Alien Symbol
According to Noah it’s a map to their planet (112), but why does it pop up so much?
As the lights in the town come back on after Max has blown out the power, the alien symbol is illuminated in the first lights that come on (104). It’s clear that this is no accident, and it wasn’t done by Max, Isboel, Michael, or Noah. Now if Noah had worked for the city power company? Maybe. But he was a lawyer so it’s extremely doubtful that he somehow managed to rig the lights to do that.
The symbol is something that aliens seem to draw subconsciously, often not even remembering doing it. Mrs. Evans tells Max that Michael was drawing it “obsessively” all over the walls of the foster home as a boy despite the fact that he came out of the pod with no memories (108). Wyatt doodles it without realizing it when he’s in the hospital after he got blackout drunk and was controlled by Noah (107). Max tells Cam the symbol was something he doodled as a kid growing up, so he eventually made it his tattoo (107). Noah doodles it on a post the first time he meets up with Rosa wearing Isobel’s body, and though we know he remembers where they’re from and knows what the symbol is, he tells Rosa “It’s nothing” when she asks about it (110). We don’t know if Noah doodles it because he can’t help it, or if it’s the only thing that came to mind, or the only thing he knew how to draw, or if he just wanted to leave a map to his home out in the open for everyone to see.
When Isobel first wakes up in the desert after her blackout, we see the symbol drawn around her in the dirt (105). We don’t know if Noah drew that himself while he was controlling her, or if the symbol drew itself around her. Because in episode 109 the older woman at the healing tent tells Max that a woman at the reservation when she was a girl also healed people with her hands and she wouldn’t draw the symbol, but it would draw itself around her when she used her powers.
When we first see Jim Valenti’s “research papers” after Jesse asks Kyle to get them in episode 103, the alien language is all over them as well as the circles that form the alien symbol. In episode 110, Sheriff Valenti tells Kyle that Jim left those papers for him, and while he did encode them with a message for his son, they’re also riddled with parts of the same alien symbol/map that appears everywhere else.
At the end of 108, Michael’s conversation with Maria about the neon bar sign makes him look down at the alien symbol on the paper and mutter “a beacon”, and from Max and Michael’s conversation in the bar in 109, we know that off camera Michael told Max that he thought the symbol might be a beacon. Of course, Max hopes it’s a beacon that will lead them to other aliens (that faith healer) on Earth, but we know that doesn’t turn out the way he hoped.
Speculation: Perhaps the symbol, a simplified, stylized map to their home, actually is a beacon that other aliens on Earth are hoping to use to lead more aliens straight to them when they arrive. In 113 Noah seems sure that other aliens will be arriving at some point, so it’s possible that other survivors feel the same way and built that symbol into the city light grid in order to serve as a beacon for their arrival.
It’s also possible that the symbol is more than just a map (or not a map at all) - especially since Noah is the one who claimed it was a map and we know he’s not the most trustworthy dude. The parts of the map in Jim Valenti’s papers certainly seem to contain a whole lot of information, including things that look like they could be referring to Max, or someone like him. (A figure with hands outstretched towards what looks like lightning.) Oh, and there’s also 3 pod-looking things…
So who knows? Maybe it’s a prophecy and not a map. Maybe the prophecy has something to do with 3 special aliens who were tucked away for safekeeping in upgraded pods...
Behold, Maybe!Max and the Three Pods of Destiny:
Addition from @tasyfa:
when they put Isobel in the pod, and Max puts his hand on it, the symbol is briefly visible where his palm was once he takes his hand away, centred on Isobel's face.
(This happens in 108 right after Max and Liz’s conversation once they’ve put Isobel in the pod.)
If you have something else to add here, send me an ask or submit, and I’ll edit it in and credit you. :)
