Revisiting Roswell: The Morning After

Welcome back! Let’s see if “The Morning After” is as pleasant for us as it might have been for them
(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU DIDN’T WATCH THE EPISODE)


DVD PLOT: Liz and Maria come to their new friends’ aid after Sheriff Valenti and Ms. Topolsky show an unusual interest in Max, Isabel, and Michael.
Or In Maury or Jerry Springer Speak: I Am Obsessed with the Paranormal
General Plot in Keypoints:
• Liz is obsessing about Max and his feelings.
• Michael is obsessing about the newfound information that there was another alien in 1959.
• Max is obsessed with the fear that Michael is going to go after some more information that might get them in trouble.
• Maria and Liz are obsessed about finding out more about Max, Michael, and Isabel, Maria out of fear that they might hear the two of them and Liz because she is falling deeper in love with Max.
• Alex is obsessed that his two best friends are hiding something big from him
• Liz is obsessed with the fact that the Ms Topolsky is trying to get information.
• Ms. Topolsky is obsessed with Max, Michael, and Isabel but mainly Michael because she is the new guidance counselor.
• Valenti is obsessed that the FBI is usurping the Crashdown case from him
• Kyle is obsessed that Liz is hiding stuff about Max from here.
• Michael is newly obsessed about a key that he finds in Valenti’s desk.
Notes:
• Why does Max sleep with a bat by his bed when it seems that Michael crashes there a lot when Hank and him get into fights? I would hate for Max to accidentally hit Michael one night.
• Yay, Dido! One of my favorite credit sequences of any tv show. Totally sets the mood for the show as mysterious yet romantic. Great, great, great. Oh wait, it’s over. Dang. (This is the third notable occurrence of the original music. I think fans would have gotten mad if they have made a new theme song.)
• The Crashdown now looks entirely different but better. It has the old 50s diner mixed with the warm Southwestern décor along with the kickass UFO mural by the booths.
• Julie Benz must have been the patron saint for the WB genre shows at the time. I do like seeing her play a teacher instead of a naughty schoolgirl.
• The scene with Valenti and Deputy Hanson talking about the FBI agent has a “Who’s on First” feeling to me.
• The scene with Kyle and Liz at the lockers seems like that should have been in the pilot because I thought in the pilot, they were more serious than that. What does everyone else think?
• We find out that Michael is trailer trash unfortunately. But, we also find out his last name which is Guerin.
• Best scheme will not go to Michael out late selling chocolates to get into the police station.
• Max is definitely caught between Isabel, who loves her life in Roswell, and Michael, who despises everything. This dynamic will definitely be important because these two are also on two different emotional ends. I will talk more about this later on.
• The first appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Loved her on Little Giants….right, she was on Little Giants?
• Not only is Liz a science person, she is also a math person. Gotta love a not so stereotypical smart girl.
• The infamous eraser room. I wonder what the budget for West Roswell High was if they have their own eraser room.
• The bathroom conversation between Liz and Maria is the foundation for every Liz/Maria conversation. One of them is having to be “talked down” by the other who thinks that the other one is overeating.
• Maria has lost her innocence in the eraser room. Sad day.
• Liz is so excited about the eraser room that she forgot her suspicions.
• Oh look, Max made a joke. How sweet?
• Oh look, Max wants to not be so invisible while Liz want to be invisible. That’s cute?
• Yay, Paul Goebel who is a fat guy who wants a desert. Go stereotypes.
• Oh look, a guy doesn’t like to hear about that time of the month. How funny?
• Nothing like a good sexual innuendo to improve a comedy of errors. (Oh look, Liz bent down to get her ring from around Max’s legs. How funny?
• I do like the fact that Michael can’t control his powers similarly to the fact that he can’t control his emotions.
• Isabel is starting to become a team player.
• What the frak did Michael see when he saw the key?
• A thermos is a rather creative hiding spot. Just saying.
• In the scene with Valenti and Isabel, Katharine Heigl looks like a film noir femme fatale. Nice.
• As much as I don’t like this episode, I do love the scene with Michael and Max in the trailer park. It does show the depth of their friendship.
• Despite the general dislike I have for this episode, I have a lot of favorite quotes from this episode. What, this is a really good Maria episode.
• This show does occasionally do centric epiodes like Lost or Buffy. So, is this a Liz and/or Michael centric episode?
Rating:
4.5/10 chocolate selling schemes. I totally forget about this episode. The only thing I remember for sure is the FBI agent lurking around the police station, Julie Benz, and the Czechoslovokian chatter. It is filler but decent-ish filler. It seems that the WB was like we need an obsession episode. I just thought it was okay.
Favorite Quotes
• Maria: The point is, we don’t know anything about these Czeckslovakians. Are they good Czechoslovokians? Bad Czeckslovakians? We don’t know. They’re just random Czechoslovakians. For all we know, they don’t have their passport.
• Maria: I mean, God, the whole thing’s so Roswellian.
• Maria: (about Alex) Admittedly, he’s not James Bond, but he’s all we’ve got right now.
• Max (about the stupid scheme): And they bought it?
Michael: No, they all seemed to be on a diet.
Isabel: Not the candy, Einstein. The story.
• Maria: Liz, do you know what the second floor eraser room means?
Liz: Of course I know what it means. What does it mean?
Maria: It’s where Greg Coleman gave Marlene Garcia that hickey the size of the softball. It’s where Richie Ruehl and Amanda Lourdes consummated everything.
Liz: Okay, Maria, you know what? You’re just making this into something that it’s not.
Maria: Liz, I don’t think you should do this, okay? I mean, we don’t know what can happen. I mean the guy touched you and you saw into his soul. How do we know what happens if he kisses you? How do we know what it is to be kissed by a Czechoslovakian? You don’t.
Liz: Okay, Maria, no one is kissing anyone here. I mean, Max isn’t even the least bit interested in me. He said that things were just like they used to be before. Nothing’s changed. He said that.
Maria: Oh, my God. It’s not just kissing that goes on in the eraser room, Liz.
Random girl: She’s got that right.
Maria: All right, the eraser room does two things—cleans erasers and take our innocence. Do you know what I mean by “takes our innocence”, Liz? The eraser room has taken some of the best of us.
• Maria (about a bigger customer demanding a dessert): Yeah, like he needs 80 grams of fat.
• Liz: Alex, the reason why we keep changing the subject is
Maria: Cramps. We have cramps, Alex.
Liz: Yeah. And we didn’t even want to talk about it in front of you because we thought that it would just make you feel really uncomfortable.
Maria: But if you really want to know, we can tell you.
Liz: In really excruciating detail.
• Isabel: Sheriff? I’m so glad someone is here. I got a flat tire and I am so not mechanical.
• Isabel (holding the key, describing her vision): Ricky Martin in the shower.
• Liz: I’ve been thinking a lot about secrets. That for everyone who has a secret, there’s someone else who needs to know what that secret is. How sometimes secrets keep people from feeling like they belong. And sometimes, secrets make you feel like you do belong.

Next Week:
Watch “Monsters”. Before, during, or after, give me feedback by commenting below or tweeting @historybowler! Thanks.