[azure angel]

I needed to see Max trying to get Liz back and not the other way around ... my biggest problem with the episode.

[Jasper1975]

I don't think Liz was trying to get him back. They were already trying again when we saw them in Busted, but things were still tense as we saw in the flashbacks as they were trying to take it slow. But being them, they could never do that... so they were making choices that only further would seed resentment in their relationship, and would take Max "dying" as he sacrificed his life for Liz, and getting a miracle shot to really start to repair the damage.

Neither really wanted to talk about it. Sure Max aggravated the situation with his excuse in the "flashback". But there was some truth to his words, he just worded it badly. It was a open wound for Liz, and she was tense over the subject and Max was too because he was fooled and screwed up. It was a very hard situation.

I think she wanted to be with him, and after a year apart, she genuinely wanted to help. They hadn't talked about what it meant if they found the baby? Or where their relationship went from there, especially with graduation and university (for Liz) beckoning. We never knew what Max saw as his future after graduation.

So they went back to each other, and unfortunately Max got sent on the mission in regards to his son... and Liz chose to go along with him, and I think she genuinely wanted to help. She didn't know what it all meant. But she loved him. He loved her, but it was a very screwed up situation. As she rationalized, if the situation was reversed and she had a kid out there... she would want Max to help, and Max would have done anything for Liz. Even if she had a kid with someone else. So it made sense that she would help, even if it was very painful. And she hadn't yet come to terms with it all...

It was just a horrrible situation because it was still very painful. For both of them!

[Roswell 10/2/00]

I have mixed feelings on Busted. I wanted there to be more of a build up instead of wham we were thrown into it.

I think they did that for the new network for shock value and to get more new people interested in watching.

However I wanted Busted to be at least two parts instead of one episode.

I feel if it was a two part episode it would of helped show what happened over the summer and how everyone was rebuilding from Alex death, finding out about Tess and the evil plan, and trying to save Max's son.

It would of made the episode flow more for me insead of the quick flashbacks.

Epidoe one We also could of seen how Isabel and Jessie came to be instead of wait Isabel is kissing a new guy that was fast.

We also could of seen how Max and Liz were working to bridge the gap and make up for lost time over the summer. Then they get the message from his son and them trying to get the diamond key for the space ships.

I think it would of been cool to end the first epiode we see them being chashed by the cops then it stoped and said to be continued.

Then the next week episode 2 could of been them in jail and trying to get out and save Max's son. Basically what we saw in Busted but without the car chase and really quick flashbacks.

[azure angel]

An episode before busted was more than necessary. I know it was a terrible situation, but the writers did not make any effort to lighten it, just the opposite.

[Jasper1975]

As much as we deserved or Max and Liz deserved a reprieve episode to come back to, and maybe have it designed as a two-parter (which would happen today probably because it is more in vogue in today's television than it was back then...)

To see them coming back, in love, happy to be together, or just taking it slow and being together before they had to deal with the baby mission...

But let's face it, it's not Max and Liz to have it easy. It was one thing after another. So for them to be thrust right in, made sense since this was who they were... And the show was now on a new network with UPN taking it over. So they wanted to have something that grabbed you.

Taking the first scene where we see them passionately making out in his car, and then presto, they become robbers... I can see why it was a WTF moment for fans, and we could only see the past in flashbacks so if we had a transition episode to where they ultimately go, because you could only do some many flashbacks... might have been better, but I still love the episode because they are together... so brazen, so Bonnie and Clyde, and in some ways it's so fun even with all the angst in it's midst.

I get what you mean we deserved some light moments. After all the angst to finish Season 2. But let's face it, that was not Max and Liz. They went from her nearly dying in a shooting, and him saving her... to engagement and marriage in three years, with him dying and being reserrected in a new body and with so much pain and heart ache in between.

We needed more space to do all what "Busted" wanted to be. So I agree I wished we could have had some ligh moments or just more space to tell the story. But Max and Liz had very few light moments in their courtship.

Which I also think is why they hold up today. 15 years later...

And something the new reboot wouldn't be able to match!

[azure angel]

we'll see if the reboot is going to be so disrespectful to their main female/couple...

[Jasper1975]

I actually think in this day and age, the reboot might not so be lucky unless the show hits it big and has a shipper feast with it's "Max and Liz".

While I disagree that they disrespected the main duo. A lot went on behind the scenes on the show back then, and it didn't help that the show struggled all three seasons, but we got lucky that Max and Liz got their happy ending...

For all they went through. They actually managed to make each other stronger, and were together in the end...

We got lucky the show loved it's main two duo's... Max and Liz and and Maria and Michael. And never felt the need to change things up. While we might disagree with the show's need to put it's level of angst on Max and Liz.

But they could have easily in Season 2 put Max and Maria together, say they got closer during that summer Liz was gone. Or explore Michael and Liz after he stole her diary, and his "bad boy personoa" and the grief he gave her and Max and say that he felt more than he did....

And of course we know the gotcha they gave us in Tale of Two Parties.

These days, if a show wants to give angst they will break you up and pair you with someone else. And they might hit it off and it's goodbye Max and Liz. Look at Dawson and Joey on Dawson's Creek. But Vampire Diaries is a classic case, and while the triangle was central back in the beginning. Stefan was given the hook early...

So I will take how we were lucky. Yes, the angst was extreme, and I would have change some of it.

But we could have it worse. And the reboot might have it worse today. So I will take what we got because we got their happy ending in the end, for all they went through.

[Roswell 10/2/00]

I don't think the reboot aka NEW show will do well. No one can hold a candle to Jason and Shiri as Max and Liz! They were magic!

You can't duplicate that! It was amazing! Lighting does not strike twice!

So I don't think this New show aka reboot is going to do so well.

With Julie Plec at the hem of the New show reboot I think it will be a disaster for the main couple. We saw this when she worked on Vampire Diaries.

[azure angel]

Well for me it was obvious that Liz was not exactly Katims' favorite, he wrote some of the worst anti Liz episodes EVEN if he wrote The Pilot/Graduation.

[Jasper1975]

Originally Posted by azure angel (View Post) Well for me it was obvious that Liz was not exactly Katims' favorite, he wrote some of the worst anti Liz episodes EVEN if he wrote The Pilot/Graduation.

To me Max got the hardest hit. His actions are what drove fans away from him in Season 2. I see it both ways. Max screwed up. Liz screwed up. Both made mistakes. Yet, she went with Future Max and hurt Max, so he was free... But still he was so fooled by Tess, and went with her when he should have been stronger.

Yet Liz always got the better excuse for her mistakes. Except maybe running in "Destiny", and leaving that summer. But then I can see why she would be so overwhelmed. But she went with Future Max, because she knew Max would never be able to accept it if he could have prevented it. And it would hurt them. Of course it meant believing Future Max, and that was dubious.

I always saw it was Liz's story. She narrated it through her diary at times. Yes it was Max's heritage that they were searching for, and getting answers. But it was a whole different world opening to her...

Liz acted badly. But so did Max. In fact Max I think got it worse. At least when Alex died, Liz could say she was seeking answers. And she got them!

All Max could say was that he was a teenage boy fooled by hormones, and a girl!

So I didn't it that bad for her. Except that she had to sacrifice love for the greater cause. And yet in the end, they both got their dreams. So in the end, they were rewarded for what they had done.

They got each other. Engagagment and marriage. It wasn't that bad in the end. You just had to endure the angst, but in the end, they got their dreams. Each other.

But it was a hell of a road. But knowing their happy ending, it's why I can see the other side of it now!

[Amaranto]

I love graduation with a passion, but it can not be denied that something broke it, I do not say magic because despite all that it was still there thanks to Shiri and Jason but ... the writing did not help Max and Liz anymore.

[azure angel]

Originally Posted by Amaranto (View Post) I love graduation with a passion, but it can not be denied that something broke it, I do not say magic because despite all that it was still there thanks to Shiri and Jason but ... the writing did not help Max and Liz anymore.

Pretty much, they were never the same.

[Jasper1975]

I think they tried. There was always the era of the endgame being Max and Liz. It was never Max and Tess. You knew in some warped way the show valued Max and Liz as the endgame (they had a horrible way of showing it at times). While definitely a lot could have changed, and it was just way too much especially since the show was struggling and the angst was just too much. It's one thing to do the baby or even the sex in year five. But year two. Too soon. You would think they could have lightened things up a bit... Give Liz and Max some time to just be in love, whether it was a couple of episodes before they hammered them again. The reprieve they got in the Laurie Depree mystery thru Viva Las Vegas is not what I am talking about. True happiness was all that was needed for a couple of episodes at least...

But that was never Max and Liz. They always went from one challenge to another, and barely had time to breathe. Still, given the show was trying so hard to stay on the air. They should have lessened it all...

And yet I think they tried to right the ship in Season 3. And explored the fallout. Could it have been different, yes, but by the end... they were stronger for it all. And they both accepted it, and were committed to moving on. And knew what they wanted.

And it's amazing that it was all accomplished in three years. When some show can't get it done in twice as long...

[azure angel]

I wonder if they ever regretted going to that route - the baby storyline

[Jasper1975]

Originally Posted by azure angel (View Post) I wonder if they ever regretted going to that route - the baby storyline

Any show is going to see it as angst. It's soapy. Roswell was definitely was soapy right down to aliens, royal four, alien brides and destiny and stuff like that... So I think they saw it as something to show consequence to Liz's actions with Future Max. But the show was struggling, and cancelled on WB and they got a miracle chance at UPN so they rushed to craft some kind of season ender that could move on, if the show continued but had some kind of ending if it didn't...

But they knew in Season 3 to craft a much better ending if the show was finished. Departure was very unfinished...if that had been the end.

I have no idea what they would have done if the show could have played out that storyline with the baby. To send off Tess with the baby after making her pregnant to the heartache of fans was very bizzare....

When you think about teenage pregnancy is a soapy staple. And sex with the wrong girl is another classic. Especially given Max and Liz were supposed to be apart, and were... Liz had sent him into Tess's arms. And then had to deal with the fallout.

It's aparent the storylines for the last stretch of episodes after Vegas changed. So I have no idea what would have happened.