Roswell"Heat Wave"
Season 1, Episode 9
Original Air Date: Dec 12, 1999
Victoria - TwoCents Reviewer
victoria@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s December in Roswell and the temperature is in the 100s. A heat wave that everyone is blaming for the substantial uptake in libidos. As a viewer you have to wonder if the heat is causing the hormones to rise, or if it’s the other way around. Either way it’s infectious and couples begin to develop in the most unlikely characters like Maria’s mom and Sheriff Valenti. This episode was hot and heated up every storyline on the show along with it.
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Roswell
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Season 1, Episode 9
Original Air Date: Dec 12, 1999
Victoria - TwoCents Reviewer
victoria@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s December in Roswell and the temperature is in the 100s. A heat wave that everyone is blaming for the substantial uptake in libidos. As a viewer you have to wonder if the heat is causing the hormones to rise, or if it’s the other way around. Either way it’s infectious and couples begin to develop in the most unlikely characters like Maria’s mom and Sheriff Valenti. This episode was hot and heated up every storyline on the show along with it.
Out of nowhere it seems, Maria and Michael are re-enacting a soft core porno. In every scene they’re in – not that anyone is complaining – they have their lips attached to each other’s bodies. It’s the first coupledom of the episode. Max tries to talk him out of it, telling Michael if he has urges to be with Maria, he should just call Max. Michael response; “I hate to tell you this Max but when I have urges, you aren’t exactly the first person I think about.” Then after a talk with Liz, Maria decides make-out sessions in the eraser room are not enough. But Michael shuts her down telling her he can’t give her more than that.
Alex is feeling the heat in more ways than one – since he’s being grilled by Sherriff Valenti about that teacher/FBI agent Topolski who seems to have gone missing. I haven’t mentioned Topolski as she appeared in episodes between this one and the pilot, but she’s a teacher who seemed to have a weird interest in students. Turned out she was actually an FBI agent trying to hunt down the teenage aliens. Alex discovered her cover just as she was catching on to Max and the gang.
So anyhoo, Alex know Topolski is an FBI agent and that she was after Max but he doesn’t know the real reason why and he’s furious at Maria and mostly Liz for not sharing the 411. (Trivia Alert! If you know the other sci-fi show Topolski-playing actress Julie Benz is famous for being a reoccurring character on, leave it in the comments!)
We also discover, thanks to a little dream-walking by Isabel, that while most teens in Roswell are groping each other, Alex dreams only of dancing - with Isabel. He’s in love with her. Dancing like Fred Sinatra love. Isabel then uses this information to try and manipulate Alex into keeping their secret (not that he even knows what it is). That part is a little hard to watch because Alex is so great and Isabel is so clearly taking advantage of him. It’s like watching someone abuse a puppy. So far in the series, Isabel is not a very likeable character.
Did you guys hate her from the beginning and learn to like her as her character developed, like I did? Let me know!
Liz has been trying to be okay with the no-Max-loving thing because she assumed it would be impossible – physically or something – for her and him to be together. But the Maria-Michael porn-on has showed her otherwise and now she’s kinda ticked that Max won’t make a move on her.
She keeps pushing him until Max almost gives in, agreeing at the least to meet her at a party at an abandoned soap factory as a “date” of sorts. And although they almost kiss a few times, the soap party love-fest gets interrupted as the cops raid the place. Both Liz and Alex end up caught holding alcohol by Sherriff Valenti and he arrests him. Yeah, they shouldn’t have been holding booze since they were under age but everyone knows his real motive is pressuring Alex to talk to him.
Worried he’ll crack, Liz tells Alex the whole alien saga – even reinacting Max’s finger-to-the-sky thing - which Alex thinks means that Max, Michael and Isabel are illegal aliens (as in Canadian). Very funny scene that shows us that Colin has the same comedic acting chops as his dad Tom Hanks. Even though Alex basically thinks Liz is crazy he doesn’t tell Valenti anything.
Once Liz is out of jail, Max visits her on the roof. There, after a lot of verbal banter and Olympic calibre flirting, Max Evans and Liz Parker share their first kiss. This time teen alien angst loses – epic teen romance wins.
So did you like this episode when it aired? Were you surprised by the Michael-Maria hook-ups or did you see it coming all along? And did you think Max and Liz’s first kiss was awesome and romantic or lame?
Leave your two cents in the comments!