Joan Pickering

There were two scenes in Damage Control that were very important to me. The first is the scene where Isabel reminds Max that he doesn't know what will happen if he has sex with Liz. Since this show was about teens, and was using the alien aspect as a metaphor for what teens go through and the decisions they have to make, I had hoped that the show would use the opportunity to remind its male audience (and its female audience too) that unprotected sex is also dangerous for the guy as well. Since the show didn't address this, I decided to do so.

I felt that Isabel's behavior in Sexual Healing ("cheering" Max and Liz on) was out of character, when you consider that prior to that she had been discouraging Max from getting involved; just as she always avoided getting involved. So I decided to use this as my opportunity to point out it may be dangerous for Max to have sex with Liz. When Max doesn't come home, Isabel realizes that he may have "gone all the way" with Liz, and that she may have been partly to blame, because she was encouraging him. The possible consequences of that, overwhelm her; she doesn't think they should be taking such chances. She is relieved that she still has a chance to voice her concerns to Max, and they all come rushing out at once. But the bottom line is, she is reminding him that he needs to think about the consequences of his actions and act responsibly.

The second scene is the talk between Liz and her mother. When I was watching the show, I was wishing they would point out that some of the feelings the kids had for each other, and that they were experiencing, were normal human teen emotions; that it wasn't all just because they (or their partners) were aliens that they were having these feelings. I decided to use the conversation between Liz and Nancy to point that out.

Nancy's concern for Liz's recent behavior (Nancy was called to the Principal's office because of Liz's behavior with Max in the Eraser Room, caught Liz sneaking home late at night and all flushed after a romantic encounter with Max, and then Liz spends the night in the desert with Max), gave me the opportunity to have Nancy remind Liz about using caution. Her daughter has told her that she is not having sex, and she wants to believe her. She also knows that her daughter is putting herself into situations where she may lose control and act out of instinct rather than logic. She wants to remind Liz that she should avoid putting herself into situations where her hormones will be making her decisions for her. She uses herself as an example, thereby letting Liz know what Liz is going through is normal--her mother had the same feelings. In addition, she is reminding Liz that there are consequences to her actions; consequences that could ruin all the plans she has for herself.

Erica Cavin

As I thought about season one and what might have been, one of the things that stood out was the use of Jen and Larry in "The UFO Convention." The characters were not only reintroduced in that episode but formed deeper connections to the ongoing story and the main characters; Jen became friendly with Liz and Larry stirred the waters, leading to serious trouble for Max. Larry's two-part proposal to Jen, that they marry and live in Roswell, suggested that Larry would be a continuing challenge to the podsters and their friends. However, the two did not return. Based on what we saw, it seemed that Jen and Larry's presence in the kids' lives may well have been part of what had been planned for and changed in the show.