Review of Roswell: Season 3

Introduction

For every memorable television series, there are ten that fall by the wayside, and sometimes it`s impossible to see why some shows succeed when others fail. Of all the shows that didn`t make it, Roswell has me scratching my head more than most. In the late nineties, when the popularity of the X-Files was yet to wane, there was a vogue for extra-terrestrial storylines. Similarly this was around the period when shows like Buffy were at their peak, writing intelligent and entertaining stories about teens and for teens. This naturally suggested an audience primed for a show like Roswell. Set in Roswell, New Mexico, where in 1947 a UFO allegedly crashed and was the subject of a government cover up, the show was about three alien children who survived that crash, and grew up to be teenagers in modern day Roswell. It would be a blend of the UFO mythology that underpins much of American culture and the sort of teen relationships explored in shows like Buffy. The three tried to conceal their identities and alien abilities from the authorities whilst at the same time trying to find out about their origins. At the same time they had to continue their lives at school, falling in and out of love as all teens do. It seemed like a sure fire winner. I mean, what could be more iconic of US culture than the Roswell crash as a back-story for aliens growing up on Earth? Then someone at Warner Brothers remembered that they owned a property called Superman, and Smallville was born. I guess the writing was on the wall at that point.

In the UK, Roswell wasn`t helped the woeful treatment it received at the hands of the BBC. In the US, shows like Buffy and Angel receive prime time slots, justifying both their popularity and their subject matter. However in the UK, teenagers are still considered children, and their programming is scheduled accordingly. With a show like Roswell that means substantial edits to render it suitable for an early evening slot. The BBC`s scheduling of the first season was as per usual with a few breaks for Snooker and Golf, but they declined to show the final episode of the season and lumped it together with the second season. This second season for some unfathomable reason was shunted to the mid-afternoon Sunday slot, where it practically haemorrhaged viewers. On several occasions, I forgot it was on and had to catch up with transcripts on the Internet. By now ratings were so low that the BBC felt justified in not buying Season 3 at all.

A quick recap first. In 1947 a UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Years later, three children are found walking in the desert. Siblings Max and Isabel are adopted by the Evans family while Michael Guerin is placed in foster care. But these aren`t ordinary children, they`re actually aliens in human form, and they grow up hiding their powers. That is until the day there is an armed robbery at the Crashdown café when waitress Liz Parker is shot. Max has had a crush on Liz since elementary school and he uses his powers to heal her. Soon the secret spreads to Liz`s friends Alex and Maria. Most of the first season was spent with the aliens trying to find out about their own origins, and preventing their elders and government snoops from discovering them, especially Sheriff Jim Valenti and his son Kyle, who used to go out with Liz until Max showed up. Of course there was a lot of teen angst as Liz and Max paired up as did Michael and Maria, though Alex and Isabel almost but didn`t. By Season 2, things had gotten a whole lot more complicated. Max, Isabel and Michael discovered who they really were and where they were from. A fourth teenaged alien had shown up, Tess who claimed that she was destined to be with Max, much to the consternation of Liz, Jim and Kyle Valenti were let in on the secret, Alex died in mysterious circumstances, and pretty soon small town America was the hotbed of intergalactic politics as various alien factions fought for supremacy.

The final eighteen episodes of Roswell are presented here on this five-disc set.

1. Busted
At the end of Season 2, Tess had given birth to Max`s baby. The child couldn`t survive on Earth and Tess took the ship and went back to Antar, leaving Max, Isabel and Michael stranded on Earth. 3 months later and Max and Liz are arrested when they hold up a convenience store at gunpoint, but this modern day Bonnie and Clyde aren`t after cash, rather the alien spaceship hidden in the basement.

2. Michael, The Guys and the Great Snapple Caper
Michael`s financial woes inspire him to get a second job. Working the graveyard shift as a security guard is dull beyond belief though, until he livens it up and gets the whole shift sacked for his trouble. Suddenly he`s getting a strange unfamiliar feeling, guilt.

3. Significant Others
Relationship trouble this episode as Michael is having trouble finding time for Maria, Liz`s father is still posing a barrier to her and Max after their convenience store caper, but mostly because Isabel has been secretly seeing Jesse Ramirez, a lawyer in her father`s firm and their relationship is ready to move onto the next phase. She`s getting cold feet, but fortunately she has an old friend to advise her.

4. Secrets And Lies
A mysterious death in LA send Max off in search of a shape shifting alien who may hold the key to finding his son. The secret to his identity lies in a film vault in Paramount studios. To gain access, Max will have to audition for the part of an alien on Enterprise, ironic huh? Concluded in…

5. Control
Max has to find a way to persuade the shapeshifter to help him steal the spaceship, but the shapeshifter is reluctant to let go of his Earthly life. Meanwhile Isabel is busy planning for her wedding to Jesse, although her mother is convinced it is a bad idea.

6. To Have And To Hold
Wedding bells ring in Roswell as Isabel and Jesse`s big day arrives. Fulfilling every cliché, the wedding threatens to fall apart, Isabel is having wedding jitters and Max is suspicious of the groom. Naturally there is a brawl at the bachelor party, but more worryingly, Isabel is dreaming of a mysterious man. Surely dreams don`t come true?

7. Interruptus
Isabel`s dream man follows her and Jesse on their honeymoon, determined to rekindle the tragic romance that caused the aliens to be exiled from Antar. Can Isabel resist his charms this time? Meanwhile back in Roswell, Max`s father is beginning to suspect his son.

8. Behind The Music
Maria`s friend (and first kiss) Billy pays a visit and rekindles some old memories and dreams. Michael quite naturally is insanely jealous, but unfortunately things start exploding around him. Max`s father continues investigating his son and has even gone as far as hiring a PI to find the missing jeep.

9. Samuel Rising
It`s Christmas time and once again Isabel is planning the perfect holiday. Poor Jesse doesn`t know what he has let himself in for. Meanwhile Max is shocked when a strange child calls him "Daddy", even more so when he learns that Samuel is autistic and has never spoken before. Could his own son be trying to contact him through this child from beyond the stars?

10. A Tale Of Two Parties
It`s New Years morning, and Jesse returns home to find Isabel asleep in Kyle`s arms, Michael wakes up in Liz`s bed, and Max and Maria have spent the night together. Just what is going on? Time for a flashback methinks.

11. I Married An Alien
When one of Jesse`s reporter friends visits, he thinks he`s found the perfect story, Space Aliens! Isabel is left wondering how much easier life would be if she lived in a sitcom. Roswell meets Bewitched.

12. Ch-Ch-Changes
A talent scout is in town and spots Maria performing. Soon Maria is excited at the prospect of a record deal, fame and fortune. Unfortunately she doesn`t notice that her best friend Liz is feeling under the weather. What starts out as a simple bug turns into something more sinister when her skin starts coruscating with green energy, and things around her start melting, especially when Max is around.

13. Panacea
Liz tries to forget her past at boarding school while Maria is building a future as a pop star in New York. Back in Roswell though, there are sinister goings on at the pharmaceutical company where Michael works. There is a break in and one of the security guards is killed. When Jim Valenti gets a job as a replacement to do a little investigating, he vanishes.

14. Chant Down Babylon
After the disastrous events at the pharmaceutical company, Isabel is left fighting for her life after being shot. Jesses finally has to come to terms with the truth of his wife`s origins. In Vermont, a dead man pays Liz a visit.

15. Who Died And Made You King?
Jesse is having trouble coming to terms with his situation and is seeing a therapist about being married "to the mob". Michael sees this and gets the wrong end of the stick, thinking Jesse is a threat. After the events of the last two episodes, he`s been left in charge by divine right, and all that power is going to his head. Then the FBI get involved.

16. Crash
It`s 1947 all over again, as a fighter collides with a UFO over Roswell. The military announces the loss of the jet and pilot and produce a grieving daughter. Yet Michael saw the whole thing and knows that the pilot ejected. True to form, the government is covering up the crash at any cost, and Michael is determined to reunite father and daughter.

17. Four Aliens And A Baby
Tess is back. She was in that UFO crash last episode, and she has brought Max`s son with her. She has escaped from the Air Force base and is on the run, but the only people who can help her are the ones she betrayed.

18. Graduation
High school is about to graduate and Liz Parker is looking forward to going to college, until she starts getting flashes of the future. It`s a future that isn`t too rosy either, as in less than two weeks she, Max, Isabel and Michael will all be dead.

Video

Roswell Season 3 is presented on one single layer and four dual layer discs, with the image in a 1.78:1 anamorphic format. The picture is clear throughout, if a little soft, reflecting the television origins. I think a decision was taken quite early to give the show a certain visual style; there is a distinct graininess to the image that reflects shows like the X-Files. It`s a kind of realism that contrasts the fantastical subject matter. The first episode particularly has a hyper-realistic bleached look that suits the story. I also noticed one or two frame jumps, most notably one 17 seconds into episode 1. It seems more a problem with the source material, but it`s hardly prevalent enough to complain about. Note that unless you select Play All, you`ll get a copyright warning prior to each episode.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 5.1 English or French. There are also English and French subtitles (spelt subtiles on my review discs, who knows, if I keep them in the original packaging they may be worth something in a hundred years). The dialogue is clear throughout and there is some nice use of the surrounds, but it`s mostly a front-focussed affair. We have Roswell to thank, or blame depending on your preference, for Dido. Roswell is a show that depends more than most on popular music, and that`s a contentious issue with these series releases. I know that season one had to have much of the music replaced due to rights issues with the major music companies. As it is the first time I have seen Season 3, I wouldn`t be able to tell you if some songs have been replaced, but I wouldn`t be surprised. The new songs if there are any, still fit effortlessly with the stories.

Features

The extra features for Roswell include Web links to Foxmovies as well as a "Class of 2002" featurette. This lasts for 14 minutes and is presented anamorphically with DD 2.0 sound. It`s your basic look at the making of Season 3, with interviews with the cast and crew.

There are also 4 episode commentaries on the discs.

Director and executive producer Jonathan Frakes provides commentaries for Secrets and Lies as well as Behind The Music. Frakes, better known as Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation is a director with visual flair, though some of the subject matter he chooses is a little questionable. However as a commentator he fails to engage. The comments are gappy, he includes the minutiae of directing that will go over the layman`s head, there are some silly anecdotes, and observations that fail to entertain. He seems the real life version of Rob Brydon`s creation for the TV series, Director`s Commentary, Peter de Lain. Mind you there is a poignant moment when Frakes recalls that a certain scene in Secrets and Lies was shot the day before the Trade Centre attacks.

Another Trek alumnus, Writer and Exec Producer Ronald D. Moore comments on I Married An Alien, and it`s a more interesting listen, not least because this episode was a departure from the regular format and an interesting concept. He`s voluble and pertinent throughout.

Finally, Writer, Exec Producer and Series Creator, Jason Katims comments on the final episode Graduation. It`s a bittersweet reflection as he naturally praises the cast and points out some interesting and pertinent facts about the final episode, but there is also a feeling of lost chances and of what could have been, had the series been allowed to continue.

All the commentaries are in DD 2.0 Surround sound, and all the extras including the commentaries are subtitled in English and French.

Conclusion

Roswell was one of the better concept shows to come out of the late nineties, and when it comes to teen angst and sci-fi fantasy, you`d have to go a long way to find a show as consistently interesting and entertaining as Season 3. As far as Season 1 maybe. Finally getting to see Season 3, it lived up to my expectations and gave me a chance to get some closure with the characters that I had followed for the first two seasons. Roswell`s strengths are its drama and strong characterisations, and there`s plenty of that on this boxset.

But having finally seen the whole series, I can begin to understand why it lacked longevity in the cutthroat world of television. The format was established early on in the first season, and the character dynamics were compelling to say the least. But while the success of the X-Files was certainly an inspiration for this extra-terrestrial themed show, it failed to take a leaf out of the X-Files` book. Where the X-Files managed to go to the end of it`s run without answering any questions, or allowing passions to be requited. Roswell took the other path. It`s understandable that a show about teen romance would involve some pairing off, but the mystery of the aliens` origins was solved far too soon. When the second season started, half of the show`s premise had been fulfilled, leaving a gap in the story. Enter the Skins, an alien race to be the bad guys in Roswell. The teen angst aspect was left behind somewhat and I guess that the audience who had previously tuned in to see how the Max-Liz relationship felt a little short-changed. The Skins didn`t last too long, and the rest of Season 2 was filled with other alien bugbears from Max`s previous life.

Season 3 attempted to redress the balance, get back in touch with the original premise. Once again it was about relationships, and about keeping the secret safe. But while the individual stories are strong, and all offer entertainment, there is a lack of focus for much of the season, as if Roswell is trying to find its identity. An attempt to recapture that mystery is made with the introduction of Jesse, a lawyer who Isabel has been seeing over the hiatus and who she wants to marry, without telling him of her origins. It`s a clumsy introduction that isn`t handled that well, and the character of Jesse doesn`t really fit in. When much of the first half of the series is devoted to this new character, the conclusion of the series seems almost a cop-out. The conclusion is also rushed, especially as the network cut down on the number of episodes in the final season. Three story arcs are explored, two receive two episodes apiece and the finale is crammed into one episode, where twice as many episodes would have better done the stories justice.

The characters though are still the strong point though, and that makes watching the show a joy. The core cast of Jason Behr, Katherine Heigl and Brendan Fehr as the aliens Max, Isabel and Michael as well as Shiri Appleby, Majandra Delfino and Nick Wechsler as their human friends Liz, Maria and Kyle are great in their roles, capturing that teen angst perfectly. The characterisations and portrayals are solid, helped with some intelligent writing, which always errs on the side of realism. While the scenarios and ideas are fantastical, the relationships and friendships on this show are never less than believable.

Roswell Season 3 will certainly satisfy any Roswell fans, and while it doesn`t live up to the promise of the first season, in my opinion it`s an improvement over the second. It lacks a little focus though, and the ending is rushed. While I enjoyed the chance to see the story`s conclusion and resolve the characters, I was left with a bittersweet taste, wondering at what might have been.