Let’s talk sci-fi. I’m not a huge fan of the genre but every once in a while it catches my interest. The last time was the movie E.T. so I was long over due for a little alien invasion to take up space in the what-if part of my brain. I just finished binge-watching three seasons of Netflix’s Roswell, New Mexico and the first thing I did when I got to the end was start watching it from the beginning again. The worst part is not having anyone around who I can talk to about it. My husband wanted to believe in aliens from outer space and he was keenly interested in Area 51. He would have loved hearing me rave about the actors and how skilled they are, about all the sub-plots, special effects, weird science and Area 51 military stuff in this series.
And the nuggets of wisdom hidden in the dialogues? That’s my favorite part. Where I live, here in independent living, any time TV is mentioned it’s clear the overwhelming favorite things to watch are sports, PBS documentaries, British TV and old people shows that I left behind in the middle of the last century. What will people think if I start talking aliens? That I'm ready to be moved to memory care or the assisted living part of the campus, that's what.
Roswell, New Mexico is basically an alien/human romance with a lot of social justice issues and tons of sub-plots thrown in. It starts out when three aliens walk into a bar…just kidding. It starts out when three aliens in the form of human children are found wandering in the desert and from there the story evolves. Max, who becomes a sheriff, and his twin sister Isabel got adopted by loving parents. The third alien/genius, Michael, wasn’t so fortunate and he got kicked around the social services system. (Hint, hint. A nature versus nurture sub-plot.) He's wasting his adult life working as an auto mechanic and drinking too much. He sums up his character best in these lines of dialogue: “When you are a kid who nobody loves, kindness is a currency. Friendship doesn’t mean jack. Family just lies and hurts and leaves. I’ve only ever known love to be temporary. So, yeah, I push people away. Every time someone threatens to care about me, I test their love until they have to leave. Connection is conditional. Everybody eventually gives up on the guy who refuses to be rescued. But you were the only one that I could never run off. You never believed me when I tried to be something I wasn’t.”
The series has voice-overs and lots of dialogue that I wanted to savor enough to google. Like when Isabel says: “The idea of God always freaked me out. Like, apparently, he made people in his own image, which first of all, get over yourself. But also, does that apply to us? Does every planet have its own god? Let’s say that we’re all clones of the big guy in the sky. Well, then doesn’t it stand to reason that we’re all capable of slinging light. Well I guess by that same token, we’re all capable of tremendous wrath. We’re walking contradictions. A never-ending, mercurial rise and fall. Darkness and light. I guess the real miracle is choosing the light. Despite the ever-present darkness.”
Alex, another main character, is in love with alien Michael and Alex’s father is a high ranking officer in the Air Force working in a top secret area of Area 51. He thought he could beat the gayness out of his son and that plot line thickens in unexpected ways. At one point Alex says about a secret prison where alien survivors from the crash of '47 have been used as lab rats: “You just watched your government blow up a building filled with elderly people. Your brain is trying to justify the slaughter so that your government can be right. We want to believe that we’re safe, that goodness prevails. That’s the coldest reality about war. Sometimes you’re just doing what you’re told, and all of a sudden, things are burning, people are screaming, and then you look around and you realize that the evil is you.”
In one scene Alex says to a random guy in a bar, “I cannot tell you how badly I want to be done with this frickin’ closet” and the guy replies, “But you’re not. And that’s okay. Really. Listen, if that voice in your head ever shuts up, give me a call. Because between you and me, making out with a hot guy in public is only made hotter when it pisses off all the bigots and homophobes.” Oh, and did I mention that factions in the series are working on a viral weapon that, if dropped in heavily populated areas, would only kill people with certain DNA sequencing? Let that sink in...genocide of whole races or sexual deviants or medical deficiencies. The ethics of DNA bio-engineering research is also a theme that peaks my interest.
Grieving over loved ones also has a big part in the plot twists and Liz says something that a few widows, I’m sure, could identify with: “There are five stages of grief. Denial is first, but we’re way past that. The second stage is anger. I haven’t hit stage three yet. In fact, I may never get there because, to be honest, rage feels a lot better than sadness. This anger has become my best friend. It’s my fuel; it’s my armor.”
And having cut my reading teeth on romance novels I’d be remiss if I didn’t end this post with a romantic quote said by Max to Liz, a research scientist, after she says he doesn’t know the real her enough to love her: “You are overly defensive and you’re sometimes selfish, and you are always muttering in Spanish like you think it’s some secret language that no one understands. But, hello, we are in New Mexico. We all speak Spanish. You always have to convince everyone that you are the smartest one in the room like we don’t already know. You think your sister was hard to love and so you think by being perfect and being the smartest that you are easier to love, easier for your mom, easier for your dad. But you are not perfect; I see your faults and I love you. Easily.”
All fiction asks the reader or viewer to suspend their disbelief and Roswell, New Mexico is a big ask. It won’t be for everyone but if you’re into sci-fi you might want to give it a try. It’s deep, fast-paced, addictive and is filled with interesting characters, story lines and plot twists. A fourth season is coming and I can't wait. ©
Footnote: Quotes are all from Basic Stuff. (A pop culture online magazine.)
