‘Roswell, New Mexico’ Season 2 Episode 13 Recap: “Mr. Jones”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Roswell New Mexico Season 2 Episode 13
Jeanine Mason as Liz in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 2 episode 13 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

The CW’s Roswell, New Mexico season two episode 12 left off with the gang attempting to save CrashCon attendees from an attack perpetrated by Jesse Manes. Episode 13, the season finale, kicks off with Isobel (Lily Cowles) doing her best to keep the fire away from the alien bomb. Liz (Jeanine Mason), who had been performing CPR on Max, rushes up with the solution she’s concocted to stop the explosion.

Rosa (Amber Midthunder) has taken over the CPR and, thankfully, Max (Nathan Parsons) is revived for the second time this season. Of course Kyle’s first action when he joins Rosa and Max is to blame Max for knocking out Flint – never mind that Flint was trying to kill Max.

Meanwhile, Charlie (Jamie Clayton) struggles to breathe while still handcuffed to a radiator in the burning house. Helena returns and it’s obvious she didn’t expect to find Charlie still inside the house. Thankfully, she has bolt cutters with her. (Umm, why?)

Maria (Heather Hemmens) is rushed through the halls of the hospital on a gurney, face covered with blood and with a worried Jenna Cameron (Riley Voelkel) at her side.

The CrashCon attendees have apparently gotten the message that the place is about to go up in flames and scurry to leave.

Greg Manes (Tanner Novlan) remains in place between his dad, Jesse (Trevor St. John), and Michael (Michael Vlamis) so that Jesse doesn’t have a clear shot. Jesse knocks out his son and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) reacts by tackling his dad and knocking the gun away. Michael retrieves the atomizer as Alex yells at him to get it away from his brother.

Jesse gets the upper hand, grabs his gun, and once again points it at Michael.

Liz finishes coating the bomb, which is encircled by fire, with her solution. It begins to crack open and Isobel yanks Liz out of harm’s way. They watch as the bomb is destroyed. Max joins them and gives Liz a hug. “You disabled it. You saved everyone,” he says in awe.

Liz asks if Max killed Flint. Max doesn’t reply.

Jesse’s about to shoot Michael when Greg shoots his dad. He tells Alex he should have defended him from Jesse a long time ago. “There are no more Manes men left,” says Jesse with his dying breath.

CrashCon’s over and life is sort of back to normal. Liz is working in the café when the cook tells her they’re going to put up a statue in honor of the disabled veteran who died at the event. Liz doesn’t care. The joint’s hopping and the customers are all buzzing about the carnival and the possibility what went down involved real aliens.

Liz is surprised to see Diego (Cleo Anthony) at one of her tables and he explains he’s back from Denver. He’s brought Dr. Margot Meyerson (GiGi Erneta) with him and she’s impressed with Liz’s research. Liz recognizes her; apparently Meyerson’s a big deal.

Michael checks on Maria at the hospital and she reveals Liz has been stopping by and injecting her with ‘witch serum” every day. Michael’s thankful there was enough of Maria left to save.

Maria asks Michael to open a box Mimi left her without leaving the key. Michael decides that’s not a great idea given Mimi led her toward a bomb instead of away from it.

Roswell New Mexico Season 2 Episode 13
Lily Cowles as Isobel in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 2 episode 13 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

Isobel’s got drawings of alien symbols taped up all over the windows, trying to put together the clues to the bomb. She can’t figure out why her mom would have built such a weapon, and Max reveals he thinks it’s a communication device. Isobel has no idea why Max hasn’t really been talking to her lately and she confronts him about his behavior. Max confesses he’s been acting that way toward everyone since taking Liz’s antidote. His memories are returning and he didn’t want to worry anyone.

Max explains when he touched the “bomb” he could hear things and even made out a word. He thinks he’s put together enough clues to discover that it’s possible his family was also on Earth along with Isobel’s mom. An aerial photo from 1948 shows crop circles spelling out his name – savior.

Isobel comforts her brother and tries to get him to relax a little and appreciate his current situation, his family, and his love of Liz. He understands what she’s getting at, but he wants to know his entire self like she now knows her entire self. “I’m so proud that you’re my sister,” he says before going in for a bear hug.

Michael has a quiet moment with Alex in his family’s shed. The shed used to be Alex’s safe space but Jesse shattered that illusion one night. Michael hands Alex a hammer while he grabs an ax. Together they destroy everything inside the shed.

Liz and Max take a walk and have a heart-to-heart. She can’t get over how Max attacked Flint, risking his own life in his uncontrollable anger. Flint’s going to live but Liz keeps seeing the attack in her head. Max admits he snapped and explains he gets his energy from killing, not healing. He can usually fight that urge, but this time he couldn’t.

Liz reveals she’s been offered a position in California by Dr. Meyerson. Plus, Meyerson will sponsor her dad’s citizenship and with the money she makes she can help Rosa. Max is happy someone actually appreciates how valuable Liz is. When she reveals she expects him to accompany her, Max stumbles for words. He can’t believe after his confession of a killer instinct she’d want him to make the move with her.

“We’ll figure all of it out together. Run away with me…Max Evans?” asks Liz. “Anywhere,” he replies, sealing the decision with a kiss.

By the time we catch up with Alex and Michael, they’ve pretty much demolished the inside of the shed. The work ends abruptly when Michael uncovers a skeleton under the floorboards. It’s still dressed in military attire and wearing dog tags.

Alex grabs the tags while Michael spots a key in the corpse’s pocket. It looks like it fits the box Mimi gave Maria in the hospital. Alex reads the tags and learns the corpse is Tripp’s. “My grandfather killed Tripp,” says Alex, shocked.

Jenna’s back at work at the station when Max wanders in. When he asks about Charlie she explains she got a text and now her sister has vanished again. Max wonders if Jenna is up to working on an undercover project for him.

Michael shows Maria the key and she removes her bracelet. Michael’s concerned for her health and doesn’t want her to disappear. He blurts out he loves her and Maria reveals she loves him, too. (Awwww!) Still, she’s not willing to let it go. She wants to embrace the alien side and believes it would be best if they break up so she doesn’t hurt him. She’s proud of how quickly he put himself in harm’s way to save Alex and knows he would have done the same if it was her in Alex’s shoes. She has no doubt about his capacity for love and has been incredibly happy being with him this year. But she thinks they should “let it be” before she starts wondering if someone else could make him happier.

Maria asks Michael to open the box.

The contents are revealed at the café with Alex and Isobel. Inside the box is a book with Tripp’s story. He wrote everything that happened down and gave it to Patricia – Maria’s grandmother. His story begins the night of the UFO crash as he explains why he didn’t hurt Nora. Tripp felt a connection to her, writing that they were drawn together by something cosmic.

Tripp and Nora grow close and she reveals she and Louise are building something out in the desert. He promises he will keep her safe and she explains she doesn’t fear humans. However, there was a man on the ship who shouldn’t have made the journey. That man crashed the ship and is hunting all the survivors. He got away and wasn’t captured by the military.

Tripp promises to help her with any supplies she needs. It appeared to have been love at first sight for Tripp, and he wanted to show her the best of this world.

Diego and Dr. Meyerson are at a table at the bar discussing Liz, with Meyerson confessing she wasn’t impressed with her introduction at the café. Diego assures her Liz deserves a second chance. As they’re talking Jenna (undercover) trips up and nearly lands in Meyerson’s lap. She’s doing a great job of acting drunk and they don’t notice when she slips a bug under their table.

She wanders off and listens in as Diego suggests they take a peek at what Liz has been working on without her knowledge. Jenna rings up Max and lets him know Diego wants to take Meyerson to Liz’s lab and seems convinced he can get access. She warns him to immediately call Liz and tell her to hide anything incriminating.

Max heads over to Liz’s lab and uses his powers to force open the door. The lab’s full of alien samples, Liz’s notebooks, recordings, and computers. There’s too much to just grab and he winds up setting off an explosion to destroy Liz’s work rather than have verification of aliens on Earth fall into Diego’s hands.

Diego and Meyerson arrive just as the explosion blows out the lab’s windows.

Max returns home to find Michael and Isobel anxious to discuss Tripp Manes’ journal. They reveal that Nora decided not to finish building the ship with Louise and instead visited the reservation with Tripp. It was only because Walt begged her that she went to the festival where she ran into the person she’d been avoiding for a year – the stowaway – who it turns out is masquerading as Farmer Jones. (The one with the alien crop circles.)

Tripp recognized Jones but couldn’t ask Nora about him before the massacre occurred at the farm. Jones disappeared right after the massacre.

Tripp visited Nora after she’d been taken prisoner and she begged him not to let Harlan see him with her. She couldn’t use her abilities to unlock her chains because they’d been drugging her. Nora asked about Louise and learned she’s okay but has stopped speaking. Nora explained Louise escapes into her mind where things are beautiful.

Tripp swore he’d free Nora, but she wanted him to take care of Louise. She reminded him if he died, there won’t be anyone to protect her son, Louise’s daughter, and…the other. Without Nora, the children won’t emerge for 50 years. She believed when they do emerge on June 14, 1997 it will be safer for them. Nora hoped Tripp would have a son and entrust him with this secret so there would be someone to protect the kids.

Tripp wanted a family with Nora but it wasn’t possible. They didn’t have time.

Liz and Rosa arrive at Liz’s burned-out lab and Liz immediately spots proof it was Max who destroyed her research.

Max wonders if Nora ever said what they were building in the desert and Isobel confirms she didn’t. Louise also remained silent about their project.

Liz barges in and interrupts the conversation, demanding to know why he destroyed her lab. Max reminds her he’s been asking her to get rid of proof of aliens and she wouldn’t. Liz defends Diego when Max suggests he had a nefarious plan, and she’s upset that instead of just stopping Diego he ruined her lab. Max says he needed to act fast to keep his family safe and Liz replies, “So your first instinct was to go with the one method that would break my heart?”

The lab had Noah’s brain and liver, and Max wants to know what else she harvested from them. Liz honestly believes she wasn’t hurting anyone. She reminds him he died this year and every single choice she made was for him – to bring him back to life. After accomplishing that, she just wanted to remember who she is and what she is about. She’s a scientist and is trying to make this world a better place.

“I am in love with you and right now I hate it,” admits Liz.

When she leaves the room, Max withdraws a bottle of the antidote from his pocket. He swallows the contents.

Days later, Liz and Rosa are up on the café’s roof as Liz is preparing to leave. She suggests Rosa come with her to California but Rosa can’t. She’s heading back to rehab so she can get better. Rosa thinks Max should be Liz’s road trip buddy; she doesn’t think Liz should head off without him. Rosa’s sure Max will make a grand romantic gesture to stop Liz from leaving.

Over at the bar, Alex joins Kyle and asks if it’s better now that his father’s murder has been avenged. Kyle doesn’t think so and believes Flint will just take over as the new Jesse Manes once he’s recovered. Alex says he’s not going to let that happen. He believes Flint can be redeemed.

Kyle takes off and Alex grabs a seat on stage at the piano for open mic night. Greg’s in the audience as Alex sings a touching song about their father. Isobel and Michael arrive while Alex is singing and Michael and Alex exchange a look that speaks volumes.

Meanwhile, over at the hospital, it seems Liz has secretly injected Kyle’s dying girlfriend with alien DNA. When he shows up in her room, she appears to be completely healed. Her hands no longer shake and she’s got her strength back. (She was on death’s door when he visited her earlier in the episode.)

She believes it’s a miracle. Kyle replies, “Or just really good science.”

Back at the bar, Michael listens to Alex but then glances at Forrest. He sees Forrest smile as Alex sings and announces to Isobel that he’s leaving. He claims it’s not his and Alex’s time and he needs to walk away. (By the way, Tyler has a beautiful voice.)

Greg has tears in his eyes as he listens to his brother pour his heart out. The song is cathartic and when Alex finishes up, he gives Forrest a passionate kiss.

Liz is alone in the café after hours when Kyle catches up with her. He calls what she did reckless and unethical before grabbing her, holding her tight, and thanking her.

Liz is in her car prepared to leave. She glances in her rearview mirror, expecting that one final grand gesture by Max.

Rosa finds her mom at the bar and asks if she got what she wanted. Helena admits she didn’t. She wanted Jesse to die knowing shame, but that’s not what happened. She thinks people like Jesse – white men – die like heroes no matter what they’ve done. Rosa tells her mom she loves her but that she needs to leave town. There isn’t any closure or redemption.

Liz pulls away from the curb and drives away. Max never showed up.

The following day Michael and Isobel find Max out in the desert where he confesses he took more of the antidote. He finally understands the whispers he heard when he touched the alien bomb and they led him to this spot. He asks for their help in finding a tunnel and reveals he’s looking for a cage.

Liz makes it to California and pulls over to stare at the Pacific Ocean.

Michael, Isobel, and Max locate the tunnel. Inside is an area sealed up with alien technology. It’s a door and Isobel suggests they do some research before just cracking it up. Max agrees but then they hear a knock from the other side. Whoever it is asks for help. They each place a hand on the three circular alien symbols. The door shatters and inside is a bearded version of Max!

Max has a vision of the ship crashing to Earth and of this man emerging from it. His doppelganger/unknown relative is the one who Nora feared – the stowaway who never should have been on board the ship!




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