After a brief recap of season one, season two of The CW’s Roswell, New Mexico kicks off with a flashback to Max (Nathan Dean Parsons) and Liz (Jeanine Mason) in bed. He tells Liz that Noah called him the savior, and he’s unclear what that’s supposed to mean. Liz assures her alien boyfriend she’s not leaving him to go to Palo Alto.
The action moves forward to minutes after the finale of season one. Liz is crying while holding Max’s dead body. Rosa (Amber Midthunder) rushes back into the cave and has no idea she’s been dead for years. She thinks she met Isobel in the mines just the previous night.
Rosa wants to call an ambulance, but Liz tells her it’s too late – Max is dead.
Flash-forward two weeks and Liz is waitressing in her family’s restaurant. Her dad’s busy working on his citizenship papers but not too busy to remind his beautiful daughter she’s meant for bigger things. She’s taken the Palo Alto job and is ready to leave town now that her boyfriend’s no longer around.
Maria (Heather Hemmens) shows up to say her goodbyes, making Liz promise she’ll increase her social media presence so they can stay connected as long-distance BFFs.
Liz gathers her dad and Maria in a big old hug.
Later, Liz joins the rest of the town – including Michael (Michael Vlamis), Isobel (Lily Cowles), Alex (Tyler Blackburn), and Kyle (Michael Trevino) – for Noah’s funeral. Isobel gives the eulogy, noting her beloved Noah was killed by a stroke of lightning.
It’s obvious she’s struggling to get through this lie-filled speech. After glancing at a photo of Max, she shows her true emotions. Her tone and delivery change as she speaks about losing her beloved brother – although most of the attendees have no idea she’s switched the topic to Max.
Tears stream down her face as she says, “He was my other half…my better half. I don’t think I’ll ever let him go.”
The scene switches to moments after Max’s death. Isobel’s hysterical and wants to place Max into a pod. She begs Liz and Michael to help her, but Liz points out he’s dead – not sick. Isobel’s already thinking up a cover story to explain what she hopes will be his brief disappearance.
Back to the reception following the funeral we go, and Isobel’s mom helps her with the donated food. She wonders where Max is, noting his text messages have seemed odd recently.
Michael saves Isobel from further alone time with her mom. He asks how long they’re going to keep up this charade and she claims she still needs a little time.
Alex and Kyle have a little one-on-one chat at the reception and Kyle needs to know when it will be okay to wake Alex’s dad from the coma. He’s worried people will start asking questions but Alex doesn’t care.
Sheriff Valenti’s the next to ask Isobel about Max. She’s connecting Noah’s death to Max’s disappearance, hinting it’s not a coincidence they occurred around the same time.
Liz approaches Isobel to say she’s sorry and Isobel can no longer pretend to be holding it together. She causes a scene by telling Liz she’s shocked she even showed up, given that Max’s absence is all her fault. “The only thing that could keep him from me at this unimaginable time in my life is how much he loves you,” snarls Isobel.
(Oh, this is all an act to cover for Max. Nice work Isobel and Liz, you had me fooled for a minute!)
Liz looks around, makes sure everyone is paying attention to this fight, and Isobel attacks again. Isobel tells the assembled townsfolk that Liz dumped Max and he ran away. Argument over, she demands Isobel.
Michael follows her outside and asks about Rosa. Liz reveals she’s told Rosa everything – except that Roswell thinks she’s a murderer. Liz believes Isobel’s in denial and still thinks Max will wake up and be back to being himself. She thinks Michael should tell Isobel what they’ve learned.
Rosa sneaks into the family’s café and starts up the jukebox. It short circuits and Max’s handprint lights up on her chest. She hears Isobel’s voice and turns to find Noah standing just feet away. He warns they’ll come after the people she cares about.
It turns out the whole visit to the café was just a dream. She wakes from it as Liz is near panic trying to rouse her. Rosa blames her deep sleep on side effects from being held in an egg for a decade. Rosa suggests she can hide away for a while longer if Liz wants to hang around for Max’s funeral.
Liz doesn’t think Max would want that. The serious conversation takes a lighthearted turn when Rosa notices Liz is wearing her necklace. The reunited sisters then get in a jokey fight over clothing. Liz can’t keep herself from giving her sister a massive hug, happy they’re back together.
Isobel’s home alone when she calls up the funeral home. She learns they haven’t cremated Noah’s body yet, which pisses her off enough to make all the lights in her home spark out when she hangs up the phone.
Liz meets up with Kyle at the hospital to ask for a favor. She wants an MRI, CT scan, and blood work run, but then adds that the tests aren’t for her. Kyle’s shocked (that’s an understatement) to see Rosa standing in the hospital stairwell.
Over at the bar, Maria gets a call that her mother, Mimi, has wandered away from the assisted living center. As she hangs up her mom walks through the door. Mimi’s been upset about Rosa’s death recently and seems to not be sure how long ago she was murdered.
Back at the hospital, Kyle runs tests while Rosa tries to assure him they’re not necessary. He’s stunned to see that she seems to be perfectly healthy and there aren’t any signs of the drugs she used to take in her system. He half-heartedly praises Max’s ability to fix anything.
Rosa lets slip that bringing her back from the dead killed Max.
Michael returns home to discover Alex has dropped off his guitar. He doesn’t seem pleased to have the instrument in his house and heads over to Alex’s place to return it. Alex explains he thought Michael could use the guitar now that his hand’s healed. Michael confesses he didn’t want Max to heal his hand. Alex drops his own news…he’s not leaving the Air Force to play music. He needs to remain in the military to continue his research.
Alex hands Michael a folder with the intake forms on Michael’s mother. Alex thinks there must be more information somewhere and wants to keep searching the files. Michael becomes upset and tells Alex to let it go. There’s no fixing what happened and he doesn’t want to learn any more about the experiments that were performed on his mother.
Alex asks if Michael would have left Roswell with him, if he did leave the Air Force. Michael answers from his heart, reminding Alex he’s never said no to him even though Alex has repeatedly pushed him away. But now he’s done with this dysfunctional relationship. He doesn’t want Alex’s guitar and doesn’t believe they’re good for each other.
“I want to be good for somebody so, no. I’m saying no,” he says and then turns and leaves.
Out in the desert, Isobel places a line of crystal dishes in a row. She uses her mind to shatter one and is proud of herself for being able to do it.
Over at the hospital, Kyle informs Liz that Rosa is perfectly healthy – except for Max’s handprint. She wonders why neither she nor Michael has a handprint, but Rosa does. “Maybe there can only be one at a time?” she muses.
Kyle says he’s sorry Max is gone and is sorry he won’t get the chance to thank him.
Michael catches up with Isobel in the desert and she’s in a fierce mood. She recalls Noah telling Max they can train and become stronger and that they’re not using their full potential. She’s determined to learn how to protect herself. The bowls vibrate as she thinks of Noah controlling her. They fly into the air, shattering into thousands of pieces.
Isobel thinks if she keeps practicing (she’s only been training for two weeks), she’ll be able to bring Max back.
Michael takes Isobel down to the pod to see Max. He and Liz did everything they could but couldn’t revive him. Now he wants to convince Isobel there’s no way to bring their brother back. First, he shows her a scan of Max’s healthy heart. Then he uses an ultrasound machine on the pod, with the screen showing Max’s chest. Where his heart should be is just an empty void.
Michael reminds her Noah weakened his heart and then by playing God and bringing Rosa back – against Michael’s wishes – Max killed himself. “He died of a massive heart attack, Isobel. The organ is shredded because he had to be the hero. Max’s heart is never beating again,” says Michael.
Isobel looks ready to shred Michael’s heart at the end of his speech.
Liz and Rosa hit the road heading to Palo Alto. They talk about their mom and how she’s now with some new guy in Nebraska. Rosa cranks the car radio and sings along with Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch.” Liz can’t help but sing along too as they leave Roswell behind in the rear-view mirror.
The sisters arrive at a hotel for the night and Liz pulls rank and grabs the first shower. They joke a bit about Rosa’s age and then Liz finally has an emotional breakdown. She sobs in the bathroom but tries to stifle her cries. Rosa hears them anyway but lets Liz have time alone.
Next, we see Rosa running down the middle of a dark street. Noah’s hot on her hills, yelling that they’re coming for them. She wakes up from the nightmare and tells her sister there was a man chasing her that wouldn’t leave her alone. She describes him and Liz realizes she’s talking about Noah.
Liz whips out the flyer from the funeral and Rosa’s shocked. She doesn’t understand why he’s in her head when she’s never seen Noah’s face before. Liz suddenly realizes the handprint hasn’t faded because Rosa has a psychic connection to Max. Rosa knew Noah’s face because she can access Max’s memories.
“If there is a part of his brain where there’s still coordinated electrical signaling, there’s consciousness. That means that there’s oxygenated cells!” says an extremely excited Liz. “If a connection to you kept his brain alive, there’s hope!”
Over at the bar, Michael’s all flirty with a pretty brunette. They kiss and her boyfriend breaks it up. A fistfight breaks out which is probably what Michael was hoping for since he thinks he needs to be punished. Maria breaks it up and tosses Michael out. She thinks he’s acting out to hurt her and grabs his keys so he can’t drive drunk.
Liz sets a plan in motion: they’ll implant Noah’s heart in Max’s body. Kyle and Alex team up to retrieve Noah’s dead body from the morgue’s refrigerated compartments. Alex explains that alien bodies can’t be cremated because they’ll release toxic fumes. That’s why Noah’s body has been kept on ice until Alex comes up with a solution.
They open the compartment and discover someone’s beat them to Noah’s body!
Alex slams a morgue attendant against the wall and demands to know who else has been asking about Noah’s body. The guy admits he thought he gave the body to Alex – the person looked a lot like him. He explains whoever it was took Noah’s body and placed it in a van.
Alex figures out it was his brother, Flint (Kiowa Gordon). He calls him and demands he bring it back but Flint refuses. He’s going to deliver it to Area 51. Alex tells him he’s got a chance to do something good and Flint reminds him he did something to their dad.
Alex rings up Liz, who’s now back on the road with Rosa, and fills her in on the situation. He apologizes but doesn’t think they can get the body back. There’s a sealed incinerator at Area 51 and they can’t get to it.
Liz is heartbroken and tears fall as she says it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Rosa’s sorry she’s alive and Max isn’t, but Liz is quick to assure her she shouldn’t feel that way. “That’s not what I want for you,” says Liz.
Rosa notices a van heading their direction. She makes sure this is the road that you’d have to take to get to Area 51 from Roswell and then puts her own plan into action. She knows it’s a military van and she remembers Flint from school. Rosa grabs the wheel and forces Liz to steer in front of the van.
Flint brakes hard and veers away, flipping the van on its side in the process. He’s momentarily knocked out from the accident and when he comes to, he checks the back of the van for Noah’s body. It’s gone.
Liz appears at Michael’s door with a small bloody wound on her forehead. “Need your help moving a body,” she says, without saying hello. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that,” Michael replies.
Liz, Kyle, and Michael hover over Noah’s dead body ready to remove his heart. Liz asks if Michael called Isobel. He didn’t because he doesn’t want to get her hopes up.
They open Noah’s chest and there’s a weird green chemical light moving under the skin. Michael admits he’s never been able to figure out this chemical compound but thinks it’s the key to their biology. He now believes this means the aliens’ organs are part tech, which Liz finds to be a positive development. Tech can be fixed.
Unfortunately, only part of Noah’s heart is left in his chest.
Liz delivered Rosa back home before the operation and once she’s done, she’s furious with her sister. She can’t believe Rosa instigated a crash that could have killed her. She can’t lose her again! Rosa finally lets loose with what she’s been keeping welled up inside. She doesn’t understand why God would let her live and take Max. He was a genuinely decent man and she was a 19-year-old drug addict.
Rosa knows her sister’s been trying hard to cover her unhappiness about losing Max. Liz tries to assure her she’s happy she has her back and explains God had nothing to do with it. God didn’t make the trade – Max did and he’s just a man. “He brought you back to life and now I’m going to bring him back,” says a determined Liz.
Rosa thinks that means Noah’s heart was good, but Liz corrects her and says it wasn’t. She explains she chose regenerative medicine after Rosa’s death because she was broken and “wanted to repair the irreparable.” She admits it’s an ethics nightmare and that she’s been working on tiny rat hearts just waiting for the chance to do this procedure on a human heart. She’s always been told no by old men on corporate boards.
Noah’s heart is weak and shriveled but she’s going to fix it.
“Max gave me back the only thing that’s ever mattered to me and now it’s my turn,” says Liz.
Isobel sits bundled up in front of Max’s pod late at night. She wonders why she can’t feel her brother, but she can feel Noah constantly like he’s under her skin. She has an epiphany and lifts the ultrasound scanner. She places it on her belly and watches the screen. She’s pregnant!
The episode ends with Maria’s mom wandering away from the care facility again. She doesn’t make it to the bar this time and instead a bright light appears and she disappears.
Rosa has a dream and sees Noah again. He’s attacking her but Max appears behind him and takes him out. Max says she’s the only one he can reach and she needs to make sure Liz doesn’t bring him back from the dead.
- Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Finale Recap
- Jeanine Mason and Nathan Dean Parsons Season 2 Interview
- Tyler Blackburn Talks Season 2 of Roswell, New Mexico
- Lily Cowles on Roswell, New Mexico Season 2 and Isobel’s Mental State
- Michael Vlamis on Michael’s Relationships
- Season 2 Episode 2 “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 3 “Good Mother” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 4 “What If God Was One of Us?” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 5 “I’ll Stand By You” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 6 “Sex and Candy” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 7 “Como La Flor” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 8 “Say It Ain’t So” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 9 “The Diner” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 10 “American Woman” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 11 “Linger” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 12 “Crash Into Me” Recap
- Season 2 Episode 13 “Mr. Jones” Recap
