Roswell, New Mexico Review: Champagne Supernova (Season 1 Episode 11)

Noah is the fourth alien!

The big reveal on Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 11, “Champagne Supernova,” is imminently CREEPY.

In confessing to his killer alien nature, the homicidal hubby also admits to Isobel that he will always protect her. Meaning, he will never let her leave. Shudder.

This compelled confession begs the horrifying question: WHY DOES NOAH NEED TO PROTECT HIS ACCESS TO ISOBEL’S BODY? 

I am looking forward to peeling back the layers of Noah’s villainy and to digging into the impacts of the complex trauma on Isobel.

That will almost certainly be something the show can explore more deeply on the second season because there is already far too much mystery and relationship to cover in the last two episodes. 

Let’s be real though, the most gasp-worthy and totally transfixing moment of the episode is when Liz moves those chains. Dear LORD.

The way she grabs that glove and gets to it, my body responds ya’ll. The filming of the scene is exquisite, with the costuming used to enhance the meaning and visual impact of the performance. 

 

Michael is wrong, Echo needs to make out over that moment immediately.  

Liz stands out to me on the episode for her mental acuity, bravery, and sheer physicality. She is truly an incredible character who I love seeing kick ass. 

Bisexual Alien Blast

I just love how the bunkers around Roswell are not as much places to keep information safe and hidden as they are places to process childhood traumas. 

Michael and Max use the opportunity of being trapped underground together to dig up issues that have long been buried.

Importantly, Michael is able to be fully frank and open. The angry cowboy lays it out clear as day that he is bisexual and that this is normal. 

I’d also like to point out that during Echo’s lovely dance dip, we clearly see at least one same-sex couple dancing in the background.

That kind of casual inclusion that slowly rips away the default heteronormativity is almost or just as important as the explicit representation Roswell, New Mexico provides through Michael and Max’s discussion. 

Michael’s clarity and confidence normalizes bisexual representation. 

Bisexuals and aliens, they aren’t just all around us, they ARE us. 

Bisexuality is not even what Michael wants to focus on, because it’s not complicated. 

What IS complicated is how he feels about humanity and belonging. 

Michael shares that the real reason he hasn’t had Max fix his hand is that he wants to be reminded of his pain. 

Not physical pain, though. Michael’s scar is a constant manifestation of his hope in humanity being pummeled away by Jesse Manes. 

As long as his hand is damaged Michael can’t look away from his agony, loneliness, and rejection. That inability to forget is evident in how Michael talks about leaving the planet on Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 10, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”

There is a deeply romantic notion at the heart of this ambivalence too. 

The reason the pain, and Michael’s busted hand exist as they do is because of what he had with Alex before. 

Alex made Michael believe that he could have a place to call home within the wretchedness of humanity. 

 

For the first time, Michael thought he too could be included somewhere, not pushed away to the outskirts. 

I can’t imagine anything more deeply moving and loving. 

And then Jesse Manes made a fool out of Michael by demolishing that belief. It seems like Michael is now blaming himself for having ever been so naive to have thought he too could belong. 

And this is where the conversation is the healer, not Max’s alien power.

When Michael speaks the truth about his hand it takes the venom out of the bite. His hurt is out there, visible and heard. That means something. 

Then, Max erases some of the pain and fear by correcting the assumptions and beliefs that Michael has been holding for decades.

The remarkable conversation does what the faux healer on Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 9, “Songs About Texas,” was promising: it allows Michael to “fix” his hand by addressing the psychological pain that the injury holds. 

It is significant that Max is both ignorant and vulnerable during the discussion.

He is trying to understand his brother and to tell Michael that he is there for him. But his version of being there for him isn’t without its biases and self-centeredness. 

Max manages to more or less make Michael’s pain and loneliness about him. 

That is how it is in real life. No ally is perfect. 

Conversations about how our pain has shaped us are not easy or perfect things. We bring our whole, messy selves to these healing discussions. 

The imperfect and fledgling manner in which people have honest conversations doesn’t diminish them. In fact, being willing to stay and talk, even when it gets hard and awkward, is a sign of a life-changing interaction.

The bunker scene gives us that reality by letting Max be pretty bro-tastic. He’s a bunker bro, but that doesn’t ever prevent him from also being a bunker brother to Michael. 

Backwards and in High Heels 

The unlikely trio of Liz, Cam, and Isobel gather together on the episode to fight some crime. The dresses alone make this group stunning.

The thing that makes this sleuth-sisterhood remarkable is how they Bechdel test the heck out of their conversation, even though they are all in love with the same man. 

Granted, Isobel loves Max as her brother, but still. Her jealousy back in high school was a contributor to some serious junk. 

Cam’s care for Max doesn’t make Liz jealous or schemey. In fact, that love is what makes Liz trust Cam. 

That connection to Max is covered briefly AND THEN THEY MOVE ON TO THE CRIME FIGHTING. Max is never centered in their conversation. 

As the evening progresses, the women’s quick-thinking and bold humility allow them to save each other and take Noah down.

 

This is wonderful representation of how women don’t have to be besties to have meaningful brain-based relationships with each other. 

The only problem with it is that Maria is never included. 

Maria Needs to Know

Maria needs to know what is happening. It is beyond the time to fill her in and give her the agency that all the other characters have.

On “Champagne Supernova,” Maria remains totally in the dark. She literally blacks out because of being roofied by an alien. 

Noah takes over her body to use it for his murderous designs. 

I want to pause and talk a bit more deeply on the type and level of violation that this alien body-hopping is. 

To me, Noah’s mind and body control is like a rape. It doesn’t have the sexual elements, but rape is almost always about power and dominance more than it is sex. 

The lasting trauma of sexual assault can come from the powerlessness and total violation of bodily integrity.

 

Liz brilliantly calls this out when she spits back at Noah.

LIZ: It sucks to be powerless, doesn’t it.

What Noah has been doing is a type of assault that isn’t sexual, but I believe it has the same level of violation and violence.

Maria’s main function on the episode is to be the subject of this assault. Noah may even have used her before, considering all the murders occurred after visits to the Wild Pony.

 

The weight of that harm and violation falls heavily on Maria, who has little to no support in her life.

This pain is glossed over, somewhat necessarily as the murder mystery unfolds. 

For me, keeping Maria in the dark about aliens, information that intimately impacts every meaningful relationship in her life, is a MUCH less egregious continuation of her victimization. 

She doesn’t know that Michael is an alien and that her best friend was murdered by the same person who just took over her own body in order to commit more murders. 

 

She doesn’t know that her mom is much healthier than she seems and may not need to be in a home!

And, again, it matters that Maria is the only Afro-Latinx person on the show. Her victimization needs to be handled with caution and care. Even the choice to have us actually see her laying there, completely blacked out from being drugged, needs to be considered in light of her character’s marginalization.

Hopefully, now that it is crystal clear that Maria is not the killer alien, she can be brought into the light and given a purpose that is not secondary to another character’s. 

Track Shipping 

The episode develops Echo, Michael and Maria (shall we call them Guerinca?), and I’d argue Malex as well.

But, it doesn’t present a “will they, won’t they” binary. Instead, the episode provides some deconstruction of the notions we have about staying. 

Just like Maria doesn’t exist to be a victim, she doesn’t exist in order to threaten and dramatize Malex’s love story. 

Guerinca’s connection has a purpose linked to, but separate from Malex’s. Maria and Michael aren’t a threat to Malex.

Alex clearly has changed Michael.

Maria is changing him too. 

Just like sexuality itself, love isn’t binary. It isn’t an on and off switch.  

Malex have a cosmic connection and Michael will never really look away from Alex. But that does not mean that there is exclusivity to Michael’s romantic feelings.

Especially because Alex has made it clear that they aren’t together, Michael is not doing anything wrong by wanting someone else. 

Michael isn’t replacing Alex. He is living his life and responding to the people who are showing up for him. That’s a GOOD thing. 

The show highlights, in my view, that no one person, no one love, can be everything you need in life.

Alex is the love of Michael’s life, but that doesn’t mean he is the only meaningful love in his life. 

Maria needs Michael. Michael has never been needed before, and he really, REALLY likes it.

Maria also keeps coming back to Michael, not leaving him. She invites him to stay, she wants him to stay. 

That fulfills a huge need for Michael that Alex has never been able to fill. 

Also, Maria is amazing, fun, smart and mystic. As a person, she adds something very special to each of her friends’ lives. 

Michael gets that. 

I don’t think that Guerinca is end-game. So what? Their relationship and development don’t have to be a threat to Malex, just like Michael’s attraction to women isn’t a threat to his bisexuality. 

Nothing is black and white, all or nothing. Roswell, New Mexico is giving us rainbows and I think we should be watching accordingly.  

Aesthetics 

“Champagne Supernova,” is another stellar example of how Roswell, New Mexico fully utilizes desert landscape, South West style, and supernatural plot points to visually tell the story.

The twilight sky as Max struts out of his house on the way to the gala adds an eery and epic tone to the scene. 

I also enjoy how the dresses and make-up are integrated into the story to show us how Liz and Isobel are struggling with their identities and self-acceptance, but not in the typical beauty-centric ways. 

 

Can I also just say that I love, love, love the special effects. Cam’s nail polish changing colors is so cool!

And the strange orange puffs of poison that make Michael pass out are colorful enough to look pleasing, but not so wild or hokey as to look super fake. 

The visual craft on the show is often overlooked, which is a shame because it glues together the different elements of the story and truly magnifies the impact. 

Diner Dish 

• Alex and Kyle are sorely missed on the episode. 
• Liz doesn’t trust herself and that’s a real struggle that leading ladies don’t often get to show. I love the dance, the kiss, and the calamity. But, really though, can they please, please, please get it on? 
• Mr. Ortecho’s side issue of applying for citizenship feels underdeveloped and a bit awkward, kind of like the cultural appropriation issue. 
• Max just wantonly bleeding from the head during the gala is pretty hilarious. No one even mentions it, which makes it even funnier. 
• I can’t help it. When I learn Noah is the alien, my next thought is about who I get to ship Isobel with now. It’s Maria. I ship her with Maria. 
• Noah as the alien is predictable and I am so glad. I like it when the clues add up and the intrigue comes from how the character and actor showcase that reveal. I am very satisfied with the fourth alien mystery conclusion. Welcome, Evil Noah! 

 

What did you think of this episode of Roswell, New Mexico? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Roswell, New Mexico airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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