"Aliens are coming, and when they do, they’re going to rape, and murder, and steal our jobs."
Does that sound familiar? At first it can seem like they’re beating you over the head with the immigration thing in a way that doesn't seem too natural, but it slows down and the very last scene of the Pilot brings the point perfectly home. The discourse fed to people about things they don’t know falls to pieces as soon as you get close enough. Disclaimer, there have been differing opinions among the STV team about almost every single aspect of what we got to see, so this time more than ever, keep in mind this is just my opinion and it may be completely different from what you’ll experience. You should also know I have not seen the original so I can't really compare them.
Roswell tells the story of Liz Ortecho (Jeanine Mason - Grey’s Anatomy) who returns to her home town ten years after leaving it all behind and her journey as she learns of the existence of Aliens and looks for possibly related answers in her past. The dynamics in Roswell are interesting, the drama from the past makes for some tensions, aside from the ones that comes from the many secrets we'll start to learn. The fact that it's considered a UFO town adds some extra layers of irony in how people see it.
Some of the drama will come from her ex and her high-school crush, both really useful since one's Deputy Max Evans (Nathan Parsons - The Originals) and the other one is Doctor Kyle Valenti (Michael Trevino - The Vampire Diaries). Not everyone agreed, but to me Nathan Parsons does a really good job showing emotion when necessary and Michael Trevino comes off a little wooden, though to some the opposite is true. To me it seemed like Trevino didn't buy a word of the scrip even though he’s been in a couple supernatural shows before, which should've made it easier.
Riley Voelkel (The Originals) fans will have to wait till the second episode to see her, she's Max's partner, Cameron, and her role is way too small for her, it might get better down the road, but for now it seems like wasted talent. Which brings me to a casting issue I couldn't get over, it seems like somewhere along the line they completely gave up the casting process to just add familiar names to the mix, at times it looks like they didn't even consider the chemistry. For example, Tyler Blackburn (Pretty Little Liars) as Alex has a very interesting love story but there's zero chemistry there and it all falls flat.
You don't need ten familiar faces to give them the smallest of roles, just a couple are enough to draw some attention, all you have to do next is develop the characters well. I just can't get over the missed opportunities I see everywhere with the errors in casting. The rest of this all-star cast includes Sherri Saum (The Fosters), Sonya Balmores (Inhumans), Dylan McTee (Sweet/Vicious), Amber Midthunder (Legion), and Heather Hemmens (If Loving You Is Wrong) who is fabulous here, as always, thankfully she doesn’t have to be a pain like she was on Hellcats. The only new faces I could find where Max's siblings, Michael played by Michael Vlamis, and Isobel, played by Lily Cowles.
A lot happens in the first few episodes, of course they'll be many more secrets and hoops to jump through, but everything felt like it was too rushed, I’m not really a fan of stretched out discovery arcs but here it takes like a day between the initial incident and Liz being full on board with the alien stuff, if I didn't know there was a story it was based of I'd wonder what their long time plan would be. I can only hope they slow down a little after this, but there are still many interesting paths layed out, and a whole lot of characters to fall in love with.
"Nostalgia is a bitch, huh?"
Roswell, New Mexico premieres Tuesday, January 15th (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), on The CW. Are you excited about this one? Let me know in the comments.
