I don't understand when Liz says, "I just needed a moment"? Is she saying she wanted to escape doing science so she can be alone instead of spending time with the person she tried to hard to bring back because she was so heartbroken? Wouldn't you want to spend more time with the person you thought you lost? Most people say they wish they had more time with the people they loved. I get she doesn't need to be around him 24/7 but does she mean she was too obsessed?
I think Liz explains it pretty well and I donât think it had anything to do with not wanting to spend time with Max. âI needed to take just one moment to remember where I end and where you begin.â Liz had spent every waking minute trying to find a way to save Max, she was relentless, single-minded, undeterable. And she did it. She did the impossible, but in the process everything about her life became about Max, her entire existence became defined by her love for him.Â
Which is kind of awesome thing for us shippers, because you know ultimate, epic, giant love, but itâs also not sustainable for an actual woman so in this case the writers decided to mine it for Lizâs character arc. Â
Who is she outside of this relationship? That is a valid question for her to ask, and it doesnât affect or negate any of her love for Max. She gets to be a person too, and have her own goals and aspirations. Her needing/wanting to do that wasnât the problem.Â
We see that she is being judged by people throughout the season for her life choices. Her mother, Charlie, ICE agent, Diego, but mostly she judges herself. Sheâs embarrassed that instead of being a great scientist, sheâs slinging burgers. Â
Liz was a completely independent woman before she found Max again. She was constantly moving, never felt connected to anyone including her fiance (I just couldnât connect) where her work was the only thing that mattered. She ran like hell from people, places, even jobs, anything that might have served as any sort of anchor. Think about it... what kind of person just ghosts their fiance? Disappears without a word? That is just not done. Clearly she wasnât in love with Diego, but didnât she like him enough to at least give him the courtesy of a conversation? That is unimaginably selfish. The person that would take that extreme of an action, is not someone who is going to faultlessly slip into a committed relationship. Yes, Max is different, Max is her destiny, she is in love with Max, but that swing from unable to commit to anything to completely committed was B.I.G.
To be clear, Iâm not really defending the writing here, because I think a lot of it is manufactured and it happened way too fast. Given 22 episodes the transition from âyippee Max is aliveâ to needing to find herself would have probably felt a lot more organic. As it stood it felt like she enjoyed one night with him and then threw herself into unethical science, neglecting time with him in the process. As an audience we needed more time of Liz just happy to have Max back and basking it, before sheâs got restless and reckless. Â
At the end of the day, I think we can make sense of Lizâs actions in light of what she went through. Liz got put through the emotional RINGER this season. In how many scenes was Liz crying? Good grief, the poor thing. First itâs the grief over Max, then itâs an herculean effort to bring him back, the stress and strain of failure, the knowledge that Max was trying to pull the plug, then when heâs back he doesnât remember her? Why only her? That must have hurt something fierce. Even after the epic, âIâm not better off without you, Iâm not whole without youâ speech, that had to be devastating. Especially once the euphoria of being reunited wore off. But once Max was back they never took a second to examine how it might affect her. Then she dealt with her worries over his health, all while he wouldnât heed her warnings. None of that trauma was dealt with. Also Liz was clearly still upset about Max making the decision in the first place to bring Rosa back. Â
Then onto all of that, add Rosa being back from the dead, and Liz watching her struggle to the point of overdose. Then her manipulative, absentee mother hits town in order to fuck with her mind some more, she deals with Arturo almost being deported, and then her ex-fiance is back.Â
All the while Liz was relegated to being a small town girl working as a server in the family restaurant, and having that thrown in her face, when she clearly is a genius with infinite potential.Â
Going Mad!Scientist in a bid to feel like she has some control over all of these things that have happened to her, in a response to all this unimaginable trauma, in a bid to reclaim an identity outside of the-girl who-loved-Max-Evans-so-much-she-brought-him-back-from-the-dead... actually makes sense. Unfortunately instead of having the narrative recognize these things, instead of making it about her losing the thread in an attempt to take control of her life, they instead choose to frame all her actions simply as her ambition to make a better name for immigrants.Â
Which was IMO a clumsy attempt at scoring some social justice points. I get the themes about immigration and it was a way to illustrate Maxâs white privilege, and the extra obstacleâs Liz has faced, but that could have been done without using it to justify Lizâs unethical behavior and actions. I know the show patted themselves on that back so hard for that, but it was a disservice to the character. Anyone of Lizâs intellect would have known that she could never share what she was doing in any way that would allow her to claim that glory for Latina scientists. So it came off as clumsy instead of nuanced, and we got this hand wave of an explanation instead of an in-depth study of a character who went a bit off the rails.Â
At the end of the day, though, Liz loves Max. Liz will always love Max. And Max loves Liz. Max will always love Liz. So hopefully her time away, and their time apart, will give each of them the necessary perspective so that when they reunite, theyâll work much better as a unit.Â