Main Plot: For a history class make-up assignment, Michael interviews Hal Carver, a former Army Captain, who was stationed in Roswell during the ’47 crash.

Michael/Hal: Oh…my…God! Was I seeing/hearing things or did Michael actually apologize (to Liz) and say thank you to Maria? We must have missed the part where they both fainted dead away from the shock! J This episode was a major learning experience for Michael. He finally realizes that no man is an island and he depends on, and owes gratitude towards, a number of people for his very existence. Now I know why the rumors said the Candygirls would be happy with this episode. Michael bringing Maria to the pod chamber to see the granilith, taking her hands in his and saying "thank you", sigh, that was sooo sweet. J Of course, we don’t know for sure he won’t still pull the "I’m a soldier" crap. He was only thanking her for what she had done for him in the past, he did not say he was wrong about them staying apart.

This episode was definitely a showcase for Brendan (I think he was in every single scene) and he used it to full effect, proving that he is capable of carrying the show! Although he was still playing a rebel, they were two very distinct and different characters. Michael is an angry, brooding, rebel with a cause, whereas Hal was a cocky, sure of himself, nonconformist rebel and Brendan was able to switch back and forth, seemingly effortlessly, giving us two different aspects of a very similar personality. I also loved the way Brendan looked with his hair combed back (he really should consider keeping it that way for awhile) and, let’s face it, there’s something about a man in uniform. (Can we say, mmmm mmmm gooood!) J

At first I was wondering why Michael was so angry with everyone and then I realized that he was expressing his fear of what’s ahead of them with anger.

I didn’t think Michael cared if he flunked out of school (if he did he’d put at least a little effort into passing his courses, something he could do with ease if he wanted to) and being given an ultimatum by his teacher, you would think that would cause him to rebel even more, so I’m a little surprised they used that approach to set up the reason for the interview. Seems it would have been better if it had been a general class assignment. I was even more surprised by Michael’s attitude once he found out Hal had been there during the crash. You’d think he would jump at the chance to get information from someone who had been there but he didn’t seem the least bit interested until Hal gave him the piece of metal. I’m assuming they wanted Michael acting rebellious so Hal would "see himself" at that age, warm to him and want to tell him his story and share his secret, but, considering Michael’s lack of social skills, they could have accomplished that without making it seem odd that he wouldn’t be interested.

Michael, the one who never trusts anyone, took a major risk revealing himself to Hal (one that Max, I’m sure, will not be pleased to hear about), but then he always seems to be at his most vulnerable around men he considers as father figures (River Dog, Valenti, and now Hal Carver).. I hope his trust in Hal will not prove to be foolhardy. Considering how long Hal has kept his secret I don’t think he would tell anyone else and risk Michael being found by the authorities, but that is assuming that Hal is who he says he is and not a Skin trying to get Michael to open up about who he is.

Michael still doesn’t have his own set of wheels! I’m surprised at that since he wants to be so independent. It certainly took a lot of chutzpah on his part to ask Maria to borrow her car, considering how shabbily he has treated her recently. I thought for a minute there she was going to be strong and stick to her guns (the old Maria was back in the saddle) but I guess caving this one last time finally paid off for her.

Since Michael was acting as casting director for this little play, I’m wondering if we are supposed to infer that this is how he sees his friends, since he cast them in the individual roles:

Himself as Capt. Hal Carver: the rebel (appropriate)

If the military was following Hal to the bar, then they knew he met Yvonne, so why would he think it was safe to make plans to meet her from his office? And why didn’t he look further than the bus to find her when he heard her scream? Not much of a knight in shiny armor, is he? And the people on the bus were even worse, acting like nothing happened at all, were they deaf?

Although they were both captains, I thought Cavitt was Hal Carver’s superior, since he seemed to be giving him orders, so would Hal have really been able to get away with saying "Go find a dame to bother, Cavitt."? Maybe, because we are hearing his side of the story, we are supposed to assume it’s what he wanted to say, but didn’t really.

If Hal and Richie had the sacs in the truck, they would have had plenty of time to examine them so why didn’t Hal see there were human fetuses inside until he broke into the morgue? And how did he know to go to the morgue? The key just indicated what building, not what room.

I never saw Charles Napier, as the older Hal, play with his lighter like Brendan was doing as the younger Hal, so I was wondering if that was something Brendan ad libbed to get into character or if it was a direction in the script. I was nervous he was going to burn himself (or course, that wouldn’t have been a problem for Michael, since it seems he can set his fingers on fire with no harm!).

Max/Richie: Jason did a great job as usual, especially the drunk scene. You could tell "Richie" didn’t have to "act" in that scene because he really did feel bad about what he was doing.

When Richie asks "Are we on the right side, Hal?" I couldn’t help but wonder if we were really supposed to be hearing Max ask that question, since the Royal Four don’t know for sure that their people were on the right side.

Maria/Betty: Majandra was a hoot as Betty! It was like having the old Maria back. J

Valenti/Cassidy: I thought Bill got to shine as Cassidy. I loved the fire he gave to him; I was ready to snap to attention and shout "Yes, Sir!" myself! J

Alex/Cavitt: This is meant as a compliment but Colin plays arrogant and slimy very well! J

General: It was definitely fun seeing them all play different characters. I was so distracted and amused as each one was "introduced" that I would miss half of what was said, but then, was it my imagination, or was everyone talking faster than normal? I had to use the close captioning to catch quite a bit of the dialog!

I wasn’t sure what kind of threat the pictures of Hal with Rosemary were supposed to be. Neither was married so it couldn’t be exposure. They may have been hinting that she would be harmed but, considering what a philanderer Hal was, would they assume he would care?

Although I was enjoying the story, I was beginning to wonder, towards the end, if we were going to learn anything from this episode; and did we ever! Eight hybrids?! It seems the people who hypothesized that more than one set of the Royal Four were created are closer to being proven right (that is if the other four turn out to be the same Royal Four as opposed to being siblings or others from the Royal Court). If there is another set of the Royal Four, I wonder if it will turn out that they "hatched" at the same time and are identical to the current Royal Four in appearance and/or character, that they are an older version because they "hatched" sooner, or totally different because of different human DNA?

I was glad they at least addressed the issues of the granilith and the problem with Whitaker’s disappearance in this episode. I hope we learn more next week.

Max: You know, mean people suck.

Michael: You could say I was born to fly.

Hal: You ever heard of Omaha Beach, or the B1 Flying Bomb, Yalta, Jane Russell? I mean, have you ever…

Michael: …taken my teeth out to brush them?

Betty: Cars are like men, Carver, give their cable a little jiggle and they’ll be fine till morning!

Hal: I didn’t know you were so handy, Osario.