‘Roswell, New Mexico’ Season 1 Episode 7 Recap: “I Saw the Sign”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 7
Sherri Saum as Mimi, Jeanine Mason as Liz and Heather Hemmens as Maria in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 1 episode 7 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2019 The CW Network)

The CW’s Roswell, New Mexico season one episode seven, directed by Paul Wesley, kicks off with a flashback to July 1947. A military team goes over a body on an autopsy table. It appears human but after being cut open, they discover a glowing orb inside. It’s weighed, photographed, and a video is shot of the entire procedure. They then discover a strange tattoo with three circles on the body’s palm.

Flash-forward to 2019 and Liz (Jeanine Mason) is ripping photos off Rosa’s bedroom wall and tossing other items in boxes. She then heads into work while her voice-over informs us she’s stuck in the anger stage of the grieving process. She also admits this rage is fueling her and she’s embraced it, wearing it as her armor.

Meanwhile, Jenna Cameron (Riley Voelkel) wakes in Max’s bed. The tattoo on his back, which matches the dead body’s tattoo, is exposed while he sleeps. Cameron checks her phone and notices Jesse Manes has texted her to find out her answer to his request. Before she can sneak away, Max’s alarm goes off. She admits she didn’t mean to spend the night and neither want to talk about their booty call. It doesn’t mean anything to either of them.

Once at the station, Cameron interviews Liz about the events that led up to Max shooting Wyatt. Liz describes being held in a shipping crate and then Max showed up to rescue her. She didn’t call Max and claims she doesn’t know how he knew she was in trouble.

Max (Nathan Dean Parsons) is also being given the third degree by an investigator looking into the officer-involved shooting and whether Max is fit to return to duty after having been shot and refusing to be treated by doctors. Max demands the investigator finish up and let him get back to work. That doesn’t go over well.

Liz and Max complete their interrogations at the same time, but Liz acts like Max has the plague and won’t acknowledge his presence as she charges past him and out of the station.

Liz’s day goes from bad to worse when she discovers Isobel (Lily Cowles) is outside waiting for her, armed with flowers and an apology. Isobel doesn’t remember what happened, and Liz can’t believe she killed three people and doesn’t know why. Liz admits the only reason she hasn’t gone to the cops is because that would bring attention to her dad, attention they can’t afford if he wants to remain in America. Liz can’t act, can’t clear the family name for fear her dad will be deported.

Isobel apologizes again but Liz reveals she thinks Isobel’s capable of killing someone else since her blackouts are back.

Alex (Tyler Blackburn) pays a visit to Liz at work in the hospital, worried because she’s not returning his phone call or Maria’s. It’s Saturday and Liz shouldn’t be at work, but she is just to avoid everyone. Alex calls Liz a crappy friend because she hasn’t even asked Maria how she’s doing. Maria’s going through a lot, but Liz has been so preoccupied she hasn’t noticed.

Speaking of Maria (Heather Hemmens), she’s at the bar listening to her mother discuss aliens. Her mom recalls Will being in the bunker and speaking to an alien. Will turns out to be Will Smith and the alien conversation is from Independence Day. Still, Maria’s patient with her mother.

Liz and Alex arrive as Maria’s still seated with her mom at a table, and a happy reunion ensues. Unfortunately, Maria’s mom thinks Liz is Rosa.

Isobel’s wallowing in her anger, grief, and confusion over at Michael’s trailer. When he arrives, she admits she’s worried she may hurt someone again. She reminds her brother he found her in the desert recently without a clue as to how she got there or what she did just prior to passing out alone.

Michael (Michael Vlamis) promises he won’t let her hurt anyone. Isobel describes a thing inside of her that she’s terrified of unleashing.

Back at the bar, Maria and Liz catch up over drinks. Maria says her mom, Mimi, actually isn’t sick. Doctors have cleared her of pretty much every possible disease, yet she wanders around obsessed with aliens on Earth and not making sense. Maria refuses to put her in a care facility, and Liz suggests a full-on Mama DeLuca day.

Wyatt’s still in the hospital, recuperating from Max shooting him in the knee. When Max demands to know why he tried to kill Liz and why he did kill Grant Green, Wyatt claims he doesn’t remember any of it. Cameron puts an end to any further questioning, reminding Max he’s not on duty and he’s violating Wyatt’s rights.

After Max leaves, Cameron instructs Wyatt to write down what he remembers from that night. He continues to claim he’s innocent and that he didn’t shoot anyone. Angry, Cameron tells him he almost killed Max. Just two inches to the right and Max would be dead. Of course, Wyatt drops the Blue Lives Matter line, denying he’d ever shoot a cop.

As they’re talking, Wyatt has been drawing the three circles tattoo without even realizing he’s doing it.

Max’s horrible, awful, very bad day continues when Michael is waiting for him at his place. Max tries to send Michael away, but Michael won’t leave. Instead, he insists he and Isobel had to send Liz away and had to keep what they did a secret. Max asks Michael to consider how he’d feel if he sent Alex away without telling him. Michael admits he’d hate his brother if he was the one who sent Alex off to war.

Maria and Liz finally have their first real heart-to-heart. Maria confesses she feels like another little piece of her mom slips away each day.

Max gives Sheriff Valenti a call, begging to come back to work. He’d even settle for desk duty. Apparently, she says no because he’s in a rotten mood when Noah (Karan Oberoi) arrives to talk about Isobel. Max mistakenly believes Noah wants to discuss what’s going on between him and Isobel, but actually Noah’s there to check on Isobel after he kicked her out. Noah assumed Isobel would be staying at Max’s and that’s why he’s there. Max thinks maybe he did the right thing by kicking out Isobel, and he thinks Noah deserves better than his sister.

Maria, Liz, Mimi, and Alex have an outdoor picnic at the drive-in. Mimi reads their auras and she still believes Liz is Rosa. Rosa tells Maria to just go with it, and then she describes to Mimi what she (as a very much alive Rosa) has been doing for 10 years. She gives her dead sister a wonderful life. Mimi tells Rosa she has a beautiful destiny as tears stream down Liz’s face.

A short while later, Noah’s at work at his law office and he reaches out to Max. This time their conversation is all about Wyatt. He warns Max that if he doesn’t lay off Wyatt, Wyatt’s lawyers will dig into his life and his record as a cop. They’ll discover Max has been protecting Liz’s dad, Arturo, from ICE. Max needs to allow Wyatt to say he attacked Grant Green in self-defense.

Maria and Alex leave Mimi and Liz at the table, and Mimi asks about Isobel. She remembers Rosa told her Isobel confessed her secrets and it scared her. Rosa had been thinking about telling her dad what Isobel revealed. Liz figures out that’s why Isobel killed her sister.

Max’s bad day continues when Cameron arrives with items he left at her place. She wants to end their sexual relationship and Max is okay with that. He wants to remain friends and they even relax and chat over beers. She leads him into a conversation about tattoos, asking about the one on his shoulder. Max says it doesn’t mean anything; it’s just a design he used to doodle as a kid.

Cameron knows he’s lying and shows him the exact same design that Wyatt drew in the hospital. Max, furious, rips off his arm sling and stalks off.

Liz and Mimi have one more short talk which turns to Will Smith, aliens, and Independence Day. Maria walks up as they’re talking and she asks Liz, out of Mimi’s earshot, to help her check in her mom at an assisted living facility. She finally believes it’s time.

Max does exactly what he shouldn’t be doing. He shows up in Wyatt’s hospital room and threatens him, warning him not to go after Liz or her family. Liz barges in and witnesses Max looming over Wyatt and demands he stop.

Up in her lab, Liz tells Max she’s no longer sure about him as a cop or a man. She demands to know what he stands for, questioning his character. Max reveals he’s just trying to keep her safe because Wyatt came after her for a reason.

Max then notices containers of his blood that Liz collected. When he asks, she admits she’s attempting to create a weapon. She was trying to create a serum to mute their powers, but she didn’t intend to cause them pain. She knows Isobel is having blackouts and is dangerous, and she’s determined to do something to stop the next murder spree from taking place.

Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 7
Michael Vlamis as Michael and Nathan Dean Parsons as Max in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 1 episode 7 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2019 The CW Network)

Max drives over to Michael’s place and apologizes for earlier. However, the real reason he’s there is to discuss Isobel. They don’t know why she committed murder and he’s worried she’ll lose control again. Max’s solution is to leave Roswell, New Mexico and the people they love. It’s the only way to keep everyone safe. “We don’t get to have lives anymore, okay? We don’t get to be with the people we want to be with. The three of us – we only have each other,” says Max.

Michael’s skeptical and wants to know what changed. Max reveals Liz is working on an alien poison she wants to use on Isobel. Isobel overhears and isn’t surprised her brothers are trying to make all the decisions, but she’s now thinking for herself. She knows she’s a danger when she blacks out and running won’t help. She won’t hurt anyone again. Max doesn’t want her to inject herself with the serum, but Isobel tells her brothers she wants to make her own decisions moving forward.

Not long after, Isobel’s at the hospital with Max. She’s made her decision. She’ll be locked in on a psych hold (thanks to Kyle owing Max a favor) and won’t be able to hurt anyone if she blacks out. Or as Isobel says in a surprising little Buffy the Vampire Slayer nod, she goes all Dark Willow.

Michael shows up at the bar after it’s closed. (Why are the doors always unlocked on closed established in Roswell?) Maria reluctantly allows him to have a drink, if he doesn’t talk. She breaks down crying and Michael comforts her.

Noah arrives at the hospital concerned about Isobel. He thinks it was the booze, and he tells Max he won’t give up on his wife.

Max returns to Liz’s lab to inform her they’ve locked up Isobel to keep her from doing any harm. He asks that she please not test her poison on Isobel, and Liz confesses she’s getting rid of the serum. “I became a scientist to help people, to build something, and to keep people from slipping away before their time,” explains Liz. “What you did to Rosa made me forget that.”

Liz no longer wants to use her rage and vengeance to create something. Max shocks Liz by telling her she should continue her work on the serum. It might end this and make them normal. He also admits Isobel is dangerous as are he and Michael. He can’t give up on his family. “But if something happens and I can’t protect you and Isobel at the same time,” says Max, placing the syringe filled with serum in Liz’s hand, “You should have a way to protect yourself.”

All Liz can do is stare in shock as Max leaves.

Cameron goes over drawings of the circular design and looks at the photos of the zapped electrical boxes. She then sends Manes a text: “Look into Max Evans.”

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