OFF THE MENU, EPISODE 16
March 26, 2001
Written by Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner
Directed by Patrick Norris

The episode starts with Brody using some virtual reality equipment. He is running some type of abduction simulation program. The memory disk is full, but Brody overrides the program. Brody sees himself at a table across from Max and the others from the summit in Max In The City. Suddenly something goes wrong and the computer begins to smoke and the equipment short circuits. Brody is hit by surge of electricity and he collapses. As a result of the accident all the power in Roswell is knocked out. Max is looking at the fuse box and Tess appears and tells him it was not a fuse because the power is out all over town. Max sees that Tess has a box in her hands and he asks if it was for Brody. She says no that it is a gift for him. He stalls and asks her what’s the occasion and Tess gets mad. She said that she saw it and thought of him but if he doesn’t want it she’ll just give it to Kyle. Tess goes to leave and Max apologies and takes the gift.

Max turns on the emergency lights in the UFO Center and they see Brody holding a gun. Brody tells them he knows they are aliens and Max tries to deny it. Max finally calls him Larek and Brody says that they are aliens. Max denies it again and Brody fires the gun at Max’s head. Max throws up his force field and stops the bullet.

Maria, Amy and Sean get out of the Jetta and head into the UFO Center. Apparently Amy has made some new alien t-shirts and she wants to deliver them to the UFO Center so Brody can sell them. When they walk in they see Brody with a gun. They try to leave, but Brody stops them.

Brody shows Max the surveillance footage on a laptop computer. It shows Max stopping the bullet with his force field. Max asks Brody what he wants. Brody says that he wants to know who he really is – Brody or Larek. He says that he has all these memories of things he is not supposed to know (i.e., that Max is Max Evans, but he’s also Zan). Brody tells Max he wants the truth or he’s turning the disk over to the FBI. Amy and Sean hear this conversation and think that Brody is crazy.

Brody makes Max tie up the DeLucas. During the process Maria’s phone rings. Brody doesn’t want her to answer it, but she says that it will be suspicious if she doesn’t. Maria answers it and it’s Liz. Maria tries to give Liz a coded message – something about Galaxy Subs with pepperjack and that they should take them off the menu. Brody takes away the phone and turns it off. Liz is confused and tells Michael and Isabel (who are at the Crashdown) that Maria hung up on her. Michael says that it happens to him all the time. Michael brings out a couple of burgers and Isabel is not happy because they are not fully cooked. Isabel goes to use her powers to cook the burgers, but Michael says it makes them taste bad.

In the meantime, Hanson shows up at Valenti’s house to ask him about the blackout situation. It turns out that Hanson is now the Sheriff. Back at the UFO Center Max and Tess are now tied up and Brody finishes tying up the DeLucas. Tess says they should use their powers to end it, but Max doesn’t want to risk exposing themselves. Max wants to try to talk Brody down first before everything gets out of control. Brody leaves to lock the front door. Max goes to talk to Brody and Amy tries to stop him. Max tries to tell Brody that he was abducted like Brody but Brody doesn’t buy it. He gets mad points the gun on the DeLucas. Max goes back and sits down next to Tess. Maria tells her mom not to worry because she sent a coded message to Liz. Liz and Isabel are sitting at the Crashdown and Liz says something about the Galaxy sub with pepperjack. Isabel and Michael don’t know what it means and neither does Liz. Michael wants to leave because the power is out, but Liz tells them they should stay (they don’t listen).

Tess tries to mind warp Brody, but it doesn’t work and he tells her not to try her mind games on him. Tess tells Max that Brody’s mind is a mess and that she can’t get in. Brody comes up to them with the pentagon (that we saw in Ask Not) and tells them that he knows what the device is and how it works. He turns it on and a shockwave blasts though the room. Max and Tess are injured, but it doesn’t seem to affect the DeLucas. Brody tells them that they can no longer use their powers. Max tries and sure enough his powers aren’t working.

They hear the front door open and hear Michael and Isabel coming. When Michael and Isabel round the corner Michael sees Maria and she tries to motion him a warning. Michael finally sees Brody with the gun and raises his hand to use his powers but it doesn’t work. Brody fires the gun and the bullet just misses Michael's head. Brody continues to fire the gun and Michael and Isabel run up the stairs and out of the UFO Center. Liz runs over from across the street looking terrified because she has heard the gunshots. Isabel says they need to get Valenti.

Brody points the gun at Max and pulls the trigger, but fortunately Brody is out of bullets. He tells them if they contact their alien friends again it will make things worse. Valenti, Liz, Isabel and Michael are now on Liz’s balcony watching the UFO Center with Liz’s telescope. They see Hanson poking around. Valenti calls Hanson and tells him to get away from the doors and to come up to the balcony. Brody begins to pile stuff up in front of the entrance in an effort to block it. Brody goes to grab something from behind Tess and has a flash of Max and Tess kissing and an image of an alien landscape with 3 moons. Brody has started to access Larek’s memories. He tells Max that he was with Max when Max and Tess first met. He says that they were swimming before Max was king and that Max looked up and saw Tess on the rock. He says that Max (Zan) told him that Tess was the most beautiful girl he’d even seen, but Max (Zan) was too afraid to talk to her. Brody says that he offered to introduce them, but Max (Zan) told him not to. Brody said that he didn’t listen and that he introduced them (Tess whispers – at a party) and Brody says that they were never apart after that. Max tells Brody that it’s a nice story, but it never happened. Brody starts pleading with Max to confirm his memories. Max tells him that it never happened, that it wasn’t real. Brody says that Max does love Tess, that he was there when they met. Max tells Brody that he is wrong – that they are not in love and that they never have been. Tess looks upset. Brody gets mad and walks off.

Valenti gives Hanson some bullcrap story to get rid of him. Brody is starting to freak out and Maria’s cell phone rings again. Brody answers it and it is Valenti. Valenti asks Brody if he has any demands and Brody is confused. Sean screams out that he wants a burger. Brody tells Valenti that he wants burgers for everyone. Sean screams that he wants some fries and Brody tells Valenti to get them fries too. Brody tells Valenti that he’s not talking any further until they get the food and no aliens are to be involved.

Michael gets out 6 burgers and tries to turn on the grill. Isabel says it will be faster if she cooks them. Michael tells her they won’t taste as good. Liz asks about the fries and Michael uses his powers to work the fryer. Valenti puts a small camera on Liz’s coat so that they can watch her when she delivers the food.

Liz brings the food over to the UFO Center and Max looks really upset to see Liz (Tess notices the look on Max’s face and “hides her disappointment”). Brody takes the food from Liz and when he takes a bite of the burger he says it tastes different. Liz tells him that they used a butane grill because the power was off. Brody gets suspicious and then goes nuts and points the gun at her and says that she used her alien powers to cook the food. He grabs her and drags her back to the others. Max freaks and starts screaming at Brody to let her go. As Brody is walking past Sean, Sean kicks Brody in the knee and Brody falls down and drops the gun. Sean goes for the gun, but Brody gets to it first. Sean tells Brody to leave Liz alone there is a tense moment and then Maria’s cell phone rings again. It’s Valenti who’s calling to see if everything is ok. While Brody is distracted by the call Sean tells Liz to reach into his back pocket for his knife. Brody gets pissed off and smashes the cell phone against the wall and Sean rushes Brody with the knife. Brody and Sean struggle and Sean gets stabbed. Liz asks Max to heal Sean and Max tells her he can’t (she sees the spinning pentagon).

Hanson shows back up on Liz’s balcony and questions Valenti about the use of the surveillance equipment. Hanson starts to get suspicious and figures out that there is a hostage situation. Hanson leaves and Valenti is worried that things will get out of control if they don’t warn Brody.

Maria and Liz are trying to help Sean. Sean asks Liz out and she says she she’ll think about it. Maria makes a point of saying to Liz that she’s involved with someone. Max is watching Liz with Sean from across the room and he’s not happy. Tess asks Max if he’s still in love with Liz. Max says it’s hard to describe what he feels for Liz and Tess says that’s what they used to have. Tess tells Max that everything Brody said was true. Max decides that he needs to do something.

Valenti, Isabel and Michael are watching the laptop when Kyle shows up on Liz’s balcony. Kyle tells them that he heard on the scanner that the police are going to storm the UFO Center. They watch the laptop and Valenti notices an electrical panel that controls the fallout shelter’s lockdown mechanism. They realize that it’s too risky to try to get into the building so they want to figure out if they can activate it from the outside. Valenti sends Kyle to the library to get the plans for the UFO Center (when Kyle says that the library is closed Valenti tells him to break in).

Max goes to talk to Brody and tells him that everything Brody has said is true – that Max is the king of another planet and Tess is his wife. Max has almost gotten Brody convinced to give Max the gun when he sees a glint of light reflecting off of Liz. Brody freaks and heads to Liz and realizes that she’s wearing a camera and tells her he’s going to kill her. Max tells Brody if Brody wants to kill somebody it should be him (Max). They hear the police sirens and Brody forces everyone into his office.

Kyle gets back with the plans and they see there is another panel in the back alley. Michael and Isabel head off to try to activate the lockdown mechanism to keep the police out of the UFO Center.

Once in the office Max notices the charred virtual reality goggles. They realize that that the equipment has short-circuited and that electricity might have been sent into Brody’s brain – that’s why he’s able to access Larek’s memories. They realize that if this was caused by an injury then Max can heal him if they can get him to turn off the pentagon. Maria decides that she is going to talk to Brody. Amy is NOT happy about this at all. Maria goes to Brody and he shuts the door to the inner office.

Meanwhile, Michael and Isabel have made it to the back alley and found the control panel. They pull the handle, but nothing happens. Michael tries to use his powers, but again nothing happens.

Sean attempts to break into the inner office to get to Maria and Amy is freaking out. She’s worried that Brody is going to hurt Maria. Maria is talking to Brody and trying to get through to him. Brody says that he can’t figure out who he is anymore. Maria tells him about Sydney, but he doesn’t remember her. Maria shows him a picture and he still can’t remember.

Outside Isabel and Michael are trying to avoid the police and get the lockdown mechanism to work. Just as the police storm the door Michael uses his powers and gets the lockdown mechanism to work.

Brody starts to panic because the police are coming. Maria tells him that they can help him, but he has to deactivate the pentagon. Brody does and Max heals him. Once Brody is healed he is totally confused. Max tells him that he (Brody) was abducted but now he is back. Max takes the gun from Brody with no resistance from Brody. Max tells the others that everything is fine and that it was all just a misunderstanding. Sean flips and says that Brody needs to be put away. Liz pulls him aside. Amy doesn’t want to let it go either and thinks that Brody is dangerous – she refuses to lie. Tess uses her mind warp powers to erase Amy’s memories of the events that evening. Liz tells Sean that if he keeps his mouth shut that she’ll go out with him and she hands him one of Amy’s t-shirts to put on to cover up his bloody clothes.

The police have finally cut through the steel doors and come rushing in. Hanson questions the bullet holes and the makeshift barricade, but Max tells him that they were just doing some remodeling. Brody realizes he has a disk in his hand (it’s from the surveillance camera and it has the image of Max using his shield to stop the bullet). Max grabs the disk and says that he downloaded some music for Michael off Napster.

The next day Hanson comes to see Valenti and he tells Valenti that he’s (Hanson) not sure that he’s qualified to be Sheriff. Valenti tells him that he will grow into the position. Liz is serving food at the outside tables when Sean comes up and asks her when’s the big date. Brody is sitting at a nearby table and Maria goes and sits down with him. They talk about his abduction experience and he tells her that it’s weird, but that he felt like Maria was somehow helping him during the experience.

Later that night Max climbs into Tess’ window and tells her that when he healed Brody that he got some flashes. He tells her that he remembered her. Tess is totally happy and a tear of joy runs down her face and Max wipes it away.