‘Project Blue Book’ Season 2 premiere sees Hynek struggle to convince Quinn there’s truth to the cover-up
This article contains spoilers for season 2, episode 1: 'The Roswell Incident - Part I'
The second season of History's alien drama 'Project Blue Book' delves deeper into newer UFO sightings and possible alien landings back in the 50s, with the first episode, titled 'The Roswell Incident - Part I' doing its best to cover the entirety of the mind-boggling, real-life occurrences in the New Mexico town. Dr. J Allen Hynek and Captain Michael Quinn are once again drawn into a unique partnership between a skeptic turned believer and a curious man struggling to overlook his job loyalty when the blinding lights at Roswell demand their attention. But in all of this confusion, the biggest question that still continues to plague us - something beyond the potential existence of these extraterrestrial beings - is whether Hynek will actually be able to convert Quinn into a believer, thereby effectively making him work towards exposing his own seniors.
When the episode kicks off, Quinn and Hynek have just been asked to travel all the way to Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO sighting has been reported for the second time and General Harding needs them to take a look at it. This comes after Quinn's own personal experience with those blinding green lights similar to season 1's Lubbock Lights that had left the entire investigation perplexed, and now Quinn, hanging by a thread on the verge of becoming a believer, is riddled with suspicion. When Quinn and Hynek reached Roswell, and as they figure out the rampant turmoil the town is under, they soon realize that tires burning with American flags aren't their only worry any more.
Things are further amplified when Hynek questions why the first Roswell incident was labeled a "weather balloon" - there's all this secrecy involved that almost makes this look like a giant cover-up. While Quinn counters that saying Harding wouldn't have lugged them over to Roswell if the entire incident was a total cover-up, Hynek insists he would as they are the only ones who are busting these "sightings" after Washington D.C. Luckily for the two, the sight of tires burning also comes with a mysterious box with the name Harding written on it. The lock's combination is that of the date when the first Roswell incident had occurred and inside is a note that claims Harding was behind the crashed alien spacecraft's cover-up in 1947 - aka the first Roswell incident.
With the first smidge of suspicion in their minds, a still skeptic Quinn firmly relying on Harding's calls, merely approaches the local news station to warn them to not broadcast anything regarding the current developments of the town, as they might be an issue of national security. Luckily, this information leads to the newsroom producer informing both Quinn and Hynek that he would do whatever the air force wants as he doesn't want to lose his license again. The man claims it was just a misunderstanding, but someone tried taking away the broadcast station's license and even proceeded to confiscate their reports, leading Hynek to believe that Harding and those above them in the titular investigation were involved in the cover-up.
Hynek is trying his hardest to get all the information he can, from exclusive, underground study societies - or conspiracy theorists, if you will - who believe that the government is actively covering up the sightings and landings under the name of this investigation. Hynek's source as we find out is Mimi, who back home is attending the Ohio chapter of flying saucer aficionados aiming to secretly bust the government's cover-ups. For Quinn, without knowing Hynek's sources, this is mere "hearsay".
Hynek also brings in a local man called Connors who had found shrapnel and debris from the first alleged crashing. He reported the incident to the officials, who deduces the debris was not manmade metal but could have only been parts of an alien aircraft. Sadly, the story soon got out to the press and soon arrived Harding - as we see it all in a flashback montage. Hynek tells Quinn no one knows what exactly happened back then, but two days from Harding's arrival at the time, Connors bought a new car and the entire town stopped talking about the incident.
It is around this time that Hynek tries convincing Quinn that if anybody was to expose the cover-up, nobody was in a better position to do so than the two of them. Later in the episode, we also hear Harding speaking privately about a certain Mission Mogul - a program they much continue with at all costs. Even Hynek and Quinn chance upon yet another man who had the same experience as Connors, and claims to have been forced to sign an NDA, thereby preventing them from speaking anything about the crashing saucer he and his girlfriend had seen all those years ago. So when the two of them confront Harding about the whole issue, he tells them of a "cover-up" in the form of a weather balloon, to disguise an actual transmitter warning them of Russia's intentions following the Second World War. But this is clearly not enough, as Hynek and Quinn meet with a man who almost tries to shoot the entire program down as he claims he had seen an alien during the first Roswell incident. And right at the end of the episode, his claims are confirmed, with a third flying saucer crashing at the site in the presence of the entire investigation right there.
'Project Blue Book' Season 2 airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. only on History.