#TBT: Roswell’s Love Story

Roswell is one of my favorite TV shows. When it debuted in 1999 on The WB (now The CW), it was in good company: Felicity, Dawson’s Creek, and Popular were also on then. Needless to say, I loved The WB’s programming. At first glance, Roswell seemed like the oddball. It was a TV show about alien teenagers in Roswell, New Mexico, but it turns out, it was also about everyday teenage emotions and feelings as well (Side note: Rosewell is a show from Jason Katims. Jason Katims is brilliant. He also did many of my other all-time favorite TV shows, mainly Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. I told you, the guy is a genius when it comes to emotional television!).

There were several different love stories on Roswell. There was Michael and Maria, Isabel and Alex, Isabel and Jesse, and a few others. None, however, were as powerful as Max and Liz. Obviously, since Liz is the main character of the show, any part of her story will be the one fans latch onto. Shiri Appleby played Liz perfectly. She was the right combination of innocence, strength, smarts, and teenager. Jason Behr as Max was also perfection. He made teen girls swoon with his quiet strength, his “see into your soul” stare, and his boyish charisma. My best friend and I would spend hours imagining ourselves as Liz and replaying their best encounters over in school the next day.

Hands down, my favorite episode of Roswell is from season 2. In the episode called “The End of the World”, Liz gets a visit from a future version of Max. He has come back to warn her of things to come…and his theory on how to stop it. It is, of course, emotional. The last scene of the episode shows Liz and Future Max saying goodbye (and, in a way, her saying goodbye to a version of Max that will never be). They dance together one last time, and the scene is set to Sheryl Crow’s “I Shall Believe”. I still get chills when I watch that scene and even hear that song on it’s own.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clip of that exact scene so this compilation will have to suffice. I won’t judge you for binge-watching the entire show on DVD. In fact, I encourage it.

Photo Credit: Fox