My thoughts on "Who Died and Made You King?"

So the hockey game is on. The Habs better win, that's all I have to say. Not only am I a die-hard Habs fan, it's the only way to get Boston out of the playoffs so that they don't pre-empt Roswell again for the stupid Bruins game.

But thanks to the incredible resources of the internet and my office's high speed connection, I saw the episode anyway :) Granted, it was on a 4x5 inches screen and very incredibly dark, but heck,I'm so happy, I've been doing the little dance of joy around the office all afternoon.

Jesse is in therapy. Understandable I suppose, but how big of an idiot is he? (For those just joining us, I never cared much about Jesse).

The mob? Well, okay, maybe he's not as big an idiot as I thought he was. But still, Max is right, "I don't have to tell you how dangerous that is".

Especially when your therapist is the former Mayor-turned-giant-snake of Sunnydale!! Who would ever trust that guy with their deepest, darkest secrets? *lol*

"I just wanted a normal life". Jesse, Jesse, don't you realize by now that this is also all THEY really want? "Isabel is protecting their secret". Er... Jess? It's *her* secret too, you know.

8 weeks later, I still have a problem with Jesse. Oh well.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Giggle. Little behind the scene info for those who might have missed it. When they shot that scene, at one point, after many takes, Liz answered that question with "You." Giggle. I would have loved to see that! And even better, the following take, Max asked, "So what are you doing tonight, besides me?" I hope this makes it to a blooper reel we'll get to see one day!!

Max is still unsure around Jeff Parker. I think you can relax now, Max, it's okay. Your girlfriend's father doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. Nope, now the problem seem to come from your girlfriend herself. I guess there was no way these two could be happy and together for more than 2 episodes in a row in the entire course of the series. Sigh.

"Things can't go back to the way they were". What exactly do you mean by that, Liz? I mean, looking at what you and Max have been through, the fact that things can't go back to the way they were sounds like a pretty good thing to me. The only times these two have ever been really, really happy was half of "Balance", "Blind Date", but only for the time when Max was drunk, and "Sexual Healing" + half of "Crazy" until Tess showed up. So I, for one, am not upset that things can't go back to the way they were. I want things to go back to the way they SHOULD have been, before the whole Future Max fiasco.

"Can't we at least hang out like friends?" Just friends? Sorry, SH flashbacks... :)

So this will be another Isabel and Jesse episode, won't it? Okay. *shrugs* What can I do, anyway. Strangely, I kinda care about them as a couple this week. I feel bad for Isabel, she really does love him and he's too big an idiot to realize that.

From what he tells Jesse, I guess Max doesn't think therapy helped him much. I knew it :)

Why would Max take auto shop? The other choices must have been bad. I mean, is there any kind of car trouble he can't deal with with his powers? ;) He sounded kinda insulted when Jesse wouldn't let him near the car. *lol*

I thought Michael had been digging in the desert to get the alien box back but I guess Max took his advice and put it in a safety deposit box after all. And you thought no one ever listened to you, Guerin.

So he actually needed the alien book to realize that he had an alien symbol on his chest? Anyone here didn't know it was the royal seal? Or was it another desperate attempt to bring the newbies (who?) up to speed?

Sneaking out on your wife? Jesse man, that's low. That's just low. And by the way, she *is* the woman that you married. Gosh, how many times do we have to tell you that!?

I love, love, love Max's expression when he's eating the TV dinner. *lol* And take it from someone who has frozen food almost every day, Max, you don't want anything with meat and potatoes. Go with the pasta, it's a much safer bet. *lol* I also liked his expression when he noticed the box. Yes, Max, it is your alien box, now how did it get here, hm?

"Everyone said this would happen". Yes, Isabel, we did. But I'm kinda sorry it happened. Wow, who would have thought?

Liz is "cautious". Sigh. No dreamer candy for me this week. Weren't we promised one dreamer kiss per episode until the end, or did I dream that?

(insert some kind of sarcasm here) Okay, attacking the therapist must be the way to go, Michael. Argh. You stupid, STUPID alien king wannabe!!!

Those aliens are really not nice people when they let their alien sides take over, eh? Sheesh!

"How are things going with Isabel?" Ah, Kyle. Poor Kyle. You know I'm on your side, buddy.

Well, well, Agent Burns. Long time no see. Can't say I missed ya. Just a note to you people in the special unit, or whatever you call yourselves these days: stop blaming Max for what the other aliens did, ok? None of these people were killed by Max. He never killed anyone (except maybe Meris, but that's still up for debate) And by the way, you super FBI guys don't know Congresswoman Whitakker was also an alien?

"How can I help?" How can I help?!!?? That's it, Ramirez, I don't feel sorry for you anymore. You almost had me earlier in the episode, but that's just... How can I help?! Don't you even *like* Isabel? Where do I line up to slap some sense into you AND into Michael?!

Liz's powers have not come back, which I guess is a good thing, but she'll have to deal with them sooner or later, and I don't think she wants to.

"It's hard enough to deal with somebody who dies, it's even weirder when they come back to life". Did they really have enough time to deal with Max's death? Seems to me like he was dead for a couple of days at most, I mean, they probably didn't even have time to truly realize it yet, especially since none of them saw a body. Except Jim, sorta. Where is Jim, by the way? So the whole Max-is-dead thing must have seem more like a nightmare than someone really coming back from the dead.

Max doesn't want to talk about being dead. I can understand that. But you might need to tell someone about it. And given your earlier comment about therapy, maybe Liz would be the right person to tell. She is after all, only your soulmate. (roll eyes)

Gretchen and Aaron wrote this, right? They deal with the Michael stuff better than the Max and Liz stuff, "Ch-Ch-Changes" being the one exception. I'm not bashing them at all, I like their episodes, they just seem more comfortable writing Michael, that's all.

Being dead changed Max, as I guess it would change most people ;) And now he doesn't want responsibilities or to look for his son. Okay... not sure what to think about that. I don't think he can avoid either one. He wants to live in the present and not take things for granted anymore. Yay!!! Like school... er.. ok... and LIZ!!!! That's what he meant with "I want to start over" (is it just me, or Max says that an awful lot? I can think of 3 separate occasion off the top of my head) We had an almost-dreamer-moment. Isabel-interruptus. Oh well, she did have a real crisis, so I'll forgive her ;)

Deep down, Michael is jealous of Max being the King. "I want it– I'm good at it". It's been latent the whole time, but I don't think he's ever admitted it to anyone or to himself. That's what their alien side does, magnify their bad human traits. In Michael, it's jealousy, recklessness, ruthlessness, pick one! Max's is his controlling nature.

Michael says he should have been king all along. Well, I'm sorry, but you'd all be dead by now, not just Alex. Max waits too long, he lets events control him a lot of the times, but Michael doesn't *think*. There's a reason why Max, being the more level-headed one, is the leader and why Michael is there to push Max when he won't move otherwise. They complete each other when it comes to leadership. Hopefully one day they'll see that.

Michael blames Alex's death on Max's leadership and in the same breath, he pretty much says "let's kill all the humans who know". Contradictory much? One more reason why Michael should *so* not be king.

The only time he sorta had a point in this whole rant was when he told Maria "I stayed on this planet for you and you dumped me". Yep, Michael, it sucks. But this is real life, get used to it. I don't think Maria was right to dump him when she did (she should have done so waaaaayyyy before, or just stuck with him til the end). But Michael, I'm pissed at you right now, so you get no points or pity from me for that. So there.

Why do Mr. Evans care so much that Liz dropped out of boarding school? Does it go beyond just not trusting Max? And is the fact that Jeff didn't get his deposit back so very important that they had to mention it, like, 3 times? Will it be a major plot point in the future? And why would it be?

"Don't waste your time not trusting your son." Sound advice Jeff. By the way, are you aware that Liz lied to you about why she came back? Just asking. Ah, the irony! ;)

Best line of the week goes to Maria (which is good, because she really didn't have many) "A desert wandering Anne Heche times one thousand" *lol* Runner-up is Kyle with "So Michael is boss-man now? Will he give benefits plan? (...) I don't want to be a member of any club where he's the leader" *lol* And let the record show I'm with Kyle.

Is Liz seriously suggesting that they kill Michael? Wow. I mean, of course, they wouldn't, but wow. The fact that she would even bring it up.

Okay, I'm pissed at Jesse for walking out on Isabel, but I'm even more mad at Michael, so just don't kill him, Guerin, all right? Gosh. This is good stuff, 4 inches screen or not.

So Michael's alien side really does want to be with Isabel? In "human life", he sees her as a sister, but as soon as the alien side kicks in, he remembers her being his lover. Interesting. Very interesting actually, and it opens a whole set of new possible explanations for what the hell happened to Max last season. I feel a fic coming... :)

Max *really* didn't enjoy being dead. I'm assuming dead aliens end up somewhere different from dead vampire slayers ;) (though someone has been watching Buffy... an alien king dies so another one takes his place? Sounds suspiciously familiar...)

Isabel would leave just like that? Pack up a bag, leave Roswell, her parents, her brothers and her friends behind? Either she really loves Jesse, or she just can't take anymore of the alien abyss. But that's who she is, she can't run away from it.

Jesse is calling Agent Burns? What?! Okay, I'm almost sorry Michael didn't kick your ass earlier. God, what is wrong with that guy?!

Oh, okay, it was a ruse. Got me there, Jesse. See how much I still don't trust you?

"Michael has a big mouth". You can say that again.

Did Burns say "send the proper technicians"? That sounds really creepy.

"You're the king, you did what you had to do." "I don't consider myself your boss." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what is wrong between Max and Michael, in a nutshell. Michael is jealous of Max's position. Max doesn't want it and they can't seem to reconcile it.

Am I making sense to anyone? Because it's getting late and I'm not sure I'm making sense to myself right now.

Jesse will have a lot to deal with in the near future, which might unfortunately means more Jesse-centric episodes. He didn't get on my nerves as much this week as he did previously, but I still don't want to see it turn into "The Jesse show." Sigh. Hopefully the fact that "keeping his gun a secret from Isabel" doesn't make him a bad person will make him realize that she didn't betray him or whatever by not telling him who she is. I almost want them to work it out. Almost. I still think she could be happy with Kyle.

"I'm a part of this for good now". Geez, Jesse, don't sound so happy about it. And when your wife says she loves you, don't ignore her, ok?

Did the cooking show mean anything on some subconscious level I didn't get because I'm such a terrible cook? ;)

So that's it, all in all, a pretty good episode I enjoyed more after my co-worker left (it's weird to yell things like "stupid alien-king wannabe" to a computer screen when people you work with are staring at you ;)) The showdown between Max and Michael was great, alien-Michael was fun to watch (if I hadn't been so concerned for their safety with him around ;)) and I actually *cared* about Jesse. Of course, I could have used more dreamer moments, but hey, that's just me. I really thought Max and Liz would have been back together by now. I even expected the "big conversation" to happen during the hiatus and I was all ready to feel cheated ;) But I guess it'll all work out. As long as they have said big conversation sometime in the next three episodes (with hopefully a mention of Future Max. – what? Can't a girl dream?)

Bye for now, I'm going to bed

*yawn*

Valerie