This is a review and wildfeed by StarMonkey2000

Dreamers -- This is in some ways, a real dreamfest. Only one kiss - but tons
of flashes from old favorite episodes (quick ones though). And it is just
good to see M/L together...

Candyclanners No M/M together, since she is in Vermont and he is in Roswell.

Brief review:

I give it 4.7 stars out of five - 94% or a mid A, for those who prefer the
non-numeric grading!** It is a dandy episode, one of the best on Roswell
this year, and certainly last. Besides having some intriguing sci-fi which is
always nice, but dramatic action - with a bit of tension worrying about Liz
and Maria. And the acting is wonderful too. Especially good is Jason Behr. He
really is good in this- to make it clear at any moment if you are looking at
ClayMax (Clayton controlling Max) or Max himself. BF, MD, NW, and WS do their
usual stellar job. As you all know, I love fX - and there is some good stuff
here- but I loved the return of the green shield! I've missed it!

I was glad that they finally told Jesse right out what was going on, instead
of trying to play him for a fool throughout most of the episode. And the
final scene between Isabel and Jesse is quite good, with both actors doing
some of their best work in this one scene.

What I didn't like? Liz drinking. Yes, realistic perhaps. I still didn't like
it.

 

 

The scenes you will want to watch again and (maybe) again (and why) :

Every scene with ClayMax in it - particularly when Max is trying to come out.

Every flash. Oh, Dreamers, you will be wearing out the FF button and certain
portions of the tape with this one. So make an extra copy.

The ClayMax/Max/Liz confrontation at the end.

Best lines:

ClayMax: I have to go to her. I have to. She's the love of my life.

***You know, I thought TPTB had forgotten!

---------------
Stop here if you don't want to know too many details!!

 

 

Synopsis of Chant Down Babylon - Episode 3ADA14 TRT 43:32 Finish Date 2/10/02
Written by Ronald D. Moore | Directed by Lawrence Trilling

Previously:

Liz telling Maria how much she feels at home at her new school; Jesse telling
his pal how he thinks that Isabel hides from him, and then we see cuts from
Panacea showing the healing and Max dying.

Teaser:

Michael and Isabel are rushing towards the lab, where the alarm is going off.
Valenti stumbles out of the burning lab, and Isabel asks where Max is. He
tells Isabel that Mas is dead, she starts screaming trying to get back into
the room, but Valenti restrains her and then pulls her out of the building,
with Michael following. They are standing outside, and Michael and Isabel see
Meris and her men walking to their limousine with the hunched-over Clayton.
Michael and Isabel go over to use their powers on them, furious they did this
to Max, and the men shoot at them. Isabel is shot, Jesse comes up to her
collapsed on the street, where Jim and Michael are already kneeling by her.
He wants to call an ambulance, and Michael prevents him. Jesse hits him, and
insists that Michael tell him why he can't call an ambulance. Michael tells
him that Isabel isn't human. Jesse doesn't believe him, but Jim tells him it
is true. And suddenly, you see Isabel's hands start to move weirdly - and red
lines of electricity run through them and spark between her fingers.

 

Show starts :

Liz and Maria are walking down the sidewalk at the school, Liz is freaked
out. Maria is on the cell, leaving Michael a message to call, that Liz is
certain that something bad has happened with Max. Liz tells her she needs to
be alone for a while.

Cut to Jim's car, as Michael is holding Isabel in the back, and Jesse is
calling a doctor from his old neighborhood to meet him at Jim's house. They
arrive there, and put Isabel on the couch, and Kyle comes in to see what has
happened. They tell him, causing him to rush out. They are all frantic over
Isabel and because the doctor isn't there yet. Kyle comes rushing back in
with a first aid kit, and he tells them they need Max, but they tell Kyle Max
is dead.

The doctor comes in (a young man), and he has them take everything off the
table so that he can work on her. They do so. The doctor tells them she will
need a transfusion, do they know her type? Michael says he is her type.

Meris is talking to Clayton - wrapped in a sheet, asking if he is okay. She
peels back the sheet - and they see Max. But it is Clayton talking. She is
stunned, and hands him a mirror. He realizes his hands are young, and then he
looks in the mirror - and is upset because it is NOT him. He gets up - over
to the bathroom mirror, staring. She tells him that Max was trying to
rejuvenate him, but all ClayMax can see is how he is NOT himself. Then he
decides he could like it - admiring the new muscles, the youth. Meris tells
him that although she loved him the way he was, that this will open up all
sorts of new possibilities in their relationship. And he turns to kiss her,
and carries her to the bed.

Liz is walking by herself, and sits on a bench. Maria comes up, and tells her
that she talked to Michael and she is so sorry. She tells her that Max died
in a fire trying to save Valenti's life. The Sense Field song is playing now
- and does so on and off through the episode. Maria starts crying, and Liz
puts her arms around her to comfort her.

ClayMax is kissing Meris, and suddenly he flashes to memories of Max with
Liz.... quick flashes of Liz kissing Max as he stands on the ladder at the
end of Balance , M/L dancing in VLV ... and he rolls off of Meris. More
flashes Dancing in VLV again, Max holding up his fingers in a V behind Liz'
head in MITC, M/L kissing in Busted, standing watching the snow in SR, The
MITC cut again, then single shots of Liz in Blind Date and BustedHe screams,
calling Liz. He tells her saw this girl, that this is serious. He gets up out
of bed. That this girl is someone Max Evans knew, that he has some of his
memories. Meris just wants him to come back to bed, but ClayMax goes over to
the mirror again, saying that Max Evans is still inside his head, still
alive. He starts talking to Max - saying he knows he wants something... he
flashes on Liz again - Liz in Blind Date . (The flashes upset ClayMax every
time - and you can see he is having trouble keeping Clayton and Max separated
in his mind). He tells Meris they are going to Vermont.

The doctor is telling them that he has done what he can for Isabel - he
removed her spleen and tried to repair her liver, but that he is worried
about if infection sets in. That she needs a hospital. Kyle says that letting
her die isn't an option. Jesse returns, saying she is sleeping (evidently in
a bedroom now). He tells Michael he wants to talk to him.

Liz is talking to her roommate who is leaving for Spring Break. Liz tells her
she is staying, even though the roommate suggests she leave. Maria comes in,
and introduces herself to the roommate. Liz goes for a walk. She goes up to
the attic room (where the booze was)- and she starts beating on the wall
trying to get to it but it won't open until suddenly and the entire wall
disintegrates under her power. She looks down, and green electricity is going
through her hand. She screams and holds her head.

Jesse and Michael are in the back yard, and Michael is using his powers to
make plants change back and forth, to prove to Jesse it is true. Michael has
evidently told him their entire history. The doctor comes out and says that
Isabel's temperature is 112. Is there something he should know?

Kyle is talking to the sleeping Isabel. He tells her since Liz got alien
powers, maybe he does too. Maybe he has the power to heal, so maybe he should
try it. He puts his hand on her (Jesse has come in and is watching all this),
and he starts crying realizing nothing is happening. Jesse leaves.

Maria comes up to the attic, where Liz is now sitting in the big window. Liz
asks how Isabel is, and she tells her that Isabel's temperature is 115 now.
Maria asks her to move from the window, evidently thinking that she is
contemplating suicide. Liz tells her she is silly, and then explains her
powers are back. She goes over to get more booze, and Maria tries to stop her
drinking. Maria tells her to stop, and Liz tells her she doesn't know what it
is like, because Michael is alive while Max is not. Liz leaves, to walk
across the empty campus, and falls on the way. She is laying there laughing,
drunk - and looks up to see Max standing over her. She doesn't believe it for
a moment.

He is looking at her strangely, and she starts laughing because she thinks
she is seeing things. He kneels down, looking at her strangely -
inquisitively, and she sits up. Sobering. She touches him to push him away
and she gets flashes the Whirlwind galaxy, him healing her, them as children
as she watches him get off the bus, her jumping rope, staring at each other
across the school yard. The flashes stop for a moment, as Liz looks at him in
shock realizing it is Max. ClayMax stunned - being Max now, and then the
flashes stop - but this time, I think HE is the one seeing the flashes - the
ones from Max' viewpoint, while the earlier set were what Liz was seeing. Liz
shot in Pilot, him looking at her in the schoolyard, looking back at him,
stars and then the flash of the red planet from SH. She kisses him, putting
her hands on his face. He kisses her back (and Meris is watching from the
bushes), and for a moment you see it really is Max. When he reaches up with
hims hands, grasping hers - her power runs through them into him, tossing him
back a bit. Suddenly, he changes... he gets strange ... sounds in an echo...
and he runs away.

Michael is talking to Isabel, talking about when they first met in 3rd grade.
That a man in school was being derogatory to him about being on food stamps,
and he was about to lose it when he felt Isabel watching him. How he went to
sit with her, and she shared her lunch with him. That he knew then she was
different - that she wanted him around. Now he wants her around, he cries
putting his head down on her, holding her hand. You see power pass from him
to her, and she wakes up. All come in to celebrate. The doctor says her
temperature is down to 102. She smiles at Jesse.

Meris is talking to ClayMax. (Throughout this scene, sometimes he is Clayton,
sometimes Max, mostly a confused mixture of both.) They are in the library,
it appears. She says he has to control this, and he says he can't. He has to
go to her, she is the love of his life. Meris says that she has spent the
last ten years trying to find a cure for him. That she didn't do it all so he
could throw it all away on someone else. He tells her he can feel that Max is
trying to take him over... fighting for control. Meris says they need to kill
Liz. He tells her no, he loves her. She tells him that if they kill Liz, Max
will give up and the voices in his head will go away. She tells him he has to
kill the one he loves to be free. She keeps telling him this... he gets all
weird... and he turns around... reaching out and grasping her by the throat
with one hand.... and snap (with no apparent strenth used at all) -- she
falls dead. He doesn't act like he really understands what is going on. He
watches her fall, and then says "Liz" and goes off after her.

Jesse is talking to the doctor, who is lamenting that his life fell apart -
he lost his license because he wrote a few prescriptions for a friend.... The
doctor tells him he is just not honest, that Jesse's friends are up to
something. That Jesse is a good guy, and that he can't trust the others in
there. That he can't trust them when it comes time to "Chant Down Babylon -
destroy the lives of wicked men" from the Bob Marley song. He wishes him
luck, and leaves.

Liz is laying in bed, and Maria is talking to her - telling her she brought
her back to her room. Maria gives her a drink of something that her mom uses
as a cure for a hangover. They talk a bit, and Liz dozes.

Max walks across the campus, to the building where Liz is, looking up at her
window (I get the impression he can sense where she is).

Liz suddenly sits up, and tells Maria that Max is alive. Maria says she was
dreaming. Liz agrees, then says she needs to go take a shower. Liz tells her
how special she is, they hug, and Liz leaves her room. Maria puts some music
on, and behind her, ClayMax comes up. Chant Down Babylon is playing. He grabs
Maria by the throat and starts strangling her. Liz comes in, calling his
name, and he drops Maria. She asks what is going on, and he corrects her when
she calls him "Max", that he is "Clayton". She bolts, and he runs after her.
Up... up... to the attic room. He comes right in, even though she tries to
block the door. She throws things at him, trying to get him to stop, but he
grabs her around the throat. Suddenly her power throws him off. He comes to
himself, and she runs to him. Max tells her she is in danger, that he is in
this body but it isn't really him. He tells her that she has to kill this
body --- he'll kill her if she doesn't. She doesn't want to, but he insists,
so she grabs a golf club, ready to hit him. Suddenly, ClayMax is back, and
grabs her. She gets away for a moment, but he grabs her and they fall out the
window. Liz's life seems to flash in front her her eyes on she and her dad
dancing in ATOTP, walking down the hallway at school with Maria in BB,
hugging her mother, hugging Alex in HW, ice skating with Max in SR Max
flashes on Liz on them standing together looking at the stars in the desert
in SH, him lighting up the heart in BD, of them playing pool in Balance, in
kissing after the party in Busted... and looks to see what is happening. He
screams, reaching out his hand, using his power to create the green shield to
stop her fall, while he continues and crashes to the ground.

Isabel is laying on the bed, talking to Jesse. She asks if they are okay, and
he says he doesn't know, even though he knows he loves her. He tells her he
is hurt she lied to him, but that eventually he can get past that. He can
understand she grew up lying to everyone around her, it is second nature.
That he is a good liar. And she says that is the problem, isn't it? And he is
upset that he believed her completely, that when strange things happened he
believed her. He thought he knew her. He married Isabel Evans, but there is
no Isabel Evans, she is just someone she hides behind. She says she is
telling the truth when she says she loves him. He says okay. But it is clear
things are not okay. She asks where they go from here, and he tells her he
has no idea.

Back to the school, Liz recovers from the fall (after the shield dissipated,
she fell a few more feet thorugh the lattice roofing through which they
fell). She sees Max and turns him over, checking his pulse. She can't find
it, leans down to kiss him. A transformation occurs, we see the old man for a
moment and then like his spirit flowing away, and then he is gone. Max opens
his eyes. Max tells her she brought him back, and she says that makes them
even. She helps him to sit up and they hug, and Maria comes up, asking what
happened. Liz says "Let's go home." The last shot is the three of them
walking away, Max with his arms around her. Sensefield playing again.

End of Show

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