Roswell, New Mexico TV Show Pulls No Political Punches

Watching initial episodes of Roswell, New Mexico from 2019 on Netflix this week was at startling as rereading my first two Other Worldly novels published in 2020, Alienable Rights and Feeling Alienated, and being utterly confused. Wait, what? Aren’t these atrocities against humanity committed by ICE and other unidentifiable thugs exactly what’s happening right now across the US?

The answer, of course, is yes, because what we’re experiencing are literal reruns—on steroids—with respect to immigration brutality in the first tyrannical administration of the demented thug who would be king, roughly from 2017 until the insurrection of January 6, 2021. How easy it is to forget that we’ve been here before—how sickeningly stupid it was for idiots to send us right back into this bigoted and brutal hellscape.

The opening scene of Roswell, New Mexico involves a police traffic stop encountered by a (now) Latina main character, still named Liz but with a revised last name of Ortega, when she returns to her hometown ten years after high school, and she doesn’t take kindly to it. And it’s as if I’m reading my novels, seeing this first season boldly take on the subject of “illegal alien” immigrants juxtaposed with actual extraterrestrial aliens, including a great deal of satisfying snark.

Who knew The CW, the network responsible for what’s called a “reimagined reboot,” as opposed to a sequel, adapting the same underlying storyline from Melinda Metz’s Roswell High book series, had it in them? Who knew there’d be so much diversity of character, not merely in more accurately portraying the prominent Latin culture of New Mexico, but also featuring ultra-hot sex scenes—with two now homosexual main characters, one alien, the other human.

That, along with the ubiquitous political jabs and repeated derogatory references to ICE treachery, plus a realistic portrayal of violent anti-Mexican racists (so very ironic in New Mexico) are nothing short of astounding.

It’s too bad this show, actually set in New Mexico unlike its predecessor Roswell that was filmed in California, was cancelled in 2022 after only four seasons. One ponders if there was no fifth season as previously planned precisely because of the anti-fascism and anti-racism bent. Did The CW cave to politicized pressure?

For those who might want to see this well-done show for themselves—especially since it’s now tailored to other than a teen audience— here are some notable bits so far, without providing too many spoilers:

• A conspiracy theorist podcaster schemer, attempting to cash in on the Roswell alien hype, warns that aliens are “rapists and criminals coming here to steal your jobs.”
• A snide reference to how “this town just loves to vote for white military guys.”
• After a sustained power outage causes medical emergencies, a very frustrated cop (surprisingly the main male alien character, Max) reacts to their inability to help people by saying, “We might as well be tossing rolls of paper towel at them.”
• The main female alien character, Isabelle, sneeringly refers to a local racist as “Mr. All Lives Matter.”
• The sheriff, a Latina woman with a mixed-race son (main human character Kyle) jarringly discusses how she hates the Ortega family because, unlike her family, Mr. Ortego (Liz’s father) didn’t come here legally. Sadly, her self-serving bigotry, like others in Roswell, extends to vitriol against the next generation of Ortegas.

Fittingly, there’s also a secret government group headed by a vile homophobic Air Force sergeant under the auspices of what he calls “an imminent alien threat,” when he himself is a danger to his homosexual son and pretty much everyone else in Roswell who doesn’t advocate for violence against aliens, instead adhering to the legal standard of innocent until proven guilty. Meanwhile, actual aliens have to worry about being found out and ending up “dissected in a lab.”

So far, Roswell, New Mexico, definitely hasn’t disappointed since I was thrilled to find it available on Netflix a few days ago. We’ll see how the rest of the first season goes, and if the series stays just as gritty and spot on when it comes to the current political climate regarding immigration, racism, homophobia, and paranoia over anyone different from them in any way. Not to mention the as-always fascinating take on aliens who originated from the 1947 saucer crash just outside of Roswell. Definitely not a weather balloon 🙂