Dear Johnny Fanboy,

In the second season of Roswell there is a huge plot twist surrounding the death of Alex. However, Liz is sure that Alex would never commit suicide and she sets out to solve this mystery.

It eventually transpires that Tess mind-controlled Alex into translating the alien text so that the four aliens would be able to go home. When Alex finished the translation and realised what Tess had done, he confronted Tess and she killed him.

My question is: when Liz tells everyone that she is going to start looking into Alex's death (and she is the only one who really thinks it is suspicious) why doesn't Tess just follow her out of the meeting, get her alone and then mess with her mind so that Liz no longer feels there is anything suspicious?

Yours,

Hailey Ennenvader

Johnny Fanboy replies:

Maybe Tess just didn't think of that - d'oh!

Seriously, though, at first glance that would appear to be the most logical course of action. However, the very fact that Liz is the only member of the group to express suspicion about the circumstances of Alex's death is a crucial issue.

If Tess had proceeded to alter Liz's perceptions so that Liz suddenly dropped the whole subject, that would very likely arouse the suspicions of others in the group. They might not necessarily have realised that mind control was involved, but they would very likely have worked out that Liz had been got at somehow (perhaps by being threatened in some way), and by someone very close to them. That would not have helped Tess's cause in any way.

Alternatively, considering the close bond that Liz and Max have shared, perhaps Tess was concerned that Max might be able to detect any such changes in Liz's mentality.

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