Veronica Mars
We have to talk about the "Veronica Mars" theme song. I love a good theme song and "We Used to Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols is a classic. It fits the show perfectly. It's up there with the "Gilmore Girls" theme or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." When I think of "Veronica Mars," one of the first things I think about is this theme. Let's get into it.
"Meet John Smith"
Veronica: [after introducing Wallace to her father] "Wallace is a friend of mine."
Veronica: [karate chops the air]
Veronica: "Take that high school guidance counselor!"
Veronica is hired by underclassmen video store worker, Justin Smith, to find his father, the inconveniently named, John Smith. Unbeknownst to Veronica, Justin's father has been dead for years. Veronica is understandably upset when she learns this, but things take a turn when they find out that he is actually alive. But, will Justin be happy with the person he finds? Meanwhile, Duncan is off his anti-depressants and is manic and having vivid dreams about Lilly.
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| Lovebirds? |
The guest star parade continues on "Veronica Mars." This episode we get an Oscar winner, Melissa Leo, who won Best Supporting Actress for "The Fighter." She plays the searched for missing parent, Julia née John Smith. I forget that Leo was a pretty well-known television actress before she broke out in her award nominated film work.
The twist in this episode is that John Smith transitioned to Julia Smith and that is why Justin's mother lied and said his dad was dead and cut their face out of all the pictures of the family together. There was a trend of like transgender reveals in the 90's and early '00's. At best a lot of them came off pretty tone deaf and at worst they were horribly transphobic. This episode leans more towards the former. I wish they had cast an actual trans actor to play Julia, but that's just not the way that things were done in 2004 (I mean, they are barely done that way now.) I am happy the show cast a cis gendered female actor over a man doing drag. I think the show is as sensitive to the subject matter as it could have been for that time frame. Justin is upset and says some hurtful things, but Veronica gives him some much needed perspective, thinking about her own wayward mother and Justin reaches out to Julia at the end of the episode. It looks like they are on their way to having a productive relationship and that makes me happy.
Veronica and Troy are still playing the flirting game. Aaron Ashmore and Kristen Bell have tons of chemistry and they are super adorable together. Veronica is hesitant to get involved with Troy, which makes sense given her past experiences with rich kids. And she is having sex dreams about Duncan who is having similar fantasies involving Veronica. This encourages Veronica to ask Troy out on a date that is extremely cute but when Troy tries to kiss Veronica goodnight, she flinches. Again, knowing what Veronica has gone through that is completely understandable, but it's not a good feeling to be on the receiving end of something like that. Things are further complicated when Duncan sees Veronica and Troy kiss at school and decides to jump off the bleachers and cut his head open, leading Veronica to freak out and take him to the hospital. Yeah, these two are totally over each other.
We are introduced to guidance counselor, Rebecca James, who brings Keith in to talk about Veronica's anti-social behavior. Keith does not take Rebecca's advice well at first, but has a change of heart after he's ostracized by Veronica about his continued pining for Lianne. Veronica knows where Lianne is in Arizona, but she refused to tell Keith because she doesn't think it's good for him. Veronica's words push Keith to go back to Rebecca and apologize and then do some PI assisted stalking to "coincidentally" meet up with her at her favorite cafe. So, Keith is a good guy, but this is not the look. It is extremely creepy. I mean, on the stalking spectrum, I guess it's below Joe from "You" but it's still not great.
The Kane's continue to be the most boring family in Neptune. I could not care less about their dinner table fights and I was never a huge fan of Duncan. He's so boring and white bread. His manic episodes are just funny which I'm not sure is what they are going for. I am glad that he decides to take control of his own health, but maybe he does need to be on antidepressants? Did he give them a chance to work? The most interesting thing about this is the hallucination of Lilly that tells him that there is more to her murder than meets the eye.
Veronica ends up traveling to Arizona to see her mother but find that she's already flown the coop. The woman that was living with Lianne assures Veronica that her mother loves her and is thinking about her, but Veronica isn't convinced.
Grade: B
"The Wrath of Con"
Lilly: "Okay, my turn. Logan?"
Logan: "Truth."
Lilly: "What did you think of Veronica the first time you saw her?"
Logan: "I don't know. I thought she was hot."
Veronica: "I was twelve when you moved here."
Logan: "Oh like you weren't working it in your shorts and knee socks."
[Veronica punches Logan's arm]
Veronica: "That was my soccer uniform!"
Veronica is roped into helping Wallace's office aid partner and crush, Gerogia. It turns out she was swindled out of $6000 by some college computer nerds who go by the name The Silicon Mafia. Veronica and Wallace have to go undercover at the college to figure out what they are up to and why they need the money they are scamming. Meanwhile, Logan gets put in charge of working on a video tribute for Lilly that will play during the dedication of her memorial fountain at Neputne High.
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| Yep it's 2004. |
I just want to point out that two episodes in a row we've had some pretty stereotypical and hurtful portrayals of nerds. There was Justin and his buddies in "Meet John Smith" and now there is the Silicon Mafia (a truly stupid name) from this episode. I feel like I say this a lot, but it was a different time. Nerdy stuff and interests were not as mainstream as they are today. This was pre-MCU. And to be fair, I've known my fair share of shitty, misogynistic nerds, so maybe these portrayals aren't as unrealistic as I'm saying they are. I take it all back.
I have to say that this case-of-the-week didn't really thrill me. The Silicon Mafia are lame. They apparently have developed a video game that is set to make them millions because they have no investors. But to keep it that way, they have come up with a scam to swindle unsuspecting rich kids out of their parents money using a variation on the Nigerian prince e-mail scandal. On one hand, I appreciate the show trying to deal with things that were current at the time, but on the other... meh? For as smart as these guys are, they never seem to be much of a match for our Ronnie. She takes them down pretty easily. And God bless Georgia but she is about as flat as a cardboard cut out, so it makes it difficult to care about any of this.
It's the stuff around the periphery of this A-story that you really care about. It's great to see Wallace and Veronica's friendship deepening in real and sweet ways. Yes, gender is a construct, but cis gendered males and females do a lot of the times come at things in different ways and it's nice to see that here. Veronica wouldn't relate to Wallace in the same way that she would her female friends and it's nice to say that portrayed here in a realistic way.
This episode starts to humanize Logan which is a great thing. Since the start of the show Logan Echolls has just been shown as this monster and if he's going to be big part of this show, and he is, then he needs to be more than just some guy that says disgusting things to and about Veronica every time he sees her. The two of them kind of working together to honor this person they love is a great way to show that Logan does actually have a heart. Who knew?
The first season of "Veronica Mars" has a challenge. They have to make the audience care about the character of Lilly Kane. A girl that is dead when the show starts. In order for this first season to be successful, we have to care for Lilly. We have to want justice for her in the same way that Veronica does and flashbacks like the ones in this episode are the way to do it. In fact, I think the flashbacks are the strongest portion of the episode.
Amanda Seyfried is clearly a star. The show really lucked out when they cast her as Lilly. She has so much charisma and charm and presence. It makes complete sense that she would sweep people into her orbit and they would just love her. And it's clear that for all her wild child, rebellious ways, Lilly was the type of person who loved the people she loved fiercely. She sees past the image that Veronica is trying to project in the very beginning of the episode when she encourages her to wear the scarlet dress instead of the pretty pink one that Veronica has originally chosen.
The video tribute that Logan eventually puts together honors both sides of Lilly. There is the sweet, prim, girly side that Celeste is trying to focus on and then there is the wild, free style that really made Lilly stick out and made people love her. It's why Jake ends up breaking down watching it. It's a really nice, cathartic moment.
Sometimes I feel like the teenagers on this show are a little ridiculous, like when they are just openly drinking out of flasks on the school bleachers like Logan, Duncan and the boys are doing in the last episode. But then they do something like this that feels very realistic. Instead of going to the homecoming dance, Veronica, Lilly, Logan and Duncan take their limo and drive around, playing truth or dare, drinking champagne and playing truth or dare as they walk on the beach. This feels like a relatable experience that high school kids have lived a variation of.
It's nice to see that Veronica is still trying to honor Lilly and learn from her wisdom. She wears the red dress to homecoming and has the limo pull over so she can skinny dip. Something she admitted during truth or dare that she'd never done before.
We don't get a ton of movement in Lilly's murder case in these episodes, but I will point out that Weevil got very emotional watching Lilly's memorial video. Hmmm...
Grade: B
Two solid episodes of "Veronica Mars." What do you all think? What were your favorite parts? Least favorites? Let me know in the comments.
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