Kane Dane
At a time when networks are restarted after a quick recovery, it is not surprising that CW redeems the nostalgia craze and redefines a favorite property for a new generation. Roswell, New Mexico, the second adaptation of Melinda Metz’s famous Rosinda High novel network (the first being Roswell in 1999, broadcast on WB and UPN), is not so much a reboot as a new image of a well-known story that has informed of the unstable political climate today.
The opening:
“Roswell, New Mexico, June 14, 1947”. We see a truck running under a deserted road. “Every small town has a story,” says a woman’s voice. “My homeland has a legend.” A blue stick hits the ground in the background and causes an explosion.
The Gist:
Roswell, New Mexico, 2019. Liz Ortecho (Jeannie Mason) returns to his homeland, where his father runs the Crashdown Cafe. He warns him that the border patrol is looking for undocumented residents (who is one) and wonders why he lives there. He likes it there. After all, after her sister Liz, Rosa (Amber Midthunder) died in a car accident a decade ago, killing two others, she believes she must remain in the city.
Liz left for that decade, leaving after graduation to eventually become a researcher in Denver. It looks like she came back during the high school meeting, but she doesn’t want any part of it, as her sister’s drug accident made her sick. But at the checkpoint, he meets Max Evans (Nathan Dean Parsons), the crash of his high school, who is now a police officer. He comes to see her late at night in the cafe and begins to express what he missed, but then retires. Suddenly, the shots were fired and Liz was seriously injured. Max puts his hands on her and pours the ketchup on her chest to cover things.
Liz is fine but she is suspicious. He goes to the ex-boyfriend of his doctor Kyle Valenti (Michael Trevino) for CT, who leads him to the sergeant. Jesse Manes (Trevor St. John) of the government’s secret project that has been watching what has happened since 1947. Manes’ son Alex (Tyler Blackburn) has just returned from development and has an affair with his brother Max, who is always in trouble Michael (Michael Vlamis).
Liz finds glossy prints on her chest and confronts Max. To the disappointment of Isobel’s sister (Lily Cowle) Michael, he tells her the truth: three of them are aliens, who waited for 50 years after the accident and then grew up to Roswell in life as normal as possible. They don’t go out to hurt anyone. they just want to live their life.
Our Take:
When we first saw the original version of Roswell, we were impressed that we read that it was 20 years ago. It looked like it was much more recent, but it was shown on the two networks that basically became The CW (The WB and UPN), so the story with The CW is there.
And instead of promoting the story, at least for the pilot, Carina Adly MacKenzie and her staff have more or less repeated the pilot since 1999, with Jeannie Mason replacing Shiri Appleby and Nathan Parsons replacing Jason Behr. Liz’s legacy has changed and her father has become an undocumented resident, but otherwise, the only reference that comes close to something modern is that Liz jokes about all the money spent on the border wall. The characters are no longer high school students and Liz has returned to being Latin, as in the case of Roswell’s novels. these are the biggest changes.
This does not mean that the pilot was bad. it was nice. Mason and Parsons have good chemistry and the show has a sense of humor about today’s Roswell cheeses and tourism. But until we see other episodes that stray from the original, or maybe it’s closer to the Roswell High book series, it’s really hard to say whether it’s worth it or not. Immigration and property will be the big problems, but so far they only refer to the pilot.
Our call:
STREAM IT, although right now we’re just shrugging our shoulders as to why this show appears on the air when the original is immediately available on Hulu.
