Roswell, New Mexico discusses nature vs. nurture in Season 3

What determines what makes a person who they are? Is it nature and pre-existing genetics? Is it nurture and how a person grows up? Roswell, New Mexico’s third season, gives a look into what makes a person their true self.

Roswell, New Mexico, uses the main character Max Evans and his villainous counterpart Jones, to dive into the question of what makes a person, nature or nurture.

Jones, also known as the Dictator, was greedy and evil with a craving for power. Max, in comparison, was considered the good guy, or a savior, with a desire for love and companionship. Even though Jones and Max share identical DNA, they turned out completely unalike.

If Max was genetically identical to Jones, should he have been destined to think and feel just as Jones had? While Max shares the same appearance and powers as Jones, Max could not be more different.

While Jones was willing to cause chaos and murder anyone in his way, Max fought to protect his family, friends, and the innocent. Even as a child before being brought to Earth, Max showed signs of being his own person rather than a younger copy of Jones.

Roswell, New Mexico, spends plenty of time in season 3 discussing how genetically similar Max and Jones are. However, their differences are left to the audience to understand.

Season 3 highlights that Max and Jones are independent even though they are genetically the same. They have experienced different things in life, and out of it, they have become distinct individuals.

Genetics may have affected what Max grew to look like, but his environment allowed him to gain a personality separate from his original counterpart.

Jones did not raise Max, so his younger clone never saw life through his perspective. Would Max be a different person if he grew up with Jones? Max being so different from his identical counterpart suggests that he was never fated or destined to be the same as his older doppelgänger, and his experience in how he grew up helped mold him into an individual.

Max Evans proved throughout season 3 that a person can share the same genes and still have their distinct view of life. Nature may have given Max pre-existing traits, but it is who Max is at his core and the way he was raised and experienced the world that helped influence who he is.