Veronica Mars
I figured it was about time that I started covering more of my favorite shows on this blog. I started with "The X-Files" and now it's time for "Veronica Mars." The show began my lifelong love of Kristen Bell. It's super smart and fantastic. It has has a crazy life span. It started on UPN, then moved over to the CW when UPN and the WB merged. It was cancelled after the third season. In 2013, a Kickstarter was launched to finance a movie and it made its goal in 11 hours. A fourth season debuted on Hulu in 2019. The creator of "Veronica Mars," Rob Thomas also created "Party Down" and "iZombie." "Veronica Mars" is a detective series at its heart. There is a season long mystery that Veronica tries to solve intermixed with cases of the week. The first season mystery is the murder of Veronica's best friend, Lily Kane. While investigating, Veronica also has to deal with the ire of her rich classmates, the fallout from her dad's days as sheriff and romantic feelings for her ex and Lily's brother, Duncan. The pilot premiered on September 22, 2004.
"Pilot"
Keith Mars: "You know what, this is important. You remember this: I used to be cool."
Veronica Mars: "When?"
Keith Mars: '77 Trans-Am, Blue Oyster Cult in the 8-track, a foxy stacked blonde riding shotgun, racing for pink slips. Aw, wait a minute, I'm thinking of a Springsteen song. Scratch everything. I was never cool."
Veronica Mars: "I don't know which bothers me more, "foxy" or "stacked"..."
In the coastal town of Neptune, CA, the line between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is very clear. Veronica Mars used to be one of the "haves." Her dad was the sheriff. She was dating Duncan Kane, son of tech billionaire, Jake Kane and her best friend, Lily, was Duncan's sister. All that changed when Lily was brutally murdered and her dad was convinced Lily's father was the culprit. Keith Mars was ousted as sheriff, but even though his wife, Lianne, wanted to move, Keith wouldn't be ran out of town. Lianne left, Veronica and Keith stayed. Veronica is on the outs with most of her classmates and spends her time helping her dad who is now a local private eye. She's also trying to help her dad figure out who really killed Lily and find out who roofied and raped her at a party the year prior.
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| Snitch. |
"Veronica Mars" has one of the best pilots I've ever seen. It has a lot of things to cover, but it never feels rushed or over stuffed. It drops information at just the right speed. It leaves room for us to get to know the main characters and while we are talking about pretty serious things i.e. teen murder and sexual assault, there is still room for levity.
It's clear from the opening moments of the episode that Kristen Bell is a star. It's rare that I see someone that is so natural right away in a role. It fits her like a glove. It's almost like Rob Thomas wrote the role specifically for her. She's plucky. She's effervescent. She's steely. She's funny. She's snarky but also earnest. She has a big heart, though she tries to hide it most of the time. It's great. You get a good idea of who Veronica is when we first meet her. She sees Wallace Fennel tied naked to a pole with "snich" painted on his chest. She immediately cuts him down even though she knows this will get her in trouble with the local motorcycle gang. We get to see how gutsy she is when she stares down the head of the gang, Eli "Weevil" Navarro and Felix. This act of kindness net her a best friend.
"Veronica Mars" has one of the greatest father/daughter relationships in television history. Enrico Colantoni is perfection as Keith Mars. He's goofy and fun, but he's also a fierce protector when he needs to be. He knows who Veronica is and gives her some leeway but he doesn't allow her to walk all over him. Their interactions are some of the best in the whole episode.
Neptune, CA is not the place that you would expect someone to set this kind of dark, moody teen noir drama. Even though it's very bright and California, there is a darker, underbelly. There is a violent motorcycle gang. There are gentlemen's clubs. There are seedy motels where trysts are happening. I love how the show takes this place that a lot of people would consider paradise and show you that it's really only paradise for people who have money. Or who look a certain way. Who are able to maintain a certain type of lifestyle.
The main thrust of the series is provided in this pilot. Keith used to be the sheriff until Jake Kane's daughter, Lily was found murdered by their pool. Kane's company, Kane Software, invented streaming video and once the company went public, Kane and all his employees made lots of money. Keith was convinced that Jake murdered his daughter, but there was little evidence and it didn't look great that Keith was going after this grieving father with seemingly little evidence. After a recall election removes Keith from office, the new sheriff, Don Lamb, gets a tip that incriminates former Kane Software employee, Abel Koontz. What's his motive? Well, he was fired shortly before the company went public and got no money, so it's good old fashioned revenge. Duncan leaves Veronica without a word and so does Lianne, leaving the two Mars family members to rebuild their life. Veronica recalls Lily telling her that she had a secret the night she was murdered and Veronica thinks that secret may have led to her death. Oh and Veronica got roofied and raped at a rich kids party and when she went to report it to Lamb, he told her to go see the wizard and ask for some guts. A real peach this guy.
So, that definitely sets up a season's worth of material. The sort of case of the week that is threaded through this episode is Veronica helping Wallace get out from under the PCH biker gang after he accused two of them shoplifting from the Sac and Pac that he works it. This is kind of a lame case, but it's mainly a vehicle to show the viewer how slick Veronica is and that she is a good detective. It also makes Sheriff Lamb look like a buffoon which is just a bonus because he is the worst.
The show gives us characters that we will love to hate. Case in point: Sheriff Don Lamb. What an overall piece of shit. Like, there is literally nothing redeeming about him at all. He is straight garbage. And Michael Muhney does a great job of really just being a total and complete asshole. Then, there is teen psychopath, Logan Echolls, who is at his very worst in these first few episodes. Is there more to Logan than meets the eye? We will find out in the coming episodes. And a little fun fact, Lily Kane is played by Amanda Seyfried in one of her first big acting roles. "Mean Girls" had just came out a few months before "Veronica Mars" premiered.
The episode ends with the revelation that Jake Kane was meeting with Lianne Mars at the seedy hotel and Keith is lying to Veronica about it. Oh and he's also still secretly investigating Lily's murder. Very interesting.
Grade: A-
"Credit Where Credit's Due
Troy Vandegraff: "Flat?"
Veronica Mars: "Just as God made me."
Veronica's new friend, Weevil, is accused of credit card fraud by the Echolls family. Veronica believes that he is taking the wrap to protect someone. So she does some investigating. She catches the interest of Duncan's friend and new rich kid, Troy Vandegraff. Veronica is placed in journalism by school guidance counselor where she is paired with Duncan on her first assignment. She also learns something startling about the night that Lily died.
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| The Odd Couple. |
You really have to love the early '00's. I will say that aside from the clothes and the soundtrack, the show doesn't lean into the time period that much, but it does from time to time. This episode is kind of the most blatant examples of that. We get heiress and socialite, Paris Hilton, as a major guest star in this episode. Remember when Paris was trying to be an actress? This was like her dipping her toe in the water before she made "House of Wax" in 2007. We don't need to talk about her "music" career. Paris is basically playing herself here. A vapid, rich girl who spends most of her time looking down on people. She just can't keep up with the actual actors on set. There is a scene where she goes back and forth with Veronica and it's just so clear that Paris is outmatched. I'm not going to rake her over the coals for a casting stunt, but I am glad she doesn't make a repeat appearance.
Another character that will make a bit of a splash in the first few episodes of this debut season makes their first appearance. I'm talking about Aaron Ashmore as Duncan's friend and fellow rich boy, Troy Vandegraff. Ashmore is extremely charismatic. He has a ton of chemistry with Kristen Bell. The show has shown us that these rich guys are not to be trusted but you can't help but like Troy. He's extremely charming and it's great to watch Veronica sort of let her guard down a little bit with him. Even though she didn't go to the party, he's unfazed. He has his sights set on Veronica and it'll be interesting to see where this relationship goes.
We meet Ms. Mallory Dent in this episode. She's played by the beautiful Sydney Tamiia Poitier. She's the daughter of acting legend Sidney Poitier and they clearly had plans for her character because she appears in the opening credits. Ms. Dent is the journalism teacher and maybe they were going to have her be like a faculty member who made a connection with Veronica? But she is pretty quickly fazed out. So, enjoy here while she's around, I guess?
The mystery this week revolves around who opened the credit cards that were stolen from the Echolls. We all knew that it wasn't sweet, grandma Letty Navarro. It's clear that Weevil is innocent. He's a main character. There's no way he's going to spend the remainder of the first season in juvie. So, that makes the obvious culprit Chardo. I guess the twist is supposed to be that he was doing all this for Caitlin and that he truly believed that she would run away with him. Chardo really just comes off like an idiot and I enjoy how the episode agrees with that. I think even Veronica tells him that when she tosses him into the bathroom to let him know she knows what he did. I will say I do get a bit of a laugh seeing these rich, preppy white boys trying to be tough. In the end, Chardo is drummed out of they PCH'ers and has the crap kicked out of him.
This is a solid second episode overall. There is a bit of re-telling of some things that happened in the pilot, which is pretty normal for a second episode. You want to catch people up who maybe didn't see the first episode for whatever reason. Duncan and Veronica have some extended screen time and I don't have a lot of nice things to say about Duncan. He's so boring and white bread. I don't know why Veronica is so hung up on him. The show wants you to root for these two crazy kids, but no matter how many times I watch the series, I struggle to care.
We get another clue in the Lily Kane murder mystery. Veronica finds a traffic ticket that Lily received two hours after her supposed time of death. The mystery deepens.
Grade: B+
Next up, Veronica takes on the case of the missing father and the case of the computer hackers.
What do you all think? Are there any other Marshmallows out there? Let me know in the comments.
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