3 bombshells from Season 1, Episode 6 of Roswell, New Mexico

If you’ve been waiting to find out the truth about what happened to our favorite Roswell characters in the past, Smells Like Teen Spirit is here to deliver.

It’s all about the flashbacks on this week’s episode of Roswell, New Mexico. We get a look back at 2004, when Max, Michael, and Isobel were just kids arguing over to celebrate their birthdays. Then we get a glimpse of 2008, when everyone was riding high on the wave of senioritis and planning for prom until the tragedy of Rosa’s death.

In the last episode, we learned it was Isobel who was responsible for killing Rosa and this week we learn exactly how it happened and what lead to that fateful night. But that isn’t the only bombshell “Smells Like Teen Spirit” dropped on us.

1. Alex’s dad is the WORST.

Okay so this one isn’t entirely a bombshell, we already knew Jesse Manes was a grade-A jerk sprinkled with homophobia and abusive tendencies, but this episode takes it to an entirely new level.

First though, let’s take a moment to admire Roswell, New Mexico’s willingness to give us a well-developed gay romance with history, chemistry, and on-screen make-out sessions just as bold and provocative as the straight ones. Their first kiss is even at an exhibit known as the UFO Emporium because teenage Alex worked there at the time (emo Alex with a soda tab necklace and piercings was totally adorable).

But the happy bubble bursts when Alex’s father catches them together in his tool shed. Things escalate fast with Jesse Manes pinning his son against a wall before breaking Michael’s hand with a hammer. I honestly wasn’t expecting for things to turn so brutal but that man is a menace.

2. Isobel may or may not have been possessed.

The big story of this episode is how exactly Rosa was murdered and what lead the Pod Squad into covering it up. In last week’s episode of Roswell, New Mexico, Isobel blacked out and had no memory of winding up in the desert. Turns out, it wasn’t the first time that has happened.

Back in 2008, it was happening with increasing frequency near prom and Rosa’s eventual disappearance. One second Isobel was becoming close friends with Rosa, inviting her to the movies and bonding over their familial struggles, and the next she was snapping at the elder Ortecho and blowing her off.

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Michael and Max both sensed growing discord with their sister but were unable to figure out what was wrong with her. All of this culminated in a strange incident where Isobel asked Rosa to run away with her. Honestly, while watching this scene I was getting the feeling Isobel was in love with Rosa.

The way she was staring at her, touching her, begging her to go with her in her departure from Roswell, all screamed a crush (at one point Isobel even tells her, “I wish I could be who I am with you all the time.”).

But instead of watching the next Thelma and Louise, we jump ahead to Max and Michael both feeling their connection pull them towards Isobel, who they find just in time to watch her kill Rosa! What follows is a cover-up of epic proportions. Michael levitates the three bodies (hence the photo) into a car and then they crash it to make it look like a fatal accident.

So is Isobel secretly a cold-blooded killer?

She seems to think so as she rants to Michael in present tense. When they were kids, Max killed someone too, someone who was trying to hurt her (as we saw in the episode opener, 2004 flashback). She wonders if that’s what they were brought to earth to do, to kill and destroy. I’m guessing there is more to the story than that since Isobel was acting completely unlike herself, as if she’d been taken over by another being (perhaps one infatuated with Rosa) but the show is keeping the truth hidden for now.

3. Liz and Max may not be endgame after all.

I don’t mean to be a downer but I can’t see a way for Max and Liz to come back from the revelation that he covered up her sister’s murder to protect Isobel. I mean Liz puts it pretty succinctly herself when she says, “You destroyed my sister to protect yours.” Sure, it’s easy to understand where Max, Isobel, and Michael were coming from. They were terrified, they were kids, they were in over their head, but it might be too much to ask forgiveness for, no matter how much they might love each other.

That said, I’m hoping this show has a long life ahead of it so there is plenty of time for Liz to grieve and come around to the idea. (After all, the characters on The Vampire Diaries did way worse things to each other with no remorse). I’m by no means saying this is a nail in the coffin of this relationship, but I do think it’s going to be a while before they can find their way back to each other if a romance is indeed in the cards.

Odds & Ends

• Isobel teasing Max about Liz: “Are you gonna tell her how her milkshakes bring  you to her yard.”
• It was nice to see the younger versions of Max and Michael getting along so well, I hope they can become closer again someday in the present.
• Is there more to the paint story than meets the eye? It was weird to see Isobel with paint on her hands with Rosa’s drawing nearby and then Rosa’s car vandalized in the same color. Was the show implying Isobel had secretly done that or was it really the two other girls, Jessica and Katie?
• We learn more about Rosa and Liz’s mom in this episode too, she was absent and drunk more often than not, but it was still heartbreaking to see Liz crying and acknowledge she’s “not done being taken care of.”
• Papa Ortecho sure comes up with some creative threats for Kyle when he comes to pick up Liz for the dance, one of which included vultures and potato chips. Also, we see firsthand the way Kyle used to bully Alex for being gay. I’m glad he’s outgrown it but it still sucked to watch it happen between two characters I’ve come to love.

A new episode of Roswell, New Mexico titled “I Saw the Sign” premieres March 5th on the CW.