Roswell: The Complete First Season: B

There are aliens in Roswell, New Mexico; and they come in the form of good-looking young actors. Oh, and while there they encounter an equally pretty group of human friends to bond and couple with. Such interactions can't happen however - what with the two groups being from two very different sides of the tracks - but we all know how young passion can be. And we certainly all know how zealous the FBI (and their shadowy secret projects) can be when its got ahold of a very interesting trail that may lead straight to our beautifully sweet "illegals." Such values are at the heart of Roswell: The Complete First Season; but just as Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr, and Katherine Heigl (!) mask certain depths as Max Evans, Michael Guerin, and Isabel Evans respectively, so too does Roswell. There are numerous moments of contrived soapiness created straight from the previously mentioned formula, but who's to say such contrivances are always awful - or that a sweet-souled little sci-fic teen-drama isn't allowed some improbabilities? Miraculously, the critic and the fan in me both agree that Roswell is worth the effort.

One element to reward a viewer's patience is in the occasional clever subversion of a central theme: how being part-alien can fuel the standard teenage angsts. Another is in, guiltily, watching these interesting teens come together and intertwine; which fuels directly into the pleasure of seeing creator Jason Katims (who pulled the idea from a young-adult novel series) work his hypnotically pure tone - something he would perfect all the more seven years later as show-runner for Friday Night Lights, which is like Roswell with less cliches...and UFOs.

If Katim's abilities as a writer aren't as developed or honed as he would later display for Lights, they have an admirable honesty and depth of compassion. Being sucked into the story of how Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) and her two friends, Maria (Majandra Delfino) and Alex (Colin Hanks), cope with the knowledge that three of their fellow students - the aforementioned Evans siblings and Michael - are from another planet is a nearly effortless experience. And then later watching as the two groups come to intermingle can occasionally reach a nearly (albeit cheaply) euphoric high. This is the type of hour-long drama that would rather spend the majority of its first season investigatng the romantic and platonic implications of the two groups' match-up before sufficiently amping up the sci-fi suspense. Which is ok: because seeing how Liz & Max (the typical, anguishedly-thwarted pair), or Michael & Maria (a romance of atypical chemistry: a Seth & Summer before their time), or even Alex & Isabel (a surprisingly grounded relationship) eventually come together can be refreshingly entertaining; each couple having its own unique rhythm seperate and as a part of the collective six as a whole.

And as a group, they certainly have obstacles. For the narrative elements of Roswell that must inevitably stare-down the long barrel of Serialized Drama, there is luckily a happy answer to be found. Katims and his writers create a nutty little town out of Roswell, NM - but also one in which, when stuff starts hitting the fan, you aren't quite sure where to turn. Do you look toward Ms. Topolsky (Julie Benz, before she was Angel's delectably amoral vamp-lover Darla), a nosy "guidance counselor"? Or the local sheriff (William Sadler), whose alliances and ambiguities never seem to cease? Can you even trust yourself or your closest friends and family, with whom you share a history none of you know anything about? These are the sporadically-introduced, introspective quandries facing the sextet over the season, and most of the time (from "Crazy" up through "The White Room") the suspenseful arcs work. And for those that don't, you always have the good-natured relationship aspect ("Heat Wave," "The Balance," "Independence Day,"). Heck, once in a while they even intersect to fascinating effect ("Blood Brother," "Into the Woods").

But, and more than once in a while, the viewer realizes that there are problems in Roswell not so easy to spot; and it sure isn't the aliens. Nor could it quite be the actors (who are a rough, but able, group). Perhaps it is the sheer overload of heart occasionally on display (the friendships in this show are, to my guilty pleasure, hyper-protective and hyper-caring versions of their real selves); or maybe its that bits and pieces of the story can be discarded or picked up at random (i.e. Alex's band, or Max's boss) or maybe its that neither half of the show is permanently welded together: the sci-fi mystery is never as tight as it should be, and the character-driven drama could sprawl just a tad more. Maybe it's a bit of all of these that makes one realize that no matter how hyper-addictive an experience it is episode-to-episode, there is a level past which Roswell's unique blend cannot reach, cannot grow.

The season finale, "Destiny," ends on a curiously desolate note - taking, in my eyes, the Romeo & Juliet influences much too far - that would seem to set-up havoc for all the fragile, and beguilingly sincere, emotional connections we've spent 22 episodes watching and discovering. If this is the case, I can only hope it is for some conclusion, or some twining together, of the mystery with the soap; because if there is one thing we learn from Roswell it's that Teenage Alienation can actually be, you know, Alienation. And if there is one thing Roswell should learn from me, it's that such discovery is central to why I love it so: for its smart exploration of life in a brave new world...that may not just be high school.