SYNOPSIS – EPISODE 122 ("Breathing Lessons")
SYNOPSIS – EPISODE 122
("Breathing Lessons")

Liz surprises Max at the UFO Museum office with Crashdown Café takeout, where she learns that Milton has been researching the light show of two weeks ago; not the one of the flying saucers that Alex and Michael used as a decoy, but the spiral symbol that Max and Liz set off with the orb. Both she and Max learn that his research has led him to discover the connection between the symbol and the Whirlwind Galaxy.

Larry meets an inebriated private from the Eagle Rock military base at a bar who tells Larry he saw an orb in a vault at the base shoot off a spiral "bat signal" at the same time the light show in the desert occurred. When Larry helps the private into his car, to drive him home, we see that they are being watched by an unknown male.

Liz and Isabel discuss what they found so far in the pod chambers, such as baby clothes—indicating they probably were supposed to come out of the pods as infants not 6 year olds, and that Liz thinks the healing stones found behind the whirlwind symbols in the chambers were used to power the pods.

Michael reveals to the others that he used the V constellation in his dream to determine that the symbols on the cave wall correlated to locations in Roswell: for example the Whirlwind symbol stood for the library, others stood for the fire department, the high school, city hall, and the sheriff station. Alex, who is trying to translate the book Michael found in the cave wall, and using this information from Michael, has determined that some of the symbols in the book stand for words like book, fire, education, politics, and the law.

Max and Maria discuss their investigation of Hank and how no one he knows has seen him since late February even though "Hank" told the Sheriff after that, that his friends told him the Sheriff was looking for him. Maria thanks Max for convincing Michael she is safer with him than without and that he is now taking her to the dance, even though he won't be doing any dancing.

The hybrids are working on trying to distinguish between when they "sense" each other and when they may be sensing another other-worldly being.

Kyle notices a new girl in school at her locker. Paulie warns him that she's a bit strange, auditing classes when she's already finished her sophomore year, and going around introducing herself to other students, shaking their hands and walking away. Kyle isn't discouraged.

Isabel, Liz, and Maria go shopping for a dress for Maria for the dance. While waiting for Maria to change, they discuss the connection Liz felt with Max since they were young. Isabel mentions that her dreamwalks of Max and Michael showed they were thinking of Liz and Maria, respectively. Liz finds it interesting that Isabel can dreamwalk them without them being aware of her presence.

Max and Alex have been comparing the sketch of the Desert Man to the personnel files of the Eagle Rock military base.

Isabel gives Michael dance lessons. During a slow dance, their physical contact triggers flashes of times in their youth when they were frightened; times they don't want others to know about. Upset, that their "secrets" have been revealed to each other, they end the dance lesson.

Liz and Maria discuss ideas to get back at Elana and Vanessa for screwing up the chance for Alex's band to play at the dance. Kyle overhears and wants in. Their "Sting" operation is to convince Elana and Vanessa that they are eligible to win an award for their work on the dance.

Max, walking down a hallway at school "senses" someone and thinks the person may have snuck into the janitor's closet. When he flings the door open, the person inside turns quickly at the sudden opening of the door and there is a blast of fire. Max reacts by putting out his hand in a protective stance and unwittingly puts up a "shield", which shimmers green, between him and the person in the closet. When Max realizes it's just the janitor wearing a welder's helmet and holding a lit welding torch he puts his hand down and the shield dissipates. It's apparent the janitor didn't see Max's shield because of the shield of his helmet and the fire, and it happened so quickly even Max isn't really sure it happened. Later, that night at Michael's apartment, Max shows the others his new power, which is a protective shield that repels attacks without harming the attacker.

Isabel uses her powers to create the perfect dress for the dance—a recreation of the red dress she wore when she dreamwalked Alex with, she hopes, enough changes that he won't recognize it as such. Her parents are impressed with the dress and think she made it herself with the sewing machine they gave her awhile ago. Alex is so awed he momentarily forgets to breathe. As does Max when he see Liz in her midnight blue sheath. Michael and Maria's entrance at the dance causes a small stir with him looking dashing, for a change, dressed in all black, and we see that Maria chose to match the dress to her lavender shoes.

While dancing, Max gets flashes of how Liz "saw" him when she was younger and is surprised by how she felt. Their passionate kiss is interrupted by Valenti … acting as a dance chaperone. Michael surprises Maria by asking her to dance when a slow song plays. She learns that Isabel taught him in exchange for the babysitting and Maria rewards Michael's thoughtfulness with a kiss, which is interrupted by Mr. Seligman.

Students are rumbling among themselves about the poor performance of the band and are nonplussed as to how this band beat out Alex's band. Chris, Marcos, and Nicky want to tell them but remember that they agreed not to so no one would blame Isabel for what Elana and Vanessa did.

The changes to Isabel's dress don't fool Alex and while dancing he gently confronts her about visiting his dreams.

Amy, also there as a chaperone, surreptitiously takes pictures of Michael and Maria on the dance floor. Maria admonishes her when she catches her, thinking it would be embarrassing, but is also hoping she got some good shots.

Near the end of the evening, Mr. Seligman gets on stage to thank the dance committee for their hard work, but when no awards are mentioned, Elana and Vanessa speak up, which causes students to start calling out reasons they should be admonished for their behavior—not awarded. Mr. Seligman agrees to look into it.

During the last dance, Maria and Kyle spot their parents dancing together, and then, to their horror—kissing in public!

Back at the café, while saying good night, Max and Liz discuss dreamwalking and why they haven't been able to do it to the Desert Man based on Michael's sketch. They decide to "collect more data" about dreamwalking by dreamwalking each other that evening.

The next morning a chipper Liz drops by Max's bedroom so they can hang out together for the day. Isabel also drops by and Max and Isabel decide to try to dreamwalk the Desert Man again, with Liz observing. Max and Isabel are not successful until Liz, seeing Max frowning in disappointment, instinctively places her hand on his, joining the dreamwalk and then they are all in. It's a vortex of dark images including Hank being buried and the Desert Man in a military uniform looking frightened, with a hand on his chest. Almost as soon as they got in, the connection breaks and they all sit there in shock.

At Michael's apartment, waiting for him to finish getting ready for work, Maria tells him how her mother agrees they managed to teach Elana and Vanessa a lesson. Scanning his sparse apartment she advises him to personalize it more with pictures or art, then notices that the plant she gave him is missing. He demonstrates his new found power by exploding the pot it was in—again—and explains that, that was the reason he broke up with her before—because he didn't want her getting hurt while he learned to control it. She tells him she will help him learn control.

That night they all meet at Michael's where Max, Isabel, and Liz tell them about the dreamwalk, and they agree on two things—they no longer have to look for Hank, and Nasedo may be too dangerous to try to find.

At school the next day, Max raises the possibility to Liz that she was responsible for their success in dreamwalking the Desert Man. The new girl (Tess) introduces herself to Elana and Vanessa, who dismiss her, then turns to Isabel. When they shake hands they each see flashes: Isabel as a child emerging from her pod, a white sun in a yellow sky. Isabel can barely catch her breath but when she does she asks Tess if she is Nasedo. Tess replies: "No, but I can take you to him."

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