It was nice to actually see Sanders the junkyard owner this episode, and for him to play a role in both Guerin’s emotional level up and his eureka moment about Max’s alien pacemaker. Sanders gets a lot of play in Guerin’s stories, and this season in particular, more of those stories have had a softer side to them. While he wasn’t the warmest and fuzziest of guys, it sounds like he made it a soft place to land for a kid who had never had one before, and likely wouldn’t have trusted anything much more welcoming than that. I’m holding out hope that one of these days, we might just learn that there’s more to Sanders than Michael realizes.
This episode also marks the apex of Isobel’s growth into what promises to be one hell of a warrior, physically and emotionally. Early on she tells Guerin about her abortion in an open and shame-free way, to illustrate that tough, deeply personal choices can only really be made by the person involved. (Guerin’s response here is perfect. It isn’t a judgement or pity or whatever, just a simple statement of support – “I’d have been there.”) Throughout the episode, Isobel does what she needs to do in order to save her family. She even goes into Max’s head while he’s dying, risking whatever fate might befall her.
Max is right about one thing: they’ve all become stronger without him, Isobel most of all. She took control of the situation when she realized what Max wanted inside of Rosa’s head. And when she figured out that he had all that negative energy inside of him, she took responsibility for that too, apparently continuing her training so she could “play god” just like her twin.
One thing that still feels off is Roswell’s insistence on ignoring the dynamic between Rosa and Isobel. It’s possible they’re kicking that can down the road until things settle down (Isobel acts like she loves feelings, but we all know she only loves feelings when they’re on her terms.) But seeing Isobel betray Rosa twice in quick succession and put her hand on Rosa’s chest, knowing that for Rosa they were making googly eyes at each other like two seconds ago back in 2009, made it feel deeply weird to keep pretending they have no relationship to one another. Or no relationship beyond Noah riding around Isobel’s meatsuit like the homicidal creep that he was.
On the healthier side of things, Alex Manes and Maria DeLuca are quite possibly the two best people in the entire town of Roswell. It makes sense that Maria would come back to Alex first – he’s her best friend, she did him wrong, and she needed a favor. It’s just damn impressive to see them comfort each other over their mutual love of Michael Guerin and not be mad about it. Even more impressive? Maria’s resistance to spying on her mother. I have a feeling that this respect for Mimi’s privacy will turn out to prevent Maria from uncovering some small hint at “the truth” earlier and Maria will feel guilty for it when Alex inevitably does go snooping through those encrypted files, but for now let’s be thankful for characters who respect boundaries.
