Roswell, New Mexico: Kiss From a Rose (4x06)

Sick Michael is kind of the most precious thing I've ever seen lol.

Cons:

I don't really know what to make of Bonnie as a character. I'm extremely torn. I was excited to find out that her kiss with Michael had ulterior motives, but now we find out that those motives were her trying to help him, not hurt him. She hits that "born sexy yesterday" trope for me, where she's this wide-eyed innocent excited for someone to teach her about the world, but she's also super dangerous. It's tired, it's lazy, and I don't like how she's just willing to follow whoever happens to be nice to her at any given time. On the other hand, I do like that they're kind of keeping us guessing with her character. So I don't know.

Everything with Eduardo and his daughter felt like a waste of time to me. As we move further and further through this season, I'm realizing how much these side characters and new characters are eating up the screen time I'd rather be spending with our core cast. Anatsa was like that, and the new trio, especially Bonnie, get so much attention, and Eduardo with his family drama, Shivani with her sick daughter and semi-estranged wife... I don't know. I wish they'd known when they were making this season that it would be their last. Maybe they would have tightened the scope and focused on the things we're already invested in.

It's weird, because honestly I feel like the character who is getting the most good attention in this final season, and has the most interesting character stuff happening with him, is Michael. And Michael is my absolute fave, so of course I'm happy to get to see him explore his identity and his past... but at the same time, all this amazing character development for Michael just sheds an even brighter light on Alex's absence. I wish he could be there for Michael to do some processing with. I wish we could have seen him there for Michael in that moment when he learned his powers were gone. So many missed opportunities. I just really hope the payoff is good, for Alex's return...

Max is making me so angry! Honestly, after the last couple episodes when the drama between him and Liz seemed to be "I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop", I was actually excited to see that Max's powers were putting Liz in danger. This is a concrete issue that they need to work through. It's appropriately angsty, you've got the handprint binding them so they can feel each other's emotions... all good stuff. And then Max goes and gets a kiss from Bonnie to remove his powers? Just like that? That's a huge decision that doesn't only affect him! Michael is powerless too, and now they're down two aliens as they try and figure out what to do about Tezca and Clyde and all that. It's just so stupid that Max would do this. These are our final episodes with these characters, I really wanted to believe that Max had grown and changed and had started to learn his lessons, but he just keeps making the same mistakes. It's not fun to watch anymore. Echo is a ship I really enjoy, but this season has been super aggravating for both of them. Liz is doing her best, but she seems less alive as a character to me lately, since her only role seems to be worrying about the future of her relationship.

Pros:

This wasn't a bad episode, by any means, and I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than I did last week's installment. I think part of it is that I've given up hope of seeing Alex until episode eight at the earliest, so I was a lot more Zen about him not being there.

To start with, Michael's arc this season really is the strongest, most consistent thing we have going on! He's grown so much as a character over the years. I love the moment when he wants to go with Max to talk to Bonnie, since he promised he'd protect her. And how even after learning what she did, he ultimately can't entirely hate her for it. He's learning so much about who he is, and it's complicated to let go of the things you've held onto for so long, while also trying to feel grounded in your present choices. I love how they're grappling with that!

Also, he's just super, super adorable all snuffly and curled up on the couch under a blanket. Seriously melted my heart. Missing Alex, grumpy about his powers... too sweet. Liz was so worried about him, promising to solve everything with science right away. And Maria makes him soup and commiserates with him over losing their alien powers, and Dallas comes by to check on him and get his advice... I'm just very warm and fuzzy about Michael having this whole support system. Sure, I could complain about the people who didn't get to react or know about Michael being sick in any way, including Sanders, Isobel, and of course, Alex, but I can also appreciate what we did get to see. I know people probably didn't like the Maria stuff in this episode but I honestly found it super sweet that she was there to take care of him and talk things over with him. Justice for their friendship, please!

I loved Liz being a bad-ass, and having faith in Max, and doing all the right things: speaking of characters who have really grown throughout the show. She is, in my opinion, handling everything really well. It's just Max who's freakin' blowing it for the both of them. I loved the handprint stuff, too, the way Liz and Max were navigating how they were feeling through being able to experience each other's emotions... Liz being understandably scared that Max's powers would continue to be a dangerous problem, but also wanting to reassure Max that she's in this for the long haul and isn't going anywhere... all great stuff! Until that stupid ending, and now next week they're going to have to fight about Max being an idiot! Again!

And then there's the Kyle and the Isobel of it all! As I said previously, I was really displeased with how things went between them last week, so I was ready to still be disappointed, but I actually really liked the angst here! Kyle is so happy and feels so settled after their night together, but Isobel immediately opens with "oh no, did I ruin our friendship?" And of course Kyle plays along. If they'd left things there, I still would have been annoyed. But instead, Kyle, after having a talk with Eduardo about regrets, decides to lay it all on the line. He tells Isobel he's in love with her, and she says... that she doesn't know what to say.

I loved how Kyle tried to be calm about this, tried to say that she could take all the time she wanted, but Isobel, quite reasonably, doesn't want Kyle waiting around for something that Isobel can't promise will ever happen. The way their relationship is structured, with Kyle pining away and Isobel not being aware of her own feelings, actually really works for me, in terms of a good romance story, and also with these particular characters. Kyle and Eduardo are off on a road trip, so he'll have some time to process, and I'm willing to bet that Isobel is going to be thinking quite a lot about Kyle while he's gone! I have high hopes for what we'll get between these two by the end of the season.

Dallas gets to learn a bit more about his dad, and discovers that there could be hidden messages in the bible his dad gave to him when he was briefly awake in the 1940's. I like that we're continuing to develop Dallas more and more; of all the new characters who arrived in season three/four, Dallas is the one I'm really happy about having around. It was sweet that Isobel rushed back to help him access his memories, even if I'm annoyed that nobody bothered telling her that Michael was sick and powerless! Yeesh.

So that's where I'll stop for now. I really, really hope that the next couple of weeks give us some forward motion on the Alex situation. I don't want that to be the only thing I care about. It's not the only thing I care about. But it sure is the thing I care about the most, and I'm not going to lie about that...

7.5/10