Ever since I found out Carina Adly MacKenzie had a show coming out, I’ve been very excited. Full disclosure, I’ve been following her since her journalism days, and then when she was a writer and then producer on The Originals. The pilot of Roswell, New Mexico did not disappoint. It was everything I was expecting, and even more.
I did watch the original Roswell but I don’t remember much. I remember faces and some elements but not the storyline. And I’m actually very happy about that. There are no comparisons from that one to this one. And there shouldn’t be. Carina has set out to do a different show.
In press leading up to the premiere, she talked a lot about the topics she would address, like immigration. There’s a lot of that in there already. And the aliens are already being looked down upon. But come on, if you’ve met Max (Nathan Parsons) you know he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
The themes are very timely for what the U.S. is going through right now. If you aren’t interested in these themes, then you shouldn’t watch this show. I’m always up for a show starting a conversation, but it has to be done in the right way, and so far, Carina is definitely doing it in the right way.
Carina has brought together an amazing group of actors and their chemistry together is clear right from the beginning. It’s hard not to ship Liz (Jeanine Mason) and Max because from the second they are on screen together there are just sparks.
Somehow Michael Trevino is hotter than he was on The Vampire Diaries, and despite where the first episode takes his character, Kyle, if you loved him in TVD, you’re going to be very interested in his character.
We also got Pretty Little Liars alum, Tyler Blackburn. There is a nice surprise for his character, I will just let you see for yourself.
But, seriously, Carina, you’ve brought so many of my favorite hot guys from other shows (The Originals (Nathan), TVD (Michael), and PLL (Tyler), that I just have to thank you for that. And you are giving these talented actors great roles to work with.
I also really loved Jeanine on Grey’s Anatomy, so I was very excited to see here in this.
I like that Carina didn’t just take them back to high school. I like that they’re older. I like that we get to deal with real-world issues. It’s great that a lot of people will be able to see themselves in one of the characters on the show.
Immigration will definitely be felt on this show. A little spoiler. Liz’s father is an illegal immigrant and Liz gets stopped at an ICE checkpoint right at the beginning of the episode. This is going to be a clear theme throughout. I’m interested to see where Carina takes this.
I’m interested to learn more about Michael (Michael Vlamis). He’s Max’s brother, super smart but didn’t make anything of himself, and he has a secret. I clearly remember Brendan Fehr’s face playing Michael in the original, but I don’t remember much more than that.
Isobel, Max’s sister, is played by Lily Cowles. Once again, I remember Katherine Heigl’s face from the original but that’s it. This Isobel may take a little to get used to. I immediately liked her when she first appeared on screen, but her dislike of Max and Liz, I did not like.
It is refreshing not to remember much from the original. We spend so much time comparing the original to the reboots when we should be sitting back and enjoying the current show. It’s a new show, not a copy.
I’m excited to see where the story takes us, and wish we had a two-hour premiere. One hour was just not enough. I really wanted another hour to get to know these characters.
