant and he shows her footage of teens floating. Turns out, someone paid him to report alien fake news. Before Grant can answer who paid him off, Wyatt Long starts shooting up the place. When Liz says they need to find a way out, Grant recites all the people who’ve died because they knew too much: generals and scientists, Rosa, Jim Valenti and now them.

While Grant gets lost in the commotion, Liz gets into a scuffle with Wyatt and ends up in a wooden crate with Wyatt dumping gasoline everywhere. Liz is scrappy, though, and doesn’t need anyone to save her. She busts out of that crate and runs as the place explodes. She may not need a man to save her, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have one. Thanks to a tip from Isobel, Max shows up with a gun and his broad shoulders for cover. They find Grant with a bullet to the head just before getting into a shootout with Wyatt. Unfortunately, Max gets shot in one of those broad shoulders of his, but at least Wyatt got arrested.

Liz later finds Max at his place after he walked out of the hospital. I can’t blame him since doctors equal tests and tests equal his alien secret revealed. Anyways, he wonders why Liz is there, and she admits to being terrified for him and feeling safe when he showed up, but her gut feeling to not trust him won’t leave. It doesn’t make any logical sense. Max says the heart isn’t logical and love will make you do things you’d never do.  That’s when she realizes he’s talking about Rosa. He’s covering for someone he loves, but who? Not Michael. He floated the teens, but his hand was broken. Max wonders how she knows what happened. Liz pulls out Rosa’s autopsy photo, only for him to be confused by the handprint. Liz then remembers Max’s hand over her mouth as he pulled her away from the fire. His hand is too big, so it couldn’t have been him. That leaves the only other person Max loves most – Isobel.

Blackouts

As Max and Michael discuss Michael’s decision to confess and the repercussions it’ll have, Noah shows up looking for Isobel. She never came home. The guys haven’t seen her either, but they lie and say she went to goat yoga (LOL). Max believes trauma is causing Isobel’s blackouts. The last one she had was in high school when she thought he was going to abandoned her. Now, she’s worried she’s losing Michael too. Michael, on the other hand, believes all the Rosa talk is causing the blackouts, and maybe they should tell her the truth. Wait, what truth???

They find Isobel in a field in her nightgown and no idea what happened. When they get her back to the truck and some nail polish remover in her, Michael says he’s not confessing because Max believes the idea is what set her off. Isobel doesn’t agree. She feels she’s just out of practice with her powers, so it’s harder. Max doesn’t believe her and questions if she’s messed with Liz’s mind before. When Michael reminds him of the drive-in, he realizes they suggested doing it because it’s worked before… when they sent Liz away after high school. They try to defend themselves against his “dangerous crush” that could threaten their lives. They argue about lying to protect the people you love. Max says he hasn’t been happy since Liz left, and the only thing that got him out of bed in the mornings is how much he loves Michael and Isobel. Awwww! Right now, though, he’s too angry and needs to see Liz, so he gets Isobel to locate her. When she tells him Liz is in trouble, he takes off with Michael’s truck and gun.

After Noah leaves Isobel, Michael comes back out. For the first time, we see Isobel truly vulnerable and it’s heartbreakingly nice. She doesn’t know how to feel about her husband because he doesn’t know her because she doesn’t know herself. Michael suggests that maybe they start telling the truth to the people they love because secrets only tear everyone apart. “At least there are no secrets between the three of us. Not anymore.” Isobel notices he’s not saying something and asks what it is. Michael states that he didn’t kill those girls, but she knows who did. She always has.

Dun dun dun!! Isobel killed the girls! But why??

Notable Mentions

• Isobel first wakes up in the middle of nowhere with an alien sign in the dirt. I’m thinking that will be of some significance at some point.
• Alex finds a piece of glass with reflecting symbols hidden in the wall of the bunker at his place.
• Liz goes to her interview at the hospital and says her previous study was controversial, but all she’s ever wanted to do is heal “what otherwise might be irreparable.”

• I loved how Alex kept reassuring Kyle that Mr. Valenti was a good guy who’d help any desperate teen, unlike his own abusive and homophobic father. These guys were friends as kids, but Kyle became a bully so his friends wouldn’t think he was gay like Alex, yet Alex doesn’t hold it against Kyle. Instead, he chooses to lift Kyle’s doubts of his dad, whom he idolizes.
• Noah taking time from Isobel because he found a bunch of empty nail polish remover bottles and she can’t tell him the truth shredded my heart. ☹

Roswell, New Mexico returns February 26th at 9/8c on The CW!