Roswell 1.09 Heat Wave

A lot of Heat Wave descends into one big make-out session, but once you get beyond that, it becomes another solid piece of Roswell paraphernalia. The storylines that came to a head last week continue to bubble over here, with Liz’s “betrayal” of Alex remaining a huge issue. Can he be trusted? There’s a number of interesting spins being put on Alex’s morals here, but the most interesting comes from Isabel, and how much a threat she views him as.

Isabel’s sudden interest in Alex seems like much more than just a desperate desire to pair off all the characters before it’s too late. There’s clearly something that Alex can give Isabel; security and comfort in knowing that someone wants more from her than her looks and her body. Isabel is still being largely ignored, but Heat Wave was the first to bring her centre, or at least close to centre stage. It’s cool that this realization came as part of her dream walking ability, too. It’ an interesting gift that I wanted to see more of, and it’s great seeing her use it in a similar way to assessing Maria’s stance on the big secret.

Liz telling Alex the truth seemed like the only logical way to go after we learned what goes on in his head. He’s clearly the most trustworthy of the people they’ve encountered, and he’s shown more than plain superficial interest in Isabel. His role can only become more important from here on out. It’ll be interesting to see how a newcomer will affect the dynamic that the show has already settled in to, but I’m hoping it will give the writers the chance to use Is more, now that there’s someone for her to console in, who isn’t too busy sucking face with one of their human companions.

There’s a few side plots here I actually kind of liked, like Valenti and Amy DeLuca sharing some past history. It’s a fun spin on the use of adults in teen dramas, where they tend to get written into the dirt, but I quite enjoyed these two. The rest of the episode seemed a little exploitive, an excuse to get more skin on camera, but as a teen soap that’s so far shown very little on the provocative side, it’s partially necessary.

7/10