Credits
Liz shows up at Maria's very late at night (Maria is sleepy and un-made up) telling her the diary is missing. Maria the crisis junkie exacerbates the funk Liz is already in. Michael wakes up from a dream very excited (his bedroom is dreary, BTW). He uses his powers to sharpen a blunt pencil and draws something. He shows up at Max's and wakes him up *again*. He says he had the vision again in a dream and it was much clearer now. He shows Max the sketch he made, which basically looks like a semicircle. Max is annoyed at being woken up for nothing, but very patient. They have a rather droll little conversation but I can't remember the specific dialogue. IT's funny. Michael then pulls out the sleeping bag Max keeps around for when he comes by. I liked this part because it showed the two boys' friendship more clearly. Max seems like the older brother, even though they're the same age, being patient and gentle with the excitable Michael but not always taking him seriously. He obviously thinks Michael is tilting at windmills but humours him.
The following morning the two girls are playing detective trying to figure out who could have taken the diary. Liz is in denial, saying maybe it's just misplaced, not stolen. They figure out Alex had opportunity to take it, and motive (feeling left out). Liz is caught sitting worrying in a dark and empty classroom by the underemployed Miss Topolsky, who pushes her to confide about what's worrying her, but is politely rebuffed. Liz tries to tell Max what's happened but chickens out. They have an uncomfortable conversation that's cut short by Michael showing up. He's blatantly rude, sending out serious vibes that he wants Liz away from Max. She leaves and Max reproaches him. Michael points out that he, Max, had promised to stay away from Liz. He shows his sketch of the semicircle to Max again, who dismisses it nicely. Michael then goes to the art class he hasn't shown up in for a week and a half, to the shock of the teacher and the class. He says that although he hated the class on principle when he was first forced to take it, he know really wants to draw, takes a spare easel and starts sketching. Three guesses what.
Maria tries to finesse the truth out of Alex, but ends up putting it rather bluntly (tact is SO not her strong point). He's upset at being accused of theft by his best friends and stalks off. The interaction is watched by Miss Topolsky. She grabs Alex for an impromptu therapy session and he spills everything he knows. She offers to mediate between him, Liz and Maria, but he says he'll handle it. He's frustrated and confused by the way he seems to be growing apart from them. After he leaves, she makes a long distance call saying she's onto something big and needs backup.
After school Max is working at the UFO centre with the nutty true believer, who gives him a few books he describes as for hard-core truth seekers only. Liz shows up and fesses up. Max is very, very quietly freaked out.
Liz goes home and practically rips her house apart searching for the diary. She has an awkward conversation about Kyle with her mother, and all but accuses her of having read her diary, then realizes she's overreacting to her mom's innocuous remark.
Either later or the following day, the trio are in the Crashdown. Max is reading a UFO book, Michael is sketching on his napkin, and Isabel is bored. She's also freaked out by Michael working on his sketch, by now quite a lot more detailed, in public. He dismisses her worries as paranoia, so She tries to get a distracted Max to convince him to be more circumspect, saying "He'll listen to you". Max is engrossed in the book, but tries anyway, saying they can't get careless. Kyle and his football buds walk in, unnerving the trio. Kyle walks over, oozing intimidation, and tells Max "I'm onto you".
Max has gone to Liz's. By now he's visibly freaked, saying Kyle must have the diary and is going to turn him in. Liz tries to convince him Kyle's threat wasn't about his "not of this earth" status, but was about Kyle's jealousy, since he blames Max for his breakup with Liz. They hear Mrs Parker come in and retreat to LIz's room before Max is seen, with awkward explanations then needed. Cute little 'shippy moment here as Max is horribly embarassed being in the bedroom of the girl of his dreams, saying shyly "So, this is your room" and giving a shrug that cannot be described but must be seen. Moment ends when Max casually touches one of Liz's CD's and gets a vision of Kyle also touching it. He and Liz conclude that Kyle may have been in her room since the breakup.
Michael is painting away, alone in the art studio after class, adding further detail and colour to his dome sketch. By now it's looking like a bit of a work of art. The teacher watches through the window, intrigued and surprised. Michael seems relaxed and happy, rather unusually.
Meanwhile, Liz confronts Kyle while he's playing basketball with his buddies. She asks him if he's been in her room and he tells her her dad let him in. They then have a mixed up conversation where Liz tries to find out if he took the diary, but he thinks she's talking about herself. He asks her why she has secrets from him when he's never kept anything from her and asks her if her secrets have to do with Max and the shooting. She says the breakup has nothing to do with Max, that they're just friends, and asks Kyle to try and understand. He retorts that the only good thing about splitting up is he doesn't have to try and understand anymore. He's bitter, but hurting, and obviously still very hung up on her, as well as suspicious of Max. Michael's painting is displayed in a public area as part of an art show, and Isabel is freaked out. Max is also made nervous by Michael's lack of caution and calls him on it. Michael's reaction is a mixture of pride in his achievement, frustration that the others aren't proud of him too, and anger at having to watch his step all the time. He accuses Max of having double standards, since he took a much bigger risk by saving Liz and telling her the truth. He asks why it's OK for Max to take risks but not him. Max answers him calmly, saying it's different because he was saving a life, not dabbling in the arts.
Miss Topolsky meets some MIB's covertly in a field, and says this could be the first real proof of aliens among them, especially since the possible witness isn't some hysterical attention seeker but a stable A student. She shows them Liz's school records and one of the MIB's asks where this oh so important diary is. She doesn't know, but claims to have an idea.
In class, Michael is working on yet another sketch of the dome. The teacher tries to convince him to work with the class instead saying Michael has real talent and should spread his artistic wings instead of continually drawing a geodesic dome. Michael doesn't know what he means by that, and he explains that what Michael has drawn is a kind of house that was briefly fashionable some time ago. He asks Michael to work with the class, who are currently sketching a naked female torso (from a sculpture, not a live model). Michael seems to acquiesce quite meekly, turns to a new page and draws a stick figure like a women's washroom sign, then puts down his pencil. Conceding defeat, the teacher tells him to go back to work on his dome picture. Liz and Max break into the Valenti house. They are followed by somebody neither they nor the audience sees, but there's a odd sound when it moves. They search Kyle's room, but find nothing incriminating. Max feels bad when he sees Kyle has hidden a picture of himself and Liz in happier days under the bed. They hear a car and see Kyle is coming home. They make it out of the house without being seen by Kyle, but the shadowy figure who was following them before watches them from the shrubbery. It's impossible to tell who it is, although it's obviously humanoid and might be male.
Max fesses up to Michael and Isabel, anxiously assuring them that it's not Liz's fault. Isabel's freaked out, lecturing Max on the follies of trusting Liz.
That evening Liz is working alone at the Cafe after closing. She is spooked when Michael comes in, acting menacing in a quiet way. It seems like he might be angry with her, and she apologizes for being so careless as to write down evidence of the secret. She says it was a mistake and he says he knew it was a mistake a week ago. He reminds her of when he was in the cafe one night watching her write in it. He didn't believe her excuse that it was homework, and decided he had to find out if she was trustworthy. So he took the diary from her room and read it. He gives it back, and she's relieved rather than furious at his invasion of her privacy. She asks why he didn't just destroy it, since it could be dangerous, and he says he realized after reading it that they could trust her. He says it's good to know they have one friend, and he now has yet another reason for envying Max Evans (implying that Michael, while close to Max, is also jealous of him in some ways, which was implied subtly in other places in the episode, and also implying that Michael is now fully aware of the extent of Liz's feelings for Max). They share a smile. He asks her not to tell Max who took it but she doesn't answer him.
Liz goes to Max, and tells him a good friend brought the diary back and she's confident everything's OK. She also says the diary contained more about them than about the scientific details of the healing and Max's true nature. Max asks if he can read it and she says no. He asks if that's because if he did he'd know exactly what she felt about him and she admits that's the reason.
The next day at school the three are sitting together, Max in a very good mood. He tells the others the crisis is over, and Michael is obviously pleased with Liz for not ratting him out. The two boys go off to do something, and Isabel is left with just Max's nutty UFO book for company. She flips through it, dismissing it as boring, and throws it down. It falls open to the back page, which contains a photo of a man in front of Michael's dome. She calls the boys back and they all look at the photo. It's the author in front of his house in New Mexico, a geodesic dome.
Final scene.....Liz finish writing in her diary and hides in her room behind a loose brick in the wall.
