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This page is for the 2019 TV series character. For the book series character, see Liz Ortecho (books). For the 1999 TV series character, see Liz Parker.

"Something broke in me when I lost Rosa and I've been running ever since. But if I could solve this mystery, I might have a chance at feeling at home somewhere again."
―Liz[src]

Elizabeth Christina Magdalene "Liz" Ortecho is one of the main characters on The CW science fiction series Roswell, New Mexico. She is a jaded biomedical researcher and the daughter of undocumented immigrants. Liz is portrayed by Jeanine Mason.

Character[]

The CW's official character description:[2]

Reluctantly returning to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, Liz Ortecho (Mason), a jaded biomedical researcher and the daughter of undocumented immigrants, is haunted by a tragic incident.

Liz is haunted by the death of her older sister Rosa Ortecho ten years before the start of the series. This event led to Liz leaving Roswell, only returning after ten years to visit her father on the anniversary of her sister's death.

Liz's father Arturo Ortecho is an undocumented immigrant, and Liz worries about him getting deported. She suggests that he move to a sanctuary city, and later suggests pursuing legal citizenship.[3] She doesn't report her sister's apparent murderer because it would draw too much attention to herself and her father, putting him in danger of deportation.[4]

Liz has abandonment issues from her mother leaving her and from the loss of her sister. She ran from her fiancé Diego before the start of the series.[5] When she starts a relationship with Max, part of her still wants a reason to run away before she gets hurt again. She begins confronting these issues and she tells Max to follow her if she runs again.[6]

History[]

Liz and Max were lab partners in high school. Ten years before the start of the series, Liz's sister Rosa got into a car accident and died. Liz later left Roswell, became a biomedical researcher, and got engaged. She broke off the engagement shortly before the start of the series, before returning to Roswell on the ten year anniversary of her sister's death.

Liz and and Max are in his bedroom talking about Noah Bracken, when Max mentions that that before he killed him, the other alien mentioned the alighting. Two weeks later, Liz is working at the Crashdown and helping her father apply for citizenship when Maria visits and mentions that Michael has been ghosting her. She ends up going to Noah's funeral, and outside Michael asks Liz about Rosa, who's hiding at Max's place. Liz tells him she is concerned that Isobel is in denial about Max.

Later, Liz wakes Rosa from a nightmare of Noah, and they plan to leave for Palo Alto. But Liz is worried about how hard it was to wake up Rosa, so she brings her to the hospital and finds Kyle, who runs tests on Rosa and finds that she's completely healed, even of problems that should be caused by her chronic drug use. The two exes discuss why only Rosa has a handprint, but not Liz or Michael. Liz and Rosa leave town, and they talk about their mother leaving and they sing in the car. After checking into a hotel, Liz breaks down in the bathroom.
Rosa has another nightmare of Noah, this time running from him, and she wakes abruptly. She tells Liz about it and, from a picture, confirms it's Noah Bracken and mentions an "alighting". Liz realizes that Max still has a connection with Rosa and that maybe he can be saved after all. The sisters decide to come back to Roswell, and on their way back Alex calls Liz to clue her into what happened. With Rosa's help, they end up stopping Flint Manes from making it to Area 51, Eventually, Liz finds and asks Michael for help with moving a body. Liz and Kyle open up Noah's body as Michael tells them what he's learned about his own biology, but when they get to Noah's heart, they only find "what's left of it.[7]

Late at night, Isobel, Liz and Kyle show up at a house that has a sign up front which labels it a U.S. government property. While the place has certainly seen better days, but Liz says out loud to the rest of the group that this is the place where they will save Max.The next morning, Rosa is listening to some music on her ipod and using Max’s laptop to look up her obituary. Liz tells her to not do that, as it’s morbid. Rosa asks her sister what her funeral was like, and Liz lies. She tells her that the whole town came together and did the rosario for her, and that their mom sang Las Golondrinas. She even goes as far as to tell Rosa that her dad wanted to have Rosa in a white dress, but Liz persuaded him out of it. Meanwhile, Liz, Kyle, and Michael set up their new location, and Isobel practices fight training. Some time later, Liz and Alex help Maria put up flyers around town since Mimi DeLuca has been missing now for two weeks.

Liz is just returning, and Rosa asks for her old art book from their room. Liz apologizes, saying she got distracted but she'll look for it again. She gives Rosa a phone with her and Kyle's numbers. Liz eventually catches Rosa spray painting graffiti, and Rosa confronts her about Liz's lies about her funeral. Sheriff Valenti arrives, catching Liz holding the spraypaint can, and she gets arrested.At the police station, Liz makes her one phone call to Michael, but he's been arrested as well. In jail with him, Liz stresses about her experiment which she now can't check on.

Liz asks Michael to get it together, and she realizes he's struggling with his feelings for Maria. The Sheriff asks Liz about Noah Bracken. Liz returns to Max's place and has a fight with Rosa. Liz offers to help Rosa leave Roswell if she's strong enough to be on her own, but Rosa leaves without answering. Later at the lab, Liz's experiment is ruined. She tosses the samples and sets up for another test.[8]

At Max's place, Liz brings Rosa art supplies before leaving for the day. Meanwhile, Liz is working in her new lab when Cameron arrives, sent there by Michael. Liz tells her about her plans to save Max, and they bring out the alcohol. Outside the lab, Jenna and Liz walk around and drink, and Jenna reminisces about her sister.Jenna lets Liz fire her sidearm, and they make fun of Max's quirks. Eventually, Liz admits to being angry that Max didn't ask her before he went about saving her sister.Liz and Jenna talk about finding out about Max being an alien. Rosa calls Liz, asking Liz to go get to Isobel because she thinks something's wrong, and Jenna volunteers to drive. Liz arrives at Isobel's and finds her bleeding on the floor, so she injects Isobel with the antidote.

Isobel apologizes for Liz getting involved. Liz tells Isobel that Max is the reason Liz came, and Max is still with her Liz arrives at Roswell Community Medical and Maria angrily confronts her about the secrets Liz and theo others have been keeping from her. She tells her friend that she needs time, but reveals to her that Rosa was wasted and she needs her. Back at Max's place, Liz returns and Rosa starts crying because she couldn't stay clean, and Liz comforts her.[9]

Kyle and Liz are having breakfast together. Kyle still can't believe that Michael is using pinball parts and car battery to continue to keep Max's pod charging. He and Liz whip up some eggs for breakfast as they plan out the open-heart surgery that Kyle will have to perform to save Max. They toast to the "groundbreaking achievement that no one else will ever know about", but upon closer inspection, Kyle realizes Liz made him some cafe de olla, which from past experience means Liz needs a favor from him.

At the Crashdown Liz sits down to join Isobel and asks the other woman why she she's been hanging around the cafe so much. Isobel reveals that she has actually been following Arturo, and figures that she can use her mental manipulation power for good. When Liz is unsure if she wants that, Isobel says that maybe with her influence, she can get Arturo to understand and accept Rosa's resurrection without causing him any harm to his health. Liz is still skeptical but Isobel really wants to help, and goes onto say, she wants to do do this for her, given how much Liz is trying to do to bring Max back. At the hospital, Kyle continues to put himself in danger of getting fired by helping Liz break into the dean of surgery's office to steal his keys so they can steal the genome machine she needs for her research. When the dean and his daughter Steph unexpectedly come in, they hide in the closet and Liz kisses him to cover up why they're in there, and Steph sees them.

Back at the hospital, Liz got what she needed and is happy, but she senses something is wrong with Kyle. He confesses that he’s always doing something for Liz, including risking his job and medical license. He always puts her first while she always puts Max first. He has feelings for her but she loves him like family. But, no matter what, he’ll help her save Max. After that, he'll need space to properly get over her. Meanwhile, Jenna is leaving town after learning more about her sister's whereabouts from Jesse Manes. She leaves a message for Liz.[10]

Rosa and Liz hang out in their bedroom above the Crashdown. The radio shorts out, and Liz realizes Rosa has developed electromagnetic powers. Rosa thought it was related to the handprint, and she realizes the handprint is fading, which makes Liz come to the conclusion that something's wrong. Liz, Michael, and Isobel investigate Max's pod and what went wrong. Rosa finally comes clean that Max has been asking to stop Liz, and they realize Max himself is the one who shorted out the pod. Kyle and Liz discuss the situation with Max, and maybe it's time for Liz to say goodbye to her boyfriend.On the roof of the Crashdown, Rosa and Liz talk. The handprint is still there, but fading.Liz visits Max to say goodbye, but she can't go through with it, and she walks out.Liz finds Eventually, she finds Michael destroying a car. She tells him that they're going through with the surgery. Isobel tells Liz why Max doesn't want to be brought back, and how she intends to take the hit of dark energy Max lets off. She tells Liz to bring him back, and she'll handle the rest.

At the hospital, Alex has secured the operating room for "a highly classified VIP patient" so they can perform the surgery without being bothered. Liz and Kyle pull Max from the pod and begin the surgery. Kyle doubts that this will work and that Max will only survive a minute, but Liz says that a minute is all she needs.ichael arrives at the hospital with a piece of equipment to help with Max's weak heart. Liz and Kyle proceed with the surgery and they get a heartbeat. They hook up Michael's pacemaker. Max crashes. Rosa arrives, saying that Max begged her. Isobel goes into Max's mind as Liz and Kyle try to revive him. Seeing how upset Liz is at losing Max, Rosa tells them to try the defibrillator one more time. As they do, she reaches over and uses her electromagnetic powers to help charge Max's heart. They get a heartbeat.At Max's place, Max is in a medically-induced coma in bed. Michael visits and talks with Liz. Sometime later, Maria visits Liz and takes her hand, showing that she's starting to forgive her. She asks about Isobel, and Liz tells her that Isobel is "getting ready."[11]

Liz arrives to see Max and races to hug her resurrected boyfriend, but Max is confused, asking, "I'm so sorry, have we met?"

Three days later, the group is back in the lab for further assessment. Liz has been administering the antidote/serum to Max since he woke, but he hasn't regained his memories, and they discuss how to get Max’s memories back. They carry on this discussion in front of him, which is something he points out when he asks them to please not act like he’s not there. Max blurts out that he isn’t comfortable having Liz around because he doesn’t like the idea that a "stranger" knows their alien secrets. Liz leaves to focus on Rosa, and Isobel says she'll talk to Max.

At the “Mexican market at the Pony”, which Maria set up in the parking lot of the Wild Pony bar for extra income, Max absolutely butchers Spanish. He tries to communicate with a vendor, in said language asking for jerky with no preservatives but instead ends up asking for no condoms on jerky. Liz rescues him and they tease each other, getting super flirty. Max tries to say to her, in Spanish, that he's embarrassed, but again messes it up and accidentally says he's pregnant. Max asks Liz out on a date to watch the meteor shower that night. Initially, Liz turns him down, saying he doesn't really know her, but he points out that people who don't know each other go on dates all the time. She agrees to meet him when she gets off work at 7.


Later at Max's place, Michael, Isobel, and Max are hanging out as Isobel puts together an outfit for Max to wear on his date with Liz. At the Crashdown, Max shows up for their date, and Liz is still working. She serves him up a Little Green Men milkshake, which is Max's favorite, hoping that, as Max quips, “[her] milkshake will bring all [his] memories to the yard.” He takes a sip and says he doesn’t like mint. Liz is confused since he’s been ordering this particular milkshake since he was 14. She shakes it off though, saying that when people wake up from comas they sometimes have changes in their personalities.

Meanwhile, Max and Liz take a horseback ride and it’s her first time on a horse. He tells her a story about his experience at ranch camp one summer, where he was trying to read Lord of the Rings while riding, but then realizes he’s probably told her this story before. Max apologizes, admitting he just wants this first date to be better than their first first date. But Liz corrects him by telling him that they’ve never actually had a real first date. “It’s a first date for both of us,” she says as they take their leisurely ride. Night falls and Max and Liz take a seat under a blanket. He offers her some whiskey before they play 20 questions, and he starts with asking what's the worse thing she's ever done. He claims he wants to rip off the band-aid, but Liz says it took him 20 years to tell her he loved her. To answer his question, she tells him about leaving her ex-fiancé Diego a year ago and didn't even say goodbye. Liz continues talking and says how she loved the work more than Diego, and she even changed her phone number and blocked him on Facebook. She asks if Max is running for the hills yet, but he jokes only to catch the meteor shower, and invites her to come along, showing that he's still interested.


On the roof of the Crashdown Cafe, Liz is crying and drinking from the bottle when Max shows up. His memories have come back and he explains why he kept getting the Little Green Man milkshakes even though he didn't like them. He first ordered a peanut butter blast-off shake, but she brought him the Little Green Man instead, and since she remembered that as his shake order, he went along with it just because he was happy she remembered him at all. He tells her that he is not better off without her, and that he isn’t whole without Liz. They passionately kiss. When he suggests they go back to his place, she says no. She wants him right now on the café’s roof. Outside the Crashdown Cafe, Max and Liz kiss their goodbyes before she has to start work for the day. He tells her he loves her and as he walks away, Liz realizes she still hasn’t said it to him. She blurts out, “I love you,” and can’t believe she didn’t say it for the first time after his milkshake speech, and is shocked with herself for removing his pants first instead. Max, grinning, says that the whole time he was gone he knew she loved him.[12]


Powers and abilities[]

As a human, Liz has no powers herself.

  • Handprint Connection: When Max places the handprint mark on her, she gets an echo of his feelings.[1] This connection also allows her to feel him overexert his powers and feel him die and to locate him out in the desert.[13]But two years later after Max healed Kyle and forged a bond with him, the handprint reappeared on Liz's chest, making her pass out, affect technology and disrupt multiple electromagnetic signals, such as computers and lights, similar to Rosa's a year prior. Although it seems like the very side affect that Max went through as his heart was weak and has demonstrated to effect TVs, multiple lights, radios and shorting out a car and this was because due to the handprint re-appearing, she experienced Max's heart-failure.

Abilities:

  • Biomedical Engineering: Liz is a biomedical engineer and is competent enough in order to produce a serum from Max's blood that can shut down the powers of aliens.

Gallery[]

Main article: Liz Ortecho/Gallery

Appearances[]

Roswell, New Mexico 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Season 1 episodes
Season 2 episodes
Season 3 episodes
Season 4 episodes

Trivia[]

  • Liz Ortecho is based on the main character of the original Roswell High books. The version of the character that appeared in the Roswell (1999) series was renamed to Liz Parker.
  • Liz's favorite song is Mrs. Potter's Lullaby by Counting Crows.

Quotes[]

"I guess I've been thinking about things I'll miss, and maybe I don't want to miss Max Evans." — Liz to Rosa in a flashback in Pilot.

"Every story varies depending on who's telling it, and my sister's story died with her a decade ago. I would give anything to be able to ask her why she made the choices that she did. To understand her. But like so many who died before their time, Rosa took her truth with her. And I'm left here endlessly searching for it." — Liz's narration in So Much For the Afterglow.

"Every bone in my body is screaming to get the hell out of this town. Run away and never look back. But I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna find out who killed my sister, and I am gonna bring them to justice. I'm gonna fight like hell. Even if it was Max Evans." — Liz to Kyle in So Much for the Afterglow.

"God didn’t make a trade, Rosa. Max did. And he’s just a man who wanted to do something extraordinary. And he did. He brought you back to life and now I’m gonna bring him back.I chose regenerative medicine as my focus when you died. ‘Cause I was broken, and I wanted to repair the irreparable. It’s an ethics nightmare. I have been spit on by protesters and shut down by the government. I’ve worked on tiny rat hearts my whole life, waiting until someone in power would believe that I could do this with people, too. And over and over, old men on boards have told me to stay in my lane. To calm down. To wait. But I can do this!" - Liz to Rosa on bringing Max back from the dead at the end of Stay (I Missed You).

Navigation[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.01 Pilot
  2. Deadline, ‘Roswell’: Jeanine Mason Cast As the Lead Of the CW Reboot Pilot. February 16, 2018.
  3. 1.11 Champagne Supernova, Liz suggests this to her father at home, and they later discuss it again while dancing.
  4. 1.07 I Saw the Sign, Liz states this in her confrontation with Isobel.
  5. 1.02 So Much for the Afterglow, Isobel and Michael bring this up in their confrontation with Liz.
  6. 1.11 Champagne Supernova, Liz and Max's talk during their dance.
  7. 2.01 Stay (I Missed You)
  8. 2.02 Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
  9. 2.03 Good Mother
  10. name= "What If God Was One of Us"> 2.04 What If God Was One of Us
  11. 2.05 I'll Stand By You
  12. 2.06 Sex and Candy
  13. 1.13 Recovering the Satellites
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