Roswell Details

Details

Jones refers to the aliens in Caulfield as Oasians (pronounced o-Asians). Just kind of interesting to me.

He says that he thoroughly read Tripp's journal and studied files from Caulfield to confirm that someone he was looking for was locked up there after the crash.

Since Maria's visions are genetically linked, Jones needs Maria to find Patricia's memory from this day.  This is somewhat in line with what we learned from Mimi DeLuca in 2x12. Mimi indicated that she could jump in time in her visions, but it seemed like it was linked to her lineage.  She could see moments in Louise's life, like Isobel's birth. And similarly Maria was able to see visions from Louise's life (in 2x08).  It makes sense that Jones can manipulate the situation enough to get Maria to the right time to see Patricia's memory since he knows the date he wants to see, but only Maria is genetically linked to Patricia so she is the one who has to experience the day.

Jones says that seeing the equation on the alien glass is literally the most important thing to him.

Getting set up in the barn: Michael secured the space and Isobel secured some hard to acquire chemicals (medical stuff I presume).

The last cultures Liz took from Maria showed "that Jones' invasive cells are effectively consuming her.  Think sepsis then organ failure then endocrine then nervous system."  Meaning that she won't be able to continue to fight him off.

Liz also says that the glowing handprint is spiderwebbing across her body.

Basically, they're pulling her out of the hospital so that a) her condition doesn't attract the attention of dangerous people, and b) so that Liz can do The Science on her without the hospital figuring out what she's doing (or with Jones watching).

The effectiveness of the Jane Holden lie.  The hospital receptionist practically quaked at the sound of her made-up name.

I feel like it's relevant to add that Alex has retired from military service, and of course neither Isobel and Michael are in the service.  In New Mexico impersonating a military service member is a misdemeanor subject to up to a year in prison. Yup.  So maybe Michael should have cut that hair, hippie. Or at least put on a hat or something.

https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/new-mexico-misdemeanor-crimes-class-and-sentences.htm

This week's barn belongs to a large animal vet who plays poker with Sanders.  "All the bells and whistles of a hospital without the nosy staff." Uh...except for a sterile work environment, but whatever!

Alex comes clean to Michael about working for Deep Sky. Points out to Michael that the assumption that Deep Sky was evil originated from Jesse Manes, and maybe that wasn't a reliable source given that he hated aliens and Deep Sky doesn't seem to share that perspective.  Alex tells Michael they need to be tactical not emotional in going after Jones.  And that they need to focus on the pod, not the sword.  Michael gives in.

Michael wants to go after the pod with Jones' body in it as leverage against Jones and also the sword.  Alex "informs" him that they will be working together so that Michael doesn't do anything stupid.  Michael pushes back because he knows Alex has been lying to him and he wants to focus his attention on "Daddy Dictator".

Liz told Rosa to sit this one out so that she can stay focused.  Rosa responds that she went down a rabbit hole researching her new powers and "everything in the entire world has its own resonant frequency, even cells."  Liz tells her there's nothing to help with right now, so instead Isobel enlists Rosa in joining her in Maria's mindscape.

Isobel gives Rosa a piece of alien turquoise.  "What is this, more of your mom's weird mystical crystal crap?" 😂 Love that they can drop these little signs that time has passed off screen.  The fact that Rosa knows this about Ann Evans is a subtle sign of her and Isobel having more of a relationship now off screen.

Maria's body temperature dropped two degrees in 10 minutes, meaning she's getting worse.  Liz indicates that there is no way to know when the connection with Jones is severed and also speculates that if Maria dies while Isobel and Rosa are in her mindscape that they would die too.

Inside the mindscape Maria's nose is bleeding.  And Isobel and Rosa find her in the mindscape Atomic Diner's fridge.

Isobel wants them to hide out until the day is over but Maria insists that she actually wants to walk Patricia's path (thus basically giving Jones what she wanted even though a few minutes ago she was like, "never!")

They never told Rosa about Caulfield. Which is kind of wild, but I suppose with it being blown up in season 1, there wouldn't necessarily be any reason to?  She wasn't close to Michael until now, Isobel's mom wasn't in there and Isobel is pretty self focused, and Maria...well, relevant to her personal history but unless she's talking about her medical issues a lot with Rosa (which doesn't seem likely given how inconsistent she's been about her own treatment) it seems unlikely.

Isobel explains that Jones needs Maria because without her "he'd have to sort through four generations of thoughts all piled up one on top of the other. It would be like browsing the web without a search engine."

"Google maps for Diet Thanos" 😂😂

They speculate that the equation might be the key to severing the genetic bond that Jones wants to cut between him and Max. Which Maria speculates could also mean that it's the key to his destruction too.  Maria makes the decision that the benefits of reliving Patricia's day outweigh any potential trauma she has to experience.

Liz doing The Science:

The nanoblades will now be combined with the newly modified alien serum and infiltrate the Jones-Maria cell cluster for a cellular separation test. If successful, I will advance to treating the patient.

The test is successful so Liz plans to synthesize more of this serum to microdose Maria.

Inside the mindscape Isobel explains to Rosa that they're observers of Patricia's memories that can't interact with them. Similar to A Christmas Carol or Dumbledore's pensieve in Harry Potter. Rosa understands the latter reference but not the former.

The exception is Maria, who is acting in the role of Patricia within the mindscape.

When they attempt to detour off of Patricia's path, they find themselves back at the point where they tried to leave, like a time loop.  Rosa compares it to Jumanji.

https://www.unilad.co.uk/film-and-tv/jumanji-director-finally-clears-up-how-time-travel-works-in-the-world/

Meanwhile back in the barn, Liz is starting to dose Maria with her serum when the test cells begin fusing back together and multiplying.  Meaning it didn't work and is getting worse.  Maria continues to worsen and Liz realizes that she can't get any colder otherwise it would result in brain failure.  So, skipping forward to her next scene, she barbecues the horseshoes to warm them up, and then puts them in a bucket under Maria's cot (heat rises, therefore the hot horseshoes would raise Maria's temperature.  Smart move, Liz. Though smarter would be having her actually indoors, but eh!

Perdòn, amigo is of course, “sorry, friend!”

Meanwhile, Michael and Alex are stuck at the entrance to Lincoln National Park, where the tracker that Michael apparently had the forethought to put on Max's jeep cut out.  Michael guesses that Jones found it.

Note: Lincoln National Park doesn't actually exist. It's Lincoln National Forest that's outside of Roswell. National Parks and National Forests are not actually the same thing.  National Parks have higher protections, and are managed by the National Park Service, which is part of the Department of Interior.  National Forests are managed by the U.S. Forest Service which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Part of USFS's mission is forestry management and timber sales, which is contrary to the protect and preserve for public enjoyment mission of the NPS).  Just in case you wanted to learn about the difference between various natural resource management agencies of the Federal Government today.

Alex uses his hacker skillz to guess Jones' eventual destination: either the old barn or fish warehouse.

Ugh, in the mindscape the very nice dude and his wife tell Patricia that he'd had a bad cough until someone approached him at church and told him that it was because he had "bad blood" and they could treat it for him. Ew.

Turns out that Patricia was working at Caulfield and administering the experiments. But that's only part of the story.  But more on that to come.

Isobel is on edge in the mindscape and says that she can feel Jones even though she can't see him. She says that as "someone who has gone Queen's Gambit" with Jones she's sure they're missing a piece of the puzzle regarding why he wants the alien glass so badly.  

Queen's Gambit...probably just intended to be a pop culture reference to the Netflix series, but in case I'm wrong, here's the Wikipedia page on the chess move: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Gambit?wprov=sfla1

Then she has this very interesting exchange with Rosa, where they talk about bravery and trauma, and Rosa's personal battle to get Liz to see her as an equal.  But here are some particularly interesting quotes from this exchange:

There are monsters in every shadow waiting to prey on the weak.

It's beyond atrocious that Caulfield existed in the first place. But I've got to believe that monsters can be killed.

What is the line between brave and reckless? Maybe it would be better if we were hiding.

Except that everything you hide from catches up to you eventually.

You know, I didn't know that that ten-year pod soak came with a Yoda setting.

I have what Father Linus calls situational strength...It means that I'm strong depending on who or what I'm facing.

Well, our dragons tend to be personal. That's what makes them our dragons.

Then we see the Caulfield doctor complimenting Maria/Patricia on her dedication to the work, and how she single handedly enabled them to treat a record number of patients.  Maria is horrified and is second guessing what she believed to be true about her family legacy.

But right as she is struggling to continue, a young guard hurries in and tells her that she has 10 minutes with "the prisoner" and sends her to "Room B, sublevel 2". She traded "10 silver crosses" for the time with Nora.

Liz's monologue to Maria was stellar, full of personal epiphanies and good information so I'm just gonna share the whole thing here:

I've tried every chemical combo I can think of, and nothing is working. The infection is spreading, and we have so little time! When I left last year, you asked me if I was leaving or running. And I told you the first, because I was too afraid to admit the second. I've been listening to Kyle. But I realized I don't just run from things. I run to them.  Like the sheer velocity of my running can will something into being. And it works enough of the time to let me keep lying to myself. And now everyone I love is gonna die because I lie to myself that being the smartest person in the room can be enough.

She throws the horseshoe and it hits an anvil.

Sorry. Sorry. Probably did not feel good on the ears. Sound moved...you. Sounds move things. Sounds are vibrations.

She hooks up the ultrasound machine to see what it does to Jones' cells.

Sound is making Jones' cells vibrate. Damn, Rosa. You were onto something.

So basically, in case you don't know… ultrasound machines use sonic waves or vibrations to image the internal body.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasound

They meet Nora in the mindscape interrogation room.  She reveals that Patricia has been swapping out the test serum with placebos, so, basically saving the test subjects from the experiment.

Nora gave Patricia the schematics to make the Lockhart Machine! So Nora designed it and Patricia built it.  Nora tells Maria/Patricia to find Theo to get the last critical information/piece for the Lockhart Machine. She tells us that Theo was the scientist that Jones forced to make his clones. And that he's the third member of Nora and Louise's triad.

Here's Nora's monologue revealing her plan:

Together, we stole Jones' genetics to make a clone. He's the only one left to continue his reign. Which caused a problem with the boy that still needs to be mended.  The science to fix this, to end this fight, to save our home is in Theo's mind. You must find him. Give him the Oasian glass...It's blank. But when Theo's done with it, it'll be the final piece needed for the machine to be activated to make contact.

You mean contact with the other Oasians, like a... telephone?

In a way, but also... so much more. Just because we have Jones contained for now doesn't erase the threat. This information can never make it into his hands.

Alex and Michael go over the plan to get the pod from Jones.  Michael still really, really wants to get Jones' sword, but Alex is insistent that it's too risky.  Another interesting quote:

"It's your choices in the moment of truth that matter."

Many thanks to @tasyfa for helping me break down this next scene.

Alex tells Michael the story of how he lost his leg.  In Iraq he had befriended a kid named Omar. The soldiers would trade him chocolate bars for eggs.  Omar loved James Bond.  And the Taliban killed him, as a result of that friendship. Alex volunteered for the mission to take out the Taliban leaders responsible.  After killing him, Alex convinced the other airman to press further instead of retreating as per the mission plan, a decision fuelled by emotion. This was an error that led to them being overwhelmed and Alex being shot in the leg while escaping.  The incident resulted in other targets scattering, which undermined a planned Navy SEAL mission that Alex was unaware of.   And he doesn't want to lose Michael the way he lost so many pieces of himself on that mission.

There are a lot of issues with this monologue, which frankly, should have been caught by the writers or the network before going to air.  Some primary issues with this monologue include:

 While it is common for American troops to engage with the local children and provide sweets, etc., it was unnecessary and insensitive to make this story about the death of a child;

 The Taliban is in Afghanistan. While canon has established that Alex was also deployed to Afghanistan, this incident occurred in Iraq. Which does not have a Taliban presence. A very simple way to avoid this egregious error would have been to use the word "insurgent" like the rest of the media;

A military screw-up of that level would have had consequences, which could have ranged from disciplinary action to court-martial for disobeying orders. Alex would probably have been demoted from officer rank (he is still a Captain when he retires "with full honors" in 3x03).

Catching a bullet in the leg is, however, a reasonable injury to have led to amputation. More on that here:

https://www.popsci.com/heres-model-how-leg-bleeds-once-its-been-shot

Liz doing the science (and still taping herself):

Treatment objective is to generate the right sound frequency to separate Jones' cells from Maria. The parameters of the desired frequency are narrow. If the frequency is too high or too low, it could rupture and kill both cells, causing a chain reaction, killing Maria and everybody inside her mind. Okay. This is why I am conducting a test using cells I scraped from the handprint on Maria's head left by Jones.

Liz runs the test and it immediately affects Rosa inside of Maria's mind.  She can tell whatever Liz is doing is sound based so she asks Isobel to wake her up from the mindscape so that she can help Liz. Liz tells Rosa that she was wrong to dismiss Rosa's ideas at the start of the episode and asks Rosa to be her lab "equipment" (to help her figure out the right frequency to break the bond between Jones and Maria).

Meanwhile Maria and Isobel find Theo...dead. On a clipboard beside his body Isobel found, instead of medical records, a list of questions. He was tortured to death for information and he didn't talk.

The alien glass that Nora gave them is blank/empty.

It doesn't light up when they touch it. Isobel reminds us that alien glass is part tech and part genetics.

Inconsistency alert - Isobel refers back to Crash Con but calls it the County Fair instead. Which...I would assume are two different events.

Anyway, Isobel reminds us that Max got info about Jones when he touched the console at Crash Con.  At the same time, Maria notices that Theo has a symbol in his forehead:

Isobel theorizes that the alien glass could work like a thumb drive and that the ideas in Theo's head could be downloaded into the glass.  So she places the glass over his forehead and the glass seems to come to life.  As it engages with the symbol on Theo's head, electricity goes wonky and the radio in the corner starts to play "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots.

God, Liz is just sciencing all over the place and frankly? It's just easier to use her words and then try to explain them.

Okay. You were right about vibrations and resonant frequency being the answer...So, because of what you said, I thought about this study that I read where sound waves were used on tumors. Then I found this research explaining how sound frequency can break plaque bonds in Alzheimer's patients...I have MacGyver'd an ultrasound machine to be more powerful. But I'm not able to measure frequency. It's sort of like souping up a hot rod and then driving it without a speedometer.

So you need my subatomic vibrational frequency to be your speedometer?

Yes. I need you to listen to the resonant frequency of the alien cells in Jones' DNA and tell me when they match with the ultrasound machine...essentially, we're gonna try to break Jones' cells like an opera singer does a glass.

Without accidentally shattering Maria's cells.

Meanwhile back in the Mindscape, the glass is complete and Jones appears from whatever shadow he was hiding in and gives a stereotypical bwahaha villian speech revealing how they all played into his nefarious plan.  

And he reveals this twist:

Why is this science so important to you? What does it have to do with Max

Back on our home world, there were a lot of Maxes. The model you have shouldn't even exist. Which makes him all the more a miracle. Unlike the others, he's more than just a vessel for me. It's a little tight, but they definitely saved the best for last.

You said the Dictator was immortal. You've been jumping into clones' bodies to stay alive.

Until your mother's triad slaughtered all of them and destroyed the science I needed to generate more. But soon such hurdles will all be a moot point.

And Isobel leaves Maria to protect the glass while she has a mindscape throw down battle with Jones that takes them from Caulfield to the Atomic Cafe and Wild Pony.

While Isobel and Jones fight, Maria rushes to where Patricia hid the Lockhart Machine and moves to install the glass, but the machine just like...grabs it and takes it.  

At the same time Liz and Rosa are working the frequencies of the ultrasound machine to separate Jones from Maria, and Michael and Alex are stealing the pod with Max inside of it from Jones.

Rosa is struggling to focus on the correct frequency, but then she realizes that the alien turquoise will amplify her abilities and allow her to hear through the noise, so to speak.

Maria/Patricia get caught by the doctor who informs her that he knows about the placebos, Nora, and the Machine and shoots her with a double dose of "the treatment".  As the shot takes hold of her, Maria reveals that the Doctor's name is Lockhart.

Isobel locks Jones in the mindscape jail cell. Lockhart turns on the machine.  And thanks to Liz and Rosa, Maria and Isobel wake up.  As does Jones who wakes to find the pod gone.

Michael and Alex didn't get away fast enough so we get another fun confrontation with Jones.  Jones reveals more new information:

Might as well shoot Max in that pod if you want to hurt me...When I healed Max's body, we traded places. So now Max is in my body, and I'm in his. Though it's all the same, really. Our cells are psychically linked. You have your mother to thank, for that, actually.

But before he can say more, Alex hits him with the truck and they make a run for it.

Which leads us to a big happy ending sequence in the Wild Pony - the closest to a big group scene we have had lately.  No Max and Kyle, but everyone else is there.  

Liz and Rosa have a heart to heart.  Everyone celebrates Maria's return, and she recounts what she learned in the mindscape, most particularly that Nora and Patricia built the Lockhart Machine.

Later outside, Alex tells Michael that Deep Sky has the machine and says that he's gonna ask Eduardo to allow Michael and Alex to work on it together. Michael scoffs it off though and suggests that his alien status might negate the ability for him to gain approval/access to Deep Sky.  But Alex says regardless he will tell Michael everything he knows about it.

Isobel and Maria have a family moment, when Greg calls and Isobel urges Maria to take the call.  Then she seeks out Liz, who is outside working, and urges Liz to have a drink with her (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) to celebrate Liz's return to Roswell for good.

Last little inconsistency note though: Isobel comments on the pod with Max being "hidden" and therefore safe for Liz to take a break…….and next week he's just out of the pod, no biggie. *sigh*

Music

Bud's Blues - Bud Reneau & The Matadors

Just Another Broken Heart - Al Hazan (feat. Sylvia Terry)

Guardian - Alanis Morrisette

I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire - the Ink Spots

Wild Pony Nights - Chimps in Orbit

Wonderwall - J2 & Miranda Dianne

In case you didn't know… yes Wild Pony Nights is about the show.  (It's obvious in the lyrics).  One of the guys in the band is also crew on the show.  It popped up on Spotify and through social media during the hiatus.  You can find it here:

Details

Episode opens with Jones sitting in the center of the burning alien symbol in holding his alien sword as he invades Maria's mindscape.

Jones wants Maria to show him a memory and she refuses.  She locks him in a mindscape version of the cell at the Sheriff's department.  He's able to manifest his sword in her mindscape.

Jones indicates that power (like energy) eventually fades, but the sword allows him to maintain his power long term.

It seems that the power did fade over the 75 years that he was locked in the cave, so he says he needs to recharge by killing people in order to make Maria do what he wants.

Interesting note: they're both wearing their clothes from the end of Killing Me Softly when the attack happened.  Which seems to indicate that even their appearance might be being managed by Maria's subconscious. Because we can see Jones outside of the mindscape and he has abandoned the uniform at this point.

Liz doing The Science!

"...alien cells use hydrolyse component polymers to attach themselves to host cells. So essentially alien DNA mimics the way a virus attacks. There is no current reproduction of the predatory cells within the subject.  The handprint has remained steady in size, causing fever and swelling, which means that the subject is trying its hardest to fight off the invasive effects of the contact, but it's getting nowhere."

I...am a bit at a loss on the science this time.  

Hydrolysis is a process of using water to separate chemical bonds...which is the exact opposite of what Liz is saying here (attaching to hosts like a virus).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolysis?wprov=sfla1

Polymers are like structural building blocks of substances and can be both synthetic and natural.  For instance proteins are polymers, but also like, plastics.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer#Structure?wprov=sfla1

Anyway, if anyone out there is a proper scientist who this makes sense to, feel free to explain and I will share.  But this is the first time I haven't been able to interpret Liz's science babble.

Liz is all set up in Kyle's office at the hospital by the way.

Michael and Isobel come by with coffee to update Liz.  They checked the cave and found Jones' body still in the pod. Which confirmed that he had somehow taken over Max's body when he healed Max's heart.  Liz says that was three days earlier, which means Jones has the capability (through killing, as we know and they assume) to retain his hold on Max's body in a way that Noah couldn't with Isobel.

Some astronomers went missing and their cars were found with burnt slash marks in the tires, also confirming for them that Jones has his sword back.

Michael explains to Liz that Max said that when he held the sword it made him feel charged and powerful, like it was an extension of himself.

Michael's plan is to separate Jones from the sword.

Liz's plan is to microdose Jones with the alien serum, by dosing his drinks.  Her theory is that it should force Jones out of Max just like it forced Noah to release Isobel.

To find Jones Isobel jumps into Deputy Pete's mind and tells him to obsessively focus on "Max" and follow him, which he does for the whole episode.  Additionally she instructs him to let her know when he finds "Max".

Rosa's go-to priest is Father Linus who brings biscochitos (Mexican cookies!) to meetings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizcochito?wprov=sfla1

The new priest is Dallas, who usually works on the reservation.

With all of the recent stress Rosa is wondering if she should put her recovery on hold to focus on everything else going on.  Dallas encourages her to listen to what God is asking her to do.

Ramos brings Alex to some farm out in the desert.  Alex thinks he's going to be killed by Ramos. But it turns out that Ramos is giving Kyle medical treatment in a barn. Like Maria, Kyle also seems to be in a coma. Unlike Maria it isn't apparent WHY Kyle's in a coma.

Jones, now back in Max's uniform, is also hiding out at some random farm in the desert. With Lucky. He tells Lucky that he just needs one more "volunteer" (aka murder) to break into Maria's mind.

He pops out some guy's tire and plans to kill him when Deputy Pete shows up before he can.

Deputy Pete says that "Max" missed his shift and hadn't responded to his radio in over 18 hours and the Sheriff is pissed. Which I suppose kills my theory that she's already dead. Darn!

Ramos tells Alex that he got Kyle's SOS and tracked it to Max Evans' house where he found three(?) guys in alien masks transferring items from a hole in the desert into their car.  This is interesting because the local racists that we know of is down to 3, but Jordan was in jail when the break in happened. So either these are people from the groups they enlisted from the other county, they gained a member, or the show miscounted their racists.

Ramos says they hit him with the shovel and fled, and he had a choice to either follow them or find Kyle and he chose Kyle.

We see a narrative flash of Ramos bursting into Max's house and dragging Kyle away.   Ramos says that Kyle was injected with a drug so complex that only a handful of people could have fabricated it. He suspects that it could have been someone inside Deep Sky.  I *think* he might be implying that Kyle was shot with Butyricol, but there must be more to it since Kyle's still unconscious.

OH!! Unless Maria THOUGHT she was shooting him with adrenaline but it turned out to be butyricol instead!?! As far as we know she still doesn't know about Wyatt!

So Ramos is like, yo, Alex, do you really need me to say what we both already know? Max Evans is a friggin' alien, man!

Ramos tells Alex that the Lockhart Machine ties back to the 1947 crash.

The Sheriff is questioning Jones, so again, another hint that she's probably alive.

Isobel "Let's clink whiskeys when we have consciously uncoupled my family from the walking body snatcher."

Isobel says that she remembers what it was like to be trapped in a dark prison while Noah was using her.  Which isn't exactly consistent with what we saw in S1, when it was shown as blackouts.  But it's possible that the blackouts were purposeful and once Noah's cover was blown (i.e., the end of 1x11 and first half of 1x13) when he possessed her maybe she was conscious/aware at those times?

Liz again repeated her "I never fail at the science" line, but maybe the whole point was that this time she will, because she's in over her head? Certainly will be interesting to see if they come back to that when she's back in a lab next episode!

Rosa wants to help take down the "ducker" who put Maria in the coma.  For anyone with a short memory, this reflects back to 2x12 when Rosa discovers autocorrect and finds it hilarious. Pancake Papi, of course, is Arturo's screen name that Isobel helped him create in 2x04.

Michael refers to Rosa's new power as "ultrasonic hearing".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_hearing

Note, last week Michael wasn't a zoologist, now he's throwing out biological facts about dolphins!

The new discovery? Rosa is hearing "subatomic vibrational frequencies".

Michael further explains: "All matter in the universe emits signature sound wavelengths: rocks, wind, fire, plants, even people...Neuronal activity produces brain waves oscillating at a high beta frequency...But can you detect resting frequency gradients?"

Hey, here’s a cool lesson tying this back to music! Pure Rosa! https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/Lesson-4/Natural-Frequency

Rosa can hear alien glass, so Michael trains her on how to listen and find it so that they can use her new power to find Jones' sword.  Again, like last week, Rosa's love of music becomes an asset.  Michael is able to use elements of music as a metaphor to help Rosa sort out the noise and find the alien glass.

Liz tells Jones that his DNA fused to Maria's through the handprint, which might be what creates the psychic connection. "It's like a virus using the host cell RNA to live."

Jones wonders if it's replicating.

Note: Jones calls Maria "DeLuca", and Max does not.  Max always calls her Maria.

Also note: Liz brought Max a milkshake, but not a little green man. Which makes sense given that he admitted he doesn't really like mint, but what does she bring him now?  Also did she dose the milkshake?

The menu at Dollars for DeLuca? DeLuca Daiquiris or Maria-ritas.

Rosa calls Jones "evil vanilla"

Michael has a new theory: the sword is made of both alien glass and Jones' DNA and therefore in addition to the sound of alien glass, it should also give off a frequency tuned to Jones.

Back to Ramos and Alex.  Ramos says that the Lockhart Machine was found hidden at Caulfield, and was smuggled out by Jim Valenti, who was Ramos' spy on the inside.  Ramos says that Jim didn't know what it does either, but he theorized that it was built by one of the aliens. The mystery is who built it, and how did they build it in captivity?

Ramos tells Alex that there's an inherent risk to working with the machine.  That it's what drove Trevor Gunther (who we met in 2x06, the bootmaker--or his twin  brother) insane.

Trevor worked in crypto-analysis for the United Nations prior to being recruited by Deep Sky. Ramos says that Trevor became unnaturally obsessed with the Lockhart Machine and couldn't think of anything else until it drove him insane.  Alex interprets this as meaning that the machine bleeds radiation.

"I got my hands on the Caulfield files and that's when I learned what your father was allowing to happen repeatedly." 👀 What does THAT mean? Torture? Or something specific?

Jones tells Liz that Max learned Goodnight Elizabeth on guitar and wanted to serenade her on the Crashdown rooftop before Liz left town (after high school) but he never did.  Liz said that Maria told her about that and she waited for him to do it.  Side note, but this is the first hint we've gotten that Max is at all musical-oriented.

HOW did they figure out that the sword can only be held by Jones' DNA.  Like, clearly Michael hadn't touched it before this episode.  Who did? Or did, like, a bird land on it or something?  So weird.

Michael's "plan" is to bury the sword in cement...somehow I don't think that would work.

A few great things in this exchange between Isobel and Rosa…

Isobel basically told Rosa that she loves her without directly saying it.  She says she trained to get stronger to protect the people she loves, and that she won't let Rosa get hurt again.

Rosa is the only one who hasn't faced a full strength alien and clearly doesn't understand how dangerous/scary it is.

The acknowledgement that Max was the only one capable of defeating Noah and he's not there to help them fight Jones.

Ramos has a theory that the Lockhart Machine was trying to talk to Trevor Gunther (using the alien symbol that Alex found inside it.  Trevor had drawn that symbol all over the walls of the barn, similar to how kid-Max drew the other alien symbol all over the walls of the group home.

Alex suggests that they just ask an alien about it. Lol.

Here we go… Ramos revealing that he knows pretty much as much as we do:

The aliens in the 1947 crash weren't just refugees but the resistance to a war.

The alien who lit men on fire (Jones) wasn't part of the resistance -- he was everyone's enemy.

Ramos basically tells Alex that Jesse Manes' hatred of aliens stemmed from the assumption that there were more aliens like Jones hidden within the resistance.

And he tells Alex that he recruited him because he knew that Alex was in love with an alien.  And because he thought Alex's journey to undo the work Jesse Manes did was compatible with the work he's trying to do at Deep Sky.

Ramos gives Alex the Caulfield file on the Lockhart Machine.

Jones lures Liz back to Max's house to "study" the mark on his chest. Here’s a rundown of what we learn during this scene:

Liz has a Chemistry minor! (This is new information!)

"Last time we did this you blew out my radio." Referring to the opening scene in 1x03 when Liz was studying Max's powers.

Jones cells are like a virus, bonding to others at the microgenetic level.  Liz explains that while human DNA has two strands, alien DNA has three. (Also new information!) And that third strand is the bonding agent.

Jones is wondering if the connection/bond can be cut.

Liz thinks that Jones is after Max, but for selfish reasons (i.e., there's something more he wants from Max but it's still unknown).

Liz theorizes that using the same processes she used to build the bonds to create Max's heart she could potentially figure out how to slice through the same bonds and the connection created by them.

Jones asks about the alien inhibitor/alien death serum (which he is literally holding in his hand).

And then he reveals that he's not Max and announces his intent to kill her.

You can see in Liz's eyes the moment she realized that she failed (at the science).

And of course when she tries to plead for Max there isn't even a glimmer of his presence.  I think that makes a lot of sense given how powerful Jones is.  But I also think there remains a question on where Max actually is.  It FEELS like he should be inside of Jones and that's why Jones keeps citing Max's memories.  But also he could be in Jones' body in the pod.  Also, a part of me wonders if there's meant to be any sort of pattern to what Jones does/doesn't know? Like, is Max allowing certain information out (and hiding certain information) as clues to the team?

Rosa is frustrated about being sidelined and talks with Dallas again who encourages her to fight for what she wants and cites Notorious BIG as motivation. "Sky's the Limit".

Meanwhile, during the big final showdown of the episode: 

Jones is trying to kill Liz when Michael and Isobel show up.

Jones immediately seems to know that the sword is there and uses his telekinesis to pull it from Michael's truck.  

Michael catches the sword without getting burned revealing that Jones is the Dictator and Michael is his son.

Michael speculates that the inhibitor didn't work because he's not an ordinary alien.

Now that Jones’ power is recharged and he has the sword, their powers aren't touching him at all.

Jones says that the sword is both an extension of his will and a reservoir for his power.  He says it turns three against one into an army against three.

Isobel wants to know how many people he killed and he tells her to "start counting the stars" which really makes me 👀 over how many people are dead that we don't know about.

Liz argues that he wants to be in Max's body permanently and his interest in her research and breaking the connections must be related to that.  So he needs her alive.

He...doesn't disagree with Liz’s and is perfectly happy to kill Michael and Isobel, soooo...cares a lot about his son, huh?

Before he can kill Michael and Isobel, Rosa shoots him and saves the day.

Rosa called in another robbery at Max's house and the police force arrives behind her.

Later Michael and Liz go to check on Maria, who is still safe in the hospital, while Rosa and Isobel go to check on the body in the pod, which is gone.

Jones kills Deputy Pete.

Alex is keeping vigil at Kyle's bedside and starts to read the Caulfield report on the Lockhart Machine.

We learn that it was first activated on March 11, 1969.

Jones relights his burning alien symbol in the desert and reenters Maria's mind.

He busts straight out of the cage and takes control.

They land in the Atomic Cafe (pre-Crashdown) on March 11, 1969.  And the waiter calls her Patricia.

Jones says that this is a very important date and Maria will be showing it to him.

Fun fact…nothing too dramatic in history seems to have happened on March 11, 1969, but guess what song was #1 that day?

Dizzy by Tommy Roe

https://www.birthdayjams.com/us/1969/03/11/

The same song Rosa used to find Maria in the mindscape.

Music

Tomorrow’s Girl - Merrell

Into the Shadows - Anna Mae

Planet Earth - I See Hawks In L.A.

Waiting for Someone - Fuzzbubble

Wasting Time - Muckafurgason

Handyman - Esther Rose

Wild Pony Live Covers

Wake Me Up

Tom’s Diner

Details

The opening sequence is super interesting to me.  I had to watch it multiple times on slow motion to really absorb it.  The clock is representing the time that various moments of the attack occurred.

First, Kyle arrives at Max's house at 10:41 pm.

Maria arrives at Max's house at 10:46 pm

Alien dude appears behind Maria at 10:48pm

Maria is attacked by the man in the alien mask at 10:52pm

At 10:48pm while Maria is being attacked, Alex is at Deep Sky fiddling with the Lockhart Machine.  The wire he's playing with is a camera that picks up on the symbol inside the Lockhart Machine and when Alex shows it to Ramos, he reacts strangely.  Ramos asks if Alex believes in aliens, which implies that there's something alien about the symbol and thus the Lockhart Machine.

The symbol:

Ramos says that Deep Sky was created specifically to forge a connection with beings from another galaxy.  And Ramos believes that it's Deep Sky's responsibility to correctly shape the narrative between Earth and aliens.

Initially I thought Alex did something that turned on the Lockhart Machine, but he was just adjusting the camera when it suddenly turned on and the bats started hitting the window.

Jones' fictional story of what happened:

Rushed in to check on Maria

Guy in alien mask jumped him

He threw him off and he went through the glass doors

Got slammed from behind into a wall

Sheriff was there when he woke up

Says that he and the Sheriff are pulling warrants for known Regiment affiliates.

Michael points out that Maria was healthy in the vision and now is in a coma, which is the first evidence to prove that they can change the future.

Max tells them about the "flash of light" in the desert and Michael goes to investigate it.

Isobel enters Maria's mindscape and finds the Wild Pony in a state of deterioration.

An interesting detail...the base Wild Pony in Maria's head seems to be from her party when she bought the Wild Pony based on this banner:

There's an earthquake-esque rumbling, a mirror breaks, and Isobel wakes up.

Rosa tried to get Mimi to come to the hospital, but she wasn't fully lucid and just kept saying, "The alien will hear her!" Isobel says that it's a quote from A Quiet Place (which is distinctly more modern than most of Mimi's film references!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Place?wprov=sfla1

Isobel thinks the clue is referencing her (and later in the episode Rosa), though I find myself wondering if it was a warning about Jones?

Isobel says that she can feel Maria in the mindscape, but she can't seem to reach her.

Rosa is acting like such a little sister here! Looking to Liz for answers that Liz doesn't have and just generally stressing out.  Liz realizes that they need Kyle to figure out what's wrong with Maria and leaves Isobel and Rosa to continue to try to get through to Maria while Liz goes to help "Max" find Kyle.

Rosa gives Maria back the protective necklace.  Immediately her powers go wonky and the electricity flashes all crazy, but Rosa is able to calm and steady herself and it goes back to normal.

"Max" tells Liz that they put Kyle into the missing persons database and the first 48 hours are critical...and I was thinking…is he lying? Isn't there a delay before you can do that? So me being me, I went and researched it and discovered that I'm old and behind the times. The waiting person was abolished by Federal law in 2003 (Suzanne's Law).

When Liz walks up and meets Lucky we actually get a pretty good look at the broken doors and the hole in the glass is……..not person sized.  

Jones and Liz are like oil and water… they just don't mix.  Frankly I'm surprised Liz didn't immediately know right here.  My guess is that it was a combination of being out of practice in interacting with Max, plus thinking he was upset with her or still trying to keep her out of this. It does not surprise me that she didn't notice the lack of heart eyes.

I don't need to recap why Henry IV Pt 2 is important, right? 1x06, 1x09, 2x10...this is their 4th reference to it.

The hole in the desert…in case you need a reminder, yes the alien sword was buried there, as we learned in 3x01, but also in that hole was Max's goodbye letters to his Mom, Michael, Isobel, and the one we saw him narrate at the beginning of 3x01 to Liz (there's a second letter to Liz in Kyle's desk drawer).  But ALSO in that hole was all of Liz's voice recordings from her secret lab in Season 2.  So that's the other thing floating around out in the world right now and no one knows about it besides Max, who can't exactly give them a heads up right now.

Blood on the shovel, left next to the hole… seems awfully lazy criminal behavior.

Something I'm continually fascinated by that seems worth commenting on here...what Jones knows versus what he doesn't know? It seems very inconsistent to me. Like, he had never met Maria, but he knew her by name when he saw her? He knew that she had visions that were genetically linked before she told him that she was related to Louise. He knows Liz can test/ID blood off the books, but he doesn't know that she was gone for a year, Henry IV reference, etc, etc.  Not to mention all the modern culture stuff that he's just adapted to with no trouble at all.  Like… was he targeted in what he pulled from Max and Maria's minds? Or is it just an inconsistent amount of information that he's slowly processing?

Michael found Kyle's radio in pieces at the radio tower by Verna's Vista. Along with lots of dead bats.

Michael's theory is that the alien glass in the radio powered it up and it hit the tower at a high velocity.  That Kyle tried to use it to call for help (since it is both a transmitter and receiver) and the interplay between the radio's old technology and the alien glass reacted and caused it to fly.

Sanders was giddy because there was expensive communication equipment scattered all over the desert from a power surge.

The minute Liz mentioned the hole in the ground Michael knew that it was where Max was hiding Jones' sword.  But again, he didn't know what else was in the hole.

The DNA connection with the alien sword was new information in this scene.  Max and Jones have the same DNA so Max could touch the sword, but no one else can without getting severely burned.  

Side note, seeing as we now know that Michael is impervious to flames, how did they figure that out?  Did Isobel get badly burned?

Side note #2, we learned in 3x04 that Louise had her sword on earth as well.  So that must be out there somewhere.  Which raises two questions in my mind: 1) will they go looking for it? And 2) will Isobel (or Maria, but Isobel is more likely...genetically closer to Louise) be able to touch it?

Michael DOES confirm that he checked the cave to see if Jones was free.

They come to the conclusion that the alien sword thieves must not be the racists...except that they totally did have the sword. It's really unclear to me who or how they actually found the sword and also how Ramos fits into all of this mess.

"Max" offers to check traffic camera footage for clues.

Liz wants to check the blood sample from the shovel.

Michael agrees to call Alex in for help trying to track the radio signals (which go in every direction at once).

Ramos says that the bats hit the window because something messed with their echolocation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_echolocation

Alex notices a fresh bandage on Ramos's arm.  Ramos claims it's a rabies shot.  It's an obvious lie and even Alex can tell.

Alex is all guilty about the dead bats because he thinks he caused it by studying the machine.  Ramos reminds him that Laparoscopic technology (the tech Alex was using to see inside the machine) is noninvasive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopy

Ramos says Alex's work led to an unprecedented breakthrough, but, like…what breakthrough? Dead bats? The symbol Alex found? Even if it's the latter, Ramos hasn't explained what's so important about the symbol so far.  A mystery to be solved next week, I suppose!

Rosa at the Crashdown gets super hearing as a new power! Woot!  Side note, it kind of cracks me up how no one in the diner reacts to the flashing lights.  Lol. That's not what would really happen.

Btw, in case you didn't catch it, here's that exchange between Deputy Racist Pete and Sheriff Taylor…

He's got this way of making weird things happen, ok.

I think this is all in your head, Deputy. If you need a little help, I know a great doctor, okay? I'm sick of the way you talk about him.

Every time Evans is around, something strange is going on. That's all I'm gonna say.

Sounds like it's more like in your head something strange going on.

It wasn't the Regiment. Evans is slippery.

"Talk to me, Goose." Top Gun reference.

Isobel drew a Ouiji Board on the pool table.  It almost seemed to work.  The ball started to roll and stopped between the T and U when all of a sudden the light fixture collapsed onto it.  Which I assume means that the destruction in Maria's mindscape is Jones trying to keep her consciousness beaten down.

Random musing--I wonder if the devestation and imprisonment of Maria's mind is something he has to actively work to maintain? Also how the necklace affects his ability to manipulate Maria's mindscape? Or if it was just an attack he planted when he initially attacked her that is just sitting there self-maintaining and holding her down.  And how strong is it? Does it deteriorate over time? Especially with the necklace's influence?  Just my random thoughts on the matter 🤔

Liz yells pedazo de basura at the DNA testing machine in Kyle's office.  Which translates to "piece of garbage".  Thanks @rosaortecho​!!

"Max" uses his powers to "help" Liz out, but I would definitely consider it to be suspect, given that the whole machine died a minute later.

Even though it took Liz most of the episode to figure it out, I super love that out of everyone that Jones interacts with as Max, she's the only one that seems to unsettle him.

Isobel says that when she's in Maria's mind it's like there's something actively keeping her away from Maria.  Which again, leads me back to that question of how much is Jones in control in there?

Isobel immediately jumps to "alien puberty" as the reason Rosa is struggling with her powers, which kind of makes me wonder what the pod squad experienced during actual alien puberty?

So now it's Rosa's turn to try to "hear" Maria.

But first, Malex…

Alex is really acting suspiciously here, and since, thanks to Michael's last scene in the episode, we know that this isn't outside of Deep Sky, it makes me wonder what about this scene has Alex all freaked out?  The bats specifically? (Which we know he's blaming himself for).  Or something else about the location that screams Deep Sky? And yes the call back to 3x03 is perfect.  

When Rosa takes a stab at the mindscape with Isobel it's actively disintegrating at a higher rate. The instant Rosa's super hearing goes into effect, they get kicked out.

Sanders tells Michael that there were 8 radio towers blown out.

Michael is blaming himself because he was the one who was supposed to be protecting Kyle. Which actually, it just occurs to me, is kind of great since at the start of the show, Max and Isobel were his only people (besides Alex of course...and Max just barely)...then Maria joined the ranks…but his relationship with Liz & Kyle was tenuous...especially with Kyle… and now not only has Sanders joined the ranks, but also Kyle.  Good stuff.

Michael may not be a zoologist, but Sanders recognized that vampire bats were the only kind taken out.  They're different than other bats because they hunt using infrared. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about vampire bats including the details on their use of infrared.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_bat

Michael determines that the radio and the bats were both drawn to an infrared signal which only impacted of the 8 damaged towers. (So we're the other 5 towers actually just damaged by a power surge? Or did something else happen here?)

11:07 pm the racists' car was spotted traveling eastbound on the only traffic camera near Max's house. The guys in the car were wearing the alien masks. Car is owned by Samuel Cook who has ties to the racist group. He claims he never used it so either he's lying or someone borrowed the car.

When "Max" leans in to look inside the car, there's a slash in the steering wheel and blood dripping down the front of it.

The car broke down because all the electrical features blew out.

Sheriff Taylor surmises that the driver was burned because there's a burn mark through the trunk in the shape of the alien sword.

Taylor says she can tell that Max is lying about not owning a sword and that he'd better tell her the truth.  Jones looks at her like this, and that's the last we see of her in this episode.

I mean...she's totally dead, right?

Liz and Alex scene… we need more of these.

If you sell your soul to the devil you will always get burned." ORLY Alex???

Kyle's desk.  Like, really, how many Valenti Coats-of-arms does he have lying around in one room?

Followed by Liz and Maria scene! More of this while Maria is conscious please!!

Mi bruja translates to my witch! Love it.

And then she finds the handprint just barely peeking out from Maria's scalp line.

Good Rosa and Isobel scene.

"Life never gets easier. We just get stronger." 🥺

Isobel tries to help Rosa figure out how to "block out the noise".  Rosa says the music in the jukebox is calming for her and specifically the song she plays when she's upset (Mrs. Potter's Lullaby, of course).

Rosa says she heard music in the mindscape just before the rush of noise.  The part of this sequence that I don't fully understand is that it's a mix of all of the noise she's heard with her super hearing, not just what she heard in the mindscape. And the specific song she hears "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe is actually I THINK playing under the first super hearing scene in the Crashdown, not the mindscape.  But maybe I've got that wrong. Rosa says it was playing under everything and that it felt like Maria inside the quiet of that chaos (inside the song)

Liz confronts "Max" about the handprint on Maria's scalp and he immediately has a story (lifted her head to put a pillow under it), which is actually true according to Maria's memory at the end.  But then he gets all defensive and is like, I hurt Maria, I'm always the problem, blah blah blah (and it's kinda gross when you know the truth).

Alex takes the blood samples to the lab at Deep Sky which is super high tech

And gets his answer, like, stat.  The blood sample from the shovel is a 29.3% match to Kyle's sample. Meaning that the blood on the shovel would be a relative of Kyle's (uncle, aunt, nephew, etc…)

Rosa finds the song "Dizzy" on the back of a song listing in the juke box.  She says that it's one of the "old" songs from before they updated the juke box. Rosa guesses that Maria's clue might be the song that they updated Dizzy to when they redid the juke box.  The song on the other side is "Roof With a Hole" by the Meat Puppets.

Michael tracks the dead bats to Deep Sky and calls Alex to tell him what he found.  Alex listens to the voicemail while searching Ramos's office until he finds a radio identical to Kyle's.  And Ramos walks in on him studying it, calls it one of a kind. Alex corrects him that there's two of them. And then confronts him that he received Kyle's SOS (which killed the bats) and that Kyle's his nephew, which Ramos then denies.

Alex says that he hacked both Deep Sky's medical database and the Department of Defense to confirm that Ramos was who he thought he was, and discovered that Ramos has terrorist ties.

Alex has determined that Kyle hit Ramos with the shovel (which tbh we don't actually know for sure yet).

And then of course, Ramos pulls a gun on him.

"Roof with a Hole" is a reference back to 1x03 when Liz and Maria went on their Rosa music scavenger hunt. Liz found Max's love letter hidden by Rosa in this same hidey hole...which is now where Maria somehow stashed her memory of what actually happened during the attack.

While they're inside Maria's memory, Liz chats with the ever-awesome Nurse Kate, who asks if the case she discussed with Max helped him out.  Liz is confused, so Kate shares it with Liz.

What the file says:

CHAVES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT 

9285 S. Main Street

Roswell, NM 88203

Sheriff Brooke Taylor 

9285 S. Main Street 

Roswell, NM 88203

CASE INFORMATION REQUEST

To whom it may concern,

This is a formal request to receive information regarding CASE #22485-098. I am requesting an opportunity to inspect and obtain copies of this case that disclose information regarding the suspects medical history and reports. This was reported on November 1, 2020. Evidence suggests the suspect may have sustained third degree burns to the hand. Obtaining more information about this vital detail in the suspects medical examination is crucial. By obtaining these medical records and reports more evaluation will continue on the case.

If there are any for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $5/ However, I do request a waiver of all fees in the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest. This information is not being sough for commercial purposes.

The State of New Mexico requires a response within 10 businesses days. If access to the record (I’m) requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies of (—a missing word or two—) to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appear produces available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request.

Note: all typos and bad grammar are 100% the product of the show 😆

Inconsistency alert. The request memo is on the burned hands from the racists that stole the alien sword. It's dated November 1, 2020.  BUT Liz's Genoryx resignation in 3x04 was also dated: February 9th, 2021.  So… unless Liz time traveled… or the alien sword was stolen twice, we've got ourselves an inconsistent timeline, folks!

Also Kate does specifically mention that it happened last night and she gave Max some gauze from the patient.

As Liz processes this new information she puts together all the clues that Max wasn't right throughout the day:

Jones' dog Lucky hanging around

Max's lack of reaction to Henry the IV Pt 2

Max "forgetting" to tell her that he had something buried in the desert and his response that he didn't think it was relevant

Max clearly lying to her throughout the day

"I came as soon as I could get the Sheriff off my back," NOT a very Max-ish thing to say.

Max’s look when she confronted him about the handprint (he sooooo wanted to murder her).

And she realizes that it's not Max, it's Jones.

The real memory of the incident:

"Max" runs in and checks on Maria, like we saw at the end of 3x06.

He lifts her head and puts it on a pillow, asks what happened.

She says that the racists attacked Kyle, and he couldn't breathe.  She found his bag and shot him with adrenaline.  She thought he was somewhere outside.

She says someone came in and grabbed her. Kyle came turned the radio on, but it just went flying out through the doors.

Maria tells "Max" that it means her vision was true and she couldn't save Kyle.

"Max" susses out that Maria's visions must be genetically linked.  She confirms and says that they're linked to her great-grandmother Louise.

"Max" confirms that Maria's mother and grandmother also had the visions.

Maria realizes something is off and asks him what her grandmother's name was.  Because she also figured out that it was Jones and not Max.

And then Jones attacks her.  Grabs her by the scalp and clearly invades her mind (because he tells us Patricia's name).

Watching the memory, Rosa and Isobel realize it's Jones and that he's holding Maria's mind hostage, hence why she had to hide the memory - from him.

We see Jones giving the gauze from the burn victim to Lucky to sniff, and then Lucky tracks the smell to the racists with the alien sword. One of which does have a bandaged hand, so...definitely alien sword thieves. So Jones murders the hell out of them.

And tells Lucky that they've got work to do.  So clearly a plan is afoot!

Music

Frighten - Cactus Groove

Dizzy - Tommy Roe