Max & Liz 4 eva: When on-screen romance fuels your belief in true love

i’m actually a huge nerd. i love tv shows, movies…science fiction…the works; but i’m also a huge romantic.

i LOVE love.
i really can’t get enough of it.
so today, i want to rant about one of my favorite on-screen relationships.

“The tough thing about following your heart is what people forget to mention, that sometimes your heart takes you to places you shouldn’t be, places that are as scary as they are exciting and as dangerous as they are alluring, and sometimes your heart takes you to places that can never lead to a happy ending. And that’s not even the difficult part. The difficult part is when you follow your heart, you leave normal, you go into the unknown.”
-Liz Parker, Roswell

i love on-screen couples.
i have many many favorites.

Clark & Lois, Smallville
Chuck & Sarah, Chuck
Marshall & Lily, HIMYM

it’s a close race for who my favorite couple is.

Clark & Lois pull a lot of weight, but i recently rewatched all three seasons of another one of my favorite shows and i remembered just how much i love them.

Max & Liz, Roswell (the original series).

now, if you’re still following the teenage CW culture of 2019, there has been a “reboot” (and i use that lightly) which is more like an alternate story of “Roswell”, called “Roswell, New Mexico.”

being a fan of the original show, it peaked my interest and i started watching it. but the entire time i watched this totally new storyline and character backstory, all i could think about was the original Max & Liz.

nothing beats them.
so…i NEEDED to rewatch the series.
hulu to the rescue.

if you’ve never seen the show, i challenge you tonight to watch the first 3 episodes and not get hooked. my entire family loved this show, especially my sister and i.

maybe i felt like i related to Max, the “fearlessly-fearful leader” with certain parts of myself i never thought i could share with anyone else,

and my sister relating to Max’s sister Isabelle because she had blonde hair and an attitude. ;)

but what i gravitated towards the most was the love story of Max & Liz.

truthfully, this show aired from ’99-’02, ending when i was 12 years old. but DVD’s were all the rage then and my family would binge watch shows every single summer. so…i’ve seen this series at least 4–5 times throughout my teenage years.

and it’s themes are embedded into my soul. (if i haven’t lost you yet, you’re the real MVP)

the premise:

Liz Parker, a high school teenager, working the small town diner gets shot.

enter Max Evans, also a teen, an alien (not quite superman), has the power to heal, risks it all to heal Liz and reveal his secret to her.

and from that day forward, they are destined to be together.

now it wouldn’t be a WB style series (ya know, back before the CW started ruining good tv) without a few twists and turns in their relationship. it seemed like the whole world would try to break Max and Liz a part.

everything from future Max traveling back in time to break them up, to alien “wife in another life” Tess mind-warping Max to believe they belong together instead. but through all of their trials it was clear, Max & Liz belonged together.

now, you may be asking yourself…wait, how can two high school teenagers know anything about true love?cuz i asked myself that all the freaking time.

the truth is the story, script, acting…everything about this show made these high schoolers so much more mature and responsible than the average teen.

there was depth. realness. a strong sense of self.
each character was largely imperfect, and we were allowed to watch them grow.
their struggle was real (real enough as a story about 3 teenage aliens could be).

they had real temptations. real life or death decisions.
quite more excitement than the average high school experience.
they were real; at least they seemed real.

and i was the sucker who believed it.

one theme of the show is unconditional love; and Max & Liz made me believe it’s possible. time and time again you’d hear a character say,

“this isn’t just an attraction between Max & Liz, it’s real.”

they wouldn’t just have hot and heavy scenes together to show you their love (which there were plenty of), they would spend time to show real emotion; a connection of souls.

there were hard choices.
pain.
times where they’d chose each other over themselves.
then times where they were selfish.
times where being loyal meant sacrificing a part of yourself.
times where loving meant letting go.

they had value in the way they treated each other.

Max never forced himself on Liz, but was always there when she needed him to be. his secret brought danger, but his presence brought safety.
there was this unstoppable force pulling them together they wouldn’t deny.

when they were upset with each other, they talked about it, honestly.
they gave each other room to express what they were feeling, and valued it more than anything.
they never yelled or screamed or called each other names.
they were always respectful, even when they disagreed.

in times when they were broken up, they both longed to be together.

they truly believed they could get through anything as long as they were together.
worlds of difference, united by love.

as i watched the show again, i remembered how i idolized their love.
i remember how i longed to find someone who was as smart, beautiful and loyal as Liz. i remember how i wanted to be as dependable and noble as Max in order to deserve such a love.

i mean they weren’t perfect but over and over again,
when they were up against the grain,
when their lives were in danger,
when their original plans for the future began to fade,
they chose each other and created a new dream.

for Max the choice seemed easy, but it wasn’t.
essentially he ruined Liz’ life by saving her, while ruining his safety in process.
she was on course to go to Harvard, become a scientist; and there were a few moments where he’d let her go for her own good. but she always came back, believing that they were always better together.

and Liz,
she sacrificed everything to keep Max’s secret.
she was grateful for the second chance at life.
she traded everything she’d always wanted for something she never expected.
she was never the same without Max, and that didn’t scare her, it made her more valuable.

i know, i’m a lot rn and it doesn’t seem healthy at all to talk about fictional characters this way. but this is me. i connect with things emotionally, forever.

they had what i wanted. a true love.
a love that makes the universe make sense.

i think there comes a point (maybe a few points) in life where you have to weigh what you originally wanted your future vs what you have learned along the way.

i’m not saying you can’t dream as a kid and still achieve those dreams (i AM a dreamer, btw),

but i do believe as you grow and learn and love, your dreams will look drastically different than your reality.

for instance, when i was in 8th, 9th and 10th grade, if you were to ask me what i was gonna do with my life i would have told you i was going to be a professional football player.

in 11th and 12th i would have told you i wanted to do EVERYTHING, and i was serious about it.

from acting in hollywood to putting out records, to landing on the moon as the real life Jack Bauer…i had dreams for it all.

as a freshman in college, i wanted to be a husband.
as a sophomore, a rockstar.
as a junior, single and ready for a pringle.
as a senior, i wanted everyone to know my name when i walked into the room.
and now? ____________

what i’m saying is that as people change, their ideal future changes too.
who you were yesterday is different today, especially from high school to college and beyond.

as an adult, with only months before i turn 30 years old, i rewatch a show that challenged me so much as a teen, i am reminded of who i wanted to be.
more so,
i am challenged by who i currently am vs who i thought i would be at this age.did i curl up into a ball and cry after some of these episodes…maybe.
but now? ____________

i learned something from Max & Liz;
they embedded a dream inside of me, and i’m not ready to let it go.

the way he looks at her.
the way she looks at him.
the way he protects her.
the way she can’t dream of a life without him.

true love is possible. as a teen. as an adult.
as an alien-human hybrid evading government grasp.

true love is more than possible.
as a man who is just trying to make a difference in this world the best way he knows how.
as a woman who believes so much in something greater than herself.

as you live and as you grow, you will change. there is no escaping that.
but i dare you to choose what you hold on to.
choose what you value.

i dare you to truly choose who you love.
to choose them over every circumstance.
to choose them over your dreams.
to choose them unconditionally.

i didn’t need fictional characters to show me it’s possible.
i know it inside my heart.
i know i’ll find it when the time is right.

i’ll be a more-than-noble Max looking for his unconditionally loyal Liz.
i know something more than gravity is writing my true love story.
and i know it’s going to take work.
and here is where you can trust i don’t just have my head in the clouds:

in reality, the fairytale romance doesn’t exist,
and maybe that’s why i loved Roswell so much.

it wasn’t a fairytale, it was a borderline tragedy.
and through think & thin, there was Max & Liz 4 eva.
now? __________

i can sit and fantasize; dream about the possibilities, or believe enough to make it happen.

all i’m saying is my heart has led me to places it didn’t belong (to quote Liz from the beginning of the blog), and i’m sure yours has too.
there was a part of me slowly dying.

my star-crossed eyes.
my heart full of romance.
my faith in the face of the unknown.

but now,
i’m prepping for another great adventure.
i won’t let my past days hold me back from the future ones.
i can’t.

anything is possible.
and i truly believe that again.

so thank you Max & Liz.
may you continue to inspire us to not stop until we find what we are truly looking for. and when we find it, let us hold on to it no matter what.

no matter what.

and to show you just how truly cheesy i really am, here is a (another) quote from the very last episode:

(spoiler alert, they end up together…duh)

Max : Liz, they’re taking our homes from us… They want to kill us… and they might… But when I look into your eyes… I don’t feel angry or deprived… I feel like the luckiest half-human on the planet. You’re pure… You’re — You’re true… And you’re real. And right now that seems like the only thing that’s important… I want to be with you, Liz… forever.

Liz : Forever may only be twelve days.

Max : Then we’ll take those twelve days… and live twelve lifetimes… Liz Parker, will you marry me?

Liz : …Yes.

(i’m not crying, you’re crying)

-gb

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