Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 | Episode 6 “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Review

Episode five of Roswell, New Mexico left with the reveal that Isobel killed Rosa and those two girls. The question is why? And how was it covered up? Thankfully, episode six picks up right where we left off. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a fun, 10-year flashback as Max explains to Liz the months leading up to Rosa’s death and exactly what happened. We get to see that Max and Michael weren’t always at each other’s throats. Rosa and Isobel were somewhat friends. Alex and Michael hooked up, and Max almost had the perfect summer with Liz. But then everything changed.

2004 – Context Matters

“There are moments that define our lives, and there are moments that divide our lives – incidents that separate us into two people: who we were before, and who we will be after. Forever.” – Max Evans

Young Isobel, Michael and Max camp out in the desert one night for, I believe, their birthday. They’re just kids enjoying themselves and having fun until the night takes a turn for the worst. When Isobel goes to the bathroom, Max and Michael discuss their new-found powers that they don’t quite understand yet, but Isobel’s scream sends them running. A man has her. Michael quickly uses his powers to throw the man off her, but when he gets back up, he has a knife. So, Max then kills him with his powers, and Michael digs a grave with his. That’s when everything changed for them. Max was a killer. Michael, an accomplice. And Isobel was broken.

In the present, Max notes to Liz that traumatic night as what caused Isobel to start blacking out, and that trauma causes memory loss. Little did he know at the time, that’s the night he lost part of his sister. All Liz cares about, though, is the night she lost her own sister, but Max tells her that the context of who they were back then matters.

2008 – “The Universe Was Ours”

Michael & Alex – Broken Souls

Looking at Michael and Alex on the outside, they don’t really seem to fit together. However, the more we dive into their backstories, the more we see that they’re not so different. Michael, a boy who escaped the abusive foster system to live in his truck and escapes the chaos in his head through music. Alex, a boy who escapes his abusive father to a tool shed. They’re both broken souls who have this undeniable draw to each other. We see that as Michael pulls Alex out of his fight with Kyle and asks if he’s okay. Again, when Alex offers Michael a place to stay in the tool shed. They almost kiss after Alex gives Michael his brother’s guitar, but Michael is hesitant and turns away. It’s not until after he hears Max talk about moments worth fighting for, that he decides to go for it.

Michael goes to the UFO Emporium where Alex works and asks if they can talk privately. Once they’re alone, Michael kisses him without saying a word. One thing leads to another and they’re back in the shed. It’s the first time Michael’s ever been with a guy, and with someone he likes as much as he likes Alex, for that matter. Unfortunately, their moment gets ruined afterwards when Alex’s dad barges in and grabs a hammer. Alex pleads with his father; saying this has nothing to do with him. Mr. Maines grabs Alex by the throat and shoves him against the wall, saying he won’t be humiliated. Michael yells at him not to touch Alex and shoves him away, but Mr. Maines grabs Michael by the hand, pushes him toward a table, and literally slams the hammer down on Michael’s hand! HOLY COW!

Max & Liz – Perfect Moments

We’ve seen the way older Max looks at Liz. We know that he’s been in love with her for as long as he can remember. Now, we get to see 17-year-old Max Evans be totally googly-eyed over Liz Ortecho, and they share such adorable moments I could cry. It all starts when she remembers his milkshake order and he’s just in awe of her. Then there’s the way he looks at her when he sees her for the first time at prom. Then there’s the moment they share after prom when Liz has just ended things with Kyle because of his fight with Alex. She admits that she wasn’t crying over Kyle, but rather her mom, whom she still needs because “she’s not done being taken care of.” They laugh over his nerdy knowledge of Shakespeare before he has to leave to find Isobel, but not before he gives her his boutonniere. 😊

Those are just little moments though. The best comes after he offers to take her to the desert to do a school project, but they go on adventure instead. They drink beer and talk about their older selves. She teaches him to dance. They almost kiss, but Liz stops herself because she’s leaving right after graduation, and she doesn’t think she can kiss him then leave. She also doesn’t want to be one of those girls that changes her plans for a guy. He holds her for a minute before suggesting that he be the one who changes his plans. That’s all he’s ever wanted to do – change his plans for her. He’d go on the road trip with her and they’d kiss in all these perfect places. It’d be the perfect summer. UGH SWOON! I need me a Max Evans.

However, just like Michael’s moment with Alex was ripped away, Max’s perfect summer plans with Liz get ripped away. A drunk Rosa catches him putting a note under the windshield wiper of their car. She shoves him away and tells him to leave her sister alone because Liz is going to get out of Roswell and be somebody. She doesn’t need a “dumb boy” to get in the way of that. How rude, Rosa!

Isobel & Rosa – What were they?

The show has been hinting that Isobel and Rosa had some sort of connection for a while. Were they friends or more than friends? We don’t know. According to Maria, Rosa hated Isobel. However, this episode still leaves us with more questions on what their relationship was like. Whenever Isobel’s in her “normal” state of mind and with Max, she totally blows Rosa off and pretends they aren’t friends. However, when Isobel is seemingly in this “blackout” state of mind, she and Rosa are friends. We see it when Rosa goes to the roof of the Crashdown after an argument with her father, and she’s happy to see Isobel there. This is also when Isobel points out her favorite constellation, Ophiuchus, which, is the name signed on Rosa’s secret notes that Liz found.

After Rosa confesses her plans to leave town because Roswell is suffocating her and she has a “father figure” who can help her stay sober, Isobel suggests they run away together instead. However, when Rosa finds her car vandalized by Kate and Jazmine because she won’t be their dealer anymore, Isobel shows up acting super weird. She sneaks up creepily behind Rosa. That’s when Rosa calls Isobel “a lot” and she just can’t deal with her right now with everything else she has going on. Well, Isobel doesn’t take this too well.

The Cover Up

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: what really happened to Rosa and those girls? The same night that Michael got his hand crushed and Rosa told Max to stay out of Liz’s life, they get a searing premonition (I guess that’s what it’s called) that Isobel’s in trouble. Michael’s the first to arrive. He finds Rosa’s car close to Kate and Jazmine’s bodies. Not far away is the cave where he, Max and Isobel were “born”, which is where he then finds Isobel clutching Rosa by the hair and her hand over Rosa’s mouth. “But I did it for you. Everything I did was for you,” she says to Rosa before dropping her body to the ground. Michael asks what she did, and all she says is that Rosa couldn’t be trusted. Max then shows up just as Isobel passes out. Michael tells him that he saw Isobel do it, and as Max checks to see if Rosa’s alive, Michael says he thinks Rosa killed them all.

Max really tries to revive Rosa, but he’s just not strong enough. Michael suggests they get out of there, call their parents and the police, but Max doesn’t want to. He doesn’t know what’s going on with Isobel, but he knows she wouldn’t do this. They blame themselves for leaving Isobel alone and not protecting her. So, now they must protect her by covering this up. Michael uses his powers to move the bodies to Rosa’s car where they buckle them up. Isobel comes to, freaking out and wondering what happened. Michael takes the blame by saying he got into a fight and the other guy wrecked his hand. So, he got drunk, ran into the girls and his telekinesis when nuts. Max tells her to take his car and let them handle it, but she refuses to leave them. They get the car to the main road where Michael uses his powers to send it speeding past them. They watch as it crashes, but Isobel says it’s not enough. So, Max uses his powers to set the car on fire.

From then on, their plans changed. Max and Michael grew apart, but they kept an eye on Isobel. Too busy trying to forget, they never asked questions on why Isobel did it. Besides, it’s not like Isobel even knew until now. Her reaction as Michael tells her in the present is proof of that, but Michael tells her that it wasn’t her. When he looked into her eyes that night, it was like she was a different person. Isobel then wonders if this is who they are – killers. She realizes that the blackouts are back, which means she’s dangerous. So she thinks it’s time they stop living in a comfortable lie and tell the truth.

At Max’s house, Liz is gutted. She points at the autopsy photo, telling him to look at what he did to her sister, but he doesn’t have to be reminded. He sees Rosa’s face every time he closes his eyes. She yells and cries at him about what he did to her family. They were targeted for ten years because the town believed Rosa killed those girls. Max tries to argue that he didn’t know that would happen, he was just a scared and stupid kid. Liz isn’t buying it. She says he was brilliant. “You were 17 and you covered up a murder for ten years! I mean, it’s incredible!” Max was going to tell her, but a few days later, when he went to find her, she was leaving. “You destroyed my sister,” she cries before shoving him, “to save yours! I never want to see you again, Max Evans.”

Roswell, New Mexico airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW!