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'Roswell, New Mexico' Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Blast from the past goes deeper into Manes history with aliens

The lives of Alex, Max, Isobel, and Michael collide in ways that we can't even fathom — there is more to the Tripp Manes story and what is Jesse Manes hiding?
UPDATED MAY 18, 2020
Jason Behr and Zach Rose (The CW)
Jason Behr and Zach Rose (The CW)

Spoilers for 'Roswell, New Mexico' Season 2 Episode 9 'The Diner'

This episode is a blast from the past as Micahel, Isobel and Alex find out more about their ancestors. We find out exactly why the episode is titled 'Diner' and details about the night Tripp Manes (Jason Behr) attacked Nora Truman (Kayla Ewell) and Louise (Cassandra Jean Amell).

It also explores an awkward date with Kyle Valenti (Michael Trevino) and Steph (Justina Adorno) featuring Kyle's highschool ex-girlfriend and Liz Ortecho (Jeanine Mason) with whom he shares a half-sister — the Valentis and Ortechos had a messy affair.

On a midnight date, Kyle and Steph end up at the Ortecho Diner with Liz serving them burgers and milkshakes. While that was "oooh material", Kyle reveals to Liz that Steph is sick (a rare blood disease), and when Kyle lets Steph know he saw her medical records, you can only imagine how she felt since her personal information was violated.

Harsh words were exchanged, but that wasn't the epic part of that scenario — Liz tells Kyle that through alien research and alien experimentation, she can help Steph. Kyle reminds her that risks exposing the aliens including Rosa Ortecho (Amber Midthunder), their half-sister.

While Liz dropped the subject then, she collected Steph's DNA off her milkshake later — shady! Liz believes that the aliens are immune to dire yet common illnesses on planet Earth because they come from a more evolved planet.

Her research could potentially bring about a universal vaccine - yeah, let that digest, because Liz has to keep that a secret. In the real world, what Liz is doing has severe complications, as if it were paralleled to this century, we know that aliens would be hard to digest.

The way the medical world can use the DNA of an outsider to make the people of earth superhumans, well, that has some serious implications — but is there "blood on her hands" or should her loyalty come first? 

On the Evans side of things, Max Evans (Nathan Parsons) is arrested as Sheriff Valenti (Rosa Arredondo) reveals that when she was a young deputy, she was obsessed with the case of Max, Isobel Evans (Lily Cowles) and Michael Guerin  (Michael Vlamis) when they were abandoned.

The sheriff had seen Max go crazy and write symbols all over the wall at the group home and Michael took the crayon away from him — Michael didn't up to getting adopted, but Isobel and Max did.

Kyle made sure his mother was protected, but wanted the aliens to tell her part of the truth - Max's vulnerability and truth-telling is so endearing, we'd get him out of jail too! And we all know that Noah Bracken (Karan Oberoi) had to go!

Kayla Ewell (The CW)

Now there's some intense past family drama that reveals a picture of Louise — Isobel and Max's mother — older that she would have been had she died at the Tripp massacre.

Let's explain. In the last episode, we found out that Sanders (Nicholas Ballas) was Walt (Major Dodge Jr), he had run away from his violent father after he lost his mother at a young age and ended up meeting Bronson (Gaius Charles) who took him in.

One night, two women, Louise and Nora (Michael's mother) showed up at their door and the quad became a family. Walt had overheard Nora tell Bronson, "Our child is in danger. Louise is hopeful, I have to protect her."

Harlan then shows Tripp Manes (Alex's great uncle), a picture of Nora and finds the two-woman "hiding under their noses" and then heads to kill them.

Walt heard all of this at the diner and he had asked Nora to stay one more night, so he knew they were going to be at the farm. Walt was able to get out through the escape hatch that Nora had built and ended up seeing Louise's dead body after he hears everyone get gunned down by the Manes.

He got out of Roswell and found a note in his pocket left by Nora — it was a map that showed where Michael was hidden, and Sanders has been keeping an eye on him since then. Sanders/Walt was the only father figure Michael has had in his life. The last scene was the perfect ending with this duo!

Cassandra Jean Amell and Gaius Charles (The Cw)

Alex Manes confronts his father, Jesse Manes asking to know about Tripp Manes, as he's already heard about "grandfather war hero Harlan Manes (Zach Rose)." Jesse reveals that Tripp had met him once in the diner, speaking about alien secrets and that grandfather Harlan had told him that an alien got into Tripp's head.

We don't know if it was Louise or Nora who seduced Tripp but Harlan had carried out the massacre that night, not Tripp — he was trying to save them.

Alex finds out that his uncle Tripp had a booth at the diner, and Liz, Isobel and Alex find a letter in the walls — a letter from Louise thanking Trip, attached with a picture of her much older and in a wheelchair. She had survived the Manes massacre that night, but Nora was taken to Caulfield, possibly to be experimented on.

This episode was definitely not a filler but was too fast-paced. These were details the audience have been waiting for a while and may have missed! The lives of Alex, Max, Isobel and Michael collide in ways that we can't even fathom.

There is more to the Tripp Manes story and what is Jesse Manes hiding? Hopefully, the next episode — now that the stories have officially collided between the two families — we get a clearer picture of how these secrets being outed can affect the current lives of our characters.

'Roswell, New Mexico' Season 2 airs on Monday nights on The CW at 9/8c.

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