01x03 - Tearin' Up My Heart

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Roswell, New Mexico...

Liz.

Max. You're finally back.

Get down. No...

years of keeping this secret, and nowyou up and resurrect someone?

When my dad was dying, he'd repeat this crazy mantra.

"If you see the handprint, go to Manes."

You're telling me you're an alien?

You change your mind about our secret, no lock will keep me from you.

- Stay away from her!
- What is wrong with you?

Ever since I healed Liz, there's been this poison inside me. I...

I am married to someone who can't ever know who I am, and that kills me.

Is there really nobody in this world

that you wouldn't risk everything to save?

I want to see Rosa's toxicology report.

I think she was m*rder*d.

Max, I don't feel the way that you do.

Want to blow off some steam?

I'm gonna find out who k*lled my sister, and I am gonna bring them to justice.

Even if it was Max Evans.

The scientific method requires the scientist to eliminate all personal bias and outside influence.

So it doesn't matter that Max Evans saved my life.

Or that, ten years ago, he was the only person who made me smile after my mom left.

Or how I feel when he looks at me now.

What matters is the science.

Observation: in the hours or days after my sister d*ed, a strange mark, shaped like a handprint, formed on her corpse.

Observation: it's the same mark

Max Evans left on me the night he saved my life.

Observation: Max Evans lied to my face about the last time he saw Rosa alive.

Prediction: Max's ability to manipulate electromagnetic energy gives him the power to heal and also to harm.

Hypothesis: Max Evans k*lled my sister.

Okay.

Hey, lab rat.

You can relax. I left my scalpel at home.

Oh, good. 'Cause I saw what you did to that frog freshman year, and it was not pretty.

I'm trying to help, Max.

You said yourself you've felt sick ever since you healed me.

It's not like you can go to a GP.

I'm your best bet.

It's-it's not sick.

I've never actually been sick in my life, but it's not how illness is described in books.

It's-it's more like... flashes of anger.

Or rage, even.

Maybe you're just stressed.

C-Chronic low-level anxiety keeps the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis activated.

- Shirt.
- Right.

You don't have to be scared of me.

I'm not.

Your heart's racing.

It's not racing 'cause I'm scared of you.

Glad you could spare some time.

Intervals. I have seconds.

You said your patient... The one with the handprint...

- Is still alive.
- Very much so.

Is it possible that maybe aliens aren't the enemy of humanity?

Now, you charged in here demanding information about Rosa Ortecho's death.

I provided you with that information.
Your turn now.

Can't one of your kids be your alien hunting buddy?

You have four w*r hero sons.

This is not for the faint of heart.

Are you calling Alex faint of heart?

This entire town threw him a parade when he came home from Iraq.

- Kyle, you can participate in Project Shepherd because it is your legacy, or you can choose to participate because you wisely fear what the United States Government could do to you and your quiet, small-town life.

Not to mention your quiet, small-town friends.

Your country eagerly awaits your decision.

I'm not going to tell you where I saw the handprint.

That's okay. That's not what I want from you, anyway.

I need access to your father's research material.

You wanted to know why I didn't bring my boys into this.

It's because I don't need an airman.

I need a Valenti.

Nail polish remover is acetone.

Trace amounts help with active growth and regeneration in plants, but I have never seen anything like this.

It heals you?

No. More like it kills pain.

We don't heal super fast or anything.

Okay, when did you start to realize that you were different?

What's the full extent of your capabilities?

I'm pretty good at recognizing an interrogation.

It's kind of part of my gig.

I've established your baseline.

Now I'm monitoring your electromagnetic output and how it correlates with...

- emotional triggers.
- You mean like the light show that I put on whenever I feel anything?

Can you make that stop?
Because it's really annoying.

Maybe. If I know more.

So...

Michael and Isobel.

What powers do they have, exactly?

Do they leave handprints, too?

I'm not gonna talk about them, Liz.

They don't know we're doing this.

Okay, are you all capable of electrostatic discharge...

Releasing energy intentionally?

Maybe. We don't know how it works.

In nature, there are animals... Plants, even...

- That do variations of this.
- What are you getting at?

T-They use electricity as a defense mechanism.

A-A w*apon, even.

- Liz...
- So if you can heal with electricity, can you also harm?

Oh!

Oh, my God. You're hurt. Are-are you okay?

Lightning fractals.

- Here, let me-let me see.
- No, no. I'm okay.

- Let me...
- It's fine. Please don't touch me.

I have the entire Air Force here for the veteran fundraiser, and you're out here playing, what, alien autopsy?

She already knows our secret, so what's the harm?

Maybe she can figure out what's wrong with me.

Michael and I told you we'd help.
- How?

Look, whatever is wrong with you, I'm pretty sure

Liz didn't take a class on it at CU Boulder.

I have questions, and I trust Liz.

We have a connection.

Or we did, I think.

Do you?

Liz and Kyle hooked up at the Wild Pony the day after she got into town.

Did you know that? Hank and Lindsey saw them.

Your handprint

was still on her chest.

Would you stay out of my business, for once?

Okay? Quit using my life as a distraction for your own messed-up relationship.

You are my business, Max.

I care about you. I love you.

Liz flat-out told you she's just not that into you.

At least she knows me. Just because you're jealous that someone knows the truth about me when your whole marriage is built on a lie...

Shut up! Liz is using your feelings for her to gather data, and you are letting her.

It's like you'll agree to any excuse to be close to her.

It's pathetic.

I trusted you.

Promise me you won't tell anyone what I told you.

I know you want to believe Max is a golden retriever, but he's a friggin' X-file, Liz.

This proves it. It's a superficial injury.

Yeah, well, that's not.

You and I both know this level of energy output could be lethal.

I really think we should turn him in.

To who...

The cops?

I don't know. The government?

Right. So the president can sic the Space Force on our local bookworm?

I never liked him.
Always staring at you like he was observing an alien life form.

Max Evans is only half the story.

Look, I had to provoke Max for this to happen.

So what could Rosa have done to provoke him?

She used to hide things all the time.

She liked secrets.

See this heart here?

This is one of her spots.

Typical.

What were you hoping to find?

m*rder investigations have clues.
I want a clue.

You have a clue.

You just keep ignoring it because...

Is it because he's tall?

Never mind that he explodes expensive things with his brain.

- I need a motive.
- Okay, Nancy Drew.

No, I need to understand what happened that night, before I blow up his life.

You're awake.

You stayed.

It was late, I was tired.

That's why you stayed?

Hello! I have bagels.

- Damn it.
- Whoa.

Relax, man. It's just Isobel.

Wait, does she know about us?

- Would it be so bad if she did?
- Yeah.

- Guerin...
- Nah.

Don't worry about it.

Get your old job back?

Yeah. No one in this town can fix a car as fast as I can.

So, you, uh...

Your car need a tune-up, or...?

I just came from Max's.

He's letting Liz experiment on him.

Please say "sexually."

If a biomedical engineer knows how Max is put together, she's gonna know how to dismantle him.

Yeah.

All of us.

She's using him. I know it.

We have to get her far away from our brother.

And I have a plan.

Well, I never thought I would see the day

Liz Ortecho b*at a town full of drunks to the bar.

- Rough night?
- Night.

Morning. Decade.

I found this in one of Rosa's hidey-holes.

I can get you weed that's not years old, if you want.

Though this might still be good.

I was hoping you could help me learn more of her secrets.

Stuff that she wouldn't tell me.

Stuff that she'd only tell you.

Check behind the "No Hunting" sign.

It's the most Rosa mix ever.

All ' s songs.

TLC. Goo Goo Dolls.

She's even got some Ginuwine on there.

No, uh, I don't think these are song titles.

I mean, they are, but I... think they're clues.

Track one, "Here in Your Bedroom"

That's our bedroom. "Pony."

I mean, this is her exact brand of teen melodrama, a treasure map to all her little hiding places.

I know, I-I figured that was the the case, I just...

I didn't want to inv*de her privacy.

Even now.

Well, as a little sister, invading my big sister's privacy is my born prerogative.

Even now.

Track three.

"Under the Bridge."

You coming?

Yeah.

Yeah!

Whoa. Save that for when the machines actually take over.

- What is this?
- Um... they were going to sell it at the police auction.

This is a first edition, Cam.

Yup. Knew that would give you a nerd boner.

Let's go to the drive-in tonight.

Uh... like a date?

Yeah.

I thought we had more of a...

"Hey, you up?" kind of thing going on.

I know, but I-I thought maybe it was... maybe it's time.

Yeah. Why not?

Let's go to the drive-in.

Maybe after you can take me to the malt shop and then pin your letter

- on my sweater.
- Okay.

Listen...

I've been thinking a lot about dad lately.

Remember those letters he sent when he was in hospice?

Can't find them anywhere.

The cancer changed him.

By the end, he'd look at me and I could see in his eyes he had no clue who I was.

He was mailing us letters even when we were sitting by his bedside every day.

You're better off not digging into the past.

Hang on to the good memories.

I'm just trying to fill in the gaps of who my sister really was.

You already know that.

She was electric. Impulsive.

She was a "hold your hair back when you're sick, slash your ex's tires" type of friend.

She was a total flake.
Completely unreliable.

But, somehow, when you needed her most, she always seemed to show up right on time.

She isn't what's left over in the dirty crevices of this town.

Maybe not.

But maybe.

"Dear Rosa, you will never be alone."

Signed Ophiuchus.

I'm gonna assume that if someone in Roswell was named Ophiuchus

- we'd know them.
- Must be a pseudonym.

Ophiuchus is the th sign of the zodiac.

It's a little controversial in certain circles.

- A fraudulent zodiac.
- Mm.

The lyric that she had written On her hand when she d*ed.

Maybe it wasn't a random lyric from a random song.

Maybe this means something.

I mean, this note feels romantic.

Think she was seeing someone?

- Maria.
- Hmm?

- She's dead. Spill.
- She didn't mention anyone.

But I slept at your house that week.

I saw her sneak out the window, and she had taken a little extra care with the eyeliner, so I figured there must be a boy.

You were a good friend to her.

Now come on. Mixtape map beckons.

"Small Town Saturday Night" by Hal Ketchum.

Maybe the drive-in?

♪ I was amazed at the man I could be ♪

♪ I did all the right things and my aim was to please. ♪

So, you gonna mind-warp Liz before or after Mars att*cks?

I'll know when the time is right.

Just curious about why you're down to get in Liz's mind and send her out of town.

And at the reunion you were scandalized when I suggested it.
- You know,

I don't think you appreciate just how miserable it is for me to have to gaze into the deep, dark abyss that is the human psyche.

Nevertheless, things have escalated.
- And I don't disagree.

But I also think you're scared.

- Yeah, of exposure.
- Of not being

the number-one person in Max's life.

Of him... loving Liz more than he loves you.

Michael Guerin at a town event?

Noah!

Projector broke. I fixed it.

Oh, I could've...

Yeah, yeah, good call. Thanks, bro.

- You missed dinner last night.
- I know.

I'm sorry.

It was Max. He had, uh, girl problems.

Yeah. Same.

Seriously, baby, I'm sorry.

Mm-hmm.

- Hey, how about this.
- Mm?

Why don't we switch things up tonight?

Hmm? What can I be for you?

Mm, maybe tonight we could, uh, both just be... present.

Leaving so soon?

Seen it before.

I hate how it ends.

I'll tell you what, I'll split this sixer with you...

if you let me watch from here.

Hey!

Can I help you find something, Valenti?

What were you doing in the file room?

Visiting my mom. Guess she was out.

I could have you arrested.

Oh, I get it.

Is this massive overreaction about Liz?

Are you into her?

You must've heard.

About the Wild Pony parking lot.

Do you want me to hit you?

Well, that wouldn't be very lawful of you.

Though I think you've wanted to for a long time.

You don't know anything about me.

Ehi. Do we have a problem here?

All good.

Just a couple of New Roswell High buddies catching up.

We doing this movie thing or not?

Yeah.

We are.

- You look beautiful.
- Thank you.

Oh, careful, son.

Oh, you got me, you got me.

Heartwarming.

Hey.

Maybe you ought to call it a night, huh?

Use the evening to educate yourself on how to properly represent your country.

Do I embarrass you, Dad?

You are a decorated purple heart airman with three deployments under his belt.

Guerin is arrested once a week for gambling and bar fighting.

Seems to me the only one you're embarrassing is yourself, son.

Excuse me.

Evening.

Thank you, Roswell, for making the third annual Night At The Drive-In such a success. Because of you, we more than doubled last year's donations to the local V.A. clinic.

Here to represent the brave women and men of our armed forces, Master Sergeant Jesse Manes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Isobel.

Uh, thank you all for being here.
Good evening.

For the past years...

More than years, actually... Roswell...

Come on, just say it. You hate this town party stuff.

Am I breaking out in hives?

Well, we can go back to Wild Pony for a drink.

After we find Rosa's hiding spot.

Okay, come on, come on, come on.

When, uh, when the risks and sacrifices of battle...

Why are we really here?

Something's up with you.

Can't lie to a psychic.

- I-I...
- Mm-mmm.

Okay, fine.

I wanted an excuse to spy on Max and his date.

Tall blondes are totally not his type.

If we're stalking, I need a corndog.

And I'm getting you a michelada.

Inaction means the loss of everything that we've worked so hard to build.

Inaction means that we give up this...

Hello, Liz.

I need you to do something for me.

Rosa?

Why are you being like this?
I thought we were friends.

Liz.

Yes?

It's time for you to leave Roswell.

And don't come back this time.

I wish it could always be like this.

Stop.

I can't leave.

Why not?

What is keeping you here?

Max.

Earth to Liz.

Yes. Hi. Yeah. What?

I think I figured out the clue.

This isn't Rosa's idea of a small town Saturday night, but I know what is.

Oh...

I know a run and puke face when I see one.

Uh, did you do it? Is she leaving town?

No, I, uh...

I don't think it's gonna be that easy.

You weren't strong enough?

No, Michael. It...

I... I don't know,

I just, uh... I got into her mind, and then I-I just couldn't go through with it, so...

Couldn't or wouldn't, Isobel?

You don't understand. Okay?

I kept getting these weird flashes of Rosa, and...

Liz was there. I could see what she was seeing, you know?

I could feel what she was feeling, and then, and... and she said Max's name, and there was this, like, rush, and it was, like, I don't think that this is just some high school crush.

I think that she and Max may be...

Maybe she and Max what?

Run.

It's the cops.

Officer.

Hi.

Hi.

Your speech was good.

Thanks.

I didn't think that you were gonna show up, after I...

Maybe you were right.

Maybe Liz isn't gonna happen for me.

Cameron and I were hooking up before Liz got back into town.

Maybe that could be something, if I try.

I was really hoping for E.T. this year.

No. Xenophobia sells more tickets, so...

Okay.

Let's see...

You sure it's up here?

Rosa and I used to sneak up here after you fell asleep.

I think we got it wrong again.

Oh, come on, Liz.

Relax.

Spend a small town Saturday night in Rosa's shoes.

Here you are. Enjoy.

So while you were getting your bachelor's in biomed engineering, I was dating a Chad.

- Ugh.
- Mm-hmm.

Changed my relationship status and everything.

Why do parents name their kid Chad?

All the Chads end up being Chads.

Right?

Ugh.

I missed this.

I left my fiancé in Denver three weeks ago.

Diego.

I don't know why I'm laughing.

No. He's perfect.

- It's not funny.
- Mm, sorry.

I just... I couldn't connect. I couldn't feel anything.

Yeah.

What did you and Rosa do up here?

- We smoked.
- Mm.

Drank. Looked at the stars and, um... the first one to find Pisces got to dare the other one to do something really stupid.

That was her sign.

See, right there?

- Two fish.
- Hmm.

Just looks like an arrow to me.

That's what Rosa always used to say.

Maybe you two didn't think so differently after all.

God...

It's a love letter.

From who? Ophiuchus?

Okay, we have, um, most of the teenage dream date... covered.

Um, the movie, popcorn.

Just one essential high school experience missing.

And what would that be?

- What are...
- This.

Oh... oh.

Okay.

Max.

I'm sorry, we're closed.
Could you come back?

I need to talk to you, now.

Liz.

Liz, stop. What is this about?

You were sleeping with my sister.

Explain that.

Liz. Me again. I swear, if you got yourself...

Kyle Manuel Valenti.

You'd make a terrible criminal.

Care to explain yourself?

I was looking for Max Evans's file.

We're in a kind of... love triangle.

Wanted to get some dirt on him, there wasn't any.

Is this about Liz Ortecho?

Kyle.

What?

I don't like her family.

My parents struggled for years in poverty so that they could enter this country legally, because they believed in America.

In freedom, in patriotism, in the law.

And people who defy that law give us all a bad name.

You sound like a bigot.

And you sound so naive.

Rosa Ortecho k*lled those girls, and it tore this town in half.

You were away at school, but your father nearly lost the election that year.

Jesse Manes vocally supported some white candidate, and you know how this town loves to vote m*llitary.

I thought Master Sergeant Manes and dad were friends.

Jesse Manes doesn't have friends, Kyle.

He has soldiers.

"I feel like I'm disappearing "until you look at me, "and then I'm so completely seen. I've never liked that feeling before."

- Please, just stop. Come on.
- No, you really captured her.

"Somehow, you always stand in the part of the room that the sun hits first."

I wrote that note for you, Liz.

Don't lie to me. "You touched my lips and I stopped breathing for a week." This isn't about us.

- You and I never kissed.
- No, we didn't.

It was April of senior year.

I had hot sauce on my lips and no one told me for, like, three hours.

And then you wiped it off with your thumb in lab.

The day we... got sent home early 'cause there was a school blackout.

Rosa must have found the letter.

I was . I wanted to be a writer.

I'm not accusing you of some high school affair, I am accusing you of something else.

I know that you lied to me about the last time that you saw her.

I know that you met her the night that she d*ed, and I know that my sister was m*rder*d.

By an alien.

What? How-how do you...

So was it you, Max?

Hey.

You want to go for a ride?

This isn't gonna work out, Guerin.

I cannot ignore what I saw tonight.

Your side hustle.

Yeah.

Occasionally, I pawn a spool of copper wire from the junkyard for a little extra cash.

Who cares?

I do.

I'm an airman.

I can't be with a criminal.

All my life, the system has put me at the mercy of criminals.

I'm just trying to survive it.

Guess you're still the guy just looking for any excuse to walk away, huh?

Maybe.

And you're still so good at giving them to me.

I have spent ten years thinking that my sister k*lled herself and two other people, but it turns out that that was all a lie.

- Your lie!
- Yes, you're right.

I lied to you.

Okay? I did see Rosa that night.

After we got back from the desert, I dropped you off but I didn't go home.

I sat in the gazebo and I wrote that letter. And I slid it under the windshield wiper of your car and then Rosa was there.

And she was drunk and high and angry, and she was telling me to stay away from you.

She started yelling and shoving me.

S-So what? You... you k*lled her?

No.

I drove away.

She was messed up and I knew it.

I... The diner was still open.

I could have gotten your dad.

I should have stayed with her.

I asked you, point-blank...

if you saw her that night.

You have enough painful memories.

After everything... that we have been through, do you truly believe that I am capable of k*lling someone you love?

Liz, I have loved you my entire life.

Including every single day that you were... gone in the last decade.

That's not what this is about.

Well, that's what everything is about for me.

You know what, maybe-maybe my sister's right.

Maybe I am pathetic.

But I would... never k*ll Rosa.

Leave the past in the past.

There's nothing we can do to change it.

Noah?

Baby? Are you home?

Ah. How did the rest of the night go?

So good.

We more than doubled last year's donations.

The V.A.'s gonna be very pleased.

Aw.

Mm.

Oh, Iz.

- You don't have to do this.
- No.

I said we'd have a nice night, and look, I'm here, I'm present.

Isobel, I love you, with my entire heart, How... did the rest of your night go?

Noah... I'm sorry.

I know that I've been absent.
I know that I'm codependent on Max and...
- Hey, hey, that's okay.

I knew what I was marrying into.
It's...

Everything is falling apart, and I don't know how to put it back together.

You know, Max is my... is my person.

He always has been.

But now he's in love, and... and she loves him back, deep down.

I know you don't want your brother to be unhappy.

No.

- It's...
- No, it just...

That's the point.

I think that this whole time he has been, and I didn't know.

And I think that maybe it was my fault.

Mm-mmm.

Iz...look, maybe for a little while, you could stop worrying about how happy he is.

Maybe instead, you could just let me... worry... about how happy you are.

For once?

Come here.

Let me show you something.

Is this...

- The Land Before Time?
- Mm-hmm.

How did you know?

Max told me.

He said you might need a little picking up after tonight.

You're not losing him.

You're just taking space, and that's okay.

Isobel Evans-Bracken.

You...

are my person.

And you always have been.

And I would very much like it if I could be yours.

So, Rosa intercepted the letter to keep Max away from me.

Why?

He's so harmless.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

Maybe. Um...

He told me he loved me.

Then and now, too, I think.

Wow, that's... that's a lot.

What'd you say?

I just don't trust him.

You can't keep summoning me.

You could stop showing up.

Can I? Because every word out of your mouth feels like a thinly-veiled thr*at.

I know the stories about how people who refuse to conspire end up suffering.

It almost worked.

Using my dead dad to make your appeal.

But you weren't friends at all.

Were you?

I checked the records. You didn't visit him once

- while he was dying.
- Jim and I had our differences, yes.

We shared one goal.

Protect our town and our world from the imminent alien thr*at.

Imminent?

The crash was in .

If they pose a thr*at to humanity, they're taking their sweet time.

Unless your boy Paul Ryan is an alien.

Have some respect.

I do have respect.

My ancestors sacrificed everything to come here, so I could live the American dream.

But my family also believes in the justice system.

Innocent until proven guilty.

So I'm not gonna hand over anyone to you, either.

These are the letters my dad wrote when he was dying.

If he was trying to tell someone something, it's somewhere in all this crazy.

Hey.

We're square now.

You gave me Rosa's autopsy photos; I give you my dad's alien Rosetta stone.

Do with it what you will.

Now I'm out.

I'm not your soldier.

You made the right choice.

Although you should know there's one fatal flaw in our system.

Innocent until proven guilty means that justice can only be served after disaster has struck.

Every time a t*rror1st is caught, you know what his neighbors say, right?

"He was such a nice guy.

"Smart. Thoughtful.

"He hardly bothered anyone.

"Kept to himself a lot.

Michael, when you get this, get over here.

Certainly not the type to build an arsenal."

And then... boom.