‘Roswell, New Mexico’ Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: “Goodnight Elizabeth”

Roswell New Mexico Season 3 Episode 7
Jeanine Mason, Lily Cowles, Michael Vlamis, and Amber Midthunder in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 3 episode 7 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2021 The CW Network, LLC)

The CW’s Roswell, New Mexico season three episode six established that Max isn’t Max – he’s Jones. Season three episode seven – “Goodnight Elizabeth,” directed by Heather Hemmens – begins with the just-revealed-not-Max (Nathan Dean) clutching his alien sword while seated inside an alien symbol. He and Maria (Hemmens) are communicating inside her mindscape where she’s locked him safely away in a jail cell. He warns he’ll keep her in a coma until she reveals the memory he needs, but Maria remains undaunted by his threats.

“I’m a resilient b*tch so I’m putting my money on me keeping you right here until my friends come and end you,” says Maria.

Meanwhile, Liz (Jeanine Mason) is doing everything she can to try and figure out how to help Maria. Isobel (Lily Cowles) and Michael (Michael Vlamis) arrive with coffee and bad news – Jones’ body is in the pod so he’s walking around inside Max’s. They’ve figured out Jones is able to remain in Max’s body because he’s using his sword to kill people and charge himself up.

In order to get Max back, they’ll have to separate Jones from his sword. To that end, Liz is whipping up another batch of alien inhibitor like she successfully used to free Isobel from Noah’s control. She’ll slip it into Jones’ drink at a fundraising event Gregory Manes is holding for Maria’s medical bills.

The plan: Liz will dose Jones in front of hundreds of people while Isobel and Michael track down the sword. However, in order for this all to work they need to figure out Jones’ location.

Isobel meets with Deputy Deport ‘Em and plants the idea in his head that he needs to bring Max in front of Sheriff Taylor and make him reveal everything he knows about the break-in at his house. Using her special powers of persuasion, she instructs the deputy to gather his men, track down Max, and then tell her once he locates him.

Elsewhere, Eduardo Ramos (David DeSantos) pulls a handcuffed Alex (Tyler Blackburn) from the back seat of his car. Alex chuckles in disbelief that he survived the Afghanistan desert and is about to be killed in a desert outside of Roswell. (Confession… I had to replay this scene twice because I originally thought Blackburn said he would be killed in an episode of Roswell, not “outside of Roswell!”)

Eduardo opens the doors to a barn, uncuffs Alex, and says it’s time to talk. Kyle (Michael Trevino) is laying in a hospital bed inside the barn, hooked up to machines, and Eduardo reveals what happened after Kyle triggered the SOS. Ramos explains he tracked the radio signal to Max’s place and found three men putting something from a hole in the desert into their car. They hit him, causing the injury to his arm, but he opted to locate his nephew, Kyle, rather than chase the men.

Eduardo confesses he wasn’t able to explain all this at Deep Sky because Kyle was injected with something only a few people on the planet have access to. Deep Sky might be compromised, and Alex wonders why anyone would target Kyle and Maria. Eduardo explains he believes it all has to do with Max Evans and finally confesses he knows Max is an alien.

The Lockhart machine is tied to the alien crash from 1947 and was stolen from Caulfield by Eduardo’s brother, Jim, who smuggled it out. Jim had no idea what it did but knew the aliens built it. Anyone who works with it is at risk, and Eduardo reveals Trevor Gunther (the bootmaker who attacked Alex) worked on it and became so obsessed he went crazy. When he was no longer capable of working, Eduardo bought him a farm, but Trevor never recovered.

Alex is shocked Eduardo didn’t reveal all this – and acknowledge the possible consequences of being in close proximity to the machine – before assigning him to work on it. Eduardo becomes defensive, claiming he didn’t understand the dangers early on. He explains he then obtained the Caulfield files and learned what Alex’s dad was doing.

Alex can’t believe Eduardo thinks the ends justifies the means, but Eduardo begs Alex to hear him out. If he’s still upset, he can leave Deep Sky and never look back.

Eduardo shows Alex symbols Trevor drew and notes one matches the symbol Alex discovered inside the Lockhart machine. They both think the machine was trying to talk to Trevor, but Trevor never truly understood what it was trying to say.

Eduardo believes the aliens who crashed on Earth in 1947 were resistance fighters, except for the one who lit men on fire. That alien – Jones – was an enemy of the aliens and humans. After they both agree Alex’s dad was a paranoid xenophobe, Eduardo confesses he hired Alex because Alex was in love with an alien. Eduardo also confesses he believed he could help Alex undo his father’s devastating work by making all the aliens’ suffering ultimately worth it.

Eduardo doesn’t push Alex into an answer and instead hands over the Caulfield file, giving Alex time to come to his own decision.

Jones needs just one more victim in order to power up enough to get what he needs out of Maria. He’s about to kill an elderly man whose truck he forced to break down in the middle of nowhere when Deputy Deport ‘Em shows up. Max didn’t show up for work, so the deputy tracked him using his cruiser’s transponder. The deputy also reveals Sheriff Taylor’s upset Max hasn’t answered radio calls in 18 hours.

The deputy texts Isobel to inform her he found Max, and Isobel in turn meets with Liz in the café to pass along that update. If Max is meeting with Sheriff Taylor, he can’t be out committing murders. Isobel’s having a difficult time keeping her emotions in check, fully aware of how Max must be feeling trapped inside while Jones is in control of his body.

Liz is sure once she gives Jones the serum, they’ll get their Max back. Isobel latches onto Liz’s “their Max” comment and wonders if she’s still interested in her idiot brother. (Isobel’s choice of words – not mine!) Isobel tells Liz that Max never let her go and that he was dying from not just a failing heart but also a broken one.

Rosa (Amber Midthunder) heads over to Michael’s to volunteer to help but Michael dismisses her, claiming her ultra-sonic hearing isn’t an actual asset. Rosa makes him eat those words when it’s revealed she can detect subatomic vibrational frequencies making her not just an asset, but perhaps the key to finding the sword. (Take that, Michael!)

Roswell New Mexico Season 3 Episode 7
Jeanine Mason as Liz Ortecho, Lily Cowles as Isobel Evans-Bracken, and Nathan Dean as Max Evans in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ season 3 episode 7 (Photo: John Golden Britt © 2021 The CW Network, LLC)

Max joins Isobel and Liz at the café while a couple of deputies keep an eye on Max from a nearby booth. Liz teases news about Maria’s condition, revealing Max’s DNA fused to Maria’s through the handprint, opening up the psychic connection. Liz seems on the verge of divulging too much but pulls back after a non-verbal warning from Isobel.

Isobel suggests they go to Gregory’s fundraiser and Liz asks Max to come with her. He agrees and adds, “Anything for DeLuca.”

A short while later, Gregory (Tanner Novlan) takes the stage and welcomes everyone to the fundraiser. They have a band that will play requests for a $10 donation, and Gregory kicks it off with one of Maria’s favorites. Isobel joins Liz inside the bar to fetch drinks, including the one Liz plans on spiking with the alien inhibitor. Isobel warns Liz to stop “poking the science bear” or Jones will figure out they’re up to something.

In order for Rosa and Michael to put their sword-finding plan into action, first Rosa has to tune into Jones’ frequency; his frequency should match the sword’s. Rosa’s able to pick Jones’ out, describing it as sounding like “chaos and evil had a hate baby.”

Max enjoys a dance with Liz and manages to get her to agree to leave the fundraiser when he suggests she look at the mark Jones left on his chest. They head over to Max’s place and Liz offers to mix some drinks; she still needs to get him to drink the inhibitor. Jones reveals he has her microscopes and other lab stuff, and Liz acts impressed.

Isobel, Michael, and Rosa head out to near where the elderly man’s truck broke down and the deputies found Max. Michael thinks he’s being helpful by instructing Rosa how to use her powers…he’s not…and Isobel calls him Obi-Wan Junkyardi when he insists he’s just trying to guide her through the process.

Rosa is forced to shush both so she can concentrate. She tunes out the assorted normal sounds and is able to determine the direction to head to find the sword. They track it into a dilapidated building and Michael uses his powers to make it levitate into a secure case.

Liz texts the trio to let them know she’s at Max’s place alone with Jones. Rosa wants to go with them to take him down, but Isobel says it’s too dangerous. Rosa believes Isobel’s powerful enough to take on Jones; Isobel knows that’s not the case. She refuses to let Rosa get hurt again.

Liz believes she’s winning this pivotal game of cat and mouse with Jones, but she’s wrong. Jones reveals he knows what she’s up to and is fully aware Michael and Isobel are in on the plan. He deliberately avoided the drink she mixed for him so he’s still the most powerful alien on the planet, a fact he demonstrates when Michael and Isobel join them.

Michael and Isobel are incapable of disarming him but in attempting to do so Michael discovers a shocking truth… Jones is the dictator which means he’s Michael father! Jones doesn’t care about family connections and prepares to kill Isobel and Michael, confirming he’s killed enough humans to make himself pretty much invulnerable. Liz tries to stop Jones by claiming if he kills them, she won’t help him. Liz knows Jones needs her research skills and she’s a priceless commodity since there aren’t any other scientists who’ve done work on alien DNA.

Rosa shows up and shoots Jones just as he’s about to kill Isobel and Michael. Jones retrieves the sword and rises to his feet, claiming a spindly drug addict with a pop gun can’t stop him. Rosa reveals she’s called the cops and Jones notices lights coming his direction. If he kills Isobel or Michael, his cover as Max will be blown.

Jones disappears before the cops show up, leaving with a “till next time” warning.

Liz and Michael race over to the hospital and are relieved to find Maria’s still in bed hooked up to the machines.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t as good for Isobel and Rosa – Jones has taken the pod containing his body.

Jones confronts Deputy Deport ‘Em and plunges the sword into his heart.

Alex talks to Kyle’s comatose body, wishing Kyle would open his eyes so they could chat. Alex picks up the Caulfield report and discovers the first activation of the Lockhart machine occurred on March 11, 1969.

Jones enters Maria’s mindscape and this time his sword’s powerful enough to cut through the jail’s bars. Maria’s tossed back in time and forced to reenact what her grandmother was doing on March 11, 1969. Jones says, “This seems to be a very important day. Now that we’re here together, you’re going to show it to me.”